Branding a ministry

I was going through some archived emails this morning looking for something.
I found the following list of questions.
Nan and I had the opportunity to attend an Internet Ministry Conference a couple of years ago now. We really enjoyed it. I am not sure how much we took away from it in terms of concrete ideas but it was interesting nonetheless to see what others are doing with technology (specifically the web) for their internet presence.

Nan went to one seminar that talked about branding your ministry.
I tend to do a few ministry websites a year.
I need to keep these questions around to ask the ministry staff.
I realize that branding as a word might be out of date now, but the ideas that come from the questions are key in promoting a ministry I believe.

18 Questions to discover your brand:

1. Why was your ministry created?
2. What is your ministry’s mission?
3. Who are you called to reach?
4. Rank your target audiences in order of importance.
5. How do you want to be perceived by each audience?
6. What are your three most important goals?
7. What is unique about your ministry?
8. What does your ministry do better than anyone else?
9. What values and beliefs unify your staff and volunteers and drives their performance?
10. What other ministries do you admire most and why?
11. Why would someone who is unchurched want to attend your church?
12. How do you market your ministry?
13. What are the trends and changes that affect your ministry?
14. Where will you be in 5 years? In 10 years?
15. How do you measure success?
16. What are the potential barriers to your success?
17. If you could do or be anything in the future, what would it be?
18. If you could communicate a single message about your ministry, what would it be?

I am not sure whether I feel ALL of the questions are great, but it is a good start.

Family

This guy is crazy!
Maybe he is the black (or off-white at least) sheep of the family…

Eric the sheep

Eric decided to put Jackson’s sheep outfit on after the Christmas concert at the church.

Pics from the west….

Nan and I had the opportunity to take a drive out to Harris Saskatchewan yesterday and take some photos. Harris is the little town that Abi teaches in. Very quaint. I mean VERY quaint. We were able to get some nice shots of small town Saskatchewan.

Typical grid road

This pictures (sans the smart alec comment) shows the typical grid road as they are called out here. Bleak, bleak, bleak. Or I guess if you enjoyed wide open spaces, you would call this Nirvana.

Haunting old church

I really wish that I had taken the time to walk up to the side of this old, run-down church and snap some shots of the interior. I would have been interested to see what the inside was like. I was a little worried to though. On the other side of the church, part of the roof was held up by struts that did not look all that safe.

Prairie buildings

This pic is of some cool old looking buildings sitting in a field. It is strange, you find buildings out here in the weirdest places.. Right in the middle of nowhere, there will be a building or two..

good Sunday

Fantastic day today.
The boys and I were at home yesterday morning. We got a pile of the boys’ school projects done and some cleanup around the house as well. It was great to have a “down” morning with them.

Nan’s speaking engagement in Kitchener was yesterday and she did wonderfully. I thought she would but she was nervous. It was nice for her to have two great friends there with her. And it sounds like all 3 of them were able to encourage some of the ladies that were there. Right on.

From there, Nan came home, pick the boys and I up and we were off like a shot to St. Thomas to hang with Eric and Lins for a few hours. Good times. I cannot tell you how much we love spending time with them.

Dad and Sharon stayed over with us last night as they were the guest speakers at church today. It was great to hear a little more about Sharon as she shared her testimony and how she came to be a missionary. It was really cool.

After service this morning, we had a big family family gathering at Uncle John and Aunt Doris’ for lunch. Aunt Doris is an amazing hostess and we always have such a great time with their family.
The Thompsons were there, the St. Pierres, Jill and Chris, Grandpa and Eleanor, the Brittons, and Dad and Sharon. It was a house full and a very good time.

After a bit of lunch and chatting, we came home, the boys and I watched Transformers, Nan, Dad and Sharon rested for a bit, then we were up for grilled cheese for dinner and off to service in the evening.

Once we were home, I did a bit of catch up at my desk and now ready to settle in for the night.

All in all, a busy but great weekend.

And the winner is….

Tonight was the AWANA Grand Prix. An evening where the AWANA participants get to race slot cars and see who is the fastest and the who has the best design.

Will and Jacks both decided to do cars this year. Jackson decided to bow out a week or so ago citing that he was not interested. (too much sanding to be done I think…)

William and his best friend Justin decided to make a slot car shaped like a rocket.
William and I and my dad shaped the body of the car and Will did a good amount of sanding.
He then handed it off to Justin for painting and bling.
To our wonderful surprise, they won 1st place in the design category!

I made sure that I congratulated Justin’s dad John for his hard work too

A Good Weekend

This weekend was busy as usual, but very fun.

Friday I was able to go golfing with a friend from our church. Good time, bad score…
Friday night Nan and I went to the Annual Business Meeting at the church. It went very well and there was a good collegial spirit there.

Saturday morning we did yard work all of the morning. In fact about 3-4 hours of it. And after our rain the last couple of days, the lawns and gardens are looking good.

Saturday afternoon Nan baked some cookies, then she and I went to a youth event at the church. It was Random Acts of Kindness night. We were able to choose 6 families from the church to drop baskets of cookies, teas, hot chocolate that sort of thing off to. 4 out of the 6 families, we had to sneak up on Ninja style and deliver the goods, verify the delivery, and try to get away without being seen. You can see a couple of photos here if you wish here.

Sunday we stayed home from church. Our friends Mike and Heidi were running a half and full marathon respectively and we took 3 of their 4 kids and drove around the route to cheer them on. There is a picture of the kids here.
Heidi qualified for the Boston Marathon! Way to go Heidi!!! She wanted to run better, but she did very well considering the day.

