Shows
Bible 805#166 Time Between the Testaments, how to live when in the in-between times & when it seems God is silentFrom the close of the Old Testament to the start of the New Testament, it is a VERY different world—so many things had changed.
There is a an infographic that goes through the changes that goes with the lesson. In this lesson, we’ll go over how the changes came to be.
We’ll also look at the various groups that emerged during this time, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and others we find in the New Testament.
The lesson ends with some thoughts on the description of this time as the “400 Silent Years” an...2023-09-0935 min
Bible 805#142 The Old Testament Laws, Why read them, How to understand them, and Apply them todayWhen most people get into the books of Old Testament Law, especially in Leviticus and Numbers, with all the odd and obscure laws and regulations, they bail out.
And why shouldn’t they?
What do these laws and regulations have to do with us today?
We will answer all these questions and more in this lesson as we consider the importance of the messages in them and deal honestly with the reality that anything that is worth learning often involves challenging times to do that well.
We will then look at th...2023-03-0931 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#30 Cautions on writing, creating, sharing personally revealing stories AKA testimoniesStorytelling is very popular currently. Just today I got yet another promotion of a
“Learn How to Tell Stories” webinar.
Though storytelling is perennially popular, our Bible is made up of stories, after all, we must also be aware of some cautions in it—and that’s what this podcast is all about….
Hi, I’m Yvon Prehn with Effective Church Communications and today I’m in my role as a curmudgeon and want to share some cautions and advice concerning stories, that we in the church more often refer to as “testimonies.”
For the blog tha...2022-11-1211 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#29 Your Chaplain of Communications—the unique ways Yvon Prehn and Effective Church Communications can serve youThere are many useful resources available online to help you in your work as a church communicator. Considering that I was recently thinking about what makes my ministry of Effective Church Communications useful for you—what to expect from me that is unique or different from what is available from other sources.
Though I’ll break it into practical parts for you shortly, overall, I realized a good label for me would be Your Chaplain of Church Communications. This covers what I do, as a chaplain is defined as one—
Who provides spiritual care and resources
Is a m...2022-10-1118 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#28 How to Make the Most of Halloween for EvangelismHalloween—it has become such a contentious time in the church. Even mentioning the term "Halloween" upsets some because of its pagan origins.
In response to that, many churches have switched from calling "Halloween" events to "Fall Festivals." I get it; I totally understand but bear with me a minute and consider that changing the name in this way takes away some of the potentials for using this holiday as an evangelism outreach time.
What follows is not another Christian justification as to why you should let your kids go trick or treating, but an at...2022-09-2613 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#27 Game changer! The loss of comprehension of cursive—what it means to church communicators and what to do about itThis topic is incredibly important for you to understand before you do ANY more outreach advertising, encouragement, or communications creation of any kind if you want the maximum number of people in your church and community to be able to read them.
The reason for my urgent message is the realization that many people today cannot read cursive writing and that includes ALL the wonderful script fonts we like to use so much in our designs for church communications. That includes the group of templates I had ready to send out to you that I need to u...2022-09-2513 minBible 805#114 Update on Bible805 Podcast, Ministry, and Yvon Prehn 8-23-2022It has been a while since I've been in touch and I greatly apologize.
Lots has been going on and in this podcast I update you on everything and tell you about some exciting new resources I have for you.
For links to all the resources that I mention in the podcast, CLICK HERE. 2022-08-2415 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#26 Church Communications Survey Results and CommentsA few weeks ago, I did a survey to find out more about what church communicators are using currently and what they need to do their work more effectively.
In today’s podcast, I’ll talk about the Results of the Church Communications Survey Summary, I'll give you some comments on it and what we'll be doing in response to it in the Effective Church Communications Ministry.
For a transcript of the podcast, go to the link here: https://wp.me/pDky9-9zZ
To sign up for the Effective Church Communications ministry news...2022-07-2821 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#25 How the 5 Steps and Successful Seasonal Strategy Work TogetherSeasonal events are an easy and natural way to invite guests to church—that begins the process
They are ALSO a way to grow your congregation as disciples—that helps complete the process
This podcast will go through each step and illustrate how to practically accomplish each step with Easter communications--keeping in mind that the same processes will work with every holiday or special event.
For more resources, training, inspiration, and free templates to help you become a more effective church communicator, go to https://www.effectivechurchcom.com.
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Support this podcast: http...2022-03-1126 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#24 Successful Seasonal CelebrationsChurches often have a great turnout for a special event or holiday, but few have the same number returning the following week. This podcast will show you how to change that and make holidays and celebrations time to grow your church in numbers and your people in spiritual maturity.
For more resources, training, inspiration, and free templates to help you become a more effective church communicator, go to https://www.effectivechurchcom.com.
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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/yvon-prehn/support2022-03-1119 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#23 A strategic plan to grow your church in numbers and your people in spiritual maturity--The 5 Steps of Effective Church Communications and MarketingWhy do you do all the hard work you do in church communications?
In the podcast today I want to inspire you with a practical strategy to create communications that will help your church fully fulfill
the Great Commission.
All churches work hard to communicate their message and events to the people in the church and those outside the church they want to reach. However, most church communicators would agree that they are not as successful as they wish they were.
They try new tools, new designs, new media campaigns, and still...2022-03-1146 min
Bible 805#86 Critique of the Dating of Old Testament Beliefs on Life after Death and MoreHi, I am Yvon Prehn, and this is an incredibly important podcast that I discovered I had not loaded up to this podcast channel—it’s out of order, but very important so let me explain.
This podcast started out as added material to the podcast on Life After Death in the Old Testament.
It is a critique of scholars who do not believe that is true, but it became much more when I realized that the timeline I was putting together to show that faulty beliefs about the views of life after death in the...2022-01-0425 min
Bible 805#77 Life after Death--What does the Bible really teach about it?•Has the Christian religion always taught there is life after death?
•Some say that the people in the Old Testament didn’t really believe in it like we do. Is that true?
•Why does it matter?
•Hi, I’m Yvon Prehn and welcome to Bible 805! Where you learn to know, trust, and apply the Bible.
