We’ve looked at ways to minister to people through Facebook in this series,  focusing on your donor team, your friends, and your family.  However, you may also have a larger influence through your church or ministry to consider.

For a comprehensive look at how to use various technologies in a ministry, I recommend learning from Chico State’s campus ministry.   Their “before” approach was a start, but what they are doing now really uses the technologies to their best advantage.  Read more…

Also, check out the Media for Ministry posts about Facebook ministry including:

• why you need to be on Facebook for ministry (either personally or as a team)
• lots of tips about using Events, Groups, and Fan Pages
• using polls to ask questions
• and more (Follow this link if you want more of their tips outside of Facebook).

I’m writing less on this post so you’ll have time to explore these suggestions from other Campus Crusade for Christ staff.

What elements are you already using in your ministry?  What would you lik...

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In Part One, we looked at using Facebook as a communication tool to minister to others.  In Part Two, we’ll  look at Facebook Groups and Fan Pages to enhance your personal ministry.  Please share your ideas, too!

You should know the difference between Facebook Groups and Fan Pages before choosing which format to use for what type of ministry.  Watch this video by Brian for a practical explanation.

Now, what do you want to do? Share prayer requests with your donor team?  So… create a Facebook Group and invite those who are interested to join your prayer team.  (Feel free to look at our prayer team group). Decide what settings you prefer for your group, especially if you would like the group to be open, closed, or secret.  You also decide if you want your group members to share their photos and videos.  When you update the group page with a prayer request, your post will send a message to the inbox of your members.  You can also send a prayer request to the group (using “message all members”) if you...

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Chances are, you use Facebook as a communication tool, but let’s also explore other ways you could use Facebook.

Don’t get me wrong, enhancing communication is great just by itself.  I’ve used Facebook for connecting more  with extended family and with our donor team, for networking, and for pre-evangelism and evangelism.  You may prefer to just use Facebook to keep in touch with close friends, but prayerfully consider at least adding your donor team to your Facebook friend list.

Recently, one of our top donors, and a good friend, mentioned something on Facebook.  I sent her a message and learned she needed prayer to get through the day emotionally.  I wouldn’t have known without seeing her post in my Facebook feed.  I had a similar opportunity a year ago with a nephew who mentioned something with a spiritual undertone.  Responding to his comment was part of a natural eConversation instead of my trying to “bring up the subject” of spiritual things.

Last year, I noticed one of my kids’ former high s...

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Once you’ve started your blog, you want to find readers. If you are anything like I was a few months ago, you have no idea how to let others know about your blog. Here are the best 5 ways I found to advertise your blog so others can read your material.

1. Send out alerts on facebook, twitter, google buzz, or any other social networking site. Simply let others know you have a new blog entry.

2. Find blogs that discuss similar subjects, and comment on these blogs. You can leave a link to your blog so if readers are interested, they can come visit your blog.

3. Make it easy for readers to “subscribe” to your blog. I use feedburner.com. From here, you can set up email registration and RSS feed sign ups for people to easily click to receive automatic updates whenever you post something new.

4. Try posting your blog in the local newspaper on the community blogs page. You can email the editor of your town’s newspaper and see if they want to include your blog.

5. Word of mouth.

What would you add? W...

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Physically starting a blog is the easy part.  You use a free blogging website like wordpress or blogger, and you follow the simple directions.  You’ll choose a look for your blog (colors, layout, font), you can put in pictures or video (upload files), and you can write whatever you want (posting).  The first time I tried to write a blog, I just followed the directions and used the help key if I needed to.

But What Would I Blog About?

Here are some questions that might direct you to the perfect blogging idea for you:

1.  Am I an expert in anything that allows me to offer advice and insight for others?  (Gardening, cooking, cleaning, public speaking, travel, parenting, exercise)

2.  What topic do I usually talk the most about?

3.  What issues concern me or excite me the most?

4.  Do I have a unique story that could inspire others?

5.  What type of people do I care most about?  What issue does this group care about?

6.  What motivates me to blog?  Do I want to inform?  Do I want to inspire?

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