April 2011
1 post
Trying out Wordpress
You can find my latest posts here: http://www.ryanwakefield.com/
March 2011
5 posts
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The Capital Campaign – Dips and Cul-de-sacs
I just got done with Seth Godin’s Book, “The Dip.” Seth has really become the best in the world at these short marketing books that give you some simple and powerful ideas to think about. He has a way of taking what we probably already know and packaging it in such a way that we’ll actually do something about it.
In this book Seth talks about dips, cul-de-sacs, and knowing when to quit and...
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The Wakefield ESPN Tournament Bracket Group →
Get in the bracket action now! Group Name: Wakefield Password: Wakefield
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Your Church Pet Peeves
The local church is the hope of the world! Many others have said that before and I believe that statement is true, in context. Because really Jesus is THE hope and the church is His bride. The church is not THE hope but part of the Hope’s plan of redemption.
With that in mind it is natural that He is passionate about the church and so should His people be. That’s probably why I got a lot of...
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Seven Deadly Sins of Christian Fund Raising
Scott Rodin, author of “The Sower,” has a great list of what NOT to do when it comes to fund raising. In his list of the Seven Deadly Sins of Christian Fund Raising, #4 really stood out to me – The Unwillingness to Invest the Time. I think this is a major trap for pastors when it comes to building a culture of generosity. But look why Scott says leaders must be willing to invest the...
February 2011
9 posts
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Boost Your Electronic Giving - Part 2
Here are suggestions six through ten to help boost your organization’s electronic giving.
6. Support It
a. When you make a big push for electronic giving, offer to have support staff available to walk people through setting up their account.
b. Do some user testing by watching people interact with all the points of your electronic process. Is it hard for them to find it on...
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Boost Your Electronic Giving - Part 1
AG Financial Stewardship Consulting helps ministries bridge the gap to their vision by creating a movement of generosity within your organization. Part of this process involves making sure that it is simple for people to financially partner with you. Electronic giving is one effective way to develop a broad base of financial ministry supporters. Here are the first five of ten suggestions to...
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Ministry and Family or Family or to Family?
David Messner and I were recently able to attend a service at the People’s Church down in Oklahoma City. That particular morning Herbert Cooper was sharing on how he quit “cheating” on his wife. He talked about the two seasons in his life where he spent so much time working on the ministry, specifically on two building campaigns, that he was in a sense cheating on his family. During the...
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The Snow that Killed Staff
I can’t stress enough how important it is to be strategic about how you develop your culture of generosity within your organization. The bottom line is that many churches have a lot of room to improve as it relates to online and electronic giving.
One example of what can go wrong, if you’re not prepared, is what happens every time it snows and services are cancelled. I was talking with one...
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Lawton First Assembly – In Pictures and Stories →
This video is a highlight from Sunday, January 30th, 2011. We shot this video with a Canon 7D on a Sunday morning at Lawton First Assembly of God. We wanted to capture a snapshot of what God is doing at the church through “The Dream” campaign. I then dropped the best photos and video into animoto.com and it did most of the rest. Animoto is amazing, but it did mess with some of...
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January 2011
13 posts
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Who's the Real Leader in the Room?
I recently read a very interesting piece of advice suggesting a simple method to find out who actually has the real influence within an organization. It’s not the person has the largest spending authority or the person with the longest title. And no, it’s not the person who directly reports to the CEO. Rather, Jacques Elliot suggests a person’s real influence in an organization...
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Chan Vs. Caine Round 2
It’s been interesting how many personal comments I’ve received from round one of this blog idea. I think more people are wrestling with sorting out some of this stuff than I realized. Ultimately, I think it’s a good sign when people are asking the “how should I apply this”questions.
One notion from round 1 was the idea that digital connectivity can actually be dangerous. As I was processing...
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Francis Chan Vs. Christine Caine
It’s a battle that’s been rolling around in my mind for the last 6 months. First, a little background information. We’ve all observed how spiritual isolation can foster hyper weirdness - compound cults are just one example. Now, I’m noticing how on the other side of the spectrum, hyper digital connectivity can bring about convolution and confusion.
It’s a privilege that in a typical...
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Dribbble - What are you working on? →
One of the best design sites I have seen. Love the quality of the art on the site.
“The question isn’t, is God blessing? The better question to ask is, what...”
– Andy Stanley
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WatchOne of the most exciting parts of consulting with churches is the opportunity to hear the pastor and staff share their vision. Really, in a lot of ways a church consultant could also be called a vision consultant. That probably just sounds too cheesy. Nonetheless, it’s an incredible opportunity to be a part of making a church’s vision become a reality. Recently, I was able to...
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My Vimeo Likes
Vimeo is addicting. Really you could spend all day viewing. One of my favorite ways to find the top videos worth watching is to track the “my likes” trail. Find someone who has created an amazing video and explore the videos they have liked. Drill in a couple layers and you normally can find their sources of inspiration. Also, setting up a Vimeo account and liking some videos as...
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Epic10 Recap
Epic10 was an idea that we experimented with in December 2010. We wanted to do a design marathon with the goal of developing resources for churches. The big idea was to get 10 creatives together, for 10 hours, to take 10 themes, and create 10 designs. It started at 10:10 a.m. in morning as a grand experiment. Ten hours later, at 8:10 p.m., it ended as an experience of a lifetime and delivered...
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Life Fellowship - Olive Branch, MS
One of the very first clients I was able to work with was Life Fellowship in Olive Branch, Mississippi. It’s exciting to hear all that God is doing through the church. On one of the trips to Memphis we were able to visit their midweek service and the youth service - UP the movement. It was so cool to see the church packed with young people. One thing unique about Life Fellowship’s...
