Memory Cross Inc.

October is Pastor appreciation month.  I know our pastors work hard and are many times feel unappreciated.  For years my wife was in Christian education.  It was long hours, rewarding, but also frustrating.  We’d get calls at all kinds of crazy hours from people wanting something.   After she left an opportunity came up to go back into it and I strongly urged her to stay as a volunteer.  To balance it out there were lots of rewards also.

Everyone wants to know that they are appreciated so in October make sure you let your pastor and church staff know.  I found a blog that lists 10 things you can do for your pastor and church staff.  I hope you enjoy it.

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Trunk or Treat – What is it?

Trunk or Treat is a alternative Halloween celebration that was started by churches.  The parking lot is turned into a mini festival with people decorating their cars and handing out candy from their trunks.  The idea was to provide a safe, fun way for kids to participate in Halloween.  From the early days it has expanded.  Many churches now make it a community outreach providing free food, games, trail rides and lots of fun.

It has also become a great way for the church to connect with the community.  In many communities neighbors don’t know each other and so are hesitant to send their children out to trick or treat, so trunk-or-treats hosted by churches and some communities have become a good alternative.  Most churches also provide other things for the kids to do, which adds to the appeal.

Setting up a trunk-or-treat at your church is pretty simple but requires some advanced planning.  First, think about who you want to reach.  Do you primarily want to serve your church or do you want to reach out to your community as well.  If you are doing it mostly for the church a few posts in the church bulletin and newsletter, along with flyers going home to the kids should be enough.  If you want to reach out to your community, which I hope you will, here are a few tips.

How to promote your trunk or treat event.

• Spread the word about your trunk-or-treat in the community.
• Create flyers and distribute through your community.  If you have a day care or after school care, send flyers home with the kids.
• Create Posters and put up in restaurants and other public places around your church
• Post it online in local community forums
• Post it on your church’s Facebook page (multiple times).  Ask members to repost
• Run an announcement in Craig’s List
• Put it in your local paper
• Send it into your TV and radio stations and ask them to announce it.
• Send out a press release to your local paper
• If your church has set up their Google Places page, add an announcement there.  If they have not set up their Places page, get someone to do it soon.  It is a great way to get visitors to your church.  There is information on GrowingChurches.net on how to do this.
• Place it on iTickets.com.

When the children arrive set up a welcome area that explains what is going on and any costs if there are any.  You should have information about your church and other activities ready to give to them.  If you want to hand out something that has been professionally designed or printed, give us a call or check out our printing resource page at Memory Cross.

Many churches also have a sign up sheet that says something like this: “If you would like to know about other events going on at our church fill in your information.”  Ask for their Name, phone number, address and email.  That way you can contact them by phone, mail and email.  This is a great way to connect with the community and you will certainly see your church grow as a result of this event and other similar outreach programs.

I wanted to let you know that Memory Cross has created some creative tracts for Halloween that tell children about God’s love.

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Tags: Christian Halloween, Trunk or Treat

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Last week was Vacation Bible School at our church.  It was an awesome time.  We had 250 kids and 120 youth and adult volunteers.  There were lots of moments where I saw God working.  I tried to write down the most moving experiences.  One of my favorite ones was done by our drama team.  It was the story of Peter denying Christ.  At the end of the skit we talked about how we all have turned away from following God.  All the kids were instructed to turn around and face away from the cross.  Then the leaders touched the children one by one and said Jesus loves you, you are forgiven.  The children then turned around to face the cross.  It was a very moving moment.

Another great teaching moment was during snack time.  We were asked to look at the person next to us and then close our eyes.  The question that was asked?  “Was that person still next to you?  How do you know?”  We used the answers to talk about our relationship with God.

What were some of your favorite experiences from VBS this year?

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Tags: Crafts for VBS, Vacation Bible School, VBS

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One of the radio stations I listen to is K-Love. They encourage listeners to make a difference in people’s lives every Monday, so I thought I would put together some simple ways we can have an impact in the lives of people around us.

• Slow down and listen to another person. In America we have gotten so busy that we go through the day with little meaningful conversation. You can make a difference by just slowing down and listening to people.

• Visit a nursing home. Organize a small group from your church and show up just to visit. If you have a few members start with them but expand out. If you have kids bring them. The children and seniors will love it.

• Buy the person behind you in the drive through their meal and ask the cashier to give them a card explaining why you did it. If you think it won’t make a difference watch this video.

 
• When you go out to eat, write a note to the server telling them that you appreciate their service. There are so few people who do it that your act will be noticed.

• Pray and be open. Remember the last car you bought? Before you thought about buying it you probably never noticed this make, but now that you own one you are amazed at how many are out on the road. Were they on the road before? Yes, but you never noticed them. It is the same thing with opportunities to serve God. If our eyes are open we’ll see opportunities.

