Effective Church Communications

Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and Biblical Inspiration to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission

Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and Biblical Inspiration to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission.

We could all use good news now and here is the best news—all about salvation in Jesus

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Good news is found in Jesus
When so much of the world is filled with bad news, there is good news to be found in Jesus. Check it out and be encouraged!

Pandemic, crazy weather, racial injustice, and political turmoil—wherever we turn, bad news fills our world. There is one place the news is good—in the good news about Jesus. Many call this the gospel.

There are two reasons why it’s essential to explore the gospel now. First, for those of us familiar with the gospel, we do well to remember what great news that is, no matter what else is going on. And for those who aren’t familiar with it, this news has implications for you far beyond the hysterical headlines that currently fill your news feeds. The gospel is good news, the best news ever.

Why the gospel is GOOD NEWS

Good news. That is the dictionary definition of the term gospel. The question to answer next is, of course, “What is the good news?” or “Good news about what?”

The best answer to that question is in the Bible, where John 3:16 tells us that: “God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

The good news is that God didn’t sit up in heaven, watching humanity make a mess of their lives and their world. He did something about it with extraordinarily important implications for people both now and eternity. To explore the good news in more detail, let’s look at our situation and what God did for us.

Without God, making a mess of our lives is pretty much what we do.

It doesn’t take unique insight to know our world is a mess right now. But now, let’s look away from the world. [Read more...]

The PERFECT VACATION—FREE Instagram and other media–and an encouragement for your congregation, when you can’t do traditional vacations

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The Perfect Vacation in Jesus, images and commentary
Though it might be challenging to take the vacation we'd like, in Jesus, we can always find the true rest and renewal our soul needs.

Staying at home isn't so hard when it's windy or rainy and there are schoolwork and chores to be done.

But it's a whole different situation when school is out, the sun is shining, and it's time for a vacation! We want out! We want fun! We want anything but feeling guilty about leaving the house.

But. . . . . . no, the virus is not going to magically disappear. So what do we do when everything in us screams we want to get out of the house, but our sensible mind, considerate of long-term health and family, says, stop and think a minute?

This is very real to me

After being a virtual prisoner in my home for almost two years because I couldn't walk, after my surgery to fix things, I couldn't wait to get out.

But. . . . . .

I won't give away my struggle and spiritual resolution (that's in the Caption/Commentary below), but it motivated the Media Made for You set included today. I am going to be moving these to a paid section of the website in a while, but I'm still moving pretty slow so it's all free for now. Below are

  • Thumbnails of the images. These are available in ZIP files with formats and sizes for Instagram, Pinterest, Presentation size, Facebook post, 600 x 600 jpg files, and MS Publisher Ready-to-Print PDFs.
  • A copy of the Caption/Commentary I did for Instagram. You have my permission to use this in any way you want if you want to use the images on a newsletter, print, or email or whatever. Please, however, if you use it, do not edit it. I am going to be doing more of this. Somehow the images and the microblog format of the caption space works for what I feel the Lord wants me to communicate now. It isn't the usual use of INSTAGRAM for many I know and I'll be experimenting with it. If you want to simply capture and share the image and caption, you can follow my INSTAGRAM account: https://www.instagram.com/yvonprehn/
  • Of course, you can also use the images in any format you want and write your own caption or commentary, or not even use one if you don't want.
  • Below the commentary are the ZIP Files for you to freely download

[Read more...]

A walk through the “valley of the shadow of death” and an update on my (Yvon Prehn’s) hip surgery

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Jesus as shepherd
When knowing Jesus as my totally trustworthy Shepherd moves from a mental construct to palpable reality, it is worth any challenge.

Wonderful church communicators,

As you many of you know, on June 25, I had hip replacement surgery after numerous postponements because of the virus. Thank you so much for your prayers and kind emails going into it.
All went well during the surgery. Despite the severity of the situation, the surgeon told me just before it, he had no idea how I stood it for so long—I told him it was because of the prayers for me, afterward, he said he was very happy with the reconstruction.
However, after a physical therapy session on Friday the 26th, in the midst of respiratory therapy, something went terribly wrong—and I crashed, or more accurately my heart crashed.
What happened next was like a scene out of a movie (odd how we relate so much to movies, but that's what it seemed like to me as I was vaguely aware of what happened next).

[Read more...]

Instagram on the Desktop and an Introduction to Microblogging

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There are many things that make Instagram the popular and fast-growing social media platform that it is, but it also presents a challenge to some who work in church offices because. . . . .

Some of us don't like to create things on our phones.

That statement will either elicit horror and disbelief on part of my audience reading this and total understanding and agreement from others.

Since I am someone who both loves Instagram and doesn't like to create on my phone (well, texting is fun....but longer, serious stuff and moving pictures and all that, I prefer my desktop), I was incredibly excited when I discovered "Instagram for Desktop" and even more excited when I discovered the concept of "Microblogging" and how you can do it with Instagram.

I will be doing more on this topic, but I had to put together this short video to introduce you to it:

Free Instagram images and commentary for a comforting message for times of tragedy—a Welcome Home

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Welcome Home, our assurance now and forever
On earth and forever, "Welcome Home" is a comfort and joy when we hear it from Jesus.

Sometimes it seems like we are living in a nightmare with no way out. I'll be in the midst of working on a project and my mind briefly thinks, "I want to eat somewhere or run to the store." Then I remember, I can't do that.

We are living in a pandemic, I remind myself and I wake up mentally and get back to work. But once again the feeling of a waking nightmare flows over me when I think about what so many are experiencing far beyond the momentary frustration of not being able to run to Trader Joes without thinking. Many people have family members and friends who are hospitalized and perhaps dying.

I've been working on things for church communicators to share during this time, what I hope are encouragements, below are links to some I've done:

FREE Spiritual Endurance Encouragement verses in every imaginable format for you to share: Instagram, Facebook, Postcards and more!

A tiny response to a time of turmoil--Media Made for You Encouragements from Romans 8; an idea for appropriate images for today; free images in all formats [Read more...]