In just one year since its release, RefTagger has delivered over 100 million interactive Bible verses across more than 7,500 websites.
Developed by Logos Bible Software, RefTagger (www.reftagger.com) is a free web tool that webmasters can install to dynamically deliver the text of Bible references within their website. The overwhelming success of RefTagger is due to its ease of use for both webmasters and site visitors.
“We had long been looking for a tool that would display the Bible verses that we reference on our site,” said Shea Houdmann, Director of GotQuestions.org. “Before RefTagger, every option we looked into was either too expensive or too difficult to program into our site.”
Using Reftagger, Houdmann was able to transform over 5,000 Bible references on GotQuestions.org into dynamic links which reveal the referenced text.
Before RefTagger, sites like GotQuestions.org had to choose between leaving references bare, manually building links to Bible websites, or copying and pasting Bible text into their site.
None of these were good options. However, RefTagger alleviates the problem entirely. Sharing the text of Scripture is now as easy as typing out the Bible reference—RefTagger does all the work automatically.
Since installing RefTagger, GotQuestions.org has received numerous emails thanking them for adding the functionality.
RefTagger works on any size website or blog, and can be installed quickly and easily by anyone with minimal web knowledge.
RefTagger pulls Bible texts from Bible.Logos.com, and webmasters can choose from over 25 different translations to display. Webmasters wanting to give their site visitors more control can install the RefTagger control panel to their site which allows users to select the Bible translation RefTagger will display.
With 100 million verses under their belt, Logos Bible Software is aiming to serve 1 billion verses in 2009.
Additional information and examples of active RefTagger sites are available at: http://www.RefTagger.com.
Our goal at PastorBookshelf is to build a resource that pastors and those in the ministry (or training for it!) would find helpful–particularly in regard to books. In pursuit of this goal, we create or compile content in three different veins:
Overviews—Links, in about ten categories, for specific books.
Reviews—Written by members of our Review Program or links to reviews elsewhere.
Excerpts—Brief passages to familiarize with the author’s style, the goal of the book, etc.
It’s our hope that these three tools can help to better equip our readers to make informed decisions in what to read or what to buy.
Tim Wallargues that pastors should be blogging and that they should be blogging on their church websites.
The absolute best scenario for your ministry blogs is to build them right into your primary website. That way, your website benefits from all of the traffic and content added to the blogs.
To do this, you could build your entire website on a blogging platform like Wordpress, or you could use a website CMS that supports integrated blogging. Cory Miller right here at ChurchCommunicationsPro is an expert on the former. For the latter, I’ll give another shameless plug for my company’s content management system, Sky. It has blogging built right in so you can easily add unlimited blogs to any page in your site (and it also has friendly URLs. Hooray!). There are others out there too. Just look for the ability to integrate blogs with your main site.
Many pastors are blogging, but most are using a hosted platform like Google’s Blogger or WordPress.com (not to be confused with the WordPress software that can be installed and run from your own server with your own domain name). In our previous post, Christian Bloggers Survey, we noted that
most Christian bloggers are senior pastor men in their thirties who in the last year started blogging with Google’s Blogger and post about once per week.
But Tim argues that the ideal situation is for pastors to blog on their own church websites. As he points out, one way to do that is to use a platform like WordPress or Joomla! for your website so that blogging is built right in to the structure of your site. Both platforms are free, but my personal preference as far as ease of use is concerned is WordPress.
Another option would be to install WordPress in a subfolder on your preexisting site. If your current website is www.gracechurch.com, your blog would be www.gracechurch.com/blog/. The two sites could be integrated, but not quite as seamlessly as the former method.
Forget about the mystique and start blogging not because it’s trendy, but because it is communication. Share everything about your church through your blog and use other means of communication to point back to the blog. Educate your church members on how to use and subscribe to your blog. In short, make the blog the center of your church communication. It will benefit your church and also give you a better church website than all the flash animation in the world could provide.
We are also starting a new weekly book giveaway program called Free Book Friday. From the PastorBookshelf Blog:
Nearly every Monday we will pick a book and announce it here on the PastorBookshelf Blog. To enter to win the book, link to the post that announces the week’s free book from your blog and then post the link to your post in the comments section of our post (not necessary if your blog sends out pingbacks automatically). On Friday we will randomly select a winner and mail the book to you free of charge. We’d love for you to review the book for PastorBookshelf Reviews, but this is entirely optional. Our plan is for this to be a nearly weekly occurrence. Spread the word! One qualification: you must be (1) preparing for pastoral ministry, (2) in pastoral ministry, or (3) a trainer of ministers.
