Online Church Leaders

I am excited to announce a great platform that I have been invited to contribute my expertise to called Online Church Leaders. This amazing platform was put together by my good friend Nils Smith, who has taught me an immeasurable amount about Internet Church Campuses and how to use them for ministry.

Here is a great explanation of Online Church: Online Church is more than streaming a video, it is leveraging technology to expand ministry and further the great commission to make disciples of all nations. It is a relevant and relational way to connect people around the world through digital interactions. Most pastors assume that it requires tons of time and money, but that is not the case. It is our goal to shed light on these myths and break down the barriers that may arise when considering such an undertaking. Our hope is that by giving away our systems and processes and sharing the things we have learned along the way it will save you time and money. We will provide you with the tools you will need and guide you in your calling to reach the world.

Register and join today! - http://OnlineChurchLeaders.com

On this platform I will be teaching online giving and eCommerce tactics from my iChurchMethod.com books. As we are looking to train leaders on how to better utilize online platforms, we want to make sure they understand how to effectively generate revenue online and make it easy for online users. There are a variety of topics taught on this platform by many of my online church expert friends.

Topics such as: Building Your Platform Creating Your Content Engaging Your Audience Developing a Volunteer Team Online Groups and much more

From Experts: Nils Smith - Community Bible Church Alan George - LifeChurch.TV Jay Kranda - Saddleback Church Seth Farrior - Seacoast Church Jason Morris - Westside Family Church Nate Merrill - LakePointe Church Kenny Jahng - Liquid Church DJ Chuang - .Bible Consultant Nick Ovalle - Community Bible Church

It's 100% free and we also post no affiliate links. We believe that God is doing an incredible work through Online Church and desire for every church possible to expand their impact through these powerful resources.

Register and join today! - http://OnlineChurchLeaders.com

Come join me at the OnlineChurchLeaders.com launch party, July 15 at 1pm CST, this new platform will be a great resource for church leaders around the world - https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/cm2jocf9mbtueeg7sb92io7qccg

Online Advertising Platforms for Ministry

At the 2013 iMinistry Conference, I was interviewed along with a few additional specialists about the most effective ways we use online ads in ministry, what platforms we use and how it has impacted the organizations we work for. Online advertising was initially just a Google only thing but now it has expanded with the addition of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube having very effective platforms and engagement.

As my gift to you, I would like to give you this video and audio for FREE! Yes, just click the link below and download this teaching today!

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/store/#!/~/product/category=5897035&id=35574527

Join me at the eConnect Conference [Updated]

I’m most excited to be able to share this special discount code with you for $50 off:

The code is: SpecialOffer (one word; case sensitive)

If you register by January 10th you will still get the early bird rate and get the cost down to just $149. This event will be great for you to attend whether you know very little about technology or consider yourself an expert. Group offers a very warm and conversational space for you to learn and engage with other ministry leaders about utilizing online tools for ministry purposes.

I would love for you to join me at the eConnect Conference on January 29-31, 2014 in beautiful Loveland, CO. Group Publishing is hosting this amazing event where we will be discussing how to use social media, online video and other online tools for greater ministry impact. I’m also very excited to be joined by my good friend Nils Smith, author of the Social Media Guide for Ministry and soon to be good friend, Brian Abbott.

At this event we will discuss social media, websites, mobile apps, and how all of these things translate to becoming effective ministry tools. I can’t wait for the conversations that will be had and hope you will be a part. Click here for more information and to register for this exciting event!

The iChurch Method TV - Ep 16 - Church Partnership Programs

Continuing The iChurch Method TV series, here's the transcript from the video above.

The iChurch method will help you develop an online network of your own. I would say look at a network; look at something like Facebook. You see that you have a lot of people that are connecting on there. I would say if you want to have a partnership program, what if you had your own Facebook, your own network where ministries were connecting with you and also interacting with each other via this network. We create that for you so you can have this online network where ministries can interact and they can provide training and leadership for them in this partnership program. We would create that for them and lay it all out, and let them figure out if that was what they wanted to do and if that was the route they wanted to take online.

Participation would be basically the same way you would run an offline partnership network; what is the content you want to get out, what are the levels of membership, what is the goal and purpose of your partnership network, and what do you want to get to the members of your partnership network. Once that content is generated and that overall strategy is dictated, then we just take that offline strategy and just put it online.

