But there is a takeaway from our long absence. As I was thinking about this “break” in communication it caused me to reflect on the general feeling in our society of “down time”. For many, productivity is of utmost importance. Particularly for leaders, the thought of taking time off or time away for nothing all too important causes guilt, a sense of obligation to be doing something. We are often compelled to start something, finish something, accomplish something. After all, as Christians aren’t we called to be laborers, soldiers, workers? How many times have you been on a vacation only to be thinking about all the things you need to do when you get back (can someone say, “full inbox”)?

But what about that time off, time away to just recharge?

The fact is, you shouldn’t feel guilty for taking time off to recharge; you should feel guilty if you don’t! The models and instruction we have from the Word are very much in favor of a little R & R. While we are certainly commanded to work hard and be diligent, disciplined, and devoted, we are also taught to take time off to spend with God. Jesus repeatedly stole away across the Sea of Galilee or into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. The Apostle Paul spent months and months in prison, on deserted islands, or in transit, no doubt spending much of it with the Lord. And many of the prophets spent days, months, and years in the wilderness.  Now, from these non-empirical stats you could argue that the people just mentioned were actually doing something, they were praying. And you would be true. But they were also connecting with God in a place of rest, a place of refuge. All came out recharged and ready for what lay ahead. What’s more, God himself set the example of rest when He rested after creation.

Resting and recharging is more than just a concept, it’s a need. The Great Dust Bowl in the “Dirty Thirties” was caused by an overworking of the land. When God issued the law to let the land rest on the seventh year, it wasn’t just because He thought it was an interesting concept. He did it because He knew that the land, like people, like Himself, needed time to recharge. If God knows this about us, and tells us about it, why do we so often forget that we need to rest and recharge?

Whether you forget to steal away for “alone time” because you work too hard, or your family is too demanding, or your favorite TV show is on, it’s simply no excuse. The reason it’s moot to argue that all these other things are more important than your own rest is that when you forget to rest and recharge you are actually robbing all the other priorities in your life of your best efforts. When you are worn out – even if you don’t feel worn out – you cut corners, you get crabby and you can even begin to lack passion and zeal for the very things that you have been trying to put first.

We must remember that rest is not an end, but a means to an end. God knows that when we are rested, we become refreshed and when we are refreshed, we are recharged and when we are charged, we are in the best possible place to take on all life’s challenges.

So back to our break in communication. To be honest, our break was due to being distracted, nose down in work, not from a purposeful recharge. But, unintentionally we learned something from it. We experienced a bit of recharge, a refocus, and a regrouping that is leading us to be renewed with vigor for the cause.

How do you recharge? What do you do to ensure that you get that time alone? Please share any tips or ideas you have.

And we all know that sometimes it’s the smallest changes that can make the biggest impact! Here are a few tips that we’ve learned from creating our own socially-powered web app that you can instantly apply to your social media efforts of community engagement:

1. Engage Where they Are

One of the strangest and most ineffective ways of engaging with your community online is to ask them to engage in ways that they are not comfortable with – if they are on Facebook then go to Facebook! With our app we intimately tied our application with the major social networks so that you can do just that.

And even without our application a simple poll and a little research can go a long way – find out where your community is “hanging out” and then go serve them there!

2. Do What You Do Best

One very simple strategy for engaging online is to simply do what you do best. This sounds intuitive and that’s because it is. But you know already that you’ve seen enough “strategies” out there that you’ve probably been tempted to try more than a few on to see if they work.

But you already know what you and your organization do best and what your value systems are – don’t deviate! Engaging in an authentic way requires you to engage in the ways that you were intrinsically made to engage and there’s enough social tools out there to do just that.

3. Always Choose the Simplest Forms

There are tons of options out there with how you engage with your audience and our temptation oftentimes is to choose the option that has, well, the most options! But we’ve learned that the most “robust” offering, especially in the context of world-class web apps, is not the best – the most simple is.

Take for instance Twitter: That application has changed an entire generation of engagement online and yet it’s limited to 140 characters per message! Yet it’s challenging media paradigms and communication methods!

Choose the most simple forms and you’ll go farther with your community.

4. Be Willing to Pay a Little

Now this would seem fairly self-serving but you know this to be true: Most often the best services available to you are the ones that require some financial investment. This is not only for applications but for staff as you’re already intimately aware that paying for the best people to fill the roles of your organization is a serious must.

But do you apply this principle into the applications that you need to trust day in and day out? Do your research and find the best tools that are going to engage your audience and be willing to spend a bit to make the difference. Don’t break the bank (and you shouldn’t have to) but the point is to be willing to see that your community is worth the coin.