•We’ll answer these questions and more in today’s Podcast
This podcast is from Yvon Prehn and Bible805, where you learn to know, trust, and apply the Bible. Following are additional ways Bible805 can help you do th...2021-03-0132 minBible 805#76 Genesis and Job, answers to the BIG QUESTIONS of life, part two•We know the book of Job is about one man’s terrible suffering
•Because it’s in the Bible, we know it’s there for more than simply as an example of great literature—so, what lessons can we learn from it?
•In today’s podcast I’ll share why the lessons you can learn from the book of Job are an essential foundation for your Christian life, especially on how to handle trials and suffering and to help others going through a difficult time.
This podcast is from Yvon Prehn and Bible805, where you learn to...2021-03-0149 minBible 805#75 Genesis and Job, answers to the BIG QUESTIONS of life, part oneWhere do you go for answers to the Big Questions in life?
Ones like where did we come from? What’s my purpose?
What’s the source of all that’s wrong in our world?
Fortunately, God hasn’t left us without answers and that is what we are going to talk about in our podcast today. The answers to these questions and more are found in the books of Job and Genesis.
This podcast is from Yvon Prehn and Bible805, where you learn to know, trust, and apply the Bible. Followin...2021-02-2034 minBible 805#74 Muslim and Mormon scriptures, how do they compare with the Christian Bible in historical verification?How do the Koran and the Book of Mormon compare to the Christian Bible?
They are much more recent than Hindu or Buddhist scriptures, so aren’t they more trustworthy?
According to the writings of each religion, not only are they more trustworthy, but both religions claim that they are the most correct scriptures. By the law of noncontradiction, they can't both be true. So, how do we evaluate them to determine whether the trustworthiness of each?
That's what we will talk about in detail in our podcast today.
This podcast is...2021-02-0638 minBible 805#73 Hindu and Buddhist scriptures, how do they compare with the Christian Bible in historical verification?Aren’t all religions the same?
Don’t they lead to the same place and aren’t all their holy books similar?
If you’ve asked questions like these, I’ve some fascinating history that helps answer these questions.
In the last two podcasts we've talked about what is truth and then how historians determine what is true. Please listen to them as background for this and the next podcast.
In this podcast we'll apply what we talked about as we evaluate the historical truth of the Hindu and Buddhist scriptures and compar...2021-02-0542 minBible 805#72 How do historians determine Truth? . .why geography, archeology, artifacts, and documents matter
How do historians know what is true?
Do they write up whatever sounds good to them?
Or do they listen to legends or whatever do they do?
In a previous lesson, we talked about the importance of truth and how truth is that which corresponds to reality.
We then talked about how history is a useful way to determine what corresponds to reality and how this is foundational to determining if a religion is true. But how do historians go about figuring out what corresponds to reality? Obviously, we don’t have time machines. We can’t go b...2021-01-3043 minBible 805#71 What is truth?. . .and how historical truth relates to religious truthFake news, conflicting viewpoints, frightening world events, how do we know what to believe?
On one level if the confusion over truth were just confined to the political realm or whatever tragedy consumes the news,
one option would be to block the media noise and hope things will get better.
But we can’t do that in all of life.
In spiritual realities, truth matters!
This podcast goes on to talk about what Truth is not, what it is, and how history can help us determine what is true.
F...2021-01-2329 minBible 805#70 The Bible—Human Story or Divine Revelation? part 2 —with thoughts on Progressive RevelationIs the Bible one story?
Or a collection of related, but sometimes contradictory stories?
Does it matter which one it is?
In this podcast, we are going to answer those questions in our lesson today by explaining what’s called “progressive revelation,” a big term with a simple meaning that’s incredibly important for you to understand in determining if God is the ultimate Author of the Bible.
This podcast is from Yvon Prehn and Bible805, where you learn to know, trust, and apply the Bible. Following are additional ways Bible805 can help you...2021-01-1039 minBible 805#69 The Bible—Human Story or Divine Revelation?—answer & implications, part 1People say God wrote the Bible—but did He?
What does God’s view of time have to do with whether He wrote the Bible or not?
Today we are going to answer these questions, which are foundational to any study of the Bible & discover some very fascinating things about God and Time that prove the answer!
Go to https://wp.me/pazrJD-ff for a downloadable chart of God's view of time that we talk about in the podcast.
Go here: https://youtu.be/65LQFOYCIzw for a video of it.
Thi...2021-01-0628 minBible 805#68 What's NEW for 2021--new content and more media channels!The podcast is a brief overview of the many new things I have put together for the coming year. If you would like a detailed explanation of them, go to the Bible805 website at this link: https://wp.me/pazrJD-eG
This podcast is from Yvon Prehn and Bible805, where you learn to know, trust, and apply the Bible. Following are additional ways Bible805 can help you do that:
To download free Chronological Bible reading schedules and blank Bible-reading journal pages, go to https://www.Bible805.com
To go to the Bible805 videos of...2021-01-0612 minBible 805#67 Why Your Bible Isn't in Chronological Order-the history & moreMany people would like to read their Bibles in Chronological Order, in the order events happened, but it's very hard to do because that is not how the books of our Bibles are organized. This podcast will give you the reasons for that and what to do about it.
This podcast is from Yvon Prehn and Bible805, where you learn to know, trust, and apply the Bible. Following are additional ways we can help you do that:
To download free Chronological Bible reading schedules and blank Bible-reading journal pages, go to https://www.Bible805.com2020-12-2819 minBible 805#66 Why You Probably Haven't Read Your Bible in Chronological OrderMaybe you just don't like to read! Anything--the Bible or anything else. If that's the case, it's perfectly OK as listening, not reading was the way people took in the content of the Bible through most of human history. That's just one of the reasons, but we have many easy ways to listen to the Bible today and neither that nor any of the other reasons mentioned here should keep us from how it will benefit our lives if we go through it in Chronological Order.