For more information on this and other topics, get your copy of “The iChurch Method Volume 1: How to Advance Your Ministry Online.” or The iChurch Method Volume 2: Changing the World When You Login or even sign up for the iChurch Method Online School.

The iChurch Method in Dubai

About two years ago, June 2011, I came to my wife and told her I had an idea about a book I wanted to write. It was a book on how churches could better understand and utilize technology. Fast forward to May 2013 and next week I am headed to Dubai, U.A.E. to speak at a conference on The iChurch Method and how it can help ministries advance online. I am very excited and look forward to helping this international audience learn the benefits of The iChurch Method. The conference is May 15 - 19, 2013. http://gain.adventist.org

The iChurch Method Vol. 2 is now available

http://youtu.be/Stpi_4aXcPI

In this book we’re just basically building upon The iChurch Method Volume One. We’re taking every chapter to another level.

This book talks about how to take your website to another level, how to develop a good content strategy, how to utilize more up-to-date and current technological tools to build your website.

With multimedia we're looking at taking that to the next level, the whole entire internet church campus. Let's bring all the online video and the streaming into one coherent campus so that people can come interact with your ministry online.

With eCommerce we're looking at how you make more effective, more secure, and more streamlined online donation modules. How do you have a better and more effective online store.

With social media we're looking at the advancements and the rise of visual social media and how to utilize that with Facebook timeline, Pinterest, and Instagram. Social media is going entirely visual so we want to make sure that we address that.

Then we're looking mobile. In the last book we talked about mobile websites, it's time to talk about mobile apps and how to utilize those and tablets and all these new mobile devices that are coming down the line.

So, in this book we just want to help ministries take their ministry to another level online and continue to stay ahead of the technology trend.

Click Here to Get Your Copy today

Google Reader

After high school, the average person reads about 1 book per year, educated people read between 4 - 8 books per year and experts read around a book per month. Now I used to read a book every two months but now I have changed up my approach since the information I need has to be more current and readily available. Now I read blogs and ebooks, usually an ebook every month or two and I read blogs daily. Google Reader is how I am able to keep up with so much information and changing trends in technology. Ranging from online business to technology to digital ministry and everything in between, Google Reader is how I keep up and read any and everything. Google Reader is an online software that takes RSS Feeds and lets you categorize them for reading. These RSS feeds come from websites and blogs that distribute them for people to subscribe to and receive notifications when they update their sites or post new content. Therefore, when I subscribe to a site like Techcrunch.com, every time they post a new article, my Google Reader is updated and I am able to read it immediately. Everyday, I receive around 1000 or so blog updates and I take an hour or two to read through many of them and stay current on all the latest and greatest in technology, digital ministry and online business.

Here is a screenshot of my Google Reader.

To setup your Google Reader go to Google.com/reader and login with you gmail account. If you don’t have a gmail account then create one.

Once it’s setup, you can add blogs or news readers to your site by clicking the "Add Subscription" button on the left-hand side of the screen. This will open a dialog box where you can input either search terms or the actual web address of sites you want to include in your RSS reader. Or you can click on the RSS icon on a website and if you are logged into your Google Reader, it will automatically be added.

Enjoy and stay educated and updated via Google Reader.

Church Technology, bring the people in or take ministry to the people?

I was having a conversation with a childhood friend (who is now a pastor) about Church and Technology and we came to a crossroads about how we thought churches should utilize technology. We both agree that churches should use technology to reach people and expand the outreach of the ministry, but he asked me how often does technology result in additional people in the sanctuary. My approach to technology and the entire premise of The iChurch Method was to use technology to take the ministry to the people. I developed a strategy that would inform your local congregation and give them a way to connect with the ministry online, increase your online audience that is not local by providing them online tools to connect and providing information for future church supporters by positioning the ministry to be accessible in numerous ways via technology. To help churches make sure they were taking ministry to the people, a supplement to their base premise of creating a location for people to come, get healed, change their lives and participate in ministry.

It never occurred to me that there was a focus by pastors to utilize technology to get people into the sanctuary OVER building an online audience and increasing the supporters that may never set foot inside the church. It appears easy for pastors to understand tv ministries and using TBN or The Church Channel to broadcast their churches to millions around the world and look for donations from their tv supporters, whom may never step foot into the sanctuary. But there seems to be a disconnect by these same pastors when it comes to building an online ministry using video, social media, mobile devices and streaming to build an online audience that they may never see but will still support the ministry via online donations.

