Create Conference Blog

145 websites we (apparently) need to know about

Steve Kryger — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:00:38 +0000

I love exploring new websites. It’s fun discovering new things. I’m constantly amazed at the the creativity and innovation that is on display online. I am inspired to consider how these sites or aspects of these sites could be used for Christian ministry, to serve God’s people and make Jesus known. Two posts caught my attention in recent days:

95 websites you should totally bookmark today. This post has been divided into 6 sections, with ‘best sites for…learning’, ‘entertainment’, ‘trouble-shooting’, ’sharing’, ‘creatives’ and ‘most enjoyable sites’.
50 websites you need to know about.

Time Magazine also recently published their list of the ‘50 best websites of 2009‘.

Of course, each of these lists (and the thousands like them!) are completely arbitrary, but are a great way of exploring what’s new on the web. I encourage you to go exploring and discover what the web has to offer. If you come across any ideas for Christian ministry, post them in the comments section below.

Steve Kryger

Is your church or ministry on Twitter?

Steve Kryger — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 02:08:23 +0000

Twitter is such a valuable resource for me. On Twitter I discover what other churches and ministries are doing. I get inspiration for the ministries I’m involved in (from churches and ministries around the corner and around the world). I ‘meet’ Christians who are passionate about the same things I am. I get answers to questions. I learn how to do things better. I am encouraged to see how God is at work in and through his people.

More and more churches, pastors and ministries are signing up with Twitter. Below is a list of those that I know of (I’ve kept this list Australian-centric, as most Create conference attendees are from Australia). Some of these aren’t tweeting regularly enough to really be classified as tweeters, but hopefully by listing them here they might be encouraged to tweet more regularly! Also, my apologies for those I’ve accidentally left off this list!

If you know of other churches, pastors or ministries that are tweeting that aren’t listed below (and there are lots!), please share them by adding the details in the comments section. Here we go, in no particular order:

Ministries

@EQUIPwomen
@kcckatoomba
@thebriefing
@fervr
@MenInAction
@RICEregenerate
@riceentrust
@cmsnsw
@RICEprayerSyd
@AFESNTE
@sydneyunieu
@Fervr
@onthevoddy
@sydneyanglicans
@AFES
@OutreachMedia
@youthworks
@ANGLICARESydney
@1wayfm
@sydneyanglicans
@JesusAAL
@ToysnTucker
@mbmyouth
@serveasia_nsw

Pastors

@michaelkellahan
@stevefogg
@shanerogerson
@pastorpeterko
@jodiemcneill
@jmoff
@WayneConner (also speaking at Create!)
@pastorying
@dominicsteele
@eugenehor

Churches

@clovellychurch
@cbtbkirribilli
@cciw
@gracepointsyd
@summerhillatsix
@allstpetersham
@resolvedsydney
@StMatts
@StPetersChurch
@soma_church
@StAndys
@wrachurch
@yorkanglican

Over at Communicate Jesus you can also find a number of posts exploring how Twitter can be used for ministry, for example, ‘15 ways for churches to use Twitter‘.

Steve Kryger

Registrations are now open!

Judith Atkins — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:13:19 +0000

Book on or before 29th October to get $10 off. Book for 2 or more people and get a further $10 off for each person.

Registrations close 5pm Wednesday 11th November. Book early to make sure you get the electives you want!

Create 09 - Registrations opening soon!

Judith Atkins — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 05:19:18 +0000

Create is on again!

Saturday 14th November, 830am - 6pm at the King’s School, North Parramatta

Cost: $120 or $110 if you register on or before 29th October

$10 discount on each registration when 2 or more people register from the same church or ministry organisation

Registrations will be online here soon! Follow us on Twitter (Createconf) or join our Facebook group (Create Conference) to keep up to date with all the news.

Judith Atkins

Conference Organiser

(02) 8898 9320

(0430) 344 514

Create ‘09

Judith Atkins — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 05:11:35 +0000

Put the date in your diaries…. Create will be on again Saturday 14th November 2009. Stay tuned for more details.

Judith Atkins

Links from “I’m not cheap, I’m entrepreneurial”

Steve Kryger — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 12:54:58 +0000

Over at my blog I have posted a list of links to the websites I mentioned during my seminar. Click here to view the list (and perhaps add some suggestions of your own). It was great to see so many people at the conference, and to chat with lots of you. I look forward to continuing the conversation as to how we can do our best to promote Jesus.

Steve Kryger

Create ‘08 Registrations now closed

Judith Atkins — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:18:38 +0000

We look forward to seeing you on Saturday and hope you enjoy the day!

What do the top 100 reveal?

Steve Kryger — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:45:04 +0000

The top 100 websites in Australia (according to Alexa) are listed below. You can view the list with descriptions and links at the Alexa website. (Warning: whilst I’ve tried to check the descriptions and warn against unhelpful content, please exercise appropriate caution).

This list is only a snapshot of what Australians are looking at on the internet today. What does this list reveal about Australians? How might this affect how we minister to them and share the Gospel with them?