5. Don’t Be Afraid to Be Wrong

Your best bet is that you’re going to mess up a little when trying to engage your audience online as much of it is trial and error. This is not a bad thing! In fact, it shows that you and your organization is actually human in nature!

Try and you’ll see and you’ll find that your community and your efforts to engage with them is littered with grace and even a bit of forgiveness – and you’ll win them over even more as you invite them to participate in this grand adventure.

We know this intimately as we engaged our BETA testers in the process of developing our system and it’s better because of it, scars and all.

Most of all, make sure to have a little fun along the way!

A key part to any effective communication strategy has to include some priority on winning people over to your cause. At its core, the gospel requires its listeners to be “won over”. Leaders need to win over their followers. Pastors need to win over their members. Businesses need to win over their customers. And so on. But how do you do it and what should you remember in your efforts to win people over?

If you really want to know, read what Kem Meyer, one of our trusted advisors, has to say in her post: 5 Things to Remember About Winning People Over.

How is it possible then, that after only a few short months and before ever releasing a product, we had acquired a large audience that was tuned into our messages?

It’s possible to amplify your message and expand your reach through the power of shared communication.

Shared communication is the practice of, well, sharing communication. It’s when you don’t try to say everything you need to say yourself. It’s when you don’t hog the ball, get on your soapbox, or bogart the mic. There are many ways of getting your point across, and let’s admit it, some people may be able to articulate your messages better than you could, especially when communicating to their own audiences.

Here are few concepts you’ll need to implement if you want to capitalize on the power of shared communication.

Get by with a Little Help from Your Friends
The first thing you need to do is make friends with people who have friends. Like your first day at a new school, you have to introduce yourself to someone, to get the ball rolling. With the ample amount of Facebookers, Tweeters, bloggers and online personalities, it’s not to hard to make friends. It’s simple really; just introduce yourself, your cause, and a way for your new friend to get involved. Friends can be all types. They may be your church members, your blog readers, other leaders, companies or churches with similar interests, and sometimes, even competitors (gasp!). Friendship is a give and take relationship, so make sure you have something to offer to your new friends. When your friendship is mutual, your friends will start talking about you, in a good way.

Give ‘em Something to Talk About
After you’ve made some friends with people who have friends and fans, it’s your job to give them something good to talk about. If you provide some good ideas and content that is valuable, it will get shared. The best way to do this is to provide some resources that your audience may find helpful. Michael Hyatt, who has one of the largest blogs on Christian leadership, is a shining example of providing quality resources. Almost everything he learns, shares, and teaches has some value to those who are reading it. As a result he has an audience of 100,000+ consistent readers, producing much fruit in other’s lives.

Let It Flow, Let Yourself Go…
After you and your friends are sharing your ideas, messages, and resources, other people will start to jump in on the conversation. Some people may not capture the quintessence of all the points you are trying to get across. But don’t worry about it. So long as no one is blaspheming you, it’s better to have people creating awareness, even if a bit off the mark, than to have silence. At times, it may seem like someone is relaying your message incorrectly, but maybe they are saying it in a fresh way that will be able to reach their audience more effectively. Perhaps there is something that could be learned from their “mistake”. In the case of direct criticism, you’re still alright. Why not just send them a message, post, update, or email with a clarifying comment or correction? Again, it’s still better to get the conversation out there, adjusting your messages as necessary, than to say nothing at all. Too much control kills communication. I know for many type-A leaders, this is a tough pill to swallow. It was for me, at first. But like the apostle Paul says in reference to the Gospel (paraphrase): rejoice that the word is being spread, even if it’s not 100% accurate.

Whether you communicate to church members, the general public, an online audience, or customers, the number one goal with shared communication is empowerment. You have to empower your friends and your audience to talk about what matters to you, in their own way.

What are some other practical ways to share communication?

Since our inception, we’ve planned on providing the necessary resources, guides, videos, and content to help those that use SoChurch roll it out as quickly as possible among their community. While announcement emails, start guides, and other elements have already been developed and integrated within SoChurch, we wanted to go a step further.

Today, we have launched another resource to help churches get their members on board–presentation slides. It seems every week in church there’s something to be announced via the standby PowerPoint and projector. With that in mind, we created roughly two dozen slides for you to pick and choose from when you announce your SoChurch community to the church. We hope these will make your life easier and potentially even spark some additional announcement slide ideas (P.S. if it does, shoot them our way; we’d love to share them with others, too).

Of course, we won’t stop here. We look forward to continuing to provide additional resources down the road. To access the resources we’ve created to date, just visit our Media Center. And, as always, if you have any additional needs, questions, or ideas for us, simply email weloveyou@sochurch.com.