This podcast is from Yvon Prehn and Bible805, where you learn t...2020-12-2820 minBible 805#65 9 Reasons to Read or Listen to Your Bible in Chronological OrderGoing through your Bible in Chronological, Historical order, whether you read it or listen to it is one of the most life-changing things you can do to grow in your Christian life. This podcast will give you 9 specific reasons to do it and Bible805 has many new resources for you to help you that you can download from the links below, including schedules, videos, and materials to use to study the Bible in small groups or Bible classes.
This podcast is from Yvon Prehn and Bible805, where you learn to know, trust, and apply the Bible. Following...2020-12-2816 minBible 805#64 The Truth About Trials and why we need the Bible more than ever to get through them2020 has been a horrible year by any measure, but there is always something to challenge us in this life as long as we are on this earth. Because of that, we need something outside ourselves we can trust and God's Word is the one sure thing we can always rely on. This podcast will encourage you in whatever trials you are facing and will also encourage you to read God's Word consistently so you will be strengthened in your life.
This podcast is from Yvon Prehn and Bible805.com where you can learn to know, trust, and a...2020-12-2823 minBible 805#63 Why I came up with a new schedule for reading the Bible in Chronological OrderReading or listening to the Bible in Chronological Order is one of the most important things you can do--but there are a variety of ways to do that. In preparing to teach through the Bible in the coming year, I did extensive study and prayer over what would be the most beneficial way to do this in the coming year. My schedule is unique in a number of ways and this podcast explains why I put the books in the order I did.
This podcast is from Yvon Prehn and Bible805, where you learn to know, trust, a...2020-12-2730 minEffective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#22 What would make you a more effective Church Communicator?Church Communicators do an extraordinary job and often with little training for their demanding work. In this episode, I want to introduce you to an exciting new resource for you--the Effective Church Communications Library.
In the podcast, I'll share what motivated me to put this resource together and some specific areas it can help you with.
Here is the link to go to the Effective Church Communications Library: https://yvonprehn.podia.com/ecclibrary
For many more resources to help you in church communications, go to: https://www.effectivechurchcom.com.
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Support this p...2020-10-2118 min
Bible 805# 61 We could all use good news now and here is the best news—all about salvation in JesusPandemic, crazy weather, racial injustice, and political turmoil—wherever we turn, bad news fills our world.
But there is one place the news is good—and that’s in the good news about Jesus. Many call this good news the gospel and that’s what our podcast is about today.
For notes from the show and more information on the Christian faith, check out www.bible805.com.2020-09-0118 min
Devotions for Church Communicators# 15 Not feeling appreciated in your church communications work? An identity check might help.Do you feel appreciated for all the hard work you do in creating church communications? I’ve been hearing from a lot of people recently, that with all the current increased demands on communicators, that many don’t feel appreciated. How about you?
As you’ll see today, how we react in times like this depends a lot on how we see our identity, our role as a church communicator and that’s what I want to talk about.
For practical advice, free templates, and training in church communications go to www.effectivechurchcom.com.2020-05-0410 minDevotions for Church Communicators#14: Do all you do with love or it’s just noiseHow can we share love with our church communications?
So often we share news or invite people to something or teach or challenge them, but how do we show love?
As you’ll see today, without love in our communications we are just making noise and how to do that is what I’ll talk about today.
For a transcript of the podcast, go to: https://wp.me/pDky9-8Tq2020-04-2608 minDevotions for Church Communicators#13: The Rainbow is coming—Prayers and encouragement!This is a special podcast to encourage and pray for you.
The world changed totally when the ancient flood came and our world is changing drastically with the current pandemic. But the same God that carried Noah and his family safely through the flood can carry us safely through this challenging time.
Church communicators have so much to do and this podcast is meant to be an encouragement and an opportunity to pray for you.
The flood might be overwhelming, but remember--the rainbow is coming!
For more encouragement and resources for ch...2020-04-2009 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#21 A non-technical solution to giving for churches that are not meetingTo meet the challenge of how to keep donations coming into churches when they can't meet together is to emphasize or launch online giving. And though it's a great solution, it isn't realistic for every church, either financially or because a number of people in the church simply will not use it.
To solve that challenge this podcast proposes an idea that will not only keep needed financial donations coming in, but that will minister to the scattered members, some of whom may be lonely and afraid.
Technology is wonderful, but sometimes non-tech solutions can...2020-03-1807 min
Bible 805#60 What manner of people ought we to be?What’s the most important thing we need to think about as we wrap up our year-long journey through the Bible?
We started with Paradise lost in Genesis and we will end with Paradise restored in Revelation, so should we focus on end-time prophecy? Figuring out when Jesus will return?
There are many things we could focus on as we wrap up this year, but) what I decided to talk about as we look back on what we’ve read and look forward to God’s plans for us is to answer the question taken from a...2019-12-2924 min
Bible 805#59 Paul’s Prison letters; Pity party or prayer?How do we act when bad things happen to us?
u We always have a choice
u We can retaliate
u We can throw a pity party
u We can blame others
u Or we can trust God no matter what and try to respond in a way He wants us to
No one or no circumstance ever forces us to act in a way God doesn’t want us to
In our podcast today we’ll look at how the Apostle Paul responded in a very difficult situation.
For notes and more, go t...2019-12-2326 minDevotions for Church Communicators#12 You are an ambassador in enemy occupied territory, prepare to be misunderstoodIt’s terribly frustrating to feel like no one understands you isn’t it? To feel like you don’t fit in?
As you’ll see today if you have that feeling as church communicator – you shouldn’t be surprised and in the podcast today I’ll explain why.
As always in this approximately 5-minute podcast I want to help you focus on God’s Word, the incredible calling you have to share God’s message of salvation, and to strengthen and encourage you.
For practical advice, free templates, and training in church communications go...2019-12-0804 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#20 Summer Strategies for Church Communications Whoever wrote that song, "Summertime and the livin' is easy" did not work in church communications.
The pace and type of activities change in the summer, but with Bible camps and special events, there is a lot of work to be done.
Hi, I'm Yvon Prehn and welcome to the Effective Church Communications Podcast!