Be sure to add the PastorBookshelf Blog to your feed reader: http://feeds.feedburner.com/PastorBookshelfBlog. It’s a blog all about books for pastors. Consider it a sister to this site, but focused specifically on books. Read more about it here.
Amazon has launched a new website, currently in the beta stage, called UpSpun. It allows anyone to create and rate lists of blogs, books, movies, music, theologians, preachers, food—you name it. I’ve come across some great new blogs as a result.
There are a couple of ways to share your opinion. You can add an item to the list by simply typing it in and clicking add. Then you can click on the up and down arrows to rate the items. You can also log in with your Amazon account, and once you’re at the UpSpun site you can click on a list and then click “Your Ranking.”
It looks like a fun and helpful site. You could use it to discover new things like blogs or as a way to publicize your own website or blog. It might also save you time in the future. If someone asks you for a list of your favorite books or blogs, you could simply send them a link to your list at UnSpun. Here are some lists you might find interesting.
Pastor Mike Ballard, who blogs at Running for the Prize, just started blogging in January. He shares six benefits that blogging has had for his ministry.
Creativity – Blogging regularly has helped spark my creativity and challenges me to come up with different ways to keep my readers checking my blog.
Information – Blogging allows me to share information with the members of my congregation about upcoming events and any updates.
Transparency – I am able to share little bits of information about the happenings in my life and with my family that allow me to be a little more “real” with my members. . . .
Discipleship – Blogging gives me a chance to teach my members throughout the week. . . .
Preaching – Blogging has blessed my preaching because it is helping me develop my storytelling skills. . . .
World Missions – Blogging has also allowed me to share God’s good news with people around the world. . . .
Bill Seaver, a guest blogger at Church Marketing Sucks, talks about the growing trend of disgruntled church members to vent their frustrations and disagreements with their pastors and church leaders.
I personally know of four churches that are dealing with this to some degree right now. Here are twoexamples from Bellevue Baptist in Memphis, Tenn. (these are not blogs in the purest sense of the word but are text-only web sites that serve the same purpose).
The issues that prompt the attacks vary, but in each case the church is under fire from a small group of individuals who disagree with the leadership (either the pastor himself or the leadership as a whole). Also, in every case the churches had no idea what hit them.
He suggests five steps to take for pastors in this kind of situation and for those who want to prepare for it.
Start a Blog ASAP
If you start a blog now, before a crisis, you will have more credibility when/if an issue pops up. I think it’s a good idea to be blogging anyway just for communication and feedback purposes, but now more than ever I’m convinced that it’s necessary for such a case as this. . . .
Get Notifications
There are two great places to easily find out what bloggers are saying about you and your church. Technorati.com is the hub of the blogging universe and allows you to search on words and phrases to see if any blogs mention the words. . . . You should also set up Google Alerts. . . . [I’d also recommend using the new Google Blog Search.]
Be Open and Honest
Here’s the thing about blogging, it’s a great medium that facilitates conversation and understanding, but if you’re not telling the whole truth, you’re going to wish you never said anything at all. Whether you get busted in your own blog’s comments or on someone else’s blog, I can almost guarantee you’ll be caught (probably by another blogger) if you give half truths, misleading statements or outright lies. As long as you respond openly, honestly and candidly, people will see that you don’t have anything to hide and that you’re willing to address the concerns of the attack blog. . . .
Everyone Reads Attack Blogs
Recent studies show that only about 30% of Americans read blogs, but that number will increase dramatically if there’s an attack blog targeting your church. Attack blogs are both easily accessible and raise curiosity once discovered. . . .
Ask for Help
If you don’t understand how to get a blog started or how to respond (if you find yourself in a crisis situation) find someone to help you. . . .
Paul Peterson, lead pastor at Northgate Free Methodist Church in Batavia, New York, started blogging in November of 2006. He shares five ways that blogging has proved beneficial for him and his church.
It gives the church real-time, behind-the-scenes info!
It allows me to offer commentary on church life.
It allows the church to see the “other side” of their pastor (particularly helpful in a larger church).
It provides opportunity to share and discuss vision.
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Our goal at PastorBookshelf is to build a resource that pastors and those in the ministry (or training for it!) would find helpful–particularly in regard to books. In pursuit of this goal, we create or compile content in three different veins:
