Millennials are currently the largest generation in the North American workforce. Meaning, if your church is trying to reach your community, the largest cohort you’ll be aiming to reach…is likely Millennials. So what do we know about this age group? What's unique about the first generation to reach adulthood after growing up on the Internet? In this podcast, I’ll share seven revealing facts about Millennials to help you understand what’s really going on with the Millennial generation.

***VISIT THE FULL POST HERE: https://prochurchtools.com/7-new-revealing-facts-about-millennials/

What's In This Session?

• #1: High Education (2:10)
• #2: Lots Of College = Lots Of Debt. (2:23)
• #3: Lots Of Debt = Lesser Home Buying (3:54)
• #4: A Delay In Having Kids (4:17)
• #5: Living At Home, Living With Others, Workaholics (5:41)
• #6: A Cloudy Future (7:17)
• #7: A Change Of Culture (7:40)

Show Notes & Resources Mentioned:

• Featured Resource: 21-Day Social Media Case Study
• We're Making Life Too Hard For Millennials | New York Times
• Millennial Generation | Beth Kobliner
• Archives Of Sexual Behaviour | Springer
• Pro Church Tools
• Pro Church Tools on Facebook
• Pro Church Tools on YouTube
• Brady Shearer on Instagram
• Brady Shearer on Twitter
• Alex Mills on Instagram

A lot of churches want more followers on social media. But how do you actually get them? In my experience, there are four different tactics you can use to earn more followers on social media...the right way (no buying followers here). And in this podcast, you’ll learn what these four tactics are and why your church has an unfair advantage that you may not even be aware of.

***VISIT THE FULL POST HERE: https://prochurchtools.com/how-to-get-more-social-media-followers-for-your-church/

What's In This Session?

• #1: Cross-promote (1:36)
• #2: Contest (2:54)
• #3: The Snowball Effect (4:53)
• #4: Paid Advertising (8:00)
• Don't buy followers (9:10)

Show Notes & Resources Mentioned:

• Featured Resource: 21-Day Social Media Case Study
• Pro Church Tools
• Pro Church Tools on Facebook
• Pro Church Tools on YouTube
• Brady Shearer on Instagram
• Brady Shearer on Twitter
• Alex Mills on Instagram

A three-axis gimbal is a camera stabilizer that allows you to perfectly balance your video camera in order to capture buttery smooth and cinematic shots. Frankly, it’s an amazing video tool that wasn’t accessible to churches even ten years ago. But, how do you use it best? In this podcast, you’ll learn five advanced gimbal moves that we like to use every time we take out our camera.

***VISIT THE FULL POST HERE: https://prochurchtools.com/5-advanced-gimbal-movements-for-church-videos/

What's In This Session?

• Our Preferred Gimbal (1:12)
• Move #1: Endless Dolly (2:41)
• Move #2: Low To The Ground (4:32)
• Move #3: Straight Up (5:47)
• Move #4: Drone In A Car (7:23)
• Move #5: Infinity Roll (9:02)

Show Notes & Resources Mentioned:

• Featured Resource: 21-Day Social Media Case Study
• DJI Ronin S
• Pro Church Tools
• Pro Church Tools on Facebook
• Pro Church Tools on YouTube
• Brady Shearer on Instagram
• Brady Shearer on Twitter
• Alex Mills on Instagram 

Imagine working on an awesome social media post for your church, only to publish it and see it fall flat. None of us want that. And this is why it’s important to understand the best and worst times to be publishing on social media. On the other hand, there’s really no exact science to this. So in this podcast, you’ll learn about the research we do have for optimizing post times - along with a number of other methods we like that you can use to maximize engagement on your next social media post.

***VISIT THE FULL POST HERE: https://prochurchtools.com/how-churches-can-identify-the-best-times-to-post-on-social-media/

What's In This Session?

