Matt’s a Christian guy blogging on entrepreneurship, business, the use of technology (PowerPoint to web 2.0) and his life. We both seem to share similar motivation for moving to Liverpool – I went there in 1996 to ‘study’ and watch Liverpool play football but, unfortunately, couldn’t find a way to stay in the city. We seem to have a few similar interests, including marketing.

From: 'Update: a new definition of marketing' on Matt Edmundson's blog, http://www.mattedmundson.com/2010/06/update-a-new-definition-of-marketing/

That’s really what got my interest, especially his diagram on the movement of an individual from first contact, through being a customer to being an ally of your business/organisation. The final step looking something like this…

Movements come as a result of deepening the connection with Customers and thereby creating Allies. This is where I want to take the companies that I am involved in – not being just a business but a movement, and I guess to do that I have work at getting the customers in to the Ally phase, because here is where the magic starts to happen.

From Update: a new definition of marketing

I’ve got a busy day ahead but I plan to spend some time thinking through the full diagram and how it would impact on the operation of Wycliffe Bible Translators in the UK.

If you’re interested in this stuff it’s worth checking out Matt’s blog.

So I’m going back to school with iTunes. Yesterday I spent a while hunting down some courses from places like Arizona State University, Duke and the Open University to fill in some blanks. I’ve downloaded the first couple of lectures from seven different institutions and plan to listen to each one and pick three of the best to keep me going for the next few weeks.

I’ll let you know if it’s any good when I get to the end.

Set up as a network to encourage and grow younger Christian leaders, the podcasts were part of a communication strategy trying to link experienced leaders with those just starting out on the road to Christian leadership.

The quality of the podcasts were always good and the interviews provided some really useful information, so why are they stopping after almost two years.

David Couchman who presented the podcasts wrote the following on his blog…

In the future, the main way the Slipstream resources will be delivered will be through the e-letter. Users identified email as their preferred way to receive information. This will be more frequent, shorter, and will not have a regular schedule, but will be sent out when there is something specific to say – a new resource, an upcoming event etc.

Read the full post here

A few thoughts

1. We can often get caught up in schedules and loose the plot of what we are trying to do. If you plan to release something once a month you have to produce something once a month, regardless of whether you have good quality content or not. I don’t think this was a problem for Slipstream, they had lots of good stories – including interviews that I recorded with Andrew Hamilton and Eric Bryant that never made the cut.
2. You have to use appropriate media for what you are trying to share. It’s far quicker for me to read an e-mail than it is for me to listen to a podcast. Much of what was shared through Slipstream could have been conveyed faster in writing than by listening to the audio.
3. Finally, does the technology limit the audience? I reckon more people can be reached by e-mail than by podcast. I listen to podcasts because I have an iPod and use iTunes on my home computer. If it wasn’t for my attachment to the Mac I probably wouldn’t bother. In other words, a podcast may be convenient for me but not necessarily for everyone. I reckon the e-mail route will give access to a wider audience.

What do you think?

It’ll take a few moments for the audio to download, but the whole presentation is below.

But, I’ve now seen the launch video and have to admit that I’m more than a little underwhelmed. This should be a fantastic event with icons that really make Britain stand out in the eyes of the world. I’m not convinced by the video that these characters do that, in this country or anywhere else.

Anyway, that’s my opinion, you should make up your own mind. Wenlock and Mandeville are below, enjoy.

Elvis Presley’s Bible part of the Museum of the Book

May 11th – 14th I spent the week with colleagues at the Christian Resources Exhibition at Sandown Park.

This is a giant trade show for all things church related, so there’s everything from pews and vestments to insurance companies and builders. Some things are wonderful, others are quite strange, it really depends on what mood you are in.

We were taking part in the Biblefresh exhibition so we went equipped with a number of Bibles from different parts of the world.