In our podcast today I'll give you some tips for more effective summer communications. Please go to the website www.effectivechurchcom.com for FREE TEMPLATES of communications that you can use for effective outreach this summer. There are many m...2019-12-0822 min
Bible 805#58 Romans Road, part 2 The rest of the journey homeIf you invited someone to your home for dinner and they stopped halfway there, what would you think? That they didn’t care? Didn’t really want to be with you?
In our podcast today we’ll see how that is a little like what it is like if we accept Jesus to be our Savior, but then we quit God’s plans for us only halfway to where He wants us to be.
For notes from the podcast and more, go to www.bible805.com2019-12-0828 min
Bible 805#57 The Romans Road, part one—The Road to SalvationChristians often refer to themselves as "saved", but what does it mean to be "saved"? Saved from what?
In today’s podcast we’ll talk about the meaning of salvation and how to get from wherever we are to this spiritual destination. Our roadmap for this journey is found in the book of Romans.
For notes and more, go to: www.bible805.com.2019-12-0831 minDevotions for Church Communicators#11: We should share the good news about Jesus, not condemnation!When you think about Jesus, do you think about Him condemning you or reaching out to love you?
Often, I know I worry about condemnation, more than I rest in his love, but as we’ll see in our podcast today, that is not the focus God had when he sent Jesus. And I trust that as we understand this we will be more winsome and less condemning in our approach to others.
For practical advice, free templates, and training in church communications go to www.effectivechurchcom.com.2019-11-2904 minDevotions for Church Communicators#10 The most dangerous destructive thing that can happen to church communicatorsWhat is the most dangerous thing that can happen to a church communicator? Is it lousy equipment—a PC when you wanted a Mac or being forced to create a printed bulletin when you want to do things totally online?
As you’ll see today, the most dangerous, destructive thing that can happen to a church communicator has nothing to do with our equipment or the channels we use to create our communications.
For practical advice, free templates, and training in church communications go to www.effectivechurchcom.com.2019-11-2611 min
Bible 805#56 The Early Church—what to learn from, what to followAs we read Acts and the early letters of Paul, we see the people of the early church selling everything, constantly in worship, doing miracles. Does that mean we should do these things also?
The history of the early church is no doubt exciting, as they worked miracles, held everything in common and lived a life of continual worship.
However, a key question for us living today is which of their actions should we follow as a normative command for the church today—meaning we should keep doing it because they did it and what sho...2019-11-2629 minDevotions for Church Communicators#9: Often the only thanks we get from our communications work is from the LordDo you ever feel that no one understands or appreciates all the hard work you do as a church communicator?
If we’re honest we’ve all felt that way! And, truth be told, that is probably a realistic assessment of our situation—nobody does understand or appreciate all we do any more than we understand the work, prayers, and struggle put into the Sunday sermon, or what it means to care for a spouse with Alzheimer's for one more lonely day. But in today’s podcast I’ll share how people not understanding what we do in church...2019-11-2106 min
Bible 805#55 Changed lives and a world turned upside down--Acts, James, GalatiansWhat does it take to change a habit?
We’ve all struggled to lose weight or exercise or get up earlier or all sorts of things we wish we’d do differently and it's hard to do!
It’s never easy to change even the most simple of habits, but in our podcast today we’ll see that the followers of Jesus not only changed their personal behavior from that of fearful cowards to fearless leaders but that thousands of Jewish believers totally changed the faith practices that had been the core of their identity since th...2019-11-2132 min
Bible 805#54 Who is Jesus? Answers from history, religions, and the BibleWho is Jesus?
Secular history and all the major religions of the world agree He existed, but they have very different answers as to who He is
In our podcast today we’ll look at the history that verifies His existence, the beliefs about Him that have no basis in history all to help us answer the most important question of time and eternity—Who do you think Jesus is?
For a copy of the notes that go with the podcast and more, go to https://www.bible805.com.2019-11-1438 minDevotions for Church Communicators#8 Verses on DisciplineWhat character trait will help you the most when you are confronted with the many competing demands of church communications ministry?
Though many are useful, in our podcast today, we’ll look at what God’s word says about discipline—the character trait that is the foundation of all others.
As always in this approximately 5-minute podcast I want to help you focus on God’s Word, the incredible calling you have to share God’s message of salvation, and to strengthen and encourage you.
This podcast is from me, Yvon Prehn and my ministr...2019-11-1205 minDevotions for Church Communicators#7: Difficulties and testing are as much a part of God's plan as blessingsWhy is it that when you have an especially tight deadline for a church communication project that the printer jams and the church phone won’t stop ringing?
We seldom have the time or the perfect setting in which to create our church communications, but I hope that today I’ll help you see how God has a purpose in whatever challenges you face.
For practical advice, free templates, and training in church communications go to www.effectivechurchcom.com.2019-11-0405 minDevotions for Church Communicators#6: Make your communications a joy to receiveWhen you think about Jesus do you picture him as primarily judgmental and disapproving of all you do or as someone who loves you incredibly and accepts you unconditionally? The way you see him will probably be reflected in your communications.
As we’ll see in our podcast today, Jesus was a delight to listen to and our communications should reflect his joy.
For practical advice, free templates, and training in church communications go to www.effectivechurchcom.com.2019-10-2804 min
Bible 805#53 Intro to the Gospels: Images of the IncarnationWhat is the most important thing about the Christian faith? How does it claim to connect you with God, forgive your sins, and give you eternal life?
• Is it knowing all the things you learned about the Old Testament if you’ve been listening to this podcast the last few months?
• Is it holding to certain beliefs like a 6-day Creation theory or 5-point Calvinism?
• Or is it what you do like being sure that you don’t do cheat on your spouse or taxes?
• As we will see in our lesson today...2019-10-2834 minDevotions for Church Communicators#5: A clean heart is essential for church communications workWhat makes it hard for you to get work done? I know for me if my desk and office are too messy, it’s sometimes hard for me to concentrate.
As we’ll see in our podcast today, we might need to clean up more than our desks if we want to do our best work for the Lord.
For practical advice, free templates, and training in church communications go to www.effectivechurchcom.com.2019-10-1504 minDevotions for Church Communicators#4: Promises and Challenges on PrayerIt’s hard to come up with all the creative ideas we need for church communications, isn’t it? And it’s also tough to get done all the projects we need to get done in the short amount of time we have to do them---so what do we do?
