Archive for the 'Communication' Category

Campus Ministry & Support Raising

Published on March 22, 2011 by Chris Bean in Campus Ministry, Communication, Finances and Prayer.

I’m calling it our “Spring Fund Drive.”

Many campus ministers and missionaries would probably not describe their support-raising efforts as a “fun” task but I’ve actually been having a pretty good time coming up with a blitz of ideas in order to see what it would be like to have our campus ministry fully funded.

You may have some questions about all this, like…

Why do campus ministers raise support/ask for money?

Answer: Well, it’s certainly true that many campus ministers are required to raise a portion if not all of their financial support. I have friends who minister through other organizations like Cru, Navigators, Inter Varsity, etc and most of them have to raise their full support before they officially begin their ministry with students on campus.

Campus ministers tend to be like missionaries who are not directly supported from a local church or denomination. Part of the calling is to invite people to become ministry partners and make the financial investment which results in transformational ministry in the lives of college students.

Perhaps you have other questions about this topic or specifically in regards to my ministry at the University of Cincinnati. Please feel free to leave your question as a comment below or to email me directly ( cbean71@gmail.com )

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing the “Top 5 Reasons I LOVE Raising Support” along with some other great stories about how this aspect of campus ministry is more blessing than curse.

For now, I’ll leave you with a challenge, however. Take a look at our “Spring Fund Drive” and pray about the opportunity you have to partner with our campus ministry at the University of Cincinnati.

Click on this link to view the full-size .pdf version.  Fund Drive_flyer

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Book 12: Less Clutter, Less Noise

Published on November 3, 2010 by Chris Bean in Church, Communication and leadership.

I read (skimmed really) this book as I was riding down to Catalyst in Atlanta with a couple of buds.  One of the guys who’s an “executive pastor” at one of our few Nazarene mega-churches had it with him and the title caught my attention.

After serving on staff at a few churches during my first 15 years of my youth/staff ministry career, I have seen the best and worst of church publicity and marketing. Everything from cut ‘n paste clip art to horrendous church websites caused me to engage Kem’s writing quite enthusiastically. You can find out more about Kem Meyer, the author, here by the way. 

I don’t have a copy of the book in front of me now, but these are the two biggest “take-aways” from the book for me.

  1. Website Design–your site ought to be a place for people to gather, not just a vehicle for information transportation.
  2. Focused Communication–I’m sure that’s not the actual title of a chapter in the book or anything, but it’s the basic idea that we often try to communicate too many things at once. I don’t know how many churches I’ve been to that, at some point in the service (usually not the appropriate point) someone blathers on and on with so many announcements that I couldn’t remember them if I tried. Another application for this which hits me is when communicating through a newsletter or even a single blog post. Make one main point and weave that single thread through the stories, images, illustrations, etc.

I certainly haven’t done a great service to Kem in this little post, so I encourage you to check out her book and website if communications, clarity, publicity, marketing, etc are things you’re passionate about.

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