Chuck Scoggins | Web + Print + Video Design

Occasionally on Tuesdays I give you my thoughts, unfiltered and off the top of my head. Here’s what I’m thinking about this week. 

• I ran across Tony Steward’s take on digital & social media usage in 2012 post on Twitter this week. Be sure to check it out…it’s quite brilliant.
  
• I recently read somewhere: Change is often resisted where it is needed the most. Over the past year, I’ve experienced this to be true…and it’s really sad to me when people who lead organizations don’t see that they are resisting needed change. I want to make sure this never happens to me. What are some things you do to protect yourself from this resistance?
• Creative Missions registrations are open. If you are a creative person and haven’t heard of Creative Missions, you HAVE TO check it out. Here is the link for general info. Here is the link to the registration page. Hurry up, early bird rates end Feb 13!
• I started a Tumblr blog to have a place to post images, write miscellaneous thoughts, etc. It is at stuffchucklikes.com (hat tip to Justin Wise for letting me steal his name idea). My first post was a controversial thought about capitalism, GASP!
• I had a fun conversation on Twitter the other day. Here’s a screen capture of it. I’d love your thoughts on it too. Will you leave a comment?
  
• Yesterday was my first time serving as a volunteer on the tech team at the Crossing (my first time volunteering for anything at a church in a long time, for that matter). It was incredibly fun and made me remember how much I love doing live production tech. My family is really enjoying our new church!
• This weekend, I hit 1,000 all time video sales on Sermonspice. I like being able to be a part of this great resource for churches.
• Have you seen Tim Schraeder’s coaching group offering? This is an amazing, pay-what-you-can, opportunity. If you want to learn Church Communications from one of the best, follow this link. I think the deadline to apply is tomorrow, so don’t delay!

That’s what’s going on in my world this week…what’s up with you?

Occasionally on Thursdays I give you my thoughts, unfiltered and off the top of my head. Here is what I’m thinking about today…

I’m glad the holidays are over. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas and New Years and traveling and family…but I’m ready to get back into the normal routine and the important work God has called us to!

I recently wrote an article for MediaSalt. It’s the 12 Things Communications Directors Want To Tell Their Senior Pastos in 2012. Check it out and let me know your thoughts on it!

Check out these simple graphics I created for Calvary Church’s Need 2 Know videos.

Did you pick up the free resources I’ve been giving away? Jump over here for a 2012 Bulletin template!

I’ve also cranked out a couple of free Photoshop quick-tip tutorials. You can watch them here and here. Stay tuned here for more quick-tips.

I’ve been studying up, trying to become efficient in content marketing. It’s really important in an overall communication strategy. If you’re a communicator, you might want to study up on it. 

I’ve been asked to be the leader of the CFCC Job & Freelance Boards, and the Church Marketing Lab. I blog about them occasionally at ChurchMarketingSucks.com too. If you are a church or church-related non-profit and are looking for some help, the job boards are a great place to find quality folks! If you’re a church communications guru looking for work, check out the boards. (Have any questions about the labs…email me!) If you already work in the church comm world, we’d love to see your work in the Marketing Lab and have your voice there. The collective wisdom of the group is much greater than any individual.

The Path app has gained a lot of popularity recently, but I just can’t seem to get in to it. I like the simplicity and focus of it, but it’s just not gaining traction in my social media flow. Maybe I didn’t give it a good chance…but it’s just not doing anything for me.

I have some cool upcoming opportunities that I hope to be able to tell you about soon. Here are a few teasers:

• Cool partnerships with some web development companies.
• Helping to launch a non-profit called Encouraging Others that helps encourage people to overcome materialism in exchange for giving away wealth (similar to Skip1.org, but with some key differences).
• Working with some really great churches.

I recently started following Gary Vaynerchuk on Twitter. Love his insights and passions. 

Last, but not least, I still have a few sponsorship opportunities available for this blog. If you’re interested, click on the sponsor link at the top of the page and check out the options.

That’s all from me. What’s up in your world.

Occasionally on Tuesdays I give you my thoughts, unfiltered and off the top of my head. Here’s a special Thanksgiving video edition…

Occasionally on Tuesdays I give you my thoughts, unfiltered and off the top of my head. Here’s what I’m thinking about today…

• I’ve been thinking a lot about relationships & the communications implications lately. My friend, Justin Wiseposted this stat on his blog today:
  

  92% of Jesus’s time in the Gospels was spent in the martketplace amongst people. Not holed up in a church building. (And yes, I realize churches and synagogues are different. Hopefully you get the point). 

  I think it’s time we start depending less on our programs, bulletins, newsletters, etc. to get people to church and more on our relationships with others being the church. Thoughts? Push back? (side note: a conversation is happening here)

• I did a guest post over on MediaSalt.com (I love those guys) about Netflix and the church. Let me know what you think about it.
• Have you taken advantage of the Church Marketing Lab? It’s a great way to get feedback on your ideas and to add value to others design ideas as well. The collective wisdom of the group is better than the individual, right?
• I’ve been working on building my design business. It’s hard work! Here is a screen grab from one Christmas After Effects project I’ve been working on.
  