Feedback is always welcome, and we’re listening. Customer feedback is helping shape the product and reorder our priorities. Already, you’ve seen adjustments to privacy, requirements, and the addition of new features due to your feedback. And more is in the works. Keep it coming.

Timelines in product development are challenging to predict. We understand you may want to know when a new feature will be released, but we can’t really throw around dates willy nilly. We do have a plan in place, but with all of the many moving pieces at work, and the ongoing agility we try to maintain in supporting our valued customers (see above), we don’t want to lead you astray if features get reprioritized. We use agile methodology and want to ensure we remain flexible.

With that said, we do encourage you to watch our public roadmap, which will highlight new features as they near. And thanks for your understanding on this front.

Reporting bugs or issues as soon as you encounter them helps us find and squash them even faster. There are a number of ways that you can do this, but the fastest is to send an email to weloveyou@sochurch.com with the following:

• Your name and contact information
• A brief description of your issue
• The link to the page on which you encountered the issue
• And, if you’re feeling super duper helpful, a screenshot (Ctrl + Alt + Print Screen for windows users, or if you’re on a Mac use Shift + Command + 3 or try Droplr or CloudApp)

Online help currently consists of FAQ and Help sections located on the SoChurch.com website. Our Help section is organized into various categories to help you hone in on a questions you might have. While this will help many cases, we want you to know that our ultimate goal is to bring contextual guidance even deeper into the application. This is still a little ways off (remember: timelines), but the idea is that, when you are in the Member Directory and you click Help, the videos, guides, and other answers to common questions related to the Member Directory would become immediately visible, with links to even more help.

The bottom line is that we’re here to help. We value you and we look forward to helping, supporting, and moving your ministry forward in whatever ways we can. Don’t be shy. Remember: we love you.

When owners, Jade Meskill and Derek Neighbors, were alerted to this seemingly perfect heist they responded with a hearty laugh and complete understanding. You see, it was simply a misunderstanding. In addition to being iPhone Sketchbook moguls, both Jade and Derek lead a successful Ruby on Rails development company, Integrum and collaborative workspace, Gangplank, which routinely leave out free energy drinks, food, and other fun goodies. We simply thought these were among the free giveaways they so frequently have laying around the office. Oops.

SoChurch has issued its dearest apologies and encourages their followers to learn more about this stellar little venture and resource when you have the chance.

These graphics are not only valuable for your own edification, but also a great way to share information with your family, friends, and church members.

We do ask, if you post these graphics on the web, please give us a little link-back action to SoChurch.com/infographics. And, if you have any ideas for future infographics, please just let us know.

As of this weekend, you can now:

• Embed media into posts, including images, video, and streaming audio
• Delete anyone’s comment as an admin within the system
• No longer view private groups and member-only content on their profile, to eliminate confusion
• Hide unlisted groups from members’ profile pages

Fixes from this latest release also included:

• Links to profile pages now working for manually added members
• Sharing via email now including properly formatted custom message content
• Links to picking your password fixed for manually added members
• Event end-times being fixed for events that span multiple days
• Pagination fixes on the group member additions

Also, if you’re having issues with your Facebook page connection, please let us know. We have spoken with a Facebook developer multiple times and he has informed us that the Notes Application is currently encountering some issues and that the problem is on Facebook’s side. If this is affecting you, please let us know and we’ll suggest an alternative way to import your content. Also, we are looking to developing an integration on our own end that would be more stable than relying on this native feature of Facebook.

Thanks for your patience and excitement as we continue developing upon the product. As always, you can stay up-to-date with our progress here on our blog, or on our roadmap. And if you have any feedback, don’t hesitate to email our loving support team.

As a SoChurch Affiliate, you will be able to help shape the product that will become the best online communication solution for churches.

Communication is a two-way street that involves both the sending and receiving of information. We will be relying heavily on our Affiliates to provide valuable information about how we can improve our product, straight from the horse’s mouth, and here is how you can help.

As an Affiliate you will be able to:

• Attend various conferences and events with us, hearing first hand the questions and concerns of potential customers
• Dialog with potential customers, gauging their needs and relaying that communication to us
• Reach out to the SoChurch team at any time to provide insights and ideas that you know we will consider

There is no question that we want and need your help. But we want more than just your best efforts to spread the word about SoChurch. We also want your feedback, your unique insights, and your frequent questions.

We want you, our valued partners, to be our eyes and ears on the street so that we, after hearing everything you have relayed, can shape the product to even further meet the needs of the Church.

With that in mind and apart from what we offer and what we have already planned; what would you like to see SoChurch offer in reaching our goal to take church communication and make it simple?