There are lots of other great ways touch someone’s life. Let me know what you are doing.  Memory Cross has created a number of tracts, Scripture cards and coloring cards for crafts that can be used to share the Gospel.

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Tags: coloring craft cards, Memory Cross, Scripture cards, tracts

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God created the heavens and the earth, all the plants, animals and you and I.  Wow!  Talk about a big undertaking.  Just the creativity He had, so many millions of stars, so many different kinds of animals and flowers and birds and people.  He did it all so he could show love to us, so that we could marvel at His creation.  As Christian parents and educators we have the joy and responsibility to help our children understand God’s love.  One of the ways we can do that is by passing on the stories found in the Bible, the first of which is the creation story.

In chapter one God creates everything we see today, the heavens, earth, stars, sun, moon, animals, fish and man.  At the end of chapter one he looks over everything he has made and says “It was very good”.  In chapter one God says “it was good” six times and “it was very good” one time.  When we are teaching children about the creation story we need to help children understand that God created a amazing world for us to enjoy and that this is just the beginning of the blessings he has for us.

At Memory Cross we have created a origami style card that helps you teach your children the creation story.  The first panel covers Genesis 1: 1-13 where God creates the heavens and the earth.  Panel 2 is about Genesis 1:14-19 where it talks about God creating the moon, stars, sun and sky.  Panel 3 covers Genesis 1:20-25 where God creates the animals, birds and fishes.  The final panel talks about Genesis 1:26-31 where God created man and women.

The coloring card has four panels that make a never ending loop. Children enjoy coloring and playing with the card over and over again and it is a good way to help children remember the creation story.

I came across a creation video that I’d like to share on this site.

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And then he told them (us), “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.” Mark 16:15.

Wow. The implications of that scare and motivate me. Scare because I don’t think I or my church are doing everything we can to touch people locally, never mind the whole world. If we really let this passage motivate us would the whole church not be coming up with ways to touch our community?

Motivated because there are so many new ways to share God’s love that never existed since the creation of the world. Facebook, Google and the web did not exist a few short years ago. Now with a click of a mouse we can communicate with hundreds or even thousands of people instantly.

I could write about all the ways we can touch people but without passion that causes me to act I’m only wasting time. Can you imagine what an impact you and I could have if we shared God’s love with one person today. If all Christians did that on one day we’d reach most of the people living in the U.S.A. What if we did it every day?

There is a video that I would like for you to watch. It is a story about how one person bought a meal for someone behind them at a drive through. That one act changed lives. If you have the money is that hard to do?   After you watch the video check out Memory Cross.  We have resources that will help you share the Gospel.

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For most churches Vacation Bible School is the largest outreach of the year.  To make yours as effective as possible try these tips to get the word out.

• Cross promote.  Do you have a daycare or after care program?  Make sure they know about your VBS.  If you have other events going on at the church, pass out flyers.

• Announce it at church and in your newsletters multiple times. This may seem obvious but if your church has visitors or a lot going on, visitors and members will miss information about your VBS

• Post it on Facebook and encourage members to pass it on.  If your church as a facebook page post it there. If they don’t post it on your personal page.   You want to create several announcements.  One might be a general announcement, the second one about a special activity and the third about sports.  The reason for having multiple announcements is that not all of your friends are going to see each announcement so if you craft three you will catch a lot more people. Ask church members to share the post. This expands your reach exponentially. If your church has 100 friends the post can be seen by 100 people plus friends who visit your members pages. If just 10 of your members repost and they have 100 people the message is now seen by 1,000 people.  If you would like to set up a facebook page we’ve put instructions on our Growing Churches site.

• Put up posters around church and in the community.

• Create flyers an have members pass them out in their neighborhoods. Encourage members to knock on doors and tell people about your VBS. It is far more effective than just leaving a flyer.

• Print up some business cards with info on your VBS and ask members to hand them out to people who might be interested.

• If your church has claimed their Google Places page post info about VBS. Be sure to use the term Vacation Bible School as well as VBS. There were 518,000 people who searched for VBS and Vacation Bible School last month.   Be sure to also include the name of the literature you are using on your Places page.

• Put ads in the local paper and community papers.

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If you have not heard the story of Susan Guy and Jean Wilson here it is.

Jean Wilson has eaten pizza daily for the past three years.

“We make her pizza every day before she even calls, because we know she’s going to call,” delivery driver Susan Guy said.

Guy often delivers Wilson’s regular order, one large pepperoni pizza, but recently workers at her restaurant noticed an unusual break in the pattern.

“She hadn’t called in three days,” Guy said. “My boss told me about it today.”

Guy insisted to her boss that she be allowed to check on Wilson.

“He was like, ‘Naw, you don’t have to do that,’ and I said, ‘Yeah I do.  Clock me out if that’s what you gotta do,’” Guy said.

Guy drove to Wilson’s house and knocked on her door, but no one answered.  Then, she banged on Wilson’s windows, but there was still no response. Running out of options, Wilson ran to neighbor Larry Comeaux’s house for help.

