In this conversation, Josh Linman shares his faith journey from being a pastor's kid to founding Common Good Creative, a company focused on enhancing church communication. He discusses the importance of storytelling, community connection, and the role of technology and AI in modern church communication. Linman emphasizes the need for churches to adapt their messaging to resonate with people's desires for relationships, service, and purpose, and shares innovative strategies for welcoming visitors and engaging with the community.
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Want to Reach New People? Change How You Communicate! By Josh Linman
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:06 This episode of Church and Main, we look at how effective church communication
00:00:06 --> 00:00:11 requires understanding the audience's needs. That's coming up.
00:00:13 --> 00:00:40 Music.
00:00:39 --> 00:00:45 Hello, and welcome to Church and Maine, a podcast for people interested in the
00:00:45 --> 00:00:48 intersection of faith, politics, and culture.
00:00:48 --> 00:00:50 I'm Dennis Sanders, your host.
00:00:52 --> 00:00:58 So, in this episode, we're looking at an issue that is near and dear to my heart,
00:00:58 --> 00:00:59 And that is church communication.
00:01:00 --> 00:01:07 And I've been working on a church communication issues, um, probably for nearly 20 years now.
00:01:08 --> 00:01:13 And a lot has happened in those 20 years. Um, when I kind of first got into
00:01:13 --> 00:01:16 this business, that was probably around 2007.
00:01:18 --> 00:01:22 Maybe social media was just starting up and the way that everyone talked about
00:01:22 --> 00:01:26 it, including myself, it was the future. And, um,
00:01:27 --> 00:01:32 Things have gotten a lot more complicated since 2007.
00:01:34 --> 00:01:41 I remember way back when, during those days, everyone was basically saying you
00:01:41 --> 00:01:44 had to be on church on social media.
00:01:44 --> 00:01:47 Any church had to be on social media or they just weren't going to survive.
00:01:48 --> 00:01:50 That was just a given.
00:01:51 --> 00:01:57 But in these days, when I think many of us are less sure of social media,
00:01:58 --> 00:02:03 some people even wonder if it's even good anymore, everything has changed.
00:02:03 --> 00:02:08 I actually know of a church out there that has actually left social media.
00:02:08 --> 00:02:11 They still have a church website, but they're not on social media anymore.
00:02:12 --> 00:02:17 And that's something that I think 20 years ago, or at least around 2010,
00:02:18 --> 00:02:20 would have been considered unheard of.
00:02:22 --> 00:02:25 Now as much as we kind of deal with things
00:02:25 --> 00:02:28 like especially about social media and
00:02:28 --> 00:02:32 wondering if that is worth it um and
00:02:32 --> 00:02:35 that is of course a big part of church communication i have
00:02:35 --> 00:02:40 to also then put on my other hat and that other hat of course is being a pastor
00:02:40 --> 00:02:45 and the thing that i find interesting being the pastor of a congregation is
00:02:45 --> 00:02:48 a lot of the people who have become part of our congregation over the last few
00:02:48 --> 00:02:53 years did so because they usually saw a church sermon,
00:02:53 --> 00:02:56 or a live stream of our worship service.
00:02:57 --> 00:03:00 We live stream on Facebook and on YouTube and,
00:03:01 --> 00:03:06 And people, that's how people have kind of heard about us. And of course, our website as well.
00:03:07 --> 00:03:12 But our website, of course, has videos, videos that came from a social media site called YouTube.
00:03:12 --> 00:03:16 So for all the problems of social media, and there are many,
00:03:17 --> 00:03:21 it seems like it still has a role in the life of the church,
00:03:21 --> 00:03:27 at least how churches can communicate their message to people in the world.
00:03:27 --> 00:03:34 So today I'm talking with a fellow church communicator about how churches can
00:03:34 --> 00:03:36 best communicate in 2025.
00:03:38 --> 00:03:41 Josh Lindman is a pastor.
00:03:41 --> 00:03:44 He is ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
00:03:44 --> 00:03:51 And he's also the founder and CEO of the communications firm Common Good Creative.
00:03:52 --> 00:03:57 Common Good Creative works with churches and nonprofits and actually also socially
00:03:57 --> 00:04:03 conscious for-profit companies across the United States.
00:04:03 --> 00:04:08 Josh has also served as pastor in three Lutheran congregations,
00:04:08 --> 00:04:12 and that includes Lutheran Church of Hope, which is one of the largest Lutheran
00:04:12 --> 00:04:13 churches in the country.
00:04:13 --> 00:04:19 Um, he's actually also worked at a lot of different, um, media places,
00:04:19 --> 00:04:23 church communication, doing church communications in a lot of places.
00:04:23 --> 00:04:28 And we'll talk about some of those places that are well known, um, in the church world.
00:04:29 --> 00:04:31 Josh lives in Atlanta, uh, with
00:04:31 --> 00:04:35 his spouse and their, as he likes to call their human and canine kids.
00:04:36 --> 00:04:42 Um, if you're someone that is a church communicator and you don't have to be dedicated,
00:04:42 --> 00:04:46 a dedicated a church communicator, you could just be the pastor of a small church
00:04:46 --> 00:04:52 that is basically running the Facebook page, you may want to listen to this conversation.
00:04:52 --> 00:04:59 I think it's important of how we communicate, especially in this day and age.
00:04:59 --> 00:05:03 So, please, join me in this conversation with Josh Linman.
00:05:05 --> 00:05:23 Music.
00:05:24 --> 00:05:28 Well, Josh, thanks for taking the time to chat with me today.
00:05:28 --> 00:05:32 I wanted to start off by learning a little bit more about you and your faith
00:05:32 --> 00:05:36 journey, and then ultimately about Common Good Creative.
00:05:37 --> 00:05:42 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, so we were finding out a little as we were chatting
00:05:42 --> 00:05:49 before that we've got some mutual kind of backgrounds and communication space
00:05:49 --> 00:05:53 and as pastors and Luther grads and all that.
00:05:53 --> 00:06:01 But so I grew up, my dad's a pastor, an ELCA pastor, and we moved down to Florida
00:06:01 --> 00:06:04 when I was in like fourth grade. I promise this won't take too long.
00:06:05 --> 00:06:08 But like that was a huge turning point because instead of just being like the
00:06:08 --> 00:06:12 PK that sat in the front row and then went back to the parsonage and that was about it.
00:06:13 --> 00:06:18 Like we all got involved in this church redevelopment, this struggling church.
00:06:18 --> 00:06:21 We moved into a school and we needed somebody to run like the PowerPoint slides.
00:06:21 --> 00:06:25 And so that because there was literally no one else, it was me.
00:06:26 --> 00:06:28 Even in fourth grade, like they were like, okay, sure. Yeah,
00:06:28 --> 00:06:29 you can do it. We need you.
00:06:31 --> 00:06:35 And, you know, so being a PK, everybody's like, oh, you'd be a great pastor.
00:06:35 --> 00:06:37 I was talking with somebody the other day and I was like, you know,
00:06:37 --> 00:06:41 I don't think they said that to my sister, which is interesting, kind of sexist.
00:06:42 --> 00:06:45 But, you know, for me, they were like, oh, yeah, great pastor.
00:06:45 --> 00:06:49 And I did not want anything to do with that because I saw, I mean, it's a hard life.