1. Google Australia
2. Google
3. Yahoo!
4. Windows Live
5. Facebook
6. YouTube
7. Ninemsn
8. EBay.com.au
9. Myspace
10. Wikipedia
11. Blogger.com
12. News.com.au
13. Microsoft Network (MSN)
14. The Sydney Morning Herald
15. Bebo.com
16. Real Estate Australia
17. Microsoft Corporation
18. Flickr
19. Commonwealth Bank of Australia
20. WordPress.com
21. The Age
22. The Internet Movie Database
23. Telstra BigPond
24. EBay
25. SEEK
26. Australian Broadcasting Corporation
27. ANZ - Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited
28. Photobucket image hosting and photo sharing
29. RedTube (warning: I think this might have explicit content)
30. Amazon.com
31. RapidShare
32. Australian Bureau of Meteorology
33. Mininova
34. BBC Newsline Ticker
35. Westpac Banking Corporation
36. Adult Friendfinder (warning: this doesn’t look helpful either)
37. National Australia Bank
38. Apple Computer, Inc.
39. Ask.com
40. Baidu.com
41. NSW Government
42. PartyPoker.com
43. Domain.com.au
44. Friendster
45. About
46. Carsales.com.au
47. Pornhub.com (warning: this doesn’t look helpful either)
48. LiveJournal
49. Youporn.com (warning: this doesn’t look helpful either)
50. XE.com
51. CNN - Cable News Network
52. Optuszoo.com.au
53. QQ.COM
54. Go
55. sina.com.cn
56. Adobe
57. VnExpress
58. St. George Bank
59. Victoria Online
60. Fastclick
61. Gumtree
62. Cricinfo
63. CareerOne
64. Orkut
65. 6park.com
66. YourTV
67. AWeber Systems
68. GameSpot
69. ImageShack
70. The Trading Post
71. Code2win.com
72. IGN
73. DeviantART
74. Optus.com.au
75. Reference.com
76. Emailcash
77. IsoHunt
78. Megavideo
79. Australian Stock Exchange
80. Answers.com
81. Yellow Pages
82. Mycareer
83. Queensland Government
84. White Pages Online - Australia
85. EzineArticles.com
86. The Pirate Bay
87. RSVP
88. CNET Download.com
89. Qantas Airways
90. Whirlpool Broadband News
91. Hi5
92. ESPN Sportszone
93. Googlesyndication.com
94. Tagged
95. Vmn.net
96. Clicksor
97. The New York Times
98. Tabcorp
99. Tube8.com
100. RuneScape

Steve Kryger

Turn your website inside out!

Ben Crothers — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:19:53 +0000

I have the privilege of sitting next to some smart gents this Saturday as part of the Arriving and staying on the web panel session, and one of the ideas I’d like to throw out there is the idea of turning your website inside out.

What I mean is this: say you were after a copy of the Rolling Stones’ Flowers album (hey, it’s got Ruby Tuesday on it, what a great song). Where would you go to get it? These days you might shop at iTunes, or Amazon, or countless other online avenues. Or you might scour some second-hand music stores. No doubt you would go to where music is available for sale.

Now say you had a copy of that album to sell. Would you keep it on the shelf and hope someone will knock on the door and ask to buy it? Unless your house is a famous music museum, you’re probably going to take out an ad somewhere where you know people will read ads for music to buy. Or maybe you’ll take it to the second-hand music store to sell. The point is: you would go to where people are who would want to buy it, to tell them about it.

Obvious? In my line of work, I often find that people build websites assuming that others will knock on their door to buy that album, then (understandably) get discouraged when it doesn’t sell.

Go to where people are

In ministry we’re given the great commission by Jesus to take His gospel to all nations (Matthew 28:19). I think that attitude of going to where people are with the Gospel can apply to websites: we can take the content of our websites to where people are already congregating.

There are so many websites around these days that thrive on communities sharing their content with each other. Whether it’s for fun, like photos and videos on facebook, MySpace and flickr, or to make a coin, like on Etsy or Threadless.

There are loads of opportunities for creative thinking to take our church websites’ content ‘out of the house’ and into the street to where people can see it, engage with it, share it, have a conversation about it — be it to promote events, sermon MP3s, Bible study notes, topical articles — whatever you and your ministry have a passion for.

Ben

Wayne’s World

Wayne Connor — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:01:08 +0000

I am running a seminar called, for want of a better name, Wayne’s World. Basically it’s a ramble on all kinds of unrelated issues, a little bit on everything and a lot on nothing. I get phone calls or emails literally every day from friends in ministry, co-workers and even strangers, asking me all manner of technical questions, and this seminar is my FAQ. In 1 hour I am going to try to answer (almost) every question I have been asked. Of course, we will run out of time, so here the top 15 I was thinking of covering.

Speech recognition on the Macintosh and PC does it work? Should I bother?
How do I not wreck my battery? laptop, phone, camera, ipod, what’s the difference?
Basic PA (what is a microphone, amplifier, speaker, and much should I spend on them?)
What is a good powerpoint remote control?
How do I plug my computer into a PA sounds system? (What is a DI box? What’s the difference between plugging in a computer or a microphone?)
Podcasting - what it is and how do I do it?
How do I record and compress a sermon for the web?
Introduction to VOIP and why it sounds so bad so often.
Using smartboards for School scripture.
Putting video on the web or in keynote (what format, what quality, How to put a video on youtube)
What is a continuous inking system on an inkjet printer?

To those people intending to enroll in my seminar. Which of these tickle your fancy? Which turn you off? What else would you like to know?