A Church Voice

Issue #12: Easy Does It

May 16, 2001 - Sixth Week of Easter

http://www.laufers.com/churchvoice/
To subscribe, email churchvoice-subscribe@topica.com

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From Barbara’s Keyboard

A Church Voice is late this week -- I had to delay it a few days. We'll be back on the regular schedule with the next issue, and it will arrive in your inbox on Sunday, May 27.

Lately I've been grabbing my coffee in the early morning to sit out on the back step for a bit and enjoy birdsong and cool air. Soon enough it will be hot, hot, hot. It can be hard to take those quiet moments at the start of the day -- late spring into early summer is such a busy time for many of us. I got to thinking about this and came up with some ways to ease some of the work of creating and writing for newsletters and other publications, like Web sites.

Thank you so much, every one of our 527 subscribers, and to the newest subscribers, welcome! I am honored by your interest and support. As always, I invite you to pass along this ezine to a friend, colleague, church staff member, pastor, denominational resource person, or anyone else who would enjoy this newsletter.

Enjoy today, plan for tomorrow, and notice those peace-filled moments.

blessings,
Barbara Laufersweiler
cveditor@laufers.com

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C O N T E N T S

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Here's an idea for getting your contributors' articles in on time: arrange to get them early. Yes, that's right, early. It takes a little planning, and perhaps a little creative persuasion as to the benefits for the writer, but the benefits to you and your publication are enormous.

The next time you look on your calendar and see a big event on the horizon that you want to feature, arrange for an article right away. When you tell the writer what you need, ask him or her to submit the article by a date that is actually early. That might be two weeks before the date you normally would suggest, or a month, or possibly more. As a result the writer will get this task out of the way and be able to turn to other things, and you will have the article!

Check the calendar again for other events, activities, and special days and do the same. Work through the most important things throughout the year and then turn to the other topics and features that your publication covers repeatedly.

Use this approach to build up two or three upcoming issues already in your file, ready to go. You will have time to check facts, plan layout, and commission or write sidebar notes. You will also say goodbye to high levels of deadline stress and frustration.

Of course this is contrary to the usual approach of writing sermons, articles, and so on just before the deadline. Perhaps everyone will enjoy this as a refreshing change. If you are a writer for your publication, apply this planning technique to yourself and reap the same benefits. Don't think deadline -- rather, think ahead of time.

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The Web is starting to go wireless; in fact, the USA is lagging behind Europe and Asia. The latest generation of cell phones can access parts of the Internet by the WAP ("Wireless Application Protocol") technology. Maybe it's time to think about how to use your church Web site and readers' wireless devices (cell phones and PDAs such as Palm Pilots) to provide something of value to your site's visitors. Where do you start?

The Guide to Web Evangelism has an excellent article with resources for WAP/cell phones and a couple of links for AvantGo/PDAs:
< http://www.gospelcom.net/guide/wap.html >

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A d s

For your church's parents of young children:
+ Seasonal flyers from Faith at Home +
Great tips & ideas for families to use at home.
Six times a year. Add your own news & activities.
http://www.faith-at-home.com/parish-flyer.html

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Please rate this ezine at the Cumuli Ezine Finder

It helps others find us. Thanks!

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If you are a Christian who owns or operates a business, this is the place for you. A comprehensive directory of Christian-owned businesses, joint promotion opportunities, affordable marketing.
Christians In Business - Promoting Christ, Promoting Each Other!
http://www.christians-in-business.com

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If you want your readers to notice and remember something, publish it over and over. It could be new classes for adults... a change in a ministry... the annual stewardship focus... staff changes... anything you want your readers to know is important or especially worthy of notice.

Repetition doesn't have to be boring, though. Write a series of tiny notices or teasers, one or two brief sentences, and run them in consecutive issues. Wrap it up with a substantial article or even an entire issue.

Another use of repetition is to publish an article first and follow it with consistent reminders, freshened up with new information when it's available.

Suggest to contributors that this is a great way to promote their ministry or event and keep people aware of it without trying to write a substantial article for every issue. They can even write their articles and teasers/reminders to submit all at once with some notes on how they'd like it to be published.

Returning to an idea again and again with just a few sentences or phrases can be powerful -- it can intrigue or remind your readers quite effectively. What a great way to make a little bit of writing and planning do a lot for you.

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ChurchSite: Resources for webmasters.

The Parish Webmaster, an article from About.com's Catholicism guide.

The Roman Catholic Web Author's Resource Site; scroll down...

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Bible verse banner graphics

"Liturgical" backgrounds - Web page border backgrounds

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A bit about my design business:

Turn your vision into reality & put your Web site to work! Creative, effective Web design for your church or small business. Barbara Laufersweiler Web Design
< http://www.laufers.com/idesign/ >
< design@laufers.com >

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Almighty God our heavenly Father, you declare your glory and show forth your handiwork in the heavens and in the earth:
    Deliver us in our various occupations from the service of self alone, that we may do the work you give us to do in truth and beauty and for the common good;
    for the sake of him who came among us as one who serves, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

[The Book of Common Prayer, 1979, ECUSA]

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If you find this information of value, please pass the newsletter on in its entirety.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome! If you’d like to submit a tip, question, or Web site, send me an email at

cveditor@laufers.com

For more resources, visit

http://www.laufers.com/churchvoice/

See you in two weeks!

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Copyright © 2001 Barbara Laufersweiler.
All rights reserved.

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