00:06:49 --> 00:06:52 Um and there was just a lot to it
00:06:52 --> 00:06:55 and it was very demanding uh and you know especially launching
00:06:55 --> 00:06:58 something new uh but i
00:06:58 --> 00:07:00 still want to do something in ministry i got more and more involved from clicking
00:07:00 --> 00:07:06 the powerpoint slides to like designing the slides and uh creating graphics
00:07:06 --> 00:07:12 for sermon series and then we moved into a bowling alley uh and renovated that
00:07:12 --> 00:07:15 because there was just no other space in East Orlando is so expensive.
00:07:16 --> 00:07:21 And so, finally, when we moved there, I got to kind of be involved with some
00:07:21 --> 00:07:24 of the install of the tech stuff and so see all this brand new equipment.
00:07:24 --> 00:07:28 And it was really fun to kind of get into that production side of things.
00:07:28 --> 00:07:29 So, I was like, okay, I'll do that.
00:07:30 --> 00:07:36 That's adjacent to kind of what the pastor thing.
00:07:36 --> 00:07:41 I'll still get to work in the church, which had become so important to me and
00:07:41 --> 00:07:48 to actually being able to speak in a language I felt like people used when it
00:07:48 --> 00:07:52 comes to digital media instead of the boring,
00:07:52 --> 00:07:58 traditional kind of church setting where we're stuck just as if the printing
00:07:58 --> 00:08:01 press is the new thing and that's about it.
00:08:01 --> 00:08:05 I mean, maybe it's like a radio thing or something, you know,
00:08:05 --> 00:08:09 I don't, whatever it is, like, churches just do not project projection and all of that.
00:08:09 --> 00:08:12 I know with COVID, we've kind of been pushed into some of that space,
00:08:12 --> 00:08:17 which is one beautiful side of a terrible thing. But.
00:08:18 --> 00:08:23 But I was really inspired to, and I like, man, I wrote this vision for our media
00:08:23 --> 00:08:28 ministry at our church, and I was following Ginghamsburg Church and their media
00:08:28 --> 00:08:30 ministry, which they were some of the pioneers,
00:08:31 --> 00:08:35 Len Wilson and Jason Moore and Mike Slaughter up there.
00:08:35 --> 00:08:41 And so I, yeah, so I decided I'll go to school, went to Florida State,
00:08:41 --> 00:08:47 studied media production, and wanted to work in a church doing video production, that kind of thing.
00:08:47 --> 00:08:52 And so, got that opportunity, actually went to Ginghamsburg and was an intern
00:08:52 --> 00:08:59 there, and then got a job at a church in Kansas City at the United Methodist
00:08:59 --> 00:09:00 Church of the Resurrection.
00:09:00 --> 00:09:05 So, big church, and I was like very focused on just production for our contemporary
00:09:05 --> 00:09:08 worship service at the time on like Saturday, Sunday night.
00:09:09 --> 00:09:12 Um but we got to the point where i
00:09:12 --> 00:09:16 had been to africa a few times with my dad's church
00:09:16 --> 00:09:19 to burundi this very forgotten small country
00:09:19 --> 00:09:24 in the heart of africa and just like the the dissonance between super nice super
00:09:24 --> 00:09:29 rich johnson county kansas and very wealthy uh united methods church of the
00:09:29 --> 00:09:33 resurrection great people adam hamilton awesome their vision what they do to
00:09:33 --> 00:09:38 help the community all that's great but like i was in just the production side of things doing,
00:09:38 --> 00:09:42 I mean, it's a multi-million dollars, I'm sure they were spending on all of
00:09:42 --> 00:09:47 their equipment, all of their staff for just production of the worship services.
00:09:48 --> 00:09:52 And just something wasn't like connecting for me there.
00:09:53 --> 00:09:57 And so, you know, I read the book, The Hole in Our Gospel by Rich Stearns,
00:09:58 --> 00:10:01 who at the time was the World Vision, I think, CEO.
00:10:03 --> 00:10:08 And that really kind of like, this idea that we talk a lot about getting people
00:10:08 --> 00:10:09 to heaven, but what about bringing heaven to earth?
00:10:10 --> 00:10:15 And that, you know, was a big turning point, I think, in my life and my faith.
00:10:16 --> 00:10:18 And so, I wanted to kind of find
00:10:18 --> 00:10:23 a way to live out more of that bringing heaven to earth side of things.
00:10:25 --> 00:10:30 And so, I was either going to become a communications director for an NGO and
00:10:30 --> 00:10:33 like go live in Africa someplace or I was going to become a pastor.
00:10:33 --> 00:10:37 I guess those were my two kind of options. And I was seriously exploring the
00:10:37 --> 00:10:40 NGO thing. I talked to a guy who was in Syria at the time.
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 This was back in like 2010 or so.
00:10:44 --> 00:10:50 And he, you know, he was talking me through it and kind of the be a crazy life.
00:10:50 --> 00:10:51 And my sister was like, Josh,
00:10:52 --> 00:10:58 You, you would never last like more than a week in, in like a developing country
00:10:58 --> 00:11:01 where you just, you just are, you know, you're a city boy, you,
00:11:01 --> 00:11:04 you like your suburban conveniences and like, it just, it wouldn't,
00:11:04 --> 00:11:07 it wouldn't work. So I was like, okay, that's probably true.
00:11:08 --> 00:11:14 And so, so ended up at seminary and yeah, did that for a while.
00:11:15 --> 00:11:17 And this, you asked about my faith journey though, which, I mean,
00:11:17 --> 00:11:19 this is all kind of tied up together.
00:11:19 --> 00:11:22 One of the interesting things I have learned in this whole process,
00:11:22 --> 00:11:25 so that like change was a huge,
00:11:26 --> 00:11:33 it shook me quite a bit when I decided to step away from what I had,
00:11:33 --> 00:11:37 you know, for, I don't know, four or five years, at least at that time,
00:11:37 --> 00:11:39 thought was kind of the path for my life.
00:11:40 --> 00:11:47 And then to go to seminary, it seemed like basically I was leaving everything behind of my past life.
00:11:47 --> 00:11:50 And I was like, why would God lead me down this way?
00:11:50 --> 00:11:53 I thought I was being faithful, but then I'm doing something else.
00:11:53 --> 00:11:56 And so, it was kind of like a waste of time.
00:11:56 --> 00:12:02 And I, of course, come to see that there was nothing wasted in that time.
00:12:02 --> 00:12:07 And even now, as I make kind of another U-turn post-COVID.
00:12:08 --> 00:12:16 Our son was born somewhat prematurely and had some struggles trying to launch a church in COVID.
00:12:16 --> 00:12:22 So, stepped away from the pastor thing, went on leave, but needed some kind of income.
00:12:22 --> 00:12:28 And so, I said, okay, you know, if I do the, I know the communication side of
00:12:28 --> 00:12:31 things, I know churches, so how can I merge those two together in some way.
00:12:32 --> 00:12:35 And that's how Common Good Creative was born.
00:12:35 --> 00:12:39 And that continues to be for the last three years now. That's what I've been doing.
