Archive for the 'Technology' Category

Summer Club Giveaway

Same action brings same results… I’ve found out these past 53 years on the earth you can’t keep doing things the same way you have always done them and get different results. For the last 12+ years I have been teaching a monthly audio leadership lesson that I call the children’s ministers leadership club or theClub for short. Every workshop, book chapter, magazine article and blog post I do has come from a club lesson. TheClub has been a blessing to me and the lifeblood of income and support for JWM. They have also blessed a lot of leaders. In January I made the Young Guns Program available to CM Leaders under 30 so they could get theClub lessons free. I’ve had a great response. But I feel led to do something crazy over the next 3 months I’m going to give my June, July, and August club lessons away free to anyone of any age who signs up for my newsletter on jimwideman.com. Call me crazy, call me generous, call me a nice middle age gentleman who looks a little like the guy on the chicken bucket. Hurry and sign up before June 15th so you won’t miss a single lesson. I’m excited to see the growth that will happen when you dare to expand how you think about leadership.

Now…”that’s the way I see it!”

Getting clicks for free

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One of my favorite thinkers about marketing is Seth Godin. He’s written a new (and free) ebook about getting traffic to your website or blog. He points out in this book that there’s an enormous amount of superstition about what makes some pages rank high while others languish.

Seth says that the secret is to have content that is updated, unique and useful. Sites that do all three manage to get more than their fair share of traffic. Question: How’s the content on your church website? Your kids ministry website?

Click here to start downloading the PDF (1.1 MB). It’s free to read and share, and it’s.

MySpace, Facebook, and Bebo- Oh My!

So, you may have heard about MySpace.  Or Facebook.  Or Bebo.  Or Friendster.  Or Spaces.  Or Blogger.  And on, and on, and on the list could go.  All of these sites fall under the title “social networking”.

We’re interested in seeing who among you uses these services.  So let’s take a little poll (if you use more than one, let us know in the comments):

What, if any, social networking sites do you use (personally or for ministry)?
View Results

 

Many within the church today have chosen to totally shun social networking all together because it is “unsafe”.  While that is a real possiblity (see this recent story), the truth is that culture is adopting these sites and bringing a new level of openness to the world.  And while we as the church are sitting back, the world is moving on and the kids in our ministries don’t know how to use these sites safely.

Continue reading ‘MySpace, Facebook, and Bebo- Oh My!’

Wow. That’s what I said.

I love Tiger Direct. If you’ve ever been to one of my technology seminars, you’ve heard me drop their name. They are having a 72-hour sale where you can get a 1500 lumen video projector, a mounting bracket, and an 80 inch screen for $399. There’s no excuse for not having a video projector in kid’s church anymore.

The sale ends 10/19. You better call a special board meeting at church and get out the checkbook!

The Way We See It Mac Dashboard Widget

Have a Macintosh? Have Mac OS X version 10.4? Then this is for you! The Way We See It is proud to announce version 1.0 of our Mac Dashboard widget. It won’t run on Windows yet (working on it!), but for the time being we are only offering a Mac version. It will download the latest posts from The Way We See It, and present them for reading. On the back of the widget (accessible by clicking the small letter i at the bottom-right of the widget), you can adjust article length.

Installation:
1. Download the widget below.
2. Unzip the file by double-clicking.
3. Install the widget in Dashboard by double clicking the wwsi_rss file. In the pop-up window, click “Install”.
4. When the Dashboard loads, click accept to keep the widget on your Dashboard.
5. There is no step 5.

Download
wwsi_rss.zip (604 KB)

Any questions? Leave a comment on this post. Limited support is available. Enjoy!

Jim’s big news

After 30 years of serving on staff in the local church, 17 of those at the greatest church in the world (Church On The Move) under the greatest pastor in the world (Pastor Willie George) I am going full time with Jim Wideman Ministries. That’s right, you read correctly. My pastor is in agreement with this and I have his blessing. I’ll still base out of Tulsa and my family and I will still attend COTM. I believe this is God’s plan for my life and that I have a mandate from God to help other churches go to their next level of ministry. How am I going to do this? In 3 main ways:

1. Consulting- I’ve had the privilege of being exposed to every area of ministry in a local church in addition to leading one of America’s leading children’s ministries. I’m available for on-site consulting in any area you need help. Whether you want me to come in once or once a month, I want to help you gear up for growth and excellence. Special rates are available for multiple visits. If you need another perspective put me on your staff as a part-time employee.

2. Conferences & Training- I’m available to hold a Children’s Ministry Conference at your church as well as seminars on Time Management, Volunteer Recruiting, Leadership & Parenting.

3. Speaking at churches & conferences- Need a guest to challenge people to get involved, or to teach on the importance of children & the family. I’m available.

Contact me today at brojim@jimwideman.com or give my assistant Sheila a call @ (918) 477-2268 ext. 1. I’m now booking for the rest of 2007 & 2008 and I’d love to help you and your church.

Excited about the future,
Bro. Jim