  Lots of layers going on there!
  If there is anything I can do for you, please don’t hesitate to let me know! 
• I updated my blog theme from a Woo Theme to Standard Theme and I’ve already seen a spike in traffic. And, I feel like the design is cleaner. What do you think about the new look?

That’s all from me…what’s going on in your world? 

Occasionally on Tuesdays I give you my thoughts, unfiltered and off the top of my head. Here’s what I’m thinking about today…

I read this post by Steven Furtick this morning before paying my bills for the week. I hate paying bills, but it is good to think of the blessings behind them. For example, it stinks having to pay the house payment…but it sure is a blessing to have a roof over my head. Paying the car insurance bill: not fun. But having a car to get around town in sure is nice. Often times it is a matter of perspective, right?

Speaking of perspective, it has been an interesting few weeks for the Scoggins household since I lost my job at Calvary Church (read about it here). However, it has been absolutely amazing to see God work though the process. Projects have been springing up from the most unexpected places to help pay the bills. I’ve been able to do some things that I’ve been wanting to do like writing posts for MediaSalt and doing some work at the Center for Church Communication. I’ve been freed up to do some things that I haven’t been able to do before, such as go on my kids school field trips and attend their Halloween parties at school. God is so good!

As I’ve been considering “what’s next” for me, I feel a calling to partner up with churches, non-profits, and small businesses that might need help with communications, media, or technology. If that is you, we should definitely talk! Shoot me an email or give me a call!

I’m thinking about writing an eBook on the topic of relationship-driven communications in churches. It would have some philosophy, some strategy, and some practical tips for implementing a relationship-based model. Would that be something that interests you? Let me know…if there is enough interest, I’ll take the next steps.

That’s all from me…what’s on your mind today?

Occasionally on Tuesdays I give you my thoughts, unfiltered and off the top of my head. Here’s what I’m thinking about today…

Job Status
Three weeks ago I was “laid off” from my church job due to the tough economy and tough finances at the church. It has been three weeks of uncertainty about the future…but has been a great time of introspection, soul searching, and thinking about how God promises to provide for our needs. I am more confident than ever of my calling and of His faithfulness. I’m still looking for a “day job,” but have had some amazing conversations and opportunities pop up during this “down time.”

Ironically, this month would’ve been my 11th anniversary working at Calvary. It has been (and continues to be) an amazing privilege to serve the local church!

House Work
In the mean time, we’ve been working hard to get our house ready to put on the market. I want to say a big thanks to everyone who has come over and helped us out, especially my small group. It’s true what they say…life is done best in community! Or, as Andy Stanley says, “circles are better than rows.”

Media Salt & Church Marketing Sucks
Speaking of opportunities: I’ve been asked to do some blogging on other blogs around the internet. Here is a post on MediaSalt about relationship-based church communication (note: I wrote that post before I knew I no longer had a job at Calvary…not that it changes anything, but just wanted to throw it out there to avoid confusion). I also have some posts coming up on Church Marketing Sucks about the Church Marketing Lab.

Stealing?
The other day I was driving down the road and saw a church that had “borrowed” a slogan/mission statement from a church across town. My first reaction was, “they’ve got some nerve stealing that other church’s slogan.” Then I thought, “well, the other church probably got theirs from somewhere else too.” And then it hit me: What if all the churches in an area could come together and figure out the best slogan, mission statement, graphics, etc. and all use the same stuff? After all, aren’t we all on the same team? While I know that practically this is probably impossible – and maybe not even desirable considering different churches place value on different things – it does make me wonder why we don’t “share” more. If a church does a message series and sinks lots of resources into branding graphics and support for that series (think banners, support videos, etc), why not hand those off to a church with fewer resources to use as well? Do you know of anyone doing this effectively? I’d love to hear about it!

Worship Environments
There is an incredible opportunity being offered by Stephen Proctor on creating worship environments. Check out the details here.

That’s what I have on my mind…what about you?

Occasionally on Tuesdays (or Thursdays) I’ll give you my thoughts – random and off the top of my head. Well, here goes…

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about a completely new paradigm for communications in the church. It deals with doing away with a lot of the tools or venues that we’ve traditionally used and communicating all of the church’s vision, events, and ministry info and instead moving toward a relationship-based system. I think today’s marketing is much more about personal networking and less about publications and traditional marketing methods. I’ll be blogging in detail more (probably over at MediaSalt) about this as I work it out in my mind…but I think it’s going to rock my world.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve heard a lot of people lately implying that using a piece of technology (particluarly a laptop, iPhone, or iPad) in a meeting means someone isn’t fully present. Is it not possible that we have evolved to the point of being able to listen and take notes or research the topic or (yes, i’ll say it) check Facebook / Twitter while still remaining fully present? Am I completely off my rocker, here? Give me your thoughts in the comments.

