Pro Church Podcast With Brady Shearer

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139. Question #1 (02:06): Any tips on dealing with insecurity as a leader? Question #2 (18:04): What do you do when you feel one of your church's paid staff isn't pulling his weight? Question #3 (31:11): If you could pick one social stigma The Church could magically get past - what would it be? Question #4 (41:23): Any way that Alex recommends to make a latte without any fancy equipment at home? We’re curious if the Chaplain of Caffeine had any tips?

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139. Question #1 (00:28): I hear you talk frequently about bridge events. We are struggling to get buy-in with our church leadership because, in years past, we had many such events and, while they were well attended, there was rarely ever a person who actually become a regular attendee through such an event. What are your tips for leading our congregation to intentionally see these events as a form of outreach? Question #2 (17:01): Should churches bother with Twitter anymore? Are there any use cases that Twitter would be good for? Question #3 (24:19): We are looking to set up a podcast/video studio, can you share how you would set it up? What’s needed and is there a way to make it portable? We don’t have dedicated studio space. Thank you! Question #4 (31:47):  What is your all-time favorite worship song?

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139. Question #1 (02:03): I just took the leap from a large student ministry to a small older congregation as a lead pastor. Our church is older, not tech savvy, but is looking to grow. I am 32, pretty tech savvy, and ready to reach our community. What would be your advice on updating our methods of ministry? Question #2 (12:43): How do I increase our reach on TikTok? My Pastor's reels regularly get 10-20k views on Facebook but the same video on TikTok gets around 250. Question #3 (25:53): So I posted on my Instagram Stories - "Collecting church comms nightmare stories. Please share." And it quickly turned into all the times churches have messed up their print materials. Just wanted to share a few. Question #4 (30:11): Time for a new series we're starting today called - "What's Wrong Lately." I'll go first.

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139. Question #1 (02:08): How do you bridge the age gap? Our church has a lot older people but they also want to bring in younger people. Unfortunately when they come, they don’t feel comfortable or connected. Question #2 (16:24): How would you go about addressing the social media presence of a church with multiple campuses? For example, we have a church with a “primary” campus and then we have two satellite campuses that currently meet in local schools with the goal of having permanent buildings. Question #3 (18:32): How important do you think it is to have an aesthetically pleasing church Instagram feed? I feel like ours isn’t as uniform as others, but I also think same colors, fonts and presets all the time is boring. Question #4 (23:11): What is your most memorable concert?

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139. Question #1 (00:30): What is your best tip for churches to encourage people to attend an earlier service? We are experiencing rapid growth and need to make room at our popular second service. Question #2 (06:13): Hey Brady, I work for the US Army where our church body is all transient (average two years on installation). I'm sure I'm not the only kind of church where most of the members don't stay very long. I'm wondering if any of your comms/social media advice would be adjusted for our type of audience where we are constantly seeking new members. Question #3 (13:53): We recently launched a sister campus that is completely unique in terms of events, but we are under the same umbrella of elders, beliefs, etc. What is your strategy for approaching a website that combines both? A main hub domain and links out to a separate domain for each campus? Question #4 (21:38): Hey Brady, it's a new season - what's in the fragrance rotation for Spring 2023?

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139. Question #1 (01:51): Can you look at the Instagram Reel that hit one million views and the other videos on our channel and see if there's anything we can be doing better? Also, I accredited you to all the staff for that video that hit one million. Ever since listening to your podcast our engagement has more than tripled!  Question #2 (17:37): Do you have any content on how we can encourage our congregations to actively share and like the church content? I’ll post something and get 2-10 likes and shares from the pastoral staff. But I know posts that have many likes and shares get seen way more often. Is this not a way to help share the gospel as it would be seen more? We're in a church of just under 400 people. Question #3 (24:01): What are thoughts on transformation church purchasing a media studio? How do you feel about churches creating their personal content at a mass scale? Should these profits go to unfortunate instead? Question #4 (39:10): Loved the favo

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139. Question #1 (01:30): If you were starting over at a new church with little social media presence and an outdated website, what would be your approach/priorities. I think you message is resonating with many people today, but most of us are overwhelmed with where to invest first. Question #2 (12:25): Who or what accounts should our church IG accounts follow? Leadership team? Other churches? Church attendees? Not really sure what makes the most sense. Question #3 (18:06): You mentioned in an earlier podcast that a newsletter style weekly email wasn't a very effective form of church communication, and that it's giving the work to your congregation. Are there any cases in which E-News emails (weekly emails detailing a list of 4 to 5 upcoming events with links to register) are ever effective? Why or why not?  Question #4 (30:33): What are you favourite things about being Canadian?

