Michael Lukaszewski Answers 3 Questions
Welcome. I write for church leaders on topics like strategy and communication. Since this is your first visit, don't forget to subscribe to my RSS feed.
I’ve had several 3-question interviews on my blog in the past month [Seth Godin, Darren Rowse, David Putman, Tim Wall, Brian Bailey, & Scott Hodge]. I like this format for a few reasons.
- The participants are aware of exactly what they’re getting in to. There are no hidden agendas, I assure them that their answers will be posted word-for-word, and they can foresee how much time will be involved.
- It’s perfect for a blog format. Blogs ought to be little chunks of information or inspiration. This format makes sure the participant and myself are sticking to a nuggetized version of a full interview.
- It’s easy for my readers to get the gist and move on. I don’t like keeping you captured for long periods of time. I want you to be able to get the information and get on with your life. The best way to do this is to subscribe to have the posts sent to a feed reader or piped directly into your email inbox.
- It’s more fun when it’s short and sweet. Long interviews are fine for journalists and theologians, but this is a blog and I’m no theologian. Reading this blog is supposed to be an enjoyable experience for you. [If you've got some ideas on how to make it more enjoyable, let me know.]
Now, on with the interview.
Me: What are some ways Oak Leaf Church uses the web to communicate more effectively?
Michael: Podcasting is free and easy. We use a little program called Podcast Maker to put our messages online. We recently put video online as well using a simple flash player. Quicktime Pro converts the video to flash files and we simply upload them to a folder on our web server using a FTP program. It’s simple, cheap and easy to maintain. We also have a Facebook group, which is free to use.
For web design, we decided to shop around for a semi-custom design. We didn’t want a cookie cutter template, we wanted something that looked like us. I don’t really like pre-packaged things or template-based stuff. We found a company to make us a site that’s just what we wanted, and it fit our budget. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on website development, but I think it’s important to get something that communicates. You get what you pay for will always be a mantra thats true.
Me: How do you use the web to build buzz about special events?
Michael: We created a mini-site for our Christmas Eve Eve concert, and put that website on everything. People could request tickets online (their ticket request form just generated an e-mail that came to our office and we held tickets for people at will call). The website also had an e-vite feature. Of course, I blogged about the event and communicated it through our regular channels.
Me: At what point in the birth and life of your church did you implement an effective website?
Michael: We knew we needed a well-done website from before we had a service. Before we had a Sunday service, our website was our identity. I got several e-mails from people who found us online while we were still meeting as a launch team.
Michael Lukaszewski is the lead pastor of Oak Leaf Church in Cartersville, Ga.
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Great interview Scott. I especially liked the video feature.
Michael is pretty hilarious… and truth be told, I like Celine too.
Terrace Crawford’s last blog post..Traffic Lights
@Terrace - Yeah, Celine isn’t too bad. She’s tolerable.