Also, a couple of people tried to make me feel guilty for keeping in touch with “home base” (checking some email, etc.) on vacation. I once read somewhere that you should check in as much as you need to in order to enjoy your vacation. I think I agree with that line of thinking. Of course, I’m completely open to the idea that I’m wrong on this one, so push back at me in the comments.

We’re getting up for our big David Crowder*Band concert this weekend at Calvary. I’m running the video show for it and am pretty excited about the opportunity. I’ll try to post some pics from the setup, the rehearsals, and the show if I can.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to hang out in the woods with two of my friends and giants in the church communications world: Cleve Persinger and Phil Bowdle. We had a good time talking Creative Missions and just church communications in general. Love those guys!

Tomorrow is my 11th anniversary with Amy. Just wanted to throw a quick shout to say how much I love my wife. I couldn’t do much of what I do without her!

What about you? What’s going on in your world?

Occasionally on Tuesdays I give you my thoughts, unfiltered and off the top of my head. Here’s what I’m thinking about today…

Mark Meyer’s Blog
I was cruising around Mark Meyer’s blog the other day and a few things caught my eye…

• He posted some notes from Phil Cooke‘s new book, Jolt, that were good food for thought, such as:

  -Everything communicates. Everything.
  -You can’t brand a lie.
  -More content is created in 48 hours today than was created from the beginning of time to 2000.
  -We’re bombarded with approximately 5,000 messages per day. It’s creating clutter in our minds.

• In another post, he talks about “focus and flow” saying, “Studies show 80% of our email is irrelevant, of the 20% that’s remaining, only 50% of those emails are relevant 24 hours later.” I think I’m going to start checking my email every other day.

Leadership, Vision, & Tony Morgan
I’ve been thinking about leadership and vision lately. Tony Morgan posted a post back in 2009 about the different stages or types of leadership. It’s good stuff. I need to think about what I need to do to lead at the next level (so as not to be caught up in the Peter Principle as one commenter points to).

Engagement vs Adding Value
I’ve also been thinking about some data that Justin Wise posted about the effectiveness of “engagement” as a social media strategy. It’s turning what many of us thought was essential about using social media upside-down.

Ultimately, I think what the study shows and what Justin is teaching me is that adding value is the most important thing. By adding value I mean

• adding relevant content
• engaging when social interaction is the goal, and
• measuring metrics that really matter (as opposed to metrics that make us feel warm and fuzzy)

I have to ask myself, “does what I’m posting here and on Twitter and Facebook add value or add noise to all of the other messages out there that my followers/friends/readers are being hit with every day?” I firmly believe that if I add value, I’ll be successful. If not, well…you know.

That’s what’s on my mind today. I might follow up on some of these topics with some expanded posts in the future, so let me know your thoughts in the comments (yep, I’m asking for engagement if you feel this post added value).

Occasionally on Tuesdays, I write a post with my thoughts – random and off the top of my mind. Here’s what I’m thinking about today:

• I ran across a couple of great Communications articles in the past few days. These should be required reading for every church leadership team or senior pastor: Is Communication PR or DNA and Which Would You Rather See.
• I’ve been offered some amazing opportunities in the last month. Cleve asked me to be on the Creative Missions Leadership Team. Danielle invited me to be a part of the leadership group for the CFCC Marketing Lab. And, Lindenwood University has asked me to develop an additional graduate level course and to teach an additional course (that would make 3 courses that I’d be teaching). I’m not sure how any of these opportunities will work out, but I’m pretty humbled to be asked!
• We’ve been busy in the Calvary Communications department. One of our recent projects that I’m excited about is the installation of  The Prayer Engine on our website.
• We announced yesterday that the David Crowder Band is coming to Calvary in September. We’re pretty excited to be a stop on their farewell tour! You can find info about the concert here.

Occasionally on Tuesdays, I write a post with my thoughts – random and off the top of my mind. This week’s edition comes to you from Albany, NY where I’m serving with Creative Missions. Here’s what I’m thinking about today:

We’re two days in on Creative Missions and the experiment is going great! It’s been amazing to watch the countenance of the people we’re helping lift as we do projects for them. The fun thing is that the tasks we’re doing seem all and second nature to us but relieve a huge burden for them.

It’s also been great to make some new friends and get lots of new ideas from the fellow creative missionaries. As I predicted, I’m getting as much out of the trip as the people we’re serving.

I’ve been thinking about compiling a massive list of church resources (places to find good website hosting, wordpress themes, podcasting resources, print resources, etc). Do you think that would be helpful? Leave me your thoughts in the comments.

I was looking at some photos of the tornado devastation in Joplin, MO last night. It also got me to thinking about the damage in Birmingham too. My heart hurts so badly for these people who have lost everything. Compassion isn’t usually one of my stronger gifts, but for some reason I’m feeling a closeness to these people who I don’t even know. If you can help bring clothes or supplies to the church (Calvary Church) by Wednesday night or if you can donate to the Red Cross, please do so! Let’s be the church to these people. Prayers are great, but let’s be a people of prayer-filled action on this one!

Those are a few things I’m thinking about. What’s on your mind these days?