00:12:40 --> 00:12:44 So, a lot of flexibility, but we just hired on our first full-time staff person
00:12:44 --> 00:12:49 beyond me and have a number of contractors, work with a number of churches around
00:12:49 --> 00:12:53 the country, doing communication, social media work.
00:12:53 --> 00:12:56 And, you know, so again, like, it's been interesting. All of those, like.
00:12:57 --> 00:13:02 Turns in the process, you look back and you can see, oh,
00:13:02 --> 00:13:07 okay, so maybe it wasn't that God wasn't there, that I was making mistakes along
00:13:07 --> 00:13:11 the way, but it's that God was preparing me for something else and using all
00:13:11 --> 00:13:16 of it kind of to compound together into where I'm at now.
00:13:17 --> 00:13:24 And it wouldn't be the same without any of those stages in my life.
00:13:24 --> 00:13:30 And so, it's been a very interesting and And that was a very long conversation
00:13:30 --> 00:13:33 about that. But yeah, so.
00:13:34 --> 00:13:37 Okay. And I think one of the things I wanted to talk to you about,
00:13:37 --> 00:13:41 because I wanted to have you on, is when I saw your article,
00:13:41 --> 00:13:48 and it was really about kind of trying to connect people.
00:13:48 --> 00:13:54 You brought in some of the information from the most recent Surgeon General
00:13:54 --> 00:14:02 about loneliness, and kind of talking a little bit about how churches present themselves.
00:14:03 --> 00:14:09 I mean, you can use the word marketing, but I always feel weird using it on
00:14:09 --> 00:14:10 social media, but on a website.
00:14:11 --> 00:14:17 And you had, I think, an interesting example about a church potluck,
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19 and how would you present that?
00:14:19 --> 00:14:23 Yeah. Can you kind of go a little bit into a little bit more about how churches,
00:14:24 --> 00:14:30 how are churches sometimes presenting themselves on social media and other places,
00:14:30 --> 00:14:35 and how do you connect that to kind of what you're seeing in society of that
00:14:35 --> 00:14:37 sense of people longing for connection?
00:14:38 --> 00:14:45 Yeah. Yeah. So, I think the church, we have this hunger to have everybody,
00:14:45 --> 00:14:48 I mean, these are all of our clients. God bless them. They're wonderful people.
00:14:49 --> 00:14:54 And I know every church out there wants more people to engage with their ministry
00:14:54 --> 00:14:56 and they're doing incredible things.
00:14:56 --> 00:15:00 And they're like, why don't people come? Or let's just tell them about all the
00:15:00 --> 00:15:03 things we're doing. And okay, that'll be great.
00:15:03 --> 00:15:10 But I think there's a disconnect there between what people are longing for and what they desire.
00:15:11 --> 00:15:16 And sometimes it's not too far of a gap between the two things and what the church is doing,
00:15:16 --> 00:15:21 but just something to be able to translate what the church is doing and talk
00:15:21 --> 00:15:26 about it in such a way that it resonates with the hopes, dreams,
00:15:26 --> 00:15:29 challenges, desires of folks out there.
00:15:29 --> 00:15:33 And I think we've kind of, you used to just be able to communicate what was
00:15:33 --> 00:15:38 going on because people would come because that's just what people did.
00:15:38 --> 00:15:43 And so, you know, had this newsletter, a nice print newsletter full of lots
00:15:43 --> 00:15:46 of text and nothing else.
00:15:46 --> 00:15:49 And it was just, you know, all the activities at the church and,
00:15:49 --> 00:15:53 you know, you could just put that out and your members would come and,
00:15:53 --> 00:15:57 you know, maybe they'd invite some new people every once in a while,
00:15:57 --> 00:16:02 but it just, it wasn't as much necessity to kind of be reaching out and the
00:16:02 --> 00:16:07 expectation just was kind of that, okay, you knew you could turn here for X, Y, and Z.
00:16:07 --> 00:16:12 But obviously, as this, as society has kind of gotten more and more disconnected
00:16:12 --> 00:16:16 from church as kind of this central place in community life,
00:16:17 --> 00:16:20 it's not as easy to do that anymore.
00:16:20 --> 00:16:28 And so, one thing that struck me with this, it was Vivek Murthy's,
00:16:28 --> 00:16:34 the former Surgeon General's like parting prescription, I think he said, for America.
00:16:34 --> 00:16:39 As he was getting ready to leave office, uh he said you know there's kind of
00:16:39 --> 00:16:42 this this great need for um.
00:16:44 --> 00:16:47 Finding a remedy for pain and
00:16:47 --> 00:16:51 disconnection and he said that this was these were the things that were going
00:16:51 --> 00:16:58 to do it uh relationships service and purpose and when i read those i'm like
00:16:58 --> 00:17:02 wait hold on relationships like community of some kind service making a difference
00:17:02 --> 00:17:05 and purpose like some kind of spiritual grounding,
00:17:06 --> 00:17:10 some kind of understanding that there is this world out that you're not just
00:17:10 --> 00:17:14 kind of aimlessly wandering through life, like there is something grounding
00:17:14 --> 00:17:17 all of us, something connecting us, rooting us together in some way.
00:17:17 --> 00:17:21 Like, oh, that sounds like something we talk about in the church all the time.
00:17:23 --> 00:17:25 And yet, for some reason, you know,
00:17:26 --> 00:17:31 People aren't coming. They're not showing up. So, what if our challenge wasn't
00:17:31 --> 00:17:37 as much to change what we're doing as to change how we talk about what we're doing?
00:17:38 --> 00:17:43 Now, I will say, I think there's a lot of churches that need to change a lot of what they do.
00:17:44 --> 00:17:48 I just think, you know, you can't continue to operate exactly how you have.
00:17:48 --> 00:17:53 There's a lot of churches who are very much, they are disciples of,
00:17:53 --> 00:17:57 like, the way that they worship instead of disciples of Jesus.
00:17:57 --> 00:18:00 The Lutheran Church especially does a great job of this. We do a great job of
00:18:00 --> 00:18:05 making disciples of the way that we worship because, you know,
00:18:05 --> 00:18:09 that, oh goodness, we're going to take out the Lamb of God or something like
00:18:09 --> 00:18:11 that from the, or take out the creed.
00:18:11 --> 00:18:14 Oh, but that's not Lutheran worship anymore. And it's like, okay, whatever.
00:18:14 --> 00:18:17 Anyways, that's kind of a soapbox of mine.
00:18:19 --> 00:18:22 We need to make disciples of Jesus. And this is what Jesus was all about.
00:18:22 --> 00:18:28 These were his three great loves, you know, relationships in together,
00:18:28 --> 00:18:35 service, going out into the community, and then this upward relationship with
00:18:35 --> 00:18:41 his heavenly father that gave him the purpose to be the one who went out and did all these things.
00:18:41 --> 00:18:46 So, yeah, so I mean, so this is this is kind of the idea.
00:18:47 --> 00:18:54 And somebody that has it's kind of a maybe surprising source of my thinking
00:18:54 --> 00:18:57 on this has come from Donald Miller.
00:18:57 --> 00:19:00 I don't know if you remember him from a way back.
00:19:00 --> 00:19:03 I don't know, like the early 2000s, maybe he wrote Blue Like Jazz.
00:19:03 --> 00:19:09 And he's become kind of a – well, he's become this, like, coach, communicator.
