I received a review copy of The Tangible Kingdom Primer, a self-described 8-week guide to incarnational community. Written by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, The Tangible Kingdom Primer explores how to become mission-minded and then act on it by creating authentic community.

It is a cleverly designed workbook with lots of graphics and even more questions intended to take you on a journey through the ideas. To get the best flavor of this workbook, here is a sample question from each week:

1. How much time per week are you willing to give to building deeper relationships with them?
2. Who in your life needs you to be an advocate for them now?
3. Is your own view of the Gospel missing anything?
4. What would you need to change to incorporate more opportunities for community to take place in your life?
5. Considering the relationships that God has brought into your life, what are your responsibilities to them now?
6. Who are some of the people in your life that you are currently investing in relationally?
7. As you consider the differences between passive discipleship and apprenticeship, how would you describe your own life?
8. How can you work with God so that you are more accessible to people and more available for God?

The Tangible Kingdom Primer is a great way to immerse yourself in thinking about community. It is an area that I need to improve. What about you?

Do you thrive at creating community or do you get lost in your own world? What are your pitfalls or keys to success?

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

I love the way that good blogs are like getting free consulting from the author.

Recently, Tony Steward started blogging some of his insights. He has worked at Saddleback Church (Lake Forest, CA) and currently specializes in online community at LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK). Insights include:

• How to make videos work socially
• Making Facebook your primary Web presence
• What is good ambition?

There is plenty more free consulting from Tony Steward. To get it, subscribe to his RSS feed.

It is exciting to watch a growing number of churches recognize the importance of caring for widows and orphans (James 1:27). There are over 143 million orphans in the world. Obviously, adoption is an ideal solution, but there are a few problems:

1. There are not enough interested people to adopt all 143 million orphans.
2. Many wanting to adopt cannot afford the high costs of adoption agencies and fees.
3. Many people want to help but feel guilty because adoption is not right for them.

In February, I had the privilege to meet a man with a few solutions. Jason Kovacs  founded ABBA Fund, a remarkable organization that:

1. Provides financial assistance to adopting families (an interest free loan).
2. Raises money from people who want to support adoption.

ABBA Fund even offers a program to create church adoption funds. If you are passionate about adoption, ABBA Fund is a great place to get involved. Simply visit www.ABBAfund.org.

The spring 2010 edition of the Top 100 Church Blogs list has been published! This edition comes with 4 big changes:

1. 30 Extra Bonus Blogs
   This edition’s top 100 list actually gives you a bonus sneak peek at the next 30 rankings!
2. No More Technorati
   Since the fall 2009 edition, Technorati stopped providing data on inlinks, and its Authority metrics seem unreliable (a third of the top 40 blogs show no data or a laughable authority of 1). Consequently, Technorati Authority and Technorati Inlinks are no longer measured.
3. Hello Yahoo Inlinks
   To replace the Technorati metrics, Yahoo Inlinks will now be measure by counting the total number of inlinks to an entire site except from its domain. In fact, its reliability is so good that I should have used this metric in the first place.
4. Big Ranking Shifts
   A number of top bloggers changed urls since the last edition, which has at least temporarily hurt their rankings in some of the fields. At the same time, the new Yahoo metric consistently provides data on all blogs, where the Technorati metrics previously provided no data on a handful of blogs. This new and more fair and balanced approach has allowed several blogs to significantly jump in rankings.

To see the list, visit http://churchrelevance.com/resources/top-church-blogs

This list definitely still needs improvement, but I need your help! If you think a blog that is not on the list would qualify, please post a link to it in the comments.

What I like most about The Whiteboard Sessions is that it showcases leadership insights that come from a broad scope of church niches. Diversity like this, even when holding opposite and contrasting perspectives, delivers a holistic learning environment that I think is one of the healthiest ways to learn.

On May 21 in Virginia Beach, 7 leaders will each take 30 minutes sharing 1 compelling idea and speaking openly and honestly about their ministries. This year’s speakers include James MacDonald, Tony Morgan, Perry Noble, Eric Mason, Jon Tyson, Albert Mohler, and Jonathan Falwell. Carlos Whittaker will lead the worship.

Best of all, The Whiteboard Sessions will not break your budget. To save the most money, register early.