Therefore, I believe that churches, ministries, pastors and Christianity in general will need to embrace technology, invest in online ministries, websites, mobile solutions and social media. Churches will need to continue to take the ministry to the people and make sure whatever device a person picks up, their ministry is accessible from it and accept the fact that online audiences will continue to grow and the church will have supporters that they see every weekend for services and supporters that they don’t see but still embrace the church as well. What are your thoughts on Churches embracing technology?

What is The iChurch Method?

The iChurch Method is simple: a method to help ministries advance the Kingdom online and take the gospel to the world. It’s a five part approach to taking your ministry online and reaching the world: Part 1: Website – A Great Website that is Easy-to-Use. Part 2: Multimedia – Interactive Multimedia. Part 3: Ecommerce – Online Stores/Online Donations. Part 4: Social Media – Engage and Connect. Part 5: Mobile – The Future of Technology and Ministry.

With these five parts, a ministry can reach and change the world. The iChurch Method book is a MUST READ for every ministry leader who desires to have a global presence online. Caston Digital and CEO Jason Caston, created this method to help all ministries establish a global presence and utilize technology to the fullest, without having to worry about huge financial investments and hiring numerous technical specialists. As explained in the book, this method is as advanced enough for a technical expert to understand, but simple enough for a non-technical church leader to understand.

Order The iChurch Method Book today!!

Ministries Need to have great Customer Service

I have been a customer for about year or so at the local cleaners and have spent quite a bit of money there.  Unfortunately, this last time, the cleaners left numerous spots on my white Air Jordan basketball shorts and I was none to pleased.  I took the shorts back to the cleaners and let the owner know that they messed up my shorts and could she please get the numerous spots out.   Prior to picking my clothes up, I told my wife, if this lady charges me for the cleaners mistake, I will never take my clothes there again.  Well, as soon as she showed me the shorts, spots still there and all, she rang me up for $2.83, and with that I gave her $3.00, told her to keep the change and took my business elsewhere.  That was one of the worst cases of customer service I had ever seen.  That cleaners lost over $400 per month in cleaning services over $2.83, and she didn’t even notice.

Which leads me to my point, customer service is very important whether in business or in  ministry.  One of the main focal points of The iChurch Method is to use technology to provide better customer service for your members.  Whether it be through the website, social media, mobile or any of the numerous ways a member can communicate with the ministry, make sure your ministry acknowledges correspondence when they receive it from members as well as responds in a timely manner.

Here are three good examples your ministry can use to increase it’s customer service capabilities.  First, make sure when a user sends an email or request to the ministry online, use an autoresponder to show that you received the email.  Second, if you have a “contact us” form on your website, make sure you also have a “contact us” form on your mobile site so that people can reach out to the ministry even if they are away from their computer.  Finally, when online users reach out to your ministry using social media channels like Facebook and Twitter, acknowledge and respond to users and let them know that your social media channel is a two way, interactive, street.

Thanks Steve Jobs, Apple will help advance ministries online

As I sit here with my iPhone, iPad, iMac, Macbook, Apple TV, my wife’s iPhone, iPad and my children’s iPods, I marvel at the impact that the Apple hardware and software has made on my family.  Our numerous purchases and loyalty to Apple products makes us an above average family technologically as well as a collector of Apple products since they release new ones every year.  The reason I am reflecting is that one of the top news stories last week was the passing of Steve Jobs.

Now I didn’t know Steve personally but based on the stories I have heard and read, he was  innovative, brilliant, entrepreneurial, egomanic, maniacal, a family man, non-philanthropic and quite a few things in between.  I found myself drawn to Steve for his innovation, products and business acumen, but not pleased with the sweat shops in China that produced the products and the ways he berated people in order to get them to produce beyond their limits.  Overall, he was quite the unique guy.