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139. Question #1 (01:02):  What’re your thoughts on Meta’s new paid verification system? As an Aussie getting first access to it is tempting, but do you see it adding value to normal churches / individuals other than the cheap clout? Question #2 (17:36):  We're really battling with getting new volunteers for our Digital Campus and have tried personal asks, asking live during the hosting, social media posts. Any helpful tips or advice?  Question #3A (26:08): We're currently building a second studio and also adding a larger coffee area for our team of 5-10 coffee drinkers in our team each Sunday. I personally have experience with Breville espresso machines, pour over, and Aeropress (and spending a long time to make one single great cup or coffee) but thinking of something maybe easier that still gives us a great coffee experience (Chemex probably?) Would love to know what Alex's thoughts are on this. Question #3B (31:17): Money is tight right now. What is your recomm

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139. Got a question from a listener asking us to comment on Doug Smith - author and software engineer - on the podcast “Theology in the Raw” with Preston Sprinkle. The listener goes on to say "I’d love to hear your considered response in light of Smith's argument that many of the emerging digital platforms are designed to be addictive and hamper discipleship and our mission rather than further it in healthy ways."

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139. Got a question from a listener asking us to comment on Louie Giglios comments from Passion Conference 2023 in his message titled "Yes, Lord" in which he takes aim at social media. Particularly, discovery algorithms on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Shorts.

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139. Question #1 (01:46): Instagram Notes: Genius? Stupid? And how do we use it for church? Hot takes most welcome. Question #2 (09:10): What are your thoughts on polls/surveys sent to the church family in order to make decisions? For instance, say an eldership is divided about whether to have one worship gathering or two, and want to send out a poll out to the congregation to gather data. Is there a way to keep the poll unbiased? Question #3 (17:33): What are your thoughts on churches monetizing videos? I don’t think I’ve heard you mention that much and haven’t heard it as a listed benefit to the social sermon videos. I made almost $2000 from one of our videos that went semi-viral (350k views) on YouTube and with monetization of YouTube shorts being a thing now, there could be some money made too, yes? Question #4 (22:18): Suggestions for deconstructing church leadership? Former pastor here.

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139. Question #1 (01:55): I just had an engagement post asking "What was the name of the first church you ever attended?" that probably did better than any engagement post to date. When is it okay to reuse an engagement post? I'm sure it can vary! Question #2 (10:32): Do you feel the 3-phase social media flywheel (engagement, spiritual practices, your story) is still the best model or would you tweak it to keep current with current social trends?  Question #3 (16:13): Is there a way for text to give to work with Nucleus Giving? Our church seems to use that the most. Question #4 (32:22): Besides the treatment you've been doing, any other face products you recommend?

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139. Question #1 (02:31): What is the value of having a dedicated app for your church as opposed to just relying on your existing website? Question #2 (24:40): With the  discovery algorithms taking over, does it still matter what time I post each day? Since the focus isn't getting our followers to see our stuff, seems it wouldn't matter as much what time we post. It all goes into a giant pile and whatever resonates with the folks is what gets 'pushed' to the front of the line. Am I wrong? Question #3 (27:34): Wondering if you could tackle this for the podcast - why do many influential, young pastors preach with a hand held mic rather than an over the ear headset/lapel? Question #4 (36:04): Brady and Alex, what are your pet peeves?

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139. Question #1 (01:40): Hey Brady, how do you recommend responding to antagonistic or outright trolling in comments? Especially with the video reply option in TikTok and the increasing desire for authentic content - when do we engage versus ignore? Question #2 (07:38): I tried your trick of 3-10 minute sermon clips, but they only get 25% or so of the views the actual sermons get on YouTube. I've been doing this for over a year every week on the same channel as our sermons. Question #3 (17:17): How can we cleanup our church's website? It looks so cluttered to me and I've tried a few things, but I don't know what other options I have at this point? Question #4 (26:40): Brady and Alex, what are your goals for 2023?