Catalyst has been consistently creating great church conferences for over 10 years. In two months is the next big event - Catalyst West Coast (Irvine, CA). It features Catalyst’s usual lineup of big name speakers - Andy Stanley, Don Miller, Erwin McManus, Mark Driscoll, Louie Giglio, and more.

Personally, I think the preconference Catalyst Labs speakers may outdo the main speaker lineupin fresh & challenging perspectives (major thought competition). Lab speakers include Dan Kimball, Eugene Cho, Dave Kinnaman, Jud Wilhite, Mike Foster, Scot McKnight, Soong Chan Rah, Dino Rizzo, Anne Jackson, Carlos Whittaker, Jon Acuff, Jon Tyson, John Ortberg, Leroy Barber, Margaret Feinberg, Michael Hyatt, and many more.

1 DAY LEFT for BEST RATE

The last day for the Super Early Bird rate is February 18th. But you can actually get the Super Super Early Bird rate  if you register with the special rate code “BLOG“. That will get you access the the main speakers for $229 and the lab speakers for only $99 extra.

I think the future of evangelism is search engine optimized (SEO) online content.  By no means, will this replace face-to-face evangelism or other methods. However, online behavior is opening doors of opportunity that will only increase with time.

Optimizing your ministry for search engines is more than trying to show up in the top 10 search results for “your church name” or “churches in your city.” Using Google to answer life’s questions is normal for those with Internet access. Imagine what your church could accomplish if it provided relevant answers in these moments when people are more open-minded and seeking truth.

Scenarios:

Imagine someone in Chicago searching for “Chicago divorce attorney” because she is tired of trying to make her marriage work. What if a Chicago church has SEO content in the first results offering free marriage counseling or advice on how to make a marriage work?

Imagine a teen that is fed up with being the school outcast and begins searching for how to properly slit his wrists. What if a ministry had SEO content offering real time help (a live suicide prevention counselor) or guidance on alternatives to suicide?

What it looks like:

Creating relevant SEO content is not a bait-and-switch tactic. That will only fail.
It is also not about Bible-thumping or aggressive evangelism. That will only turn people off before they listen.

Creating relevant SEO content is providing relevant, helpful solutions to the problems people are searching about online. These solutions may be alternatives to what they thought they would find, but that doesn’t mean these solutions won’t connect with them, help them, and change their lives.

Make your goal to be able to connect with the searcher and offer instant help (i.e., advice, counseling, a team of workers, tangible resources). Equally important is that you make these connections sustainable. Don’t let the relationship die with the initial contact. Provide avenues for you to continue helping and for them to be able to hear the gospel and/or get plugged in to a local church at their own pace as you gradually earn their trust and respect.

Resources to Consider:

Church Web Optimizer
The creators of Ekklesia 360 and Cobblestone Community Network are launching a new church SEO service this year called Church Web Optimizer. From what I understand, it will be a very affordable alternative for churches to hiring a corporate SEO firm. The tools look great, but the tailored advice from a real human is one of the best parts. Features include:

• Google Analytics Installation
• Google Webmaster Tools Installation
• Google Sitemaps Submission
• Church Website Analytics /Pre-SEO Evaluation and Conference Call
• Google Local Search Submission
• Featured Directory Submission on Church Cloud & Sermon Cloud
• Online Targeted Advertising (eg. Google Adwords)
• Social Media Strategy Implementation
• Full SEO Services: Link building, SERPS Monitoring and Custom SEO Implementation

Google’s Keyword Tool
If your budget is $0, Google offers a nice free keyword research tool that identifies what topics people search for the most and how they word their searches. Relevantly sprinkling a few keywords into your content is one of many factors that will help your search engine results.

SEOmoz
If you want to dive into giving yourself a search engine marketing education, SEOmoz is a great place to start. They have a well-respected blog, articles (some free), and tools (some free).

For Discussion:
- What do you think are some effective strategies for church SEO?
- What SEO tools would you add to this list?

Some fonts are worth having just in case you ever need them. Punched Out by Tobias Sommer is one of those fonts. And best of all, it’s free!

You probably don’t need to make 3D letters often, but if and when you do, this free font makes it easy. Simply print, cut, and paste.

Voilà!