As with every other area of life, we can PRAY! And in today's podcast I want to share with you some verses and thoughts on prayer to encourage and challenge you.
For practical advice, free templates, and training in church communications go to www.effectivechurchcom.com.2019-10-0705 minDevotions for Church Communicators#3 Real 24/7 supportDo you ever wish you could call a helpline when you are doing church communications?
So often we have no idea what to do or where to go for help when we are in the middle of a project—but I want you to know you aren’t alone!
In our podcast today I want to remind us all of a source that is always there to help 24/7.
For practical advice, free templates, and training in church communications go to www.effectivechurchcom.com. On the website you can also find a copy of the...2019-09-3004 minDevotions for Church Communicators#2 Reality of our situation—challenging spiritual warfarePOD intro: Do you ever feel like you are fighting a battle when you sit down to do your church communications?
If so, that is a realistic view of your situation because you really are fighting for the kingdom of God!
In this very short podcast I want to help you focus on God’s Word, the incredible calling you have to share God’s message of salvation, and to strengthen and encourage you.
In our podcast today I want remind us all that we are involved in spiritual warfare in the work we d...2019-09-3005 min
Bible 805#52 Conversations with God, the book of MalachiWhat kind of a relationship do you have with someone if you never talk to them?
OR if they talk to you and you ignore them?
In our podcast today we’ll review God’s conversations with His people throughout the Old Testament and what he finally had to say to them before becoming silent for 400 years. Along the way, we’ll talk about how we ought to respond when we read his messages today.
For notes and more on the podcast go to https://www.bible805.com.2019-09-2940 minDevotions for Church Communicators#1 You are the Great Ones and far more than important than you may realizeHow important is the communication work you do for the church? A little, a lot? You aren't sure?
In our podcast today I want to tell you a little story that I hope will help you understand the incredible importance of what you do.
Lives are changed for time and eternity because of what you are doing today—with that contrary computer, a crushing workload, and those impossible deadlines.
For practical advice, free templates, and training, in church communications go to www.effectivechurchcom.com. On the website you can also find a copy of...2019-09-2505 min
Bible 805#51 Zechariah & Captain America, why God speaks in imagesIf you want to describe the perfect super-hero, a sterling example of strength, integrity, leadership, and self-giving, you could list these characteristics in minute dictionary detail or you could simply say, “Captain America.”
An image can contain volumes of backstory and meaning in a few words—the challenge is you need to understand the meaning of the image.
The books of the Old Testament and Zachariah is one of the main ones that do this, uses imagery in much the same way.
The challenge to modern readers have is that we don’t know the...2019-09-2335 min
Bible 805#50 What will make us truly happy? Answered by the Prophet HaggaiWhat makes you truly happy and satisfied?
Is its financial security? A loving family or relationship? A beautiful home?
Though all of these things, financial security, loving family, beautiful home are what most of us want, we’ll see in our podcast today that these are not what creates true happiness and inner satisfaction and peace—but we won’t stop with being negative, but will talk about how we can achieve not only what we want, but what we are created for.
Our source of for this lesson is the Prophet Haggai and tha...2019-09-1532 min
Bible 805#49 God keeps his promises…and how to get better at keeping ours--what we learn from Ezra, Nehemiah, and EstherWhen someone makes a promise to you, do they always keep it?
What about God? Does He always keep his promises?In our podcast today we’ll see how God kept his promise to return people to their homeland after they’d been taken captive for 70 years.
But as for the people of God, we’ll see how well they kept their promises to God and then we’ll end with some applications on how we might all get better at making the changes in our lives we want to make, but have trouble following through...2019-09-0741 min
Bible 805#48 Whiner, Worker, Witness, or Wonder? Ezekiel and Daniel, lessons learnedWe know hard times will come
The question is, How do we respond?
Two characters in the Old Testament, Ezekiel and Daniel, whose stories started when they were teenagers give us some encouraging examples
In the midst of unimaginable challenges, we’ll see how…..
They didn’t whine; they faithfully worked, their lives became a witness, the wonder of God was then revealed to and through them.
Our podcast today will show you how this happened!
For notes and more, go to www.bible805.com.2019-08-3141 min
Bible 805#47--It is OK to ask God "Why?" A lesson we learn from the prophet HabakkukIs it OK to ask God “why?”
Why do you allow evil?
Why do evil people get away with things?
Why do good people get caught up in the mess others make?
In this podcast we’ll look at the prophet Habakkuk and what happened when he not only asked God “Why?” but when he kept asking God when he didn’t like how God answered him the first time.
Go to www.bible805.com to download PDFs of the lesson.2019-08-2728 min
Bible 805#46 Live with the end in mind, the Day of the Lord as told in Zephaniah and JoelThe bestselling book the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People totally revolutionized the lives of millions of people and one of the habits Steven Covey, the author, talked about is a great summary of our podcast today.
The habit I’m talking about is Habit #2—Begin With the End in Mind
Join me as we look at the challenge of how to Begin with the End in Mind in the books of Zephaniah and Joel in our podcast today.
For notes and additional information on this topic, go to www.bible805.com.2019-08-1826 min
Bible 805#45 Last messages of judgment and hope--Isaiah & JeremiahPeople ask, if it really matter if the events talked about in the Old Testament took place in the times and ways that are described in the Bible?
And some wonder if it isn’t the spiritual message of these stories that is most important?
In this podcast, we are going to talk about how it does matter tremendously that the Old Testament describes true stories that took place in recognizable places that we can date in true history.
Once we understand this, it helps us understand the view of our great God and...2019-08-1136 min
Bible 805#44 MICAH: How can we please God? The eternally important question with a Focus on Micah 6:8How can we please God? How can we know if we are doing enough in our Christian lives?
Fortunately God doesn’t play games with us and doesn’t leave us guessing as to what he wants us to do. We’ll talk about that today in our lesson.
