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chris brogan on evangelism : being there before the sale

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chris brogan : be there before the sale : relationship in marketing & evangelism from Gavin Richardson on Vimeo.

so i took in that live web event last week with chris brogan and i've been pondering on some of what he said and i'm reading in "trust agents." he wasn't at all speaking to a church context, but as with most things (but is becoming much easier in todays business environment & language) i turn it around into some church framework.

one of the things chris brought out were some stories of 'trust agents' who were "there before the sale." it was one of those quotable moments as you could see heads dive into notepads and laptops typing.

it reminded me from a time last summer where i hosted a conversation with regular church going folk & those who are disenfranchised with the church and might call themselves non-religious or spiritual but not religious put together by my friend jim palmer. one of the stories that really stuck with me from a participant was how they were put off that the friends they made in their neighborhood, invited them to church, eventually helped them come into Christ, then left them hanging as they moved onto some other couple. this person then found out that this was a process of that church and they were to go befriend new people to bring them to the church as well.

so what makes up evangelism in when our common framework makes up some commodity sale & that conflicts with how people want to be treated & how we improperly fix some consumption to grace? is there a way in which one could just "be there" with people and not try and control the workings of God to force a sale of salvation, but allow God's mystery to work?… i don't know, maybe you have some ideas

chris brogan & trust agents : stories & philosophy of social media

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today i spent my morning (and greater part of the rest of the day) with chris brogan. if you do not know who chris is, my quick description would be that he is the mayor of twitter & one of the most recognized people in the world of social media 'who gets it.' i stumbled across his blog some years ago and have been a constant reader since, many times sharing his postings via google reader or twitter. he's good stuff. so good, i even payed a decent penny to attending this sucker.

anyways, he has a new book out called 'trust agents' and was in nashville as per a promise in a psuedo book tour live web event. a crew of local tech geeks & other business types showed up to hear from the guru for a special 1 hour pre-web conversation with chris & then got to be front and center for the rest of the web event (which was an interesting thing to be a part of).

here is the footage i took from that 1st hour with chris. its on my mini tripod, so the angle is something you might have to get used to, but its doable. with that said, he's tall, but not nearly as gigantic as he looks in video.

Chris Brogan : Trust Agents conversation : Nashville 2009 from Gavin Richardson on Vimeo.

you can follow the twitter stream of thoughts and conversation by visiting #cbnash at twitter search. check in next week for some expanded thoughts off some of the footage i have from his live web session.

ministry tool you might not have heard of : new tech for the old tool

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United Methodist Reporter & Variable Print as a Ministry Tool from Gavin Richardson on Vimeo.

note: i will be open about this one, i sit on the board for the united methodist reporter communications so i'm a bit biased that you need to use them for this ministry tip. but you might be able to find another variable printer.

do you ever feel like your printing needs miss the mark or you are having to create massive publications that are super wordy to meet you church congregation or ministry? well, that is a thing of the past if you want it to be.

andy clued me into the world of variable print some three years ago & i just love it. i have my plans this year to harness some of its beauty for our youth ministry.

the basic concept is this, you combine a spreadsheet document with some specific 'variables' such as children/young adult/active-inactive and your publication is set up (similar in concept to a mailmerge where they put your name into the 'dear someone' spot) with variable designations. when its all set up your publication is run with individual personalization in full color, address printed on, and then mailed & you never have to look at it.

cool thing about this

  1. gone are the days when you needed to do plates that look the same for everyone and cost you extra money to make simple changes
  2. you can cut down on the paper usage because you don't need to produce mega documents that you're specific ministry gets lost in the mix of everyone elses
  3. color printing (at dirt cheap from what you might think) gets an almost 85% more response rate than a black & white or one color publication
  4. youth can feel affirmed when their newsletter/postcard has them and/or their friends doing ministry activities (and they aren't mixed into a huge messy collage)
  5. you never have to deal with stamping an envelope, taping a trifold, once it prints they can send it for you

so, if you want to know more about this stuff give andy a shout. he's one of the sales reps at the umr & my buddy.