Unseminary Free
Free Resources for Church Leaders.
As a thank you for joining the unSeminary team here are some links to some free resources:
First Time Guest Gifts // High Res Photos
Get an up close look at the first time guest gifts given by the 8 churches listed in this post. Each church’s gifts are photographed in multiple iterations to give you a detailed look at what they give to their people.
[Click here to down the 164 MB .ZIP File]
Worship Background Videos
Download this pack of 10 curated worship background videos hand selected to make an impact during your services. These videos are perfect for running behind lyrics during the music in your services or as an aid when you’re doing the announcements.
You could use this videos with a program like ProPresenter or MediaShout to show during the service or bring them into a video editor for a post production piece.
[Click here to download the 450 MB .ZIP File]
Other “Holy” Days Celebration Ideas from 80 Churches Across North America.
Throughout the Christian calendar there are days that it seems like the community is more likely to accept an invitation to come to church. For our church it’s Christmas and Easter … but what about those “other” holy days? You know … the one’s that our culture (and greeting card companies) have made super important for people to celebrate. Does your church do something special for Mom’s on Mother’s Day? Do you serve bacon ice cream Sundae’s on Father’s Day? We surveyed 80 churches from across the country and asked them to rate how “big of a deal” they make these sorts of days. We also ask them to give us some ideas of what they do to celebrate these days. We compiled all these findings into this ebook that gives you a glimpse into some ideas that you might apply at your church!
[Click here to download this PDF.]
Facebook Best Practices for Churches
How does your church leverage Facebook? Are you creating compelling social content that is drawing in your community and propelling your mission forward? Facebook represents a massive missional opportunity for your church.
I want your Facebook presence to thrive so I sat down with three industry leading churches and talked with the people directly responsible for managing their Facebook presence. My goal was to learn from the “best practices” that all of our churches could apply to our work on Facebook. Collectively these ministries have nearly 70,000 “fans” that they connect with every day. You’ll gain some valuable insights from:
Corrin Bauer // Mars Hill Church [Download MP3 Interview]
Ian Philpot // Willow Creek Community Church [Download MP3 Interview]
Ethan Hoinacki // Granger Community [Download MP3 Interview]
BONUS // Real World Social Media Ministry Training Materials
Liquid Church’s Social Media How-To Guide [PDF Download]
Granger Community Social Media Strategy [PDF Download] and Team Guidelines [.DOC Download]
Church Communications // Case Study Vol. 1
This tool is targeted at helping churches get a handle on some commonly asked questions around communications and marketing. Listen in as I work with a real church and provide some initial help and direction as they seek to get the right messages to the right people at the right time. In this resource we cover:
- The role of bulletin as a communication tool for modern churches.
- How social media fits into an overall communications strategy.
- What the three majors segments each of your ministry areas needs to aiming it’s communication towards.
- Suggestions on how to work with ministry leaders who are feeling like their area isn’t getting covered enough.
- … and a bunch more!
[Download 13mb .MP3 file here.]
Mobile Church Leadership Pack
a short cut to a better portable church experience.
6 Weeks of “Done For You” Training Emails // Just do a bit of modification and send these out to your team on the Thursday before the weekend . . . a great way to train, motivate and equip your team! [Download .ZIP File here]
3 “Surprise & Delight” Ideas // Looking for a way to thank your team? Do one of these simple and low cost events every month . . . your team will be bragging about how great it is to serve with you! [Download .ZIP File Here]
5 Essential Forms & Docs // These documents and forms are the core essential parts of the system for managing a portable church. [Download .ZIP File]
Orange Kick Start Kit
Proven tools to help you ramp up to be an “Orange” . . . a church that combines the influences of the home and church to impact families!
Main Stage Message Pack // Everything you need to give to your Lead Pastor to pull off a “Power of Orange” message. [Click here to download the .ZIP file.]
Small Group Refocus Kit // “Ready to use” materials to help communicate with your parents and leaders the value of partnering together with your small groups leaders. [Click here to download the .ZIP file.]
6 Weekly Email Samples // These email starters will provide jumping off points for you as you start to communicate to parents and leaders. [Click here to download the .ZIP file.]
Bonus – Hand Drawn Titles // These three videos were an element I used during my session at Orange 2012. They are hand drawn titles sayings “Not Quiet Orange Yet.”, “We’re Not There Yet.” and “Partnering with Parents”. A great piece to use in a public presentation about the Orange approach. [Click here to download the .ZIP file.]
Systems // Documents and Forms // Having the support materials that reinforce your systems is critical. Download these free forms from our friends over at ChurchOrganized.com. These forms can be easily edited and customized to suit your needs . . . like all the forms they have! [Social Media Guidelines] [Church Health Report] [Welcome Guidelines]
HR // Motivation Study // Check out this fascinating study on what motivates people more towards action . . . defining how far we have to go towards the goal or how far we’ve already come. [Read the study now.]
HR // Emerging Leaders Study // Are you looking for a thought provoking resource to stir conversation on how your church is developing the next generation? Read this study from AMEX on working with multiple generations. [Download and pass around now!]
HR // The Power of Full Engagement Summary // Managing Energy, Not Time, is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal. This summary is brought us by StudyLeadership.com. A great resource to kick start conversation with your team about how we spend our energy . . . not just our team! [Summary] [Nutshell Summary]
HR // What Matters Now // Ebook by Seth Godin that includes 70 top thinkers with ideas to spark your leadership. Print cost: $12.95 Download here: [Free]
HR // MBTI Excel Spreadsheet Test [Download] Developing a common leadership language to help your team understand each other is important. There are a number of “personality type indicators” around. When I was in college one of my profs was a big Myers Briggs fan . . . so I’ve always had a soft spot for it! I’ve attached an easy to use MBTI question matrix . . . it’s proven pretty true to the more expensive MBTI’s tests over the years. Here are some links for helping your people understand the results that come back from the test: [MBTI Foundation] [Wikipedia] [TypeLogic]
HR // Time (& Life!) Management // This 45 page eBook is an amazing resource to provide to your staff to help them get their heads around managing their time. Written by Lee Cockerell who served as the Executive Vice President at Walt Disney World . . . he had 40,000 team members on his team! Lee taught this content to 1,000’s of people and charged $1000’s today to do the same for organizations. Über Valuable! [Download this eBook.]
Donor Development // The Giving Talk // What happens around your offering on a Sunday? Those 60-120 seconds are make or break for your people . . . and your offering. This eBook from GivingRocket.com is essential reading in my mind. [Click here to download this eBook.]
Multisite Telecoaching Recorded Call // Listen in to an exclusive KillerChurch telecoaching call with Geoff Surratt (he literally wrote the book on multisite) and Sandra Nicholas (launched 13 campuses and looking at more!). We talked with two churches about campus alignment, staff teams, budgeting, programing and had a few smiles along the way! [Download this 50min mp3]
We’re adding new stuff throughout the year . . . drop back in and see!