Author Archives: Neil

Creating Free Online Sign-up Forms and Questionnaires

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Neil

This is another in a continuing series of tech tips for churches, a.k.a. “how to do it yourself without paying money” –church website construction tips from yours truly at www.sundaysoftware.com. May a thousand cats think I’m a scratching post if I’m … Continue reading →

Posted in Building a Better Church Website, Tech Tips for Church Staff (and you), Uncategorized | Leave a comment

How and When to Direct Mail Your Neighborhood

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Neil

The US Postal Service has lately been advertising its “Every Door” DIRECT MAIL services which allow businesses (and churches!) to blanket households in their area. Last month I got one of those mailings from a nearby church inviting me to … Continue reading →

Posted in Ideas for Changing the Church | Leave a comment

Google Reviews Your Church? (Yes they do!)

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Neil

Do you know that people may be posting online reviews of your church? I was googling a church near Houston recently, looking at the Google map to find it, and there was a **REVIEW** option, which allows regis tered Google … Continue reading →

Posted in Building a Better Church Website | 1 Comment

Looking for a new church ~ Part III

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Neil

This is article 3 of 3 about our “church shopping” experience here in Sarasota Florida. You can read those at two previous posts. My point of view includes the fact that I’m a minister who used to pastor churches and … Continue reading →

Posted in Advice & Ideas for Pastors, Staff and Leaders, Neil on the Loose | 2 Comments

Looking for a New Church ~ Part II

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Neil

This is the second post on this topic. Read the first here. We’ve now visited six local congregations in our new town looking for a new church home, several of them two or three times. Over the past 12 twelve years … Continue reading →

Posted in Advice & Ideas for Pastors, Staff and Leaders, Neil on the Loose | 1 Comment

Looking for a New Church ~Part I

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Neil

This is the first of three posts I’ve made about our adventure in church shopping. You can see the other posts in my “Neil on the Loose” category of posts. I posted this first post after visiting 3 churches. We’re … Continue reading →

Posted in Advice & Ideas for Pastors, Staff and Leaders, Neil on the Loose | 1 Comment

Making a Church Website using Google’s Blogspot

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Neil

You probably didn’t know this, but CNN, MLB, NOKIA, AT&T and many more corporate websites are actually built using “blog” software. It makes sense. Today’s blog software has so many great features. In fact, blog software like WordPress and now … Continue reading →

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On the Loose in Sarasota

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Neil

February 2012 Sarasota Florida Last month the family and I brought our St Croix USVI adventure to a close and relocated to Sarasota Florida, otherwise known as, “civilization.” We had a wonderful 3.5 years on the island of St Croix and … Continue reading →

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Ten Characteristics of a Healthy Youth Ministry

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Neil

This link takes you to one of the best written pieces about youth ministry I’ve read in a long time: http://kendadean.com/636/what-are-the-top-10-characteristics-of-a-healthy-youth-ministry/ “Top 10 Characteristics of a Healthy Youth Ministry” I don’t know anything about Kenda Dean, other than she does youth … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Education ~ Ideas and Advice, Ideas for Changing the Church | Leave a comment

Tashlikh -A New Year’s Ritual

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Neil

In my church, we are distributing stones on New Year’s Day worship and encouraging members to “throw stones” in the tradition of Tashlikh for the New Year. This could also be a good youth or children’s activity. Here are my … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Education ~ Ideas and Advice | 1 Comment

Rethinking Youth Ministry

Posted on November 12, 2011 by Neil

I ran across the ‘Rethinking Youth Ministry’ blog recently and it’s full of interesting thoughts. www.rethinkingyouthministry.com In addition to some good thoughts, research and ideas, my biggest take-away from their site was that there are many veteran youth workers and … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Education ~ Ideas and Advice | 2 Comments

O that crazy perfect Teen Brain

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Neil

Readers of this blog know that I have a keen interest in “what the brain research can tell us” about ourselves, our kids, our teaching and our preaching.  (Click “Neil’s Brain Articles” posts to see more). Not only does the latest … Continue reading →

Posted in Neil's "Brain" Articles | 1 Comment