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139. Question #1 (01:54): Our church records our services in landscape format - any recommendations for software to clip/crop and make our videos vertical for social? Question #2 (06:40): Do you recommend directing people to your YouTube channel at the end of a SocialSermons or just share it as a bite? Question #3 (22:58): How many SocialSermons should I post per week?

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139. Question #1 (02:26): We've posted sermon clips before on Instagram Reels. They haven't gained a ton of traction. What are we doing wrong? Question #2 (07:13): Your sermon clip system for social media is just using business tactics that don't belong in church. Pathetic. Question #3 (13:05): One concern I have about posting our sermons on social is that they may be too insider-focused. What should I post for people we're trying to reach if I'm already posting sermons? Question #4 (20:16): Brady, I've had enough of your rambling - just give us the flipping formula - Alexander Mills So like I promised, you can download this entire formula in template form. The template is called The 1-Page Church Social Media Plan and you can download that at churchsocialmediaplan.com. In next week's episode, the final in our trio of three dedicated to social media in 2023, we're going to cover the second part of our SocialSermon Formula which is the edit. And as you might have gu

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139. Question #1 (01:36): What social media trends are you seeing for 2023? Question #2 (07:39): I've seen you talk about 'discovery' algorithms? What's the difference between that and a typical algorithm on social media? Question #3 (16:14): Is vertical video a trend my church needs to jump on or is it like a most things on social that will be replaced by something else in a few months? Question #4 (22:28): Isn’t cross-posting the same content to multiple platforms meant to be avoided? Question #5 (26:32): My pastor doesn’t really have time to help with social media. How should I get them involved? In the next podcast we're going to be talking about the nitty gritty of taking your recorded sermons and turning them into viable social media content. Because you can't just grab random sixty second clips and hit publish. There's an entire formula that I will be sharing in detail next week. So talk to you then...

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139. Question #1 (02:38): Tips for starting a volunteer social media team at a church? I am the only staff for digital communications at our church of 900 and I can’t make any more progress by myself, but we are not in a position to hire more staff. Question #2 (10:58): Hello there, I work for a smaller church of about 120 people. I was hired for social media/marketing work back in June, and I've been able to establish a better presence online by utilizing our sermons on Instagram, YouTube shorts etc. We've seen slow, steady progress but are beginning to wonder what the next step would be? How do we get these new coming followers and subscribers engaged/what type of different content do we need to make to do this? Question #3 (22:27): Hey Brady! My question is what apps do you recommend for creating content for social media? I’m particularly thinking about apps that let you edit Reels/Tiktoks/Shorts and maybe apps where you can create backgrounds/frames for those v

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139. Question #1 (01:48): Thoughts on the viral success of ChatGPT? Question #2 (16:10): Is it possible to post too much on socials? My pastor has asked me to post three times a day on his social pages. I post a Reel six times a week Monday through Saturday morning, and then he wants additional content at noon and in the evening. I simply can't keep up with this much content production. Question #3 (22:40): Is it worth it to make 'posts' on YouTube? Question #4 (28:11): Winter is coming. How do you pass time when snowed in?

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139. Question #1 (01:07): Here are my 2 questions: 1. I still love my church and the people I work with, and I am compelled to obey my leadership even when I don't agree with them. But how can I get over my frustration and keep moving forward? 2. How can I make engaging reels (that the algorithm will actually promote) without using Instagram audio? Question #2 (16:40): How many sermon videos a week would be good to post on YouTube shorts or Instagram Reels? Should we make a difference between Reels and Shorts? Question #3 (25:38): A couple months ago, I implemented the Nucleus Prayer Hub on our church’s website. We put it into our video announcements for 3 weeks in a row to try an encourage people to sign up. We are a church of about 125 and It’s now been a month since those announcements, and only 7 people have signed up (2 of which signed up to submit requests, and 2 are admins). Is there a better way I could promote this or encourage people to sign up? Question