00:19:09 --> 00:19:14 He has all these kind of, like, business made simple and marketing – I don't
00:19:14 --> 00:19:18 know if it's called marketing made simple or – anyways, and now he's got coaching made simple.
00:19:19 --> 00:19:24 He's found his niche and makes plenty of money doing that. But so, like –.
00:19:25 --> 00:19:29 But the thing that I appreciated from what he said, and it's really nothing
00:19:29 --> 00:19:33 new, it's just talking about things in terms of story.
00:19:34 --> 00:19:40 And so you're helping to see people, you're helping to kind of point out the conflict,
00:19:40 --> 00:19:45 like look at kind of that great story arc narrative that so many movies and
00:19:45 --> 00:19:49 great books and epic, you know, things from back in the past.
00:19:49 --> 00:19:53 There's a conflict, there's a character, there's some kind of conflict that changes everything.
00:19:54 --> 00:19:58 There's a journey that people go on, and then there's some kind of resolution.
00:19:58 --> 00:20:04 And so to try to situate your marketing, your communication in those terms,
00:20:04 --> 00:20:12 story brand, I think, is the name of kind of the concept he has around this idea.
00:20:13 --> 00:20:18 But it's all about helping to very clearly say, here's kind of the conflict,
00:20:18 --> 00:20:23 here's the challenge, here's the goal, the dream, and speak to that.
00:20:23 --> 00:20:28 And this is from like the character, which for our sense, it'd be like the people
00:20:28 --> 00:20:32 outside of the church. We're trying to communicate to them.
00:20:32 --> 00:20:37 And so, we're trying to communicate to their needs and dreams and desires instead
00:20:37 --> 00:20:40 of just saying, hey, there's a, in the example I used, you know,
00:20:40 --> 00:20:45 like there's a, I think it was Lenten soup and supper, you know, on Wednesday nights.
00:20:47 --> 00:20:52 Instead of saying that like say hey because we know people are longing for community
00:20:52 --> 00:20:57 and connection maybe also people are longing for some way to simplify their crazy busy schedules,
00:20:58 --> 00:21:04 maybe you could talk about this linton soup and supper as like hey are you looking
00:21:04 --> 00:21:09 for an opportunity to make some connections to have a quick and easy meal in
00:21:09 --> 00:21:12 the middle of a busy week we'd love for you to join us for this thing,
00:21:13 --> 00:21:20 And so, that just, I mean, just in that little simple change of phrasing, I think has a great,
00:21:20 --> 00:21:27 it has a great potential to captivate someone in a different way than if you're
00:21:27 --> 00:21:28 just going to kind of be a,
00:21:29 --> 00:21:31 I think you might have said like bulletin board of,
00:21:31 --> 00:21:35 you know, all the social media is kind of the bulletin board of all the activities
00:21:35 --> 00:21:38 that the church is doing to just kind of throw here, here's,
00:21:38 --> 00:21:39 you know, the Easter egg hunt.
00:21:39 --> 00:21:43 And then there's this event that we've got and an ice cream social and this
00:21:43 --> 00:21:47 and that, and, and just, you know, spewing all this information out at people.
00:21:47 --> 00:21:54 But instead, instead kind of maybe still talking about those things,
00:21:54 --> 00:21:57 definitely still talking about those things, but talking about it in terms of,
00:21:57 --> 00:22:05 you know, those, those three great desires for relationship service and purpose. Yeah.
00:22:07 --> 00:22:09 One of the things I've been thinking about a lot, especially lately,
00:22:10 --> 00:22:17 and I remember when things like Facebook first came out, and how much I think
00:22:17 --> 00:22:20 churches really want to get on Facebook.
00:22:22 --> 00:22:28 And it's funny how things have changed, especially, I would say,
00:22:28 --> 00:22:34 over the last five years, but from maybe where it was 10 or 15 years ago.
00:22:36 --> 00:22:42 Especially if you're trying to link to things. So if I'm saying here's this
00:22:42 --> 00:22:47 event, but linking to our church website, that doesn't, especially in the way
00:22:47 --> 00:22:50 that algorithms work now, doesn't work as much.
00:22:51 --> 00:22:58 So it seems like a lot of what you're having to do is kind of the thing about
00:22:58 --> 00:23:05 telling stories, telling things that maybe grab people in a way.
00:23:08 --> 00:23:12 In some ways now suited to that and you know that as
00:23:12 --> 00:23:15 much as i sometimes get a little annoyed by the the memification
00:23:15 --> 00:23:18 of social media that maybe memes are
00:23:18 --> 00:23:21 a way of of reaching out in some
00:23:21 --> 00:23:28 way and and reaching out in this way that you're talking about yeah yeah yeah
00:23:28 --> 00:23:33 i think um yes definitely all these social platforms have their their things
00:23:33 --> 00:23:39 that you want original they want original content from you so that, I mean, this we know is,
00:23:40 --> 00:23:44 I think I've been reading a lot about LinkedIn and how they definitely,
00:23:44 --> 00:23:49 instead of just linking to your blog posts, like they want something on their site.
00:23:49 --> 00:23:54 And so, yeah, I mean, what does it look like to kind of make some of those things work in that way?
00:23:54 --> 00:23:58 And obviously I think AI can be a great thought partner in that.
00:23:59 --> 00:24:04 I think there's all sorts of things you need to think about when it comes to
00:24:04 --> 00:24:11 AI and like the detriment that it or the weight that it puts on like infrastructure and,
00:24:13 --> 00:24:17 water use and all these kind of things like I think that has kind of changed
00:24:17 --> 00:24:21 a little bit about my initial super excitement about AI,
00:24:22 --> 00:24:29 but you know I mean you take your sermon and put the text into some kind of
00:24:29 --> 00:24:33 GPT and there are ones that are more.
00:24:35 --> 00:24:39 Like copyright protected, um, you know, so that you can just kind of use them
00:24:39 --> 00:24:41 internally with your content only.
00:24:42 --> 00:24:44 They won't take outside, uh, ideas.
00:24:44 --> 00:24:49 And so, um, I'm trying to think of one of them that I've heard of recently,
00:24:49 --> 00:24:53 but, um, you know, and then just ask it, Hey, could you think of some discussion
00:24:53 --> 00:24:55 questions, you know, from this?
00:24:55 --> 00:24:59 And then those could be things that you post as kind of more original content.
00:24:59 --> 00:25:01 Uh, but it's something you've already created.
00:25:01 --> 00:25:07 We do a lot of sermon clips, which I know this takes a little bit more effort,
00:25:07 --> 00:25:14 but as a pastor, you're already working so hard on this sermon.
00:25:15 --> 00:25:18 And oftentimes now everybody's recording, everybody's doing some kind of live streaming.
00:25:19 --> 00:25:23 You've at least got some of those capabilities. And so why not try to find some
00:25:23 --> 00:25:31 ways to expand the sermon and your audience by taking some 30, 45, 50,
00:25:32 --> 00:25:38 90-second clips from your sermon and posting those on social media as a way
00:25:38 --> 00:25:39 to kind of get some engagement.
00:25:40 --> 00:25:45 And in today's day and age, especially when YouTube is continuing to try to
00:25:45 --> 00:25:51 battle with TikTok to get more people engaged, we've seen great results from some churches today.