Nonetheless, I named my first book The iChurch Method, based on my appreciation for the numerous iOS products that I feel have enhanced my life and business.  I had the choice between iChurch, internet church, eChurch and online church.  Each of these names encompassed what I was trying to explain in the iChurch Method book and how ministries can advance and utilize the internet.  I desire that this book not only be innovative in it’s approach but also “just work” as Steve Jobs would say.  There is somehow a misconception that the ways megachurches use technology is based on their large revenue streams and I want to dispel that myth.  With the numeourous megachurches that I have had the opportunity to work with, each and every one of them has used similar technologies and software that can be used by a small storefront for a fraction of the cost. They all had the same approach which is:

• A great website that is easy to use
• Interactive multimedia
• Ecommerce - online store and online donations
• Social Media - engage and connect
• Mobile - The future of technology and ministry

These five steps were so consistent amongst these ministries that it inspired me to write the book and let the masses know that this technology and methodology was readily available.  Finally, the premise of Apple products and the vision of Steve Jobs, was that every product “just work”. By bringing down the “difficulty wall” on cellphones, mp3 devices, tablets, computers and every other Apple product, they have redefined the user experience for their products.  This “ease of use” is what The iChurch Method is based on, to take technology for ministries, make it easy and help churches to make sure it “just works”.  Thanks Steve, Apple will help advance ministries online.

How to maintain church finances in the summer... online giving.

I was reading one of my favorite church technology blogs, Church Tech Today, and I came across this great article title, “Online Giving Skyrockets”. After reading this article, I was very pleased to hear how technology could help the church financially, but that got me to thinking about an issue that I have come across with churches and finances over the last few years. I have worked with numerous churches over the last 5 years and one thing that I kept hearing was that church finances and attendance decrease in the summertime. Initially I didn’t understand how church revenue and attendance consistently went down in the summertime but according to what I was told, since numerous people take vacations and travel during the summer, attendance is down, which means offerings are down, which means finances are down.
Taking this into account, I started to figure out ways that people could travel and still remain connected to the church. And then it hit me, iChurch! The iChurch Method book that I have written and the entire iChurch concept is based on making the ministry accessible and taking church to the people. By that I mean take the church to the people, if they go on vacation then the church can go with them. When you integrate the iChurch Method into your ministry, you can do two things that will help your ministry keep revenues up. One, you can broadcast your worship services online and let people donate while they are watching from their computers and two, you can broadcast your worship services to mobile devices and let people donate and watch as well.
Online church and online donations are the key to keeping people connected to the ministry and thus giving them easy ways to continue to give their tithes and offerings no matter where they are located. As we learn that the people are the church and not the building, we realize that wherever we are we can have church. One of the best parts of having church is receiving the message and giving our tithe or offering. Once the church streams it’s services online, weekly television show and archived videos, anyone with a computer or mobile device can remain connected to the church. Likewise, with online and mobile donations, church members can worship God with their tithes and offerings from their computer or mobile device, anywhere in the world. Of course, this is based on having Internet coverage, but there are very few places that the Internet hasn’t penetrated and connected the world.
Finally, if your church is not taking advantage of online streaming (which can be done for free), online donations, mobile videos and mobile donations, then they are limiting how people can connect with the church and that is no longer an effective way to advance your ministry.....online.

Welcome to iChurch

Welcome to the iChurch blog. Here we will provide ministries with the tools and information to advance their ministries online. This blog is based on the book "iChurch: The New Internet Church" by Jason Caston. Oh, and for the record, I am Jason Caston.

Now let's answer the main question that everyone is asking, what is iChurch. Well if you Google "ichurch" you get a variety of results that range from a social network for Christian singles, an interactive viewing module for people to watch live services, to a few blogs talking about how the church is integrating technology into it's overall outreach. Most often, when a church says that they have an ichurch, it's the interactive viewer where you can watch live (and archived) services, donate, chat, take notes and read the online bible, all from one page. Now this is a great feature but it's limiting if that's all they consider an "iChurch experience".

I decided to write this book and start learning about the integration of technology and ministry because I had the great opportunity to work with some amazing mega churches and I started to see how they were lacking in terms of technology. But it wasn't just the implementation of technology (websites, ecommerce, computers) into the business of ministry, it was a general misunderstanding of how technology could be used to advance the kingdom and take the gospel worldwide.

Therefore, I decided to not only learn and stay updated on ALL new technologies that ministries can use to advance the gospel online, but I started to develop a methodology that ministries could follow to create a full online presence. This approach, which breaks down the iChurch method into 7 areas or building blocks, gives ministries a road-map to developing a full internet church presence. These seven areas, websites, multimedia, ecommerce, social media, mobile, elearning and virtual office, are the foundation of "iChurch: The New Internet Church" and this blog.

Welcome