We've been looking a lot at the history of what has happened to Israel and though that is important, what is even more important is how we apply the lessons we learn from history. The book of Micah gives us specific advice on how to do that. ...2019-08-0432 min
Bible 805#43 The last days of Israel and what they teach us about truth, history, and the importance of obeying GodDoes it matter if the stories in the Bible really happened? Isn’t the important thing the spiritual truth taught in them?
It seems to be a common belief today that objective facts aren't nearly as important as how we feel about our spiritual beliefs, but as you'll learn today our Bible is based on historical realities and God cares very much about how we live our lives based on those realities.
For notes from the podcast, go to www.bible805.com.2019-07-2930 min
Bible 805#42 How to daily live a life pleasing to God—what all the theology about dying to sin really means How are we supposed to live our daily lives if our faith in Jesus is real?
If God saves us as a free gift of grace, dependent on Jesus death on the cross, does he really care what we do after we accept him? Can we do whatever we want, knowing we’ll be forgiven?
On a more serious note, what if, after we have trusted Jesus as Savior, we truly want to live a life that pleases Him—how do we do that?
To answer the questions I just asked is vitally import...2019-07-2343 min
Bible 805#41 Hosea and the meaning of true loveDo you have trouble believing that God loves you? That he forgives you no matter what your sins?
Many of us have problems believing God really loves us, but with the prophet Hosea in the podcast today we will see an incredible example of God’s love that not only applied to Israel when it was going through a very hard time, but that applies to us today also.
For notes and other materials related to this and other lessons on the prophets, go to: www.bible805.com2019-07-2122 min
Bible 805#40 Amos, Prophet of Justice, then and NOW Do you ever wonder what God wants you to do?
In Dallas Willard’s book, Hearing God, he says that one of most frequently asked questions of Christians is “What is God’s will for my life?” It’s a question I’m sure many of us have asked.
In today’s podcast we’ll be looking at the book of Amos, one of the Old Testament prophets for help in answering this question.
We'll see that God is very clear on what He wants from us and how He wants us to treat others. Amos...2019-07-1433 min
Bible 805#39 Jonah, about so much more than a fishMost people have heard about the story of Jonah and the whale, but did you know that the book also answers some big questions about the Christian life?
Some of the questions Jonah answers include:
What about people who haven’t heard the gospel if Jesus is the only way to God?
What are the consequence of sin in the life of a believer?
What do we do about bad people, or when people treat us badly? What does God expect from us as His people?
For answers to these questions and other scattered applications, le...2019-07-0729 min
Bible 805#38 Prophets & King, Extraordinary Lessons, Seldom ReadWould you like to know God better?
Not just about God—but learning about the One with whom you will walk throughout eternity?
One of the best ways to get to know someone is find out about their past—who were their friends, what was important to them, what moves them to tears or gives them joy.
Our God shows us all these things in the history of the kings after Solomon and in the messages of the prophets who preached during that time. But sadly few, even many committed Christians, take the time...2019-06-3037 minBible 805#37 Proverbs, part 2: Practical advice for a post-Christian, post-Biblical worldIf someone insults you how do you answer?
Does the way people treat us determine how we should treat them?
In our podcast today we’ll look at Proverbs and get some advice on how we can respond no matter how difficult people might be in ways that please God and ultimately help us live a more peaceful and productive life.
We laid the philosophical groundwork for this podcast in the last one. Please listen to it first if you haven't already.
In this podcast we get practical on how we can...2019-06-2926 min
Bible 805#36 Proverbs, part one: WHY we need it in our post-Christian, post-Biblical worldWhy do you act the way you do? Talk the way you do?
Are these conscious decisions or simply a reflection of whatever everyone else in your world says and does?
We don’t often give everyday actions or words much thought, but in our podcast today we’re going to look at the book of Proverbs and WHY we need it in a post-Christian, post-Biblical world.
This is an important podcast for you to listen to because though we don't often think about the default settings in behavior and beliefs in our worl...2019-06-2932 min
Bible 805#35 Intro to the Prophets--much more than a bunch of angry old menWhen you hear the term prophecy, what do you think of?
For many people we think of dire warnings of end-time apocalypse, with images of our favorite sci-fi movie dancing in our heads.
But is that what prophecy, specifically prophecy in the Bible is all about?
In our podcast today we’ll see that that the books of the Bible after the poetic books we just studied, that we call the Prophetic books and that make up a major art of our Old Testament are about so much more and that they have su...2019-06-2327 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#19 D-Day and Church Communications: with words from C.S. Lewis and memories of my Grandfather as they left England the morning of D-DayToday is the 75th anniversary of D-Day and while we commemorate and honor the sacrifices of those who stormed the beaches of Normandy I think it is appropriate to remind everyone who is involved in Church Communications that you are daily involved in storming the strongholds of Satan to win people to Jesus.
To do that I want to share 3 things:
A quote from C.S. Lewis and how it applies to us as church communicators
A challenge for church communicators about the reality of spiritual warfare
Finally, a memory of D-Day from my adopted grandfather a...2019-06-0710 min
Bible 805#34 Solomon—the uses and abuses of wisdom, power, and love What if you had EVERYTHING? Money, power, romance?
What would you do with it?
Today we’ll talk about Solomon, a man who had everything
We’ll look at his life, but more than that, we’ll end with a challenge that You can make a more eternally significant impact with your life than he did with all the wisdom, wealth, power and riches he had.
For a PDF of lesson notes, go to www.bible805.com.2019-06-0236 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#18 Father's Day—Beyond celebration—how to make the ministry most of it to grow Dads spiritually It's easy to look at Father's Day as just another holiday to do up a special bulletin and social media for and to say a few nice things about Dads during the church service. But did you know you can do so much more as communicators for Jesus?
We need to constantly remind ourselves in the crush of trivia and distraction that our job is not to be a holy version of Hallmark where our goal is to have the most appealing Father's Day social media and PowerPoint ever, but that our primary job in communications, as i...2019-05-3016 min
Bible 805#33 For all that’s good in life—The benefits of God’s Word in Ps.119 We’ve studied the life of David for the past two podcasts and we’ll end the study of his life with a look at Ps. 119. Though there is some debate of the writer of this Psalm, the consensus is that David wrote it as a summary of his love for God’s Word and the benefits that will be in our life if we read, listen, meditate on, memorize, and fill our life with it.