00:25:51 --> 00:25:58 Just posting on YouTube shorts and it gets, I mean, 1, 1 views,
00:25:58 --> 00:26:02 whereas content on Facebook might get, you know, a couple hundred if we're lucky
00:26:02 --> 00:26:04 with some of those things.
00:26:04 --> 00:26:11 So it's an interesting time to kind of be thinking through, you know,
00:26:11 --> 00:26:12 what platforms you want to use.
00:26:12 --> 00:26:17 And obviously, I know all of this, it takes time. It takes, you know,
00:26:17 --> 00:26:18 some knowledge of these things.
00:26:18 --> 00:26:21 Uh it takes the kind of just
00:26:21 --> 00:26:24 creativity that i think often can be hard when you're in
00:26:24 --> 00:26:28 the grind of the weekly uh church world and
00:26:28 --> 00:26:30 monster and so you know i i get that and
00:26:30 --> 00:26:34 i'm not saying any of this is easy there are definitely folks out
00:26:34 --> 00:26:37 there that do this kind of thing um like common
00:26:37 --> 00:26:40 good creative or uh like many others and some of them like
00:26:40 --> 00:26:43 just specifically for like um sermon clips
00:26:43 --> 00:26:46 and those kind of things you just upload your video or send them the youtube
00:26:46 --> 00:26:48 link and then they'll they'll grab those things and
00:26:48 --> 00:26:51 and for i mean relatively like i'm under 100 bucks
00:26:51 --> 00:26:57 a month uh some of these places do things like that and so an interesting way
00:26:57 --> 00:27:09 to kind of get some more traction out of um what you're doing already um but yeah yeah anyway so.
00:27:10 --> 00:27:14 I kind of answered some of your questions i think you did because i one of the
00:27:14 --> 00:27:22 things that i do both in my own preaching but also for the church that I work with outside of church,
00:27:23 --> 00:27:27 is I actually do make sermon clips,
00:27:28 --> 00:27:31 and those do get some traction.
00:27:33 --> 00:27:39 I think you have to kind of, at least for me, I'm great at getting the quote,
00:27:39 --> 00:27:43 but it's then how do you frame it in a way that will grab people's attention.
00:27:44 --> 00:27:47 Yeah, right. Right, right, right. And often, you know, I mean,
00:27:47 --> 00:27:52 you kind of got to lower yourself to the clickbait kind of, you know,
00:27:52 --> 00:27:55 titles to get that traction, which is,
00:27:55 --> 00:27:59 you know, it's a double-edged sword, I think, sometimes.
00:28:00 --> 00:28:06 But, you know, I think it's so important for progressive churches,
00:28:06 --> 00:28:11 for mainline churches to be, I mean, evangelical churches, non-denominational
00:28:11 --> 00:28:18 churches are using this kind of stuff and they're everywhere on social and on YouTube and TikTok.
00:28:18 --> 00:28:23 And so, like, we've got to, and with theology that sometimes it's okay,
00:28:23 --> 00:28:30 and sometimes I'll just say is maybe less than stellar, and sometimes toxic, if we're honest.
00:28:31 --> 00:28:34 I was going to use, I was trying to be more current and say sus,
00:28:34 --> 00:28:36 but yeah. Oh, yeah, there you go, right.
00:28:37 --> 00:28:40 I know, I have a three-and-a-half-year-old, so I'm not, and I'm not in student
00:28:40 --> 00:28:45 ministry anymore, so I'm not as cool as I like to at least pretend I used to be.
00:28:45 --> 00:28:48 I never was, but yeah. Yeah.
00:28:49 --> 00:28:55 Um, yeah, right. So, but the, you know, um, yeah.
00:28:55 --> 00:29:01 So being a progressive voice in those platforms, so important, so important.
00:29:02 --> 00:29:06 And I'm thankful for the ones that are there that are speaking out,
00:29:06 --> 00:29:10 uh, that are kind of sharing a different kind of view.
00:29:10 --> 00:29:14 Uh, but there's, there's room for more.
00:29:14 --> 00:29:20 So, you know, one of the things you also bring up in the article is maybe moving
00:29:20 --> 00:29:30 away as much from the digital realm into the actual physical realm is how churches welcome visitors.
00:29:32 --> 00:29:37 And you had an interesting thing of being, when you were living in the cities at Luther,
00:29:38 --> 00:29:43 of visiting several Lutheran congregations, several big Lutheran congregations,
00:29:43 --> 00:29:48 and not really connecting with people, but then you went to a kind of a church
00:29:48 --> 00:29:52 plant here in the cities, which is actually well-known,
00:29:53 --> 00:29:56 Mill City Church, and that you did connect.
00:29:57 --> 00:30:01 Could you kind of speak a little bit more about that? And what did you learn
00:30:01 --> 00:30:04 from that experience? And what can churches learn from that experience?
00:30:05 --> 00:30:10 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so we're thinking, you know, those three great needs
00:30:10 --> 00:30:12 of relationship service purpose.
00:30:12 --> 00:30:18 So on that relationship side of things, when I was now, I was very particular
00:30:18 --> 00:30:20 about the kind of church that I was going to go to.
00:30:20 --> 00:30:24 Because, you know, my growing up with my dad's church, I did not,
00:30:25 --> 00:30:27 I was not going to be in a place that was just organ and kind of robe and all
00:30:27 --> 00:30:31 those things that just wasn't, it works for some people, it wasn't going to work for me.
00:30:31 --> 00:30:38 And so, I was looking for particular things and went to a lot of well-known
00:30:38 --> 00:30:41 Lutheran and non-Lutheran churches that were,
00:30:42 --> 00:30:48 that had, you know, bands or there was preaching in series, they were doing some different things.
00:30:48 --> 00:30:51 And yeah, it was just, it was so fascinating that all of them and
00:30:51 --> 00:30:55 now I'm very like quiet reserved person when
00:30:55 --> 00:30:58 I don't have to be like in front of people and so
00:30:58 --> 00:31:01 like and I was going by myself at the time and so
00:31:01 --> 00:31:05 I just like kind of would sneak in to these churches and
00:31:05 --> 00:31:09 then I was able to just and you know I would get a hi there from somebody like
00:31:09 --> 00:31:13 passing out a bulletin but that was about it and then you know in the service
00:31:13 --> 00:31:18 it's very some of them would do some kind of like pass the piece but even then
00:31:18 --> 00:31:22 And that's just kind of a very transactional thing at most.
00:31:23 --> 00:31:26 And then I'd be able to slip right back out and nobody would stop.
00:31:26 --> 00:31:27 Nobody would say anything.
00:31:28 --> 00:31:32 And if this is, and you know, I know this is a challenge. This was a challenge
00:31:32 --> 00:31:37 that back in the early 2000s in my dad's church, we tried to,
00:31:37 --> 00:31:39 you know, my dad instituted this, like,
00:31:39 --> 00:31:43 take five to take five minutes to talk to someone you don't know before you're
00:31:43 --> 00:31:47 talking to somebody that you do after the service, because it's always been a challenge.
00:31:47 --> 00:31:49 Like, I mean, this is one of the reasons why the people that are coming to our
00:31:49 --> 00:31:52 churches are coming to our churches because they found some kind of community,
00:31:52 --> 00:31:55 some kind of connection, some kind of relationship.
00:31:55 --> 00:32:00 But I think the challenge for the church becomes, how do we keep that from just
00:32:00 --> 00:32:04 being this like cliquish country club kind of thing where it's just kind of
00:32:04 --> 00:32:07 for insiders and we're not doing anything for outsiders?
00:32:08 --> 00:32:10 And also obviously have to do it in such a way that
00:32:10 --> 00:32:15 you don't like freak out the new people that come because I would not want to
00:32:15 --> 00:32:19 like have somebody be like oh stand up and let's greet this new person like
00:32:19 --> 00:32:25 oh please don't do that ever anyone um or have like 50 people at the end like
00:32:25 --> 00:32:29 rush towards me and do this thing but what i loved what mill city did um,
00:32:30 --> 00:32:36 is they had a time, and I don't know if they still do this, but I connected
00:32:36 --> 00:32:37 with them on multiple levels.
00:32:37 --> 00:32:41 They were a church plant, okay, just like my church growing up.
00:32:41 --> 00:32:45 They met in a school, okay, just like my church growing up. They had a band.
00:32:45 --> 00:32:49 It was just very kind of informal, laid back, great community.
00:32:51 --> 00:32:57 But right before the sermon, I think, they had this time where like there were
00:32:57 --> 00:33:02 some questions that they put up on the screen and you just had a chance to like
00:33:02 --> 00:33:05 mingle with some people around you and answer these questions.
00:33:06 --> 00:33:12 And I know it can seem like that might seem like not what something an introvert wants to do,
00:33:12 --> 00:33:16 but it gives you at least some structure so that you're not just like shooting
00:33:16 --> 00:33:19 the breeze and like talking about something and you're like,
00:33:19 --> 00:33:21 well, I don't know what to talk about next.
00:33:21 --> 00:33:24 And so like they were easy questions.
00:33:24 --> 00:33:27 And sometimes they had some connection to the sermon, sometimes not.
00:33:29 --> 00:33:33 But I remember the first time that I went there, they had those questions.
00:33:33 --> 00:33:37 I answered them with the people around me.
00:33:37 --> 00:33:41 And then they kept the conversation going afterwards.
00:33:42 --> 00:33:46 And some of those people actually became some of the people in the city group
00:33:46 --> 00:33:50 that I started attending because of that, but I just, I never looked back and
00:33:50 --> 00:33:54 never went anyplace else after that experience there.
00:33:55 --> 00:33:58 So, it was just very intentional, you know, about finding those ways.
00:33:58 --> 00:34:05 And I often, in my own preaching, would put those questions in then at some
00:34:05 --> 00:34:07 point in the service and always with the disclaimer that I'm sorry,
00:34:08 --> 00:34:10 you know, introverts, you might not appreciate this, but,
00:34:11 --> 00:34:13 you might come to thank me at some point.
00:34:13 --> 00:34:18 So, yeah, just that, you know, and that intentionality, I think is just so,
00:34:18 --> 00:34:27 so helpful and give people the opportunity to be seen in a lighthearted, fun way.
00:34:29 --> 00:34:35 And yeah, just the opportunity to make a connection in some way that then can
00:34:35 --> 00:34:38 go on, you know, besides weather, this and that.
00:34:39 --> 00:34:43 And also kind of just hopefully trains with people a little bit that you're
00:34:43 --> 00:34:47 looking for some folks to talk to and those questions too.
00:34:48 --> 00:34:50 But yeah, thanks for bringing that up. Wonderful.
00:34:52 --> 00:34:57 Kind of going back to some of the stuff that's online, one of the questions,
00:34:58 --> 00:35:02 especially I think about this because the church that I'm at is a small church,
00:35:02 --> 00:35:07 so I'm usually one that does most of the social media stuff and all that,
00:35:08 --> 00:35:10 and of course I have some background to do that.
00:35:11 --> 00:35:15 Yeah. But, you know, and that's the case, I think, more and more with a lot
00:35:15 --> 00:35:18 of pastors is that they are in small churches.
00:35:19 --> 00:35:25 They don't necessarily have, you know, staff that's dedicated on that.
00:35:26 --> 00:35:33 How, what advice would you give them to try to do some of this stuff when,
00:35:33 --> 00:35:35 you know, it's basically on a shoestring budget?
00:35:37 --> 00:35:45 Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think Canva is a great place to start if you're willing
00:35:45 --> 00:35:50 to kind of just, well, to get super practical, like that's a great place to
00:35:50 --> 00:35:52 start because they've got a bunch of beautiful templates that you can use.
00:35:53 --> 00:35:59 And it's the team version of that is free for, with access to all of their clip
00:35:59 --> 00:36:03 art and all their videos and all their stock stuff is free for churches.
00:36:03 --> 00:36:08 If you can figure out kind of the application, the application process is a
00:36:08 --> 00:36:12 little annoying, but, But still worth it because you're getting free access.
00:36:13 --> 00:36:16 And then with your team, you could invite other people from the congregation
00:36:16 --> 00:36:21 to help and really kind of foolproofs a lot of kind of the design,
00:36:21 --> 00:36:24 gives you some great – there's templates for everything.
00:36:24 --> 00:36:27 And so you can look through and just find something that kind of strikes your
00:36:27 --> 00:36:31 fancy, looks good, and you can go ahead and use something like that.
00:36:31 --> 00:36:35 And we've got some nice integrations to be able to just publish right to social media.
00:36:35 --> 00:36:39 And so, you know, definitely makes it easier. Now it's still,
00:36:39 --> 00:36:40 you know, it's still work.
00:36:42 --> 00:36:46 But, you know, that I think is a is a helpful thing when we talked about with
00:36:46 --> 00:36:53 AI, when it comes to, you know, using that as kind of a thought partner help,
00:36:53 --> 00:36:55 you know, here are the three events that I've got coming up.
00:36:55 --> 00:36:59 Could you help me think about how to talk about these in an engaging way?
00:37:00 --> 00:37:04 You could even say, you know, that speak to one of these three things that we
00:37:04 --> 00:37:08 know are super important for people and it will spit something out.
00:37:08 --> 00:37:14 So, whatever you think of that, I mean, I just, I think, you know,
00:37:14 --> 00:37:19 there's the savings of time when it comes to,
00:37:19 --> 00:37:26 we know that, you know, as a, and I've done, I've worked in churches where I'm
00:37:26 --> 00:37:29 like a pastor that oversees some staff people,
00:37:29 --> 00:37:32 and I've got everybody to do all the other things.
00:37:32 --> 00:37:38 And I've worked as a church planter where it was me to do everything.
00:37:38 --> 00:37:43 And so, I mean, I get it that there's a lot to do.
00:37:43 --> 00:37:47 And even adding one more thing can just seem so overwhelming and taxing.
00:37:47 --> 00:37:52 And just the creativity, especially, I think, required with some of this just
00:37:52 --> 00:37:56 makes it hard. And so inviting someone else in, even if that someone is an AI
00:37:56 --> 00:38:00 tool, you know, I think there's something to be said for that.
00:38:01 --> 00:38:05 And so, you know, those are probably two things.
00:38:06 --> 00:38:11 There's a whole bunch of also services out there that, you know,
00:38:11 --> 00:38:18 you can even not doing like big custom stuff.
00:38:18 --> 00:38:22 But, you know, they've got libraries of information of, you know,
00:38:22 --> 00:38:27 graphics for series, for seasons, for different events in the church.
00:38:28 --> 00:38:33 And so those are just kind of some nice opportunities that you've got some things
00:38:33 --> 00:38:34 kind of already designed.
00:38:36 --> 00:38:39 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Of course.
00:38:40 --> 00:38:43 I was just going to ask with you because you kind of have highlighted this a
00:38:43 --> 00:38:47 few times is what role does AI have?
00:38:48 --> 00:38:49 In communications?
00:38:50 --> 00:38:54 Because I think it does have a kind of more and more of a role.
00:38:55 --> 00:39:00 I still personally need to try to know how to figure out chat GPT.
00:39:01 --> 00:39:07 I'm a little behind on that, but I do use it at times for things like images
00:39:07 --> 00:39:09 and things to that extent.
00:39:09 --> 00:39:12 But what is the role of AI?
00:39:13 --> 00:39:23 How can AI help in communicating with people and in kind of getting the message out?
00:39:25 --> 00:39:32 Right. Yeah. I appreciate, I don't know if you've tried this,
00:39:32 --> 00:39:34 but I was very interested.
00:39:34 --> 00:39:39 Back in the day, this was a couple of years ago when this was first coming out.
00:39:39 --> 00:39:42 I was like, ooh, I wonder what kind of sermon this thing can write.
00:39:42 --> 00:39:47 And so, I was like, you know, tell me, we were in like the church year of,
00:39:47 --> 00:39:54 was it Lent or pick like a very specific thing and we're celebrating baptism.
00:39:54 --> 00:40:00 So, tie in a baptism and this scripture passage and, you know, talk about X, Y, and Z.
00:40:00 --> 00:40:05 And, oh, no, you know, I just asked it to like explain the church calendar,
00:40:05 --> 00:40:09 like the seasons of the church and like why that matters.
00:40:09 --> 00:40:12 And I was kind of blown away by what I was like, oh, I mean,
00:40:12 --> 00:40:19 you know, it's kind of a little bland, but honestly, like, it got a lot of the main points, right?
00:40:20 --> 00:40:24 And uh so you know to to be
00:40:24 --> 00:40:26 a thought partner or like a conversation starter so that
00:40:26 --> 00:40:29 you you know that you've got to write a newsletter article about
00:40:29 --> 00:40:35 you know maybe it is about going into uh into pentecost and want to talk about
00:40:35 --> 00:40:38 churches in general or we're in advent we started the church calendar and you
00:40:38 --> 00:40:42 want to talk about that oh gosh but like where do i start and there's so many
00:40:42 --> 00:40:47 things and we you know we know all this out in our heads but um so that just i think.
00:40:49 --> 00:40:53 Using that as kind of a launch board to get started
00:40:53 --> 00:40:56 or help me think of some ideas for
00:40:56 --> 00:40:59 a fun name for this kids event
00:40:59 --> 00:41:02 that we're having or you know like you said i saw somebody
00:41:02 --> 00:41:06 the other day that like turned their pictures into uh like
00:41:06 --> 00:41:09 coloring pages for their kids like family photos but i
00:41:09 --> 00:41:11 mean you can do that with church stuff too like here's a you know picture of
00:41:11 --> 00:41:14 the church building or you know inside was communion set
00:41:14 --> 00:41:17 or something and like that was always an annoying thing when
00:41:17 --> 00:41:20 i was trying to figure out activities for kids like you
00:41:20 --> 00:41:24 know you know coloring things are good but like oh it's just dumb pictures
00:41:24 --> 00:41:26 that you can find and so like whoa here's the
00:41:26 --> 00:41:30 thing and it can turn it into it for you know something like customize
00:41:30 --> 00:41:33 my church but for free and again like
00:41:33 --> 00:41:39 i know there's i think some environmental uh and some um well yeah i'd say it's
00:41:39 --> 00:41:44 mostly environmental like certainly there's also the like theoretical philosophical
00:41:44 --> 00:41:49 challenges of ai with how much thinking are we doing how much are we letting
00:41:49 --> 00:41:52 this kind of like dilute maybe the,
00:41:53 --> 00:41:58 the unique perspective that I have or that I could bring or that you know you could bring,
00:42:00 --> 00:42:05 so I you know I think there's those things to think about too but I at the same
00:42:05 --> 00:42:10 time why not leverage it for the I'm sure somebody said that about the printing press too.
00:42:13 --> 00:42:14 So yeah,
00:42:16 --> 00:42:22 Well, if people want to know more about you or even contact Common Good, where should they go?
00:42:22 --> 00:42:26 And are there any other places that they should be looking at for if they're
00:42:26 --> 00:42:28 kind of doing this on their own that they should go to?
00:42:29 --> 00:42:33 Yeah, yeah, yeah. So one thing I was going to mention, now this is one of my
00:42:33 --> 00:42:39 clients, but I also – this is my first client, and I'm very appreciative to
00:42:39 --> 00:42:40 them and the work that they do.
00:42:40 --> 00:42:45 So, Church Anew, which is where the blog post that I wrote was based on.
00:42:45 --> 00:42:48 They've got a blog, but they also have a bunch of great church resources.
00:42:48 --> 00:42:53 And a lot of it, we call them to-go resources. So, they're all kind of bundled together.
00:42:53 --> 00:42:59 It's sermon prompts, it's graphics, and we create the graphics for worship.
00:42:59 --> 00:43:04 And also, then we give you social media ideas to go along with, like, the whole series.
00:43:04 --> 00:43:08 And some of them are series, some of them are lectionary-based CYF resources.
00:43:08 --> 00:43:12 So, it's kind of a, you can use whatever you want of it, don't have to use it
00:43:12 --> 00:43:17 all, but a great resource for some of those. Now, it's very limited.
00:43:17 --> 00:43:20 We've only been doing this, you know, you do like Lent and Advent,
00:43:20 --> 00:43:22 and we've got a few summer things, some stewardship ones.
00:43:23 --> 00:43:26 It's not going to cover the whole of the church year.
00:43:26 --> 00:43:29 Um we were actually just in my
00:43:29 --> 00:43:33 uh employee kyle and i are talking about doing something
00:43:33 --> 00:43:37 like that and offering uh some kind of you know social media package that uh
00:43:37 --> 00:43:42 offers all those different kind of church calendar year because i think especially
00:43:42 --> 00:43:47 in the the kind of lutheran or the mainline circles lectionary based circles
00:43:47 --> 00:43:50 like not as used to some of those things um.
00:43:51 --> 00:43:55 Or we don't need like super bloody crosses for Lent or some,
00:43:55 --> 00:43:59 you know, I don't know, but like some evangelical churches like to do.
00:43:59 --> 00:44:02 But yeah, so that's a great resource.
00:44:02 --> 00:44:08 I love Pro Church Tools and Brady Shearer does a lot of great stuff.
00:44:08 --> 00:44:11 And there's just more like kind of good thought ideas.
00:44:11 --> 00:44:13 And some of them are very practical when it comes to like getting some good
00:44:13 --> 00:44:17 pictures of your and here's some settings, even for your iPhone,
00:44:18 --> 00:44:20 just to capture some quality.
00:44:22 --> 00:44:25 Photos and video that you could then put on your website or using social media.
00:44:26 --> 00:44:29 He's just got a bunch of great creative tips like that.
00:44:29 --> 00:44:35 And often with like small churches in mind, they also talk about some,
00:44:35 --> 00:44:38 you know, big things that are kind of crazy and expensive and whatnot.
00:44:39 --> 00:44:44 But but then, yeah, commongoodcreative.org would love to connect with anybody.
00:44:45 --> 00:44:50 You search on social media and Instagram, Facebook, I think you'd be able to find me to Josh Linman.
00:44:51 --> 00:44:52 I think I'm the only one. I don't know.
00:44:54 --> 00:44:57 But yeah, we are very excited.
00:44:58 --> 00:45:02 We've got churches of all sizes that we work with, and some we just do social
00:45:02 --> 00:45:08 stuff. Some we help with their entire communications and do it on kind of a
00:45:08 --> 00:45:11 fractional and on a scale basis, depending on how much they need.
00:45:11 --> 00:45:16 So, we've got kind of different packages for that. Because we understand that
00:45:16 --> 00:45:19 you want high quality communication,
00:45:19 --> 00:45:23 but often don't have the ability to pay a full-time person for that,
00:45:23 --> 00:45:27 or even like a, you know, 20 hour a week person for that. And it's hard to find those folks.
00:45:28 --> 00:45:34 So we wanted to step in there and help out. So yeah, be happy to talk further.
00:45:35 --> 00:45:39 Well, Josh, thank you so much for taking the time to chat. Hopefully we can
00:45:39 --> 00:45:41 talk a little bit more sometime in the future.
00:45:42 --> 00:45:45 For sure. We'd love to connect and yeah, excited about what you're doing here
00:45:45 --> 00:45:48 and yeah, best of luck to you. All right.
00:45:49 --> 00:46:18 Music.
00:46:18 --> 00:46:20 So I want to thank Josh for taking the time to chat with me.
00:46:21 --> 00:46:28 I hope that this was a helpful episode for those of you who deal with communications
00:46:28 --> 00:46:30 in the local congregation.
00:46:32 --> 00:46:36 If you have thoughts that you'd like to share, feel free to do so.
00:46:37 --> 00:46:43 You can send me an email at churchandmain at substack.com.
00:46:43 --> 00:46:47 And you can find that email in the show notes.
00:46:48 --> 00:46:51 I will also include links to an article he wrote for Church Anew.
00:46:53 --> 00:46:59 That's actually how he got on the podcast. And then also links to Common Good Creative, his firm.
00:47:00 --> 00:47:05 If you want to learn more about this podcast, listen to past episodes,
00:47:05 --> 00:47:08 or donate, go to churchandmain.org.
00:47:08 --> 00:47:14 If you'd like to read articles that are related to some of what I've written
00:47:14 --> 00:47:19 or just even what's going on in the world today, check out my substack.
00:47:19 --> 00:47:25 That's churchandmain.substack.com to read related articles.
00:47:25 --> 00:47:29 The latest one that I have up there is actually a repeat. It's something I wrote
00:47:29 --> 00:47:37 way back in 2018 on my WordPress site, and it's called No, It's Not Going to Get Better.
00:47:37 --> 00:47:39 Um it's kind of the role of
00:47:39 --> 00:47:43 lament in society um and
00:47:43 --> 00:47:46 the funny thing is how much things have not changed since
00:47:46 --> 00:47:50 i wrote that uh past that article um
00:47:50 --> 00:47:58 some seven years ago and um it's an interesting take it starts off with my watching
00:47:58 --> 00:48:06 a clip of the uh 1983 uh made for tv movie the day after and basically have
00:48:06 --> 00:48:10 that interfered with my sleeping schedule for probably the next week or so.
00:48:12 --> 00:48:16 But it's hopefully give it a read and there are other articles that are available
00:48:16 --> 00:48:18 for you to look at there as well.
00:48:20 --> 00:48:20 Also.
00:48:22 --> 00:48:27 As I said, feel free to make a donation. There are links in the show notes.
00:48:27 --> 00:48:31 And then also consider joining our email list.
00:48:31 --> 00:48:37 Speaking of social media, I don't promote as much on social media as I used to.
00:48:38 --> 00:48:41 Just because it just hasn't really been in the cards as much.
00:48:41 --> 00:48:51 People don't look as much for podcasts via social media.
00:48:51 --> 00:48:56 But I do have a social media page and there is a link and you I would love to
00:48:56 --> 00:48:58 have you join that. That would be great.
00:48:59 --> 00:49:06 But if you'd like to have your article, have the article show up right away, join my email list.
00:49:07 --> 00:49:09 And the link, again, is in the show notes.
00:49:11 --> 00:49:15 One programming note to be aware of is that the August schedule is going to
00:49:15 --> 00:49:16 be a little bit interesting.
00:49:17 --> 00:49:23 Mid-August I will probably be on vacation so especially the week of.
00:49:25 --> 00:49:27 These are usually coming out on Friday so I think it's the
00:49:27 --> 00:49:36 week of the 14th 15th so I may that one might be coming out earlier and then
00:49:36 --> 00:49:42 I'm pretty sure that following two weeks I decided I will not be posting new
00:49:42 --> 00:49:46 episodes just to take a break and then get back into it in September.
00:49:47 --> 00:49:51 Um, so I might actually be doubling up on some episodes in the next few weeks
00:49:51 --> 00:49:57 just to let you know, um, or not, we'll see, but just to let you know that the
00:49:57 --> 00:49:59 August schedule will be a little bit different.
00:50:00 --> 00:50:05 Um, and I know I've been sometimes saying in the past that things are changing and then they don't.
00:50:05 --> 00:50:11 Um, but I do think that this time, um, I do want to try to be intentional about
00:50:11 --> 00:50:15 taking kind of a mini Sabbath from the podcast.
00:50:15 --> 00:50:22 So kind of the last two weeks in August, there won't be any new episodes,
00:50:22 --> 00:50:25 and then we'll get right back at it after Labor Day.
00:50:25 --> 00:50:27 So just to let you know about that.
00:50:28 --> 00:50:33 One final thing is to remember to rate and review this episode.
00:50:33 --> 00:50:37 You can do that on your favorite podcast app. I also hope that you consider
00:50:37 --> 00:50:41 of subscribing to this podcast on your favorite podcast app.
00:50:41 --> 00:50:46 When you do that, when you rate a review, that does actually help people find
00:50:46 --> 00:50:50 Church in Maine a lot easier. So I do hope that you will consider doing that.
00:50:50 --> 00:50:53 And then finally, pass this along to people that you know, family,
00:50:53 --> 00:50:55 friends, who might be interested.
00:50:57 --> 00:51:00 So that is it for this episode of Church in Maine.
00:51:00 --> 00:51:04 I'm Dennis Sanders, your host. As I always like to say, thank you so much for listening.
00:51:05 --> 00:51:09 Take care, everyone. Godspeed, and I will see you very soon.
00:51:10 --> 00:51:38 Music.