The Pro Church Tools Show with Brady Shearer

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139.

Question #1 (02:27): If a church wants to do a podcast, what should they consider? (Tech, Content, labor, red flags, etc.)

Question #2 (15:58): I'm amazed at the number of churches that do photo dumps on social media. There is the wide spread belief that you should share everything you snap. Just curious of your opinion as to the optimal number of pics to include in a post. Also, am I wrong to feel a bit squeamish about posting pics of people praying or worshiping? Are there any studies on how non-believers react to these? Are we invading someone's personal moment even if it's experienced in corporate worship? 

Question #3 (25:45): Are there any "best practices" you guys talk about on the pod/social/website/YouTube that you DON'T do at the church you pastor? If so why?

Question #4 (32:24): What's WRONG lately?

Direct download: 087_mixdown-Final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:58pm EDT

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139.

Question #1 (09:31): This is why our pews are empty. We’ve accepted the counterfeit online substitute for church. It’s destroying the local church for a "stay in bed and watch a livestream" type experience.

Question #2 (17:12): Should I or should I not use music in the background of sermon shorts?

Question #3 (22:52): I was curious about the new language on the Nucleus website, "The premium church website builder for small & mid-size churches." I don't remember that delineation before of "small & mid-size" being applied to Nucleus and its capabilities. I'm just curious about that decision and what, if any reason, would be for a large church (I guess what would you consider a "large" church?) not to use Nucleus.

Question #4 (34:00): In honour of the Toronto Raptors latest draft pick "Gradey Dick," what was your cringiest outfit you've ever worn?

Direct download: 086_mixdown-Final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am EDT

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139.

Question #1 (00:35): Agreed, but what do you believe would be a better gift or solution for guests specifically?

Question #2 (19:38): Brady, how do you recommend we setup our Plan A Visit page on our church's website?

Question #3 (28:50): Brady do you have any ideas for intros on our website from the leadership?

Question #4 (33:51): Brady, when is Nucleus 2 launching? I won't tell anyone. I promise!

Direct download: 085_mixdown-Final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am EDT

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139.

Question #1 (01:30): What are the top three church tech ministry red flags for you?

Question #2 (12:38): When it comes to livestream, do you think there is value in streaming to multiple platforms (e.g. Facebook, website, YouTube) or do you think it is better to drive traffic to one place? We currently stream to Facebook and website but I am wanting to break in to YouTube this year in a big way. Live-streaming there and then clipping the stream down to the sermon portion seems like a good start but not sure if we should phase out Facebook live stream in the process. 

Question #3 (21:05): We are starting to post vertical social sermon videos to multiple platforms (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok). Is there a way to schedule and upload these videos at once without having to log onto each site and do it manually? Also, is there a way to collectively see the response data of these videos with one service or app? 

Question #4 (30:09): What are your three favorite non-fiction books?

Question #5 (53:20): What is your favorite color?

Direct download: 084_mixdown-Final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am EDT

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139.

Question #1 (02:32): I need a pros and cons list, church photos taken on cell phones vs. professional photos.

Question #2 (13:50): How do you help church leadership understand how long it takes to do good video work for the church (or other marketing work) that they maybe have never done before, so they have no concept of how long it should take or how many people it would take to produce it and do it well?

Question #3 (24:55): Both of you (Brady and Alex) have many interests and irons in the fire, both in business and personally. Whether it's designing website software, starting new services like SocialSermons, photography, forest foraging, hunting, coffee, sports, fragrances, etc etc, you are also both married and have kids, and Alex pastors on the side. How do you guys stay sane? I know Alex talked recently about reclaiming a Sabbath, and I wondered how this may factor into that larger topic, as someone also has many varied interests, but is wondering if I'm over extending myself.

Question #4 (37:56): I listen each week to your podcasts. I'm 50+ years old & have never purchased or worn men's cologne. I'm intrigued with your conversations about the topic. So much so, that I'm planning on trying some. What are your top 5 or top 10 that one should sample? 

Direct download: 083_mixdown-Final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am EDT

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139.

Question #1 (01:28): How do you navigate creating content in a small church where most of the ppl are camera shy? I’ve tried asking ppl for testimony, tried asking ppl how they felt about service, we even tried a segment where we highlight entrepreneurs in our congregation as a way to involve community. Overall, engagement is low both on and offline. How do I as the social media manager help turn it around? 

Question #2 (09:14): I've been trying to find some data and stats that prove converting our Catholic homilies into short form video would be worth the time it would take to do it.  Do you happen to have any data or stats showing performance by churches who are doing this? More specifically, it would be great if it could be data from Catholic Churches. I hear everyone pitching to do it, but cannot find any data to show results. Not to sound all corporate, but what is the ROI?

Question #3 (19:43): Here’s a boring but helpful idea for a podcast question. Business card tips? We do a feeding the needy program and distribute business cards for people to know who we are and how to make contact. Tips?

Question #4 (25:14): What are your hottest food takes?

Direct download: 082_mixdown-Final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am EDT

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139.

Question #1 (00:32): What's the future of video and that whole field of work in your opinion - considering the rise of AI?

Question #2 (11:01): How to know when it's time to leave a job?

Question #3 (19:56): What do you think of video banners on church websites?

Question #4 (26:20): What are your favorite go-to meals right now?

Direct download: 081_mixdown-Final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am EDT

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139.

Question 1A (01:22): I’ve been asked to run a promotion for a campaign to raise money to pay for our HVAC system. I want it to be effective and not cringy. 
 
Question 1B (01:30): I’ve been asked to promote the current financial promotion! I need help! To be fair, our church is debt free and raising money for an air conditioner. Nevertheless, how can I make it not so cringy?
 
Question 1C (01:58): My church board wants us to make announcements about our Spring Business Meeting....I know you talk about telling a story (that inspires) for announcements. How do you do that for the annual business meeting? 

Question #2 (12:17): Our new-ish (about a year) senior pastor is very active on social media. He also shares a lot of our church posts. My question is how much should we share each other's posts? Going through his followers, (a few thousand) I'd say about 1/3 of them also follow the church's accounts, so a lot of the same people may be seeing the same posts on both accounts. Personally, I think it's a great idea for both of us to share each other's posts to stories on IG and FB, and to retweet them, but not so sure about sharing to our IG and FB feeds. What do you suggest? How much sharing should we be doing?

Question #3 (15:39): How do you get more followers on a church account?

Question #4 (27:36): What did you learn in your last year of life?

Direct download: 080_mixdown-Final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am EDT

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139.

Question #1 (02:14):  You're both busy, successful individuals, managing families, social, church, coffee and even scents. I'm just wondering what you two use to manage your tasks/outlining/mind-mapping. Is it Evernote? Notion? A simple spreadsheet? 

Question #2 (13:03): My goal on vertical video is to get it under 60 seconds which I’m usually at 58-59 on sermon clips. I’ve noticed clips under 30 seconds possibly doing better. Have you seen a better goal of 15-30 seconds for vertical video?

Question #3 (22:39): When you encourage social sermon posts, you point out the importance of the hook at the intersection of faith and culture. In my position, I have influence on our sermon series titles. I'm not sure it makes sense that our sermon series titles should be the same as a social sermon hook, but I feel the faith and culture principle could still apply. Am I putting too much thought into something no one cares about? 

Question #4 (29:08): Heard you say you never check bags (I think). How do you pack for international travel with all of your camera gear?

Direct download: 079_mixdown-Final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am EDT

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139.

Question #1 (01:27): Is "high production" vs. "low production" a heart issue?

Question #2 (13:13): For announcements it’s easy to shift to a model of: inspiration and one next step, but I’m wondering how do you shift the vocabulary of your main speakers? I’ve notice that most of the biggest churches have preaching and MCing that use a shared vocabulary, some things are vision statements (which is easy to have a shared language around), some things are cultural statements and some things are functional to that church. But I’m wondering how do they unify behind that? Is there a list of statements or is there a quota per service? Is there a comms strategy meeting that they plan out what to say and what’s worth saying? How do all these different speakers have the same vocabulary?

Question #3 (22:52): How soon should I publish our sermon clips after the sermon was first preached? Also, should I be trying to add new designs onto every SocialSermon? Thanks!

Question #4 (35:08): Coffee Corner with Bishop Barista - Question for Alex: what decaf/low caf coffees does he recommend for people with high blood pressure that need to reduce caffeine intake but still want to enjoy a good.

Direct download: 078_mixdown-Final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am EDT