This week we’ll look at an overview of the many benefits God gives us from his Word including...2019-05-2538 min
Bible 805#32 David—great sins and great mercy but always a heart in the right place, part 2 Have you ever felt you can’t forgive yourself or that you’ve don’t things so that God can never use you for anything significant?
If so I have great news for you!
We will continue our look at King David in today's lesson. His sin with Bathsheba was only one of the serious sins in his life and yet, he ended his life forgiven and greatly used by God.
We’ll learn about God’s great forgiveness and love in our lesson today and how we can learn to forgive ourselves and press a...2019-05-1828 min
Bible 805#31 David—great sins and great mercy but always a heart in the right place, part 1David, the greatest king in Israel’s history was described as a man after God’s own heart
What in the world does "to be a man after God's own heart" mean and what can we learn from it?
In today’s lesson, we’ll take an in-depth look at that statement and be challenged on how our hearts can be ones that please God. We'll also look at David's life and how from great actions for God to great sins, he always returned to God.
We'll see no matter how much we feel we...2019-05-1331 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#17 SPECIAL PODCAST: Yvon Prehn reading "One Mother's Prayer"This short piece, One Mother's Prayer, is a true story that is both an encouragement to pray for children and an assurance of the power of prayer to change a destiny.
The written version been published more times than anything else I've written. It was first published in Today's Christian Woman magazine. Then it was included in their Best of Ten Years of writings, it has been reprinted and republished all over the world, and it continues to bring tears to the eyes of any group I read it to.
This year I decided to r...2019-05-0603 min
Bible 805#30 Psalms: How to be a disciple of Jesus 24/7 no matter how crazy your world is What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus 24/7?
•Is it just following the rules? In a previous study we looked at where Jesus told his disciples that they can show they loved him by keeping his commands
•But we know You can outwardly keep whatever the socially accepted commandments are
•And still be a rotten person, a long way from being described as a disciple of Jesus
•And though we don’t usually think of Psalms as a book on discipleship, we’ll find it has a lot to teach us in this...2019-05-0534 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#16 Mother's Day--Make the Most of the Untapped Potential for Evangelism and Outreach Mother's Day gets the third highest attendance at church right behind Christmas and Easter. What churches often forget is that the large increase in people does not come from more Mothers attending--they are there every week! It comes from the unchurched children and spouses who show up to make mom happy on her special day.
Churches that recognize this and use church communications in a way that makes the most of it can make it a day truly worth celebrating for Mom's because nothing is more wonderful to a Mother than for her child to come to k...2019-04-3011 min
Bible 805#29 Saul, the first king of Israel, lessons and challenges from his lifeHow does it happen for a person to start out with every advantage—good looks, honor and a calling from God, a great family, but then die a self-pitying suicide? Saul, the first king of Israel, sadly answers that question in our lesson as we start the great adventure of studying the kings of Israel.
This week is a challenge and warning, but after this lesson on what not to do by looking at the life of Saul we will then study the life of David and Psalms and learn what it means to be a person aft...2019-04-2939 min
Bible 805#28 St. Benedict--Inspiration for Christian LivingThis is from the much longer, Rule of St. Benedict, a manual of guidance for a monastery, written in the early 500s AD. Though written a long time ago, the rules are a timeless challenge for those wanting to live a godly life. This podcast is just a short one with me reading his words to you.
Benedict's rules are kind and obviously intended for a community of people he wanted to live in such a way as to express the love of God to each other and to their world.
For the podcast that t...2019-04-2306 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#15 What can happen if you work hard on your event, but don’t have time to work communications FOR the eventWill you get the same number of people the Sunday after Easter that you have on Easter Sunday?
We know we won’t, but in Today’s podcast we’ll talk about how you can increase the response by what you do on Easter Sunday.
First, I'll share the true story about a church plant of 300 (growing and doing well) that had an off-site Easter service they aggressively marketed. 1,500 people showed up for the Easter service, but the Sunday after Easter, they were back to 300, because of a simple, easy-to-correct mistake.
I'll share with y...2019-04-1608 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#14 Was Jesus a Zombie? Consider this question before you finalize your Easter SermonWas Jesus a zombie? Please understand, there is no irreverence or shock value intended with this question. It was an honestly asked question from someone who was totally unfamiliar with church.
After I got over my shock of being asked this question (and a short time later I was asked it from someone else), I did a podcast that coincided with Halloween, but I think it is also appropriate for the Easter Season so I am re-recording it for Effective Church Communications.
The rest of the podcast is primarily...2019-04-1009 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#13 Make it OK for visitors to reject Jesus at EasterWhat are your expectations for Easter at your church? Especially for those that are visiting for the first time and who may be totally unfamiliar with the Christian faith?
In answer to that question, I'd like to propose that you Make it OK for visitors to reject Jesus at your Easter Service and in our podcast today I'll tell you why.
Before you consign this podcast and the blog that goes with it to me being a total heretic who thinks "everybody gets saved in the end, no matter who or what they believe in" —be...2019-04-0913 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#12 Connection Cards—What really works best to get people back to your church after Easter is one of the least impressive things you do Many churches go all out for Easter celebrations: special music, drama, free food, an Easter egg hunt or petting zoo for the kids. Though all these things are fun and may impress visitors with the ability of your church to put on a special event, there is one thing they probably won't do—get people to return to church the next Sunday. Almost every church experiences disappointment the Sunday after Easter because few of the visitors return.
It doesn't have to be this way. In this podcast we'll talk about 3 Reasons why big, special, Eas...2019-04-0412 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#11 Beyond the Easter Egg Hunt—ways to involve children in Easter outreach and evangelismMany churches hold Easter Eggs hunts of various kinds, petting zoos and other events for the children of their communities and that’s wonderful, but here are some ideas for ways that you can involve the children themselves in outreach and evangelism for Easter. In addition to the resources for children, I have a resource you can use to help parents share the true meaning of Easter with their children and the children of the neighborhood.