Then we had lunch with Mike, Heidi and family, came home and chilled out. And I called my mom. She’s awesome. All in all, a great weekend.

quick updates

I have been remiss in not blogging much lately.
Here are a few highlights.
I will try better…. honest.

Will’s is making progress with walking better. The chiropractor is only seeing him every 2 weeks now and wants Nan and I to let him go and be a kid.. thank goodness.

My bike is in the shop having the front fork seals redone. I did not particularly want to do this until next year, but oh well. Such is life. Once it is done, I should be good to ride for the rest of the season I think.

We were able to get some new furniture this last week on trade. Lovely new black leather set for the family room. very nice.

Taffy the dog continues to grow into our family more and more. She is adorable and loves nothing more than to just be with the family.

I installed with the help of my good friend Rich, a Small Business Server with Blackberry Enterprise Server on it last week. For those of you who know what that is, rejoice with me…. I have shared calendars and am consistently getting my mail!

Nan and I are going away for our 15th anniversary for a weekend to Stratford in a couple of weeks.

My wife is the best.

Work has been crazy with thinking of new code and trying to drive more business through the door.

My dad is now retired! Actually, he is on vacation for the next 4 weeks technically and then he is retired, but he is lovin’ it.. I can’t say I blame him.

I am fighting a sinus infection. Most of the infection is gone I think but my left ear is still blocked and I have a hard time hearing out of it. So, if I twist around when I am talking to you, it is because I am just trying to hear you better.

Our annual meeting at the church is tonight.

I think that is it. It’s enough though.

Great weekend!

Man, what a blur this weekend was!
Friday morning, I went to meet a client and got home around 11:30 for lunch. We had lunch with the boys and got them back to school for the afternoon. Then we packed for the weekend. Well, Nan packed and I continued to work away. When the boys got home, it was a mad dash to get them packed up along with the dog and over to the Koehler’s house. We finally got them there (after forgetting a few things and waiting on boys being let out of school later than usual), dropped them all off and boogey’d on up to the church.

Pretty much everyone was there and ready to roll. The weather was simply horrible. Nan had google mapped our destination and it was to take us 4.5 hours to get to Parry Sound for the youth retreat. It ended up takeing 7.5. Brutal. absolutely brutal. But, it turned out so good.

We arrived late, had a snack with all of the other late-arriving groups and hit the sack. The next morning we were up and at ‘em with the rest of the groups and having so much fun. The sessions were excellent. Jay Sandiford, the speaker from Stouffville was very good. He was talking about how we are supposed to JUMP into what God wants for us. Sometimes at retreats, the message can be a little watery or fluffy. Not this time. Jay was really straight forward about what he said and was backing it all up scripturally. It was a real relief for Nan, Joel, Christina and I. Good solid teaching… yes!

We were able to spend some time praying with each other and other leaders which was great. Some of the youth were asking really really good questions about life, God and how the two mix.

The youth had a blast! Lots of outdoor activities in the snow, good food, fun times. I have been informed that we are going next year again already. That is cool. I look forward to it.

We left the camp at around 12:45 Sunday and made it to the church for around 5 pm. Thank you Lord for an uneventful, DRY trip! Got all the youth hooked up with the parents, went to John and Christine’s for dinner (thanks John, the lasagna was delish man), took the boys and dog home, got them settled in for the night and went to bed early ourselves.

What a fantastic weekend.

Christmas Party

Last night we had the youth from the church over for a little Christmas shindig…
Good times.

Nan made some of her hot broccoli dip. yum yum yummy….
The youth generally sat around, talked, then decided to watch Home Alone.
What a great Christmas movie.
After they all left, we snuggled into bed only to hear William up being sick again.
Poor kid.
So we will keep socking the Gravol to him today.

Nan is out for breakfast with friends this morning, but she is not feeling all that great.
I wonder if that is from staying up late doing laundry from a sick boy or if it is that she is getting what the sick boy has.
Only time will tell I suppose.

This morning when the boys got up, we sat in the family room and played Tiger Woods on the X-Box.
Too much fun. They are getting so good.

Jacks took the dog out to the backyard this morning after breakfast to play with her. She had an absolute blast running away from him. It is hard to believe, but she can really go! Jackson cannot keep up to her. I don’t think any of us could keep up with her if she put her mind to it.

She is currently in her bed in the family room, resting, the boys are at Tiger Woods again and I am sitting here contentedly.
Great day so far.

Another busy weekend.

Man, they really seem busy these days.
Tonight is the church Christmas banquet.
Tomorrow morning, we drop the puppy off at John and Christine’s and then head to Cambridge.
Once there, Bruce and I take off for Toronto to the Toronto International Motorcycle Show.
Nan, Will, Jacks, Lorraine, Aiden, Ethan and Austin are all going to Rocky Ridge Ranch for their Christmas open house. Wow, I feel kind of sorry for Nan and Lorraine handling all 5 of them at once.

Maybe I should be sending the Ranch a thank-you card as well….
Back to London Saturday night.
Teach Sunday school Sunday morning. Well, really we will be spending time working on our skit for the Christmas concert.
Then the worship service. Nan is playing piano, I am running the overhead.
Practice the skit with the teens on the platform after service.
Then home.
Lunch then get ready to go to Nan’s Christmas piano recital.
After the recital, our friends Paul and Jackie and their 4 kids might show up for a little visit.

busy busy busy. But very fun! I am looking forward to it.

I think Sunday night I am going to be ready for bed early though……