There are not a lot of Christian Twitter Backgrounds available. I have decided over the coming months to try and offer at least one background a month, FREE to my blog followers, and to those who ‘like’ my Facebook page.

As promised,  today I am offering a FREE Twitter Background.

Based on Isaiah 9:6, this background is ready to go. You can either download it in .png or .jpg format but either should fit on your Twitter page. The dimensions are 1216 x 983 pixels.

Show your spirit or that you are a Christian on Twitter. This could also be used at Christmastime, as it is a very common theme for Christmas.

You can share it with your friends if you like, and tell them about the Facebook page, blog, and website. God Bless You!

Download

• jpg version
• png version (higher quality)

If you haven’t heard of Twitter by now, come out of the cave and into the sunlight.

According to recent Twitter statistics, there are 160 million people on Twitter. With 370,000 new people joining each day, the likelihood is that almost everyone you meet is already on there.

If not, you can pretty sure guarantee that the majority of your church 40 years and younger is active on Twitter, either by cell phone, website, or some other application on the internet.

Is it for your ministry?

Yes, it can be. Your ministry or church can keep your members, friends, and even new prospects up to date with happenings in your ministry with a ministry Twitter account.

Special events or announcements, prayer requests, scheduling changes, special offers on CDs, or books, and many more uses to numerable to mention are available to all of us through 140 characters on Twitter.

You can also update your website or Facebook page at the same instant either by the Twitter page, an email or text, or even with applications that are available to most cell phones. Share photos, share links to other sites or events, share your burden, free and easy. It can definitely benefit your ministry.

However, there are a few suggestions or guidelines I would make in having a Twitter account for your ministry.

The Basics

I cannot stress this enough. Have a separate account for your ministry than you do for your family and personal thoughts.

Too many times between family and friends we may say things, that will have an effect on other’s perception of our character. We may not even do it intentionally, but sometimes, things are said that we did not mean, or we may accidentally post a link to some site, and have it wrong or there could be something on part of the page, and people may get the wrong idea.

Keep your ministry and your personal life separate.

That being said here are a few more tips:

• Don’t make claims you cannot back up. It will be on the internet forever.
• Do not post photos that you wouldn't want someone to see. Again, it is online forever.
• Don’t become all holy on Twitter. Be who you are all the time, not just show how righteous you are online. People will find out you are a hypocrite.
• Focus on sending tweets that are vital. Do not ‘forward’ or ‘retweet’ every kitty link that comes your way. People will stop following you.
• Do not use Twitter to criticize the speaker at a conference. Use it for encouraging, uplifting comments. Remember the person you criticize has a Twitter account too.
• Don’t tweet during your own sermon.
• Remember Twitter is just a tool like many others available to help spread the Truth of God’s word.
• Don’t follow everyone who follows you. You will not be able to keep up with everything everyone says. Ministries should be leaders more than followers.

There are many more tips I could write but I will cover some of those in future blog postings. I may also offer FREE Christian twitter backgrounds, so stay tuned.

A Few Terms

Twitter ID – The name you choose for your profile. Without one, you cannot participate in Twitter.

Tweet – Your message sent out to your followers in only 140 characters. It is also live for anyone to see on your Twitter page unless you change your privacy settings.

ReTweet – (RT) Essentially it is forwarding what someone else has said to your followers. However, the 140 character restriction applies, so it may be hard to add your own take on the saying.

Twitter Page – Your own personal page that will have a small bio, your most current tweets, your lists, and people you follow.

List – You have the option of categorizing your followers by topics. For instance I have lists for friends, networking, designers, church, and other lists. My followers are categorized in the lists in how they relate to me. It can be more than one list, but it helps you keep track of who is who.

Followers – People who have decided to get updates on what you write. You have the option of deciding if they can follow you, and if you want to follow them.

Direct Message – (d) Sending a message direct to one person and bypassing everyone else or your Twitter page. You must be followers of each other for this to work.

@ – You have to use the @(TwitterID) to reply, reference, or otherwise include specific individuals in your tweets.

And…

Since the inception of Twitter, many other words have been crafted using the Tw prefix. Tweeple, TwitPic (for photos), Twittonary, and many more. However, if you start adding Tw to all your words, “Twust me, you will look like an twidiot.” LOL

These are just a few guidelines and tips for using Twitter. If you are looking to make your church website match your Twitter page, or perhaps you just want a custom Twitter background to display the message of salvation, contact us, we can help!

You have a ministry, you feel the calling, and now you need to get an online presence. You know you want a website, but what about a domain name?

Our first instinct is not to worry about a website when we first get our ministry going. However, we live in a much different era than our grandparents, and being online is  becoming increasingly more important. 

In the past most churches were started by door knocking, a preacher who had a burden for a city, and  some sort of place hold services. We met people on the job, on the streets, in the supermarkets, and told them about God, but they came to know him, and us, by coming to church.

While for the most part that is still true, we are a society that wants information now. We don’t want to wait, and frankly there are so many similar names for churches these days, the church down the street may have a similar name as your church, and they may not believe the way you do.

There are varying levels of what Pentecost is about, and depending on the particular church, it can be a big shock if you expect holy rollers, and find that Pentecost is just the name on the building. And did you know that there are apostolic catholic churches? So, just putting up a banner, or even just saying we are the church by the ice cream shop is not enough anymore.

However, most of our world is online now. And most of us do research, at least somewhat, before we even buy furniture, let alone determine our soul’s destiny. We want to know what we are getting into. The best way to do this is to have a website for your ministry. Not only can you differentiate between who you are, and who the church down the block is, but you can more easily be identified with others who believe the same, you can let people know what to expect, you can sell books and media, and most importantly, you can give them the best directions with a map. You do not have to say our church is by the ice cream store followed by a myriad of directions.

Choosing your domain name is just as important.

The fact is, millions of domains are sold each day for websites that may never happen, as well as those that are created and uploaded. And if your ministry already has a name, then most likely you want that name for your website.

If you get lucky, or have purchased a domain when you first got a burden, then you are set. Your email can be pastor@yourdomainname.com instead of pastor122344@wherever.com.

That already makes you more identified with your church on your business cards, phone book, newspaper, or just in person. It lets everyone know that is how you are identified. They have your email and so they know you are a pastor, and when they have a need that they believe you can help with, whether it be advice, a funeral, wedding, or anything of spiritual needs, they have a way to get in touch with you directly, and that will influence their decision on who to