• #1: Post quality (1:24)
• #2: Use the social media grading formula (3:35)
• #3: Find the wave, not the spike (5:16)
• #4: Industry data (6:03)
• #5: Facebook (Non-profits) (6:25)
• #6: Instagram (Non-profits) (7:20)
• #7: Native insights (7:54)

Show Notes & Resources Mentioned:

• Featured Resource: 21-Day Social Media Case Study
• Best Times To Post On Social Media: 2018 Industry Research
• Pro Church Tools
• Pro Church Tools on Facebook
• Pro Church Tools on YouTube
• Brady Shearer on Instagram
• Brady Shearer on Twitter
• Alex Mills on Instagram

Scheduling your church’s social media posts ahead of time is a great way to save time and automate a tedious chore. But with so many scheduling tools available - how can you know which one is best? Moreover, what about Instagram and it's strict scheduling rules? In this podcast, you’ll learn the only two social media scheduling tools I recommend for churches - along with a host of other scheduling tools that I think aren’t worth your time.

***VISIT THE FULL POST HERE: https://prochurchtools.com/the-best-worst-social-media-scheduling-tools-for-churches/

What's In This Session?

• Intro (0:40)
• Buffer (2:02)
• Sked Social (3:37)
• Honorable Mention: Sprout Social (6:40)
• Platforms we used to use (7:08)

Show Notes & Resources Mentioned:

• Featured Resource: 21-Day Social Media Case Study
• Buffer
• Sked Social
• Sprout Social
• Grum
• Hootsuite
• Edgar
• Later
• Hopper HQ
• SmarterQueue
• Pro Church Tools
• Pro Church Tools on Facebook
• Pro Church Tools on YouTube
• Brady Shearer on Instagram
• Brady Shearer on Twitter
• Alex Mills on Instagram

I’ve professionally photographed everything from weddings to portraits, from concerts to corporate, and in every one of these situations I use 3 advanced techniques that help me get the job done. Taking photos in church is no exception, and in this podcast you’ll learn 3 advanced church photography tips from a professional that will surely help take your photo game to a whole, notha, level.

***VISIT THE FULL POST HERE: https://prochurchtools.com/3-advanced-church-photography-tips/

What's In This Session?

• #1: Foreground Element (1:37)
• #2: Backbutton Focus (6:17)
• #3: Make Use Of Artificial Light (8:23)

Show Notes & Resources Mentioned:

• Featured Resource: 21-Day Social Media Case Study
• Prism
• Backbutton Focus Explained
• Off Camera Flash Triggers
• Pro Church Tools
• Pro Church Tools on Facebook
• Pro Church Tools on YouTube
• Brady Shearer on Instagram
• Brady Shearer on Twitter
• Alex Mills on Instagram

Scheduling your church’s social media posts ahead of time is a great way to save time and automate a tedious chore. But with so many scheduling tools available - how can you know which one is best? Moreover, what about Instagram and it's strict scheduling rules? In this podcast, you’ll learn the only two social media scheduling tools I recommend for churches - along with a host of other scheduling tools that I think aren’t worth your time.

***VISIT THE FULL POST HERE: https://prochurchtools.com/7-strategies-your-church-needs-to-try-before-the-end-of-the-year/

What's In This Session?

• You don't know until you try (1:00)
• #1: Limit your Sunday morning announcements (2:25)
• #2: Host a contest on social media (3:13)
• #3: Set your baseline for church growth and health (4:37)
• #4: Publish a volunteer story post on social media (5:50)
• #5: Remove any stock images of people's faces on your website (7:18)
• #6: Score the last 90 days of social media posts (7:58)
• #7: Follow me (8:34)

Show Notes & Resources Mentioned:

• Featured Resources: 21-Day Social Media Case Study
• The 2-Part Church Announcements Formula
• The Ultimate Guide To Measuring Church Growth
• How To Upgrade Your Church Website Design In 1 Day Using Stunning Photos
• 7 Social Media Metrics You Should Care About For Churches
• Pro Church Tools
• Pro Church Tools on Facebook
• Pro Church Tools on YouTube
• Brady Shearer on Instagram
• Brady Shearer on Twitter
• Alex Mills on Instagram

Over the years, I’ve offered advice and had 1-on-1 conversations with thousands of churches - big churches, small churches, and everything in between. And through these back and forth discussions, it’s become apparent to me that certain beliefs exist about smaller churches - beliefs that are simply untrue. And so in this podcast, you’ll learn about five small church beliefs that I continually encounter - and you’ll also learn why each of these beliefs is actually a myth, because all five of them are demonstrably untrue.

***VISIT THE FULL POST HERE: https://prochurchtools.com/5-myths-about-small-churches/

What's In This Session?

• #1: Most people prefer megachurches (0:58)
• #2: Young people prefer bigger churches (3:23)
• #3: Smaller churches lack [INSERT HERE] that bigger churches
• offer (5:19)
• #4: Smaller churches are at a disadvantage because they are under resourced (8:29)
• #5: Smaller churches will never have the impact that larger churches do (9:28)

Show Notes & Resources Mentioned:

• Featured Resource: 21-Day Social Media Case Study
• The State Of The Church 2016
• Making Space For Millennials by Barna
• Churchome Global Review [Yay or Nay?]
• Pro Church Tools
• Pro Church Tools on Facebook
• Pro Church Tools on YouTube
• Brady Shearer on Instagram
• Brady Shearer on Twitter
• Alex Mills on Instagram

There’s a new graphic design trend that is the absolute worst. But also…the best. Not surprisingly, you can blame young people for the popularity of this design trend. What is this design trend you might be wondering? And how can it be so amazing yet simultaneously terrible? By the end of this podcast, you’ll have your answer.

***VISIT THE FULL POST HERE: https://prochurchtools.com/the-worst-current-graphic-design-trend-and-why-i-love-it-so-much/

What's In This Session?

• A copy of a copy (0:36)
• Brutalism - "ugly is the new black" (1:30)
• Example #1: Microsoft Word Lord's Prayer (5:16)
• Example #2: Bible Reading At The Well (5:26)
• Example #3: Email From Paul (5:38)
• Example #4: Microsoft Word (6:22)
• Like all trends, this trend will die (7:38)

Show Notes & Resources Mentioned:

• Featured Resource: The Ultimate Guide To Measuring Church Growth
• The Endless Struggle Between Attention & Artistry
• Gary Vaynerchuk on Instagram
• Pro Church Tools
• Pro Church Tools on Facebook
• Pro Church Tools on YouTube
• Brady Shearer on Instagram
• Brady Shearer on Twitter
• Alex Mills on Instagram

Young people are leaving church at an alarming rate. So what can your church do about it? How can you make sure that young people never leave *your* church? Simply stated, there’s one thing you should be focusing on more than anything else. It isn’t more extravagant lighting or stage design. And it isn’t a haze-filled auditorium. In fact, this one thing couldn’t be more different from those types of aims. The best part? We’ve actually got real data from churches on how this one thing makes a difference. And in this podcast, I’ll share with you what that one thing is.

***VISIT THE FULL POST HERE: https://prochurchtools.com/how-to-make-sure-young-people-never-leave-your-church-gen-z/

What's In This Session?

• We talk a lot about young people (0:46)
• One thing your church should focus on to keep young people (1:20)
• Storytime (1:41)
• Close personal friendships (4:18)
• Intentional relationships (4:28)

Show Notes & Resources Mentioned:

• Featured Resource: The Ultimate Guide To Measuring Church Growth
• Barna
• 5 Research-Backed Reasons Millennials Are Done With Church
• How 250 Churches Are Successfully Reaching Millennials
• 8% Of Millennials Say This Is Why They Don't Attend Church
• Pro Church Tools
• Pro Church Tools on Facebook
• Pro Church Tools on YouTube
• Brady Shearer on Instagram
• Brady Shearer on Twitter
• Alex Mills on Instagram