The Pro Church Tools Show with Brady Shearer

Today, we're tackling your questions: How to handle new church issues? Does a small-town setting alter social media strategies? This is The May 2024 Mailbag.   ============================= Table of Contents: ============================= 0:00 - Intro 0:55 - What is your opinion on Sora's impact on church content? 10:03 - What do you do when you face a new problem? 18:27 - Advice on creating backu...

Who is behind the successful podcasts of Tim Ross and Lecrae? Join us as we chat with the Creative Director of B-Side App, the studio behind these hit shows. Learn about their episode ideas, set design, and the gear they swear by.   ============================= Show Notes: ============================= - Hector Guerrero IG: https://www.instagram.com/hectoralexguerrero/ - B-Side App: https://www.b...

There is a step-by-step plan that has already brought 10,000 new people to churches this year. How did that happen? We're joined by paid ads expert Brady Sticker to demystify online advertising for your church and learn how this happened. We talk about ad targeting, creative, budgeting, and more.   ============================= Show Notes: ============================= - ChurchCandy: https://churc...

The most religious cities in America are places you might suspect. However, there's a weird addition here - a city in California where nearly 30% are monthly attenders. What city is that? And which cities are the least religious in the country? To help us break it all down we have the preeminent source on data and faith - Ryan Burge from Graphs About Religion.   ============================= Show...

On today's episode, we're answering your questions about improving your church's photography when faced with less than enthusiastic expressions and whether each ministry requires its own branding. Additionally, we'll touch on our reflections on the recent Elevation episode and its online impact. This is The April 2024 Mailbag. Let's dive in.   ============================= Table of Contents: =====...

It's our quarterly look at the social media landscape. What's changing, what's staying the same, and how does it affect your church? One specific design trend is cooking in Spring 2024. Church sermon clips are showing no signs of slowing down - and there's one reason for this that you've probably never thought of. Plus, a new Instagram trend taking the platform by storm. Let's dive in.   =========...

Gen Z, also known as Zoomers, born between 1996 and 2010, are the first generation to grow up in the smartphone era. Here are 10 stats about Gen Z that churches shouldn't ignore.   ============================= Table of Contents: ============================= 0:00 - Intro 2:04 - Bringing Back 90s And Early 00s Fashion Trends And Listening To The Era's Tunes 6:24 - Interest In Environmental Issues...

In just four years, a previously unknown church went from 0 to 100,000 YouTube subscribers. Over the past ten months, they've added another 100,000 subscribers, despite their pastor's anonymity. Their remarkable online impact, leading to significant in-person transformations, prompted us to delve deeper into their strategies, with the church generously sharing behind-the-scenes insights.   =======...

Katlyn Hovland is the creative mind shaping brands like VOUS Church, Maverick City, and more. Today we're talking church branding, typography, colors, logos, photography, and more with her. Let's dive in.   ============================= Show Notes: ============================= - Katlyn Hovland IG: https://www.instagram.com/kayhov - Monarch Collective: https://www.monarchco.studio/ - Brand Your Ch...

We're doing things a little differently on this episode, as we're not in our usual studio in Niagara Falls. Instead, we are poolside in the Dominican Republic on our company retreat. With mojitos in hand - this is Bro Church Pools.   ============================= Table of Contents: ============================= 0:00 - Intro 1:19 - Are churches and ministries using social media inline with how peop...

Today on the show, we're joined by Nicki Shearer (of no relation!) who manages copywriting and language for all church-wide initiatives at Elevation Church, determining both what Elevation says and how they say it. Nicki oversees the development language style guides, an often overlooked part of communications but which is crucial for effective in-person and online communication.    ==============...

Today on the show, we're joined by Rohn Starling, who spent three years as the Content Creator and Strategist for Lead Pastor Mike Todd at Transformation Church in Tulsa, OK. With a wealth of insights into strategy on social media, we asked him questions like how to differentiate content between the church and pastor accounts, managing frequent posting on Instagram, and how to gain trust for posti...

Every church has its share of drama behind the scenes, something we all have to manage. Occasionally, it escalates into a full-fledged rivalry, causing considerable harm that is really unfortunate. This is the secret world of church rivalries.   Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139 📲   ============================= Table of Contents: ============================= 0:00 - Intro 0:39 - O...

Serving in church in 2024 is tough. Young people aren't as religious, churches are shrinking and closing - so what do we do? Here are some underrated changes churches should actually consider.   Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139 📲   ============================= Table of Contents: ============================= 0:00 - Intro 1:40 - The Two Selfs 12:27 - Live Off The Land 20:35 - Dail...

I recently asked my Instagram followers to share with me: "what are your hot takes about the future of the church?" and we got some really great responses. Alex and I sat down to discuss, to debate, to disagree, to find out what we think about the future of the church.   Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139 📲   ============================= Table of Contents: =========================...

Today, we're going through my 16 rules for living (10 personal values for myself and my family + 6 organizational values for myself and the Pro Church Tools team). We're going to talk through each of those, and then discuss some exercises to help you develop your own.   Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139 📲   ============================= Table of Contents: ==========================...

Have you ever wondered how to measure your church's performance on social? Is there a universal rule for how many likes or comments a church of a certain size should be getting? No matter your church size, there is an easy way to analyze what you're doing on social media and see how it stacks up. This is the ultimate guide to social media metrics for churches.   Send in your question via text to 1...

Leading and serving in church is a tough job, and it gets even tougher when you have to lead negative staff and volunteers, but there are some practices that can help us as leaders to navigate these relationships in a way that leads to life and hopefully to change, and that's what we're talking about in this episode.   Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139 📲   =========================...

Today, I'm joined in our Niagara Falls studio by fellow Canadian and friend of close to ten years now, Carey Nieuwhof. Carey does a lot of work in leadership development, so I wanted to hear Carey's best leadership advice - especially for younger Christian leaders.   Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139 📲   ============================= Table of Contents: =============================...

The discovery era of social media is only a few years old, so many are still getting used to it, and as they do - there is one specific thing that comes up that creates a eureka moment for them. This is what churches always overlook on social media.   Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139 📲   ============================= Table of Contents: ============================= 0:00 - Intro 0:...

As we bid farewell to 2023, we eagerly set our sights on the horizon of the upcoming year. The dynamic realm of social media, ever youthful and constantly evolving, continues to undergo rapid transformations. Keeping up with these changes can be overwhelming, but fear not – we've got your back! Today we will share our social media predictions for 2024, so that you - the church - can stay ahead of...

Instagram's algorithms (that's right - there's more than one!) have changed again, and if you are a creator (and even if you're not!) this is good news. This time around, Instagram came right out and explained how it all works, so today on the podcast we're going to walk through those changes, what they are, and what this means for you and your church.   Send in your question via text to 1-800-485...

For churches, finding the right people is essential to building a strong team. But how do you know what to look for in a potential higher? Today we're talking with William Vanderbloemen the founder and CEO of Vanderbloemen Search Group, who are regularly hired to find the right people to work in faith-based organizations. After 15 years and more than 30,000 interviews, they've extracted the data f...

There's a current event that everyone is talking about and you're wondering - "should my church make a post about this?" On the one hand, you don't want to be reactionary, but you also don't want to ignore it. So let's talk about about two questions you need to answer before making a big statement online.   Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139 📲   ============================= Table o...

One of the most regretful decisions we made as a society over the past 20 years was indiscriminately embracing digital media. Even if this *is* how things typically go with new tech, it's imperative that we as Christians have some guidelines for how we behave online. In today's episode we talk about church rules for digital hygiene.   Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139 📲   =========...