Here are the three Resources that I’ll talk about:
· Invitations for Children to give their friends
...2019-03-2412 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#10 Why just "Come to Easter at Our Church" isn't enough in your Easter Outreach materialsWhat do you think it is in your Easter Outreach materials that will draw people outside the church to your Easter Services?
We know many people will visit our churches for Easter events—how can we connect them not only with the church, but with a relationship with Jesus?
Why just "Come to Easter at Our Church" isn't enough in your Easter Outreach materials
I'm part of several church communication discussion groups and recently people have been sharing their outreach ideas for Easter. They al...2019-03-2015 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#9 What if your church did NO advertising for Easter? Or other seasonal outreach times? Try this Biblical alternative!What if your church did NO advertising for Easter? No sending out of postcards purchased from some national company that end up looking like the several other churches produce.
Hi I'm Yvon Prehn and welcome to the Effective Church Communications Podcast!
Today we'll talk about alternatives that you can do in-house--by your people that can accomplish much more.
As I mentioned in the intro--Far too often, when a church is planning a major holiday outreach, a catalog of professionally produced postcards are selected, purchased a...2019-03-1114 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#8 What Tesla can teach us about successful church marketing Did you know that Tesla sells more luxury cars than any other company?
I was surprised when I read that statistic, but even more interested when I read how they did it. Let me share the terlerati.com comment on it and then I'll talk about how this inspired me about discipleship and church marketing.
Quickly, name one advertisement you’ve seen recently from Tesla Motors themselves? OK, name any advertisement you’ve seen from the company, ever? Tesla’s marketing strategy is as disruptive as its business model. It lets you...2019-03-0510 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#7 Don't default to Magical Thinking when planning your seasonal outreachEaster is fast approaching and as we look at all the work ahead, don't you wish that people would magically appear at your events after one announcement from the pulpit or one notice in the bulletin and in social media?
Not only that, wouldn't it be wonderful if they'd magically come back and start attending the church regularly after one visit?
But we know it probably won't work out like this will it?
Today our topic is: Don't default to Magical Thinking when planning your seasonal outreach
You might protest that y...2019-02-2220 min
Bible 805#10 The Six Benefits of reading (or listening to) the Bible in Chronological orderAlong with losing weight, getting more done, simplifying your life and other commendable goals, is reading through the Bible one of your resolutions for the year?
If so, I’d like to share a way for you to do it that will change your life more significantly than any diet will!
Hi I’m Yvon Prehn and Welcome to bible 805!
Today we’re going t to talk about…..
The Six Benefits of reading (or listening to) the Bible in Chronological order, and probably why you haven’t done it
There are...2019-01-0122 min
Bible 805#4 Truth & History, Lesson Three: The Historical Uniqueness of the Christian Bible In our last podcast we talked about how history helps us determine the truth of Biblical documents. And if that’s so doesn’t history do the same for all religions?
• Why do Christians think their sacred books are any different than the sacred scripture of other religion?
• Aren’t they all the same anyway, slightly different messages, but all leading to the same God?
• Hi, I’m Yvon Prehn and welcome to Bible 805! This is part of our series on Truth & History
• Today we’re going to talk about…..The Historical Uniqueness...2018-12-261h 22
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#6 Hark the Herald Angels Sing--But WHY?This is an audio file of our very popular Christmas letter that shares the gospel message of Christmas in the format of a popular Christmas carol.
Please listen and be encouraged and download and share with others.
Free printable copies of the message can be downloaded at p.me/pDky9-8kH.
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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/yvon-prehn/support2018-12-1004 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#5 More than a Pretty Face--Free Templates with a Ministry StrategyThere are lots of church communication templates out there, so why should you use our? First of all they are FREE, but more than that there are 4 reasons why our templates are unique.
Next, they are in PDF and MS Publisher format so they can either be printed immediately or easily modified.
Most important is that our templates are more than a pretty face, but actually visual representations of ministry strategy to help people come to know Jesus as Savior and grow to Christian maturity.
To go to the Templates, go to: https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/templates/
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Support this...2018-11-2610 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#4 Don't be a Secret Saint, a better way to do outreach!Have you ever been in a situation where you do outreach activities or acts of kindness as part of your church, but you never see anybody come to church because of it? Well, I've got some ideas for you that can change that.
In today's episode, we'll talk about how if you don't actively interact with the people you are doing outreach to or create communications for them, they don't have the opportunity to come to your church or explore the Christian faith more fully.
Take a few minutes to listen and don't be a Secret Saint--get your message out...2018-11-1410 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#3 Recognize & win in the biggest challenge in church communications—spiritual warfareWhat would make your work go better as a church communicator? Is it if you had better tools? A bigger budget? More time?
Though all those issues are important, we are going to talk about how the work you are doing is more than what it seems--it is spiritual warfare for the souls of people.
In our podcast today I’ll give you 5 Suggestions for ways to increase your spiritual resources and strength for your work.
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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/yvon-prehn/support2018-10-1209 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#2 A Better Way to Use Halloween for Outreach, plus Was Jesus A Zombie?Many churches are concerned about the evils of Halloween and that's understandable, but it can be a fantastic time to energize your people for outreach and challenge people with spiritual realities.
The question, Was Jesus a Zombie? isn't being irreverent, it's a honest question from a totally unchurched person and completely understandable as Zombies are the primary picture popular media has of those who return from the dead. The answer of course is a resounding "no."
In addition to a thoughtful answer we've got resources you can use to in answering this question and many other Halloween outreach free templates...2018-10-1119 min
Effective Church Communications Podcast by Yvon Prehn#1 How to not be overwhelmed with technology changes & challengesHow should you respond when you read something online that by the power of the stories or statistics shared, makes you feel that if you don’t immediately respond to the technology advertised your church will be left behind ….in reaching your world, being up-to-date, or in some other implied way that has you hit the button for a “FREE TRIAL?”
We’ll answer that question in today’s Podcast as part of what I’m calling:
A BETTER WAY
This series of podcasts was born out of my frustration with things happening in church communications and instead of simply being snarky a...2018-10-0816 min