We shared the room with a number of Biblefresh partners as well as the Museum of the Book. Based somewhere in East London, the Museum of the

Book is a collection of different Bibles, either owned by the famous/infamous or historically significant. At CRE there was a copy of the Coronation Bible, an early Wycliffe Bible and Elvis Presley’s Bible, the cover of which he’d signed and listed various dates in his family history.

It was a treat to be in the same room as this exhibition. Especially as people who would stop to look at the exhibits would also stop to take a look at the various language Bibles we had out on display, giving us the chance to chat.

Why?

Well, Jesus says that his house should be a place for prayer, not a den of robbers [read the full text here]. In other words, don’t use the temple for trade – there are markets for that – use it for prayer.

I don’t believe that the focus of our church communities should be trade. Aside from anything else, it should never be that someone cannot afford to go to church. But, also, as Christians we’re not supposed to be trapped by the things of this world – your value as a person isn’t ever to be determined by the stuff you own.

So, what’s a church implying with the following promotion

Easter eggs and more than $1M in prizes at S. Texas megachurch

Bay Area Fellowship, the largest church in Corpus Christi, is giving away flat-screen televisions, skateboards, Fender guitars, furniture and 15 cars — yes, cars — at its Easter services next week.

Read article here

It’s not just what we say that communicates our values, it’s what we do too. To me this just encourages consumerism rather than placing value in people.

I think I’d rather have read any of the following,

South Texas megachurch gives $1M to victims of Haiti earthquake

…or….

$1M given to local charities by South Texas megachurch

…and my personal favourite…

South Texas megachurch gives $1M in support of Bible translation in Central America

Suggest another headline in the comments – where would you want to see $1M used? Or vote on the Church Marketing Sucks website – the current poll is on the right hand side of the screen.

My job for the day had been to take photographs, but it’s quite difficult to concentrate on this as the character of Jesus is being crucified before me.

A few weeks previously I had been to interview Bec Rogers, one of the Saltmine actors and the director of the production. She had commented that for her she learnt a lot through seeing the Bible, rather than reading words on a page. Bec has Dyslexia, which means that taking written information in is difficult for her. Seeing the Bible story enabled her to make a much stronger connection with what was going on.

From Eden to Eternity is on tour in May and June, the dates are below.

From Eden To Eternity – 2010 Tour Venues

• 11th May – Exeter – Belmont Chapel
• 12th May – Bristol – Kensington Baptist
• 13th May – Swansea – City Temple
• 14th May – Cardiff – Highfields Church
• 15th May – Hereford – Hereford Baptist Church
• 18th May – Northampton – Kingdom Life Church
• 19th May – Cambridge – St Barnabas Church
• 20th May – Ipswich – St John the Baptist
• 21st May – Norwich – Norwich Central Baptist Church
• 22nd May – Banbury – St Paul’s Church
• 25th May – Durham – St Nicholas Church
• 27th May – Sunderland – Sunderland Minster

• 8th June – Shrewsbury – Trinity Churches, Holy Trinity Meole Brace
• 9th June – Thame – St Mary’s Church
• 10th June – Fleet – Church on the Heath
• 11th June – Brentwood – Peniel Church
• 12th June – Leeds – City Evangelical Church
• 15th June – Coventry – Elim Pentecostal Church
• 16th June – Woking – Christ Church
• 17th June – Ruislip – Ruislip Baptist Church
• 18th June – Brighton/Hove – Holland Road Baptist Church
• 19th June – Crawley – Crawley Baptist Church
• 21st June – Chelmsford – Central Baptist Church
• 22nd June – Chertsey – St Peters Church
• 23rd June – Portsmouth – Oasis Church, The Venue
• 24th June – Salisbury – St Pauls Church
• 25th June – Swindon – Freshbrook Evangelical Church

So this is going to take a bit of thought. I’ll have to put a couple of days aside next week to analyse the results and put a presentation together. To help me do this I’m going to close the survey at midnight – in the UK – in other words, in 12 hours of posting this.

Thanks everyone who has taken part.