“The pizza lady came over and knocked on the door wanting to know if I’d seen the lady across the street,” Comeaux said.

“And he said, ‘No, maybe she’s not home,’” Guy said. “And I said, ‘Well, not home?’ I said, ‘How many times have you see her leave?’ And he goes, ‘Never.’”

Guy quickly called 911.  When police arrived, they broke down the door to Wilson’s home, and found her lying on a floor inside.

They soon learned that Wilson had fallen on Saturday, and couldn’t get over to a telephone to call for help.  Investigators said it’s possible that her pizza-only diet may have saved her life.  Here is a link to the full story.

As a result of Susan’s actions she has gained national attention.  Her actions saved Jean’s life.  That made me think about all the times we have an opportunity to touch someone’s life.  Maybe we’ll never physically save someone, but God wants to use us every day to touch someone’s life.  You may never get national publicity, but today we all have the opportunity to touch another life.  Here is one of my favorite videos about a simple act that made a life changing experience.

One Simple Act

Memory Cross provides a number of resources that you can use to touch someone’s life.  Visit us at Memory Cross.com

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Most churches in the United States are facing declining membership, but the message is still as relevant as in the past. So what’s changed? The message is getting lost in all the clutter. If you are a pastor or church worker, you probably did not receive any training in marketing. Even if you did so much has changed in the last few years that much of the information is no longer current.

So the Tips for increasing your church membership in 2011:

• List your church on Google Places. It is an online Yellow Pages developed by Google. When someone searches for a church, Google displays its Places page in the search results. Last month 17 million people typed in “church, find a church, church home, Methodist Church, Baptist church, etc.” If your church is not showing up, then visitors are going somewhere else.
• Make up or buy some cards that invite people to your church and hand them out to every member. Ask them to go out and perform random acts of kindness and give out the cards. The cards should include the name, phone number, address and website of your church. Memory Cross has developed some very unique ones or you can create your own. If each of your members can touch three people a year, think what an impact that would make to your community and your church.
• Get a list of people in the neighborhoods around your church and reach out to them at least 3-4 times a year. Postcards are a great tool because they are inexpensive and people have to see them, at least for a second. When you buy the list, make sure you can use it multiple times.
• Create door hangers or flyers and give them to members to hand out in their neighborhood. If your members are willing to knock on doors, hand out the flyer and invite people to a church event, that will give you the best results. The flyer should let people know about upcoming events or services that you have going on.
• Hold a free community event. It can be anything from a car wash to a concert to handing out bottles of water on a hot summer day. Do not accept any donations. Instead hand out a card with your church information on it.
• Start using email marketing and ask for the names and email address of all visitors. This will provide you a second way to connect with them.
• Set up a system where you connect visitors with someone in your church as soon as possible. Too many people come one time; and if they don’t feel connected to the church, they may not return. Even a phone call to thank them for visiting is a great way to open up conversation.
• Form a group that is committed to praying for people in your community. Meet on a regular basis and encourage them to write down any outreach ideas they come up with.

If you take action on these eight steps, you will find new visitors coming to your church and people’s lives being changed.

I have put together a new site to help churches use new and traditional media to reach out to their community. The website is: http://www.GrowingChurches.net.

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Tags: Christian Outreach, church growth, church outreach, Evangelism

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Most churches in the United States are facing declining membership, yet 17 million searches were done by people looking for a local church last month.  What did they search for?  Churches, find a church, church home, Baptist church, Methodist church, the list goes on.  What they usually find is an unclaimed Google Places page that only listed the name and phone number of the church.

What is Google Places? It is an online directory that lists businesses in each country.  Think of it as an online Yellow Pages.  There are a number of directories, but since most people use Google, their directory is the best place start listing your church.  When someone searches for a church in a particular city, Google shows up the results it has stored in its Places database.

Having an unclaimed Google Places page is like locking the doors on Sunday mornings.  People coming to the church whether physically or virtually are looking for information.  If a church has not claimed its Google Places page it looks like it is closed and the searcher will go onto another church.  The good news is that it is easy to claim and set up a Place page and once you do Google will provide all kinds of useful information that a church can use.  Information like how many people saw their listing, went to the website, clicked on the maps page, got driving directions, watched a video and search keywords.

Is it worth the effort for a church to set up their Places page? Here is some information from Covenant Church United Methodist in High Point, NC.  In one month 502 people saw their Google Places page, 73 clicked on their website, 19 clicked on maps to find out where the church was located and 8 asked for driving directions.  That is pretty powerful.  If you take a conservative number and say the only people who showed up were the 27 who got directions then that is 324 visitors per year.  Not bad for a church with a membership of 1,000.  Google is not the only directory sending potential visitors either.

Listing your church on Google Places is free.  We have created a website that gives step by step instructions plus tips on how to get your church to the top of Google’s Places page.  The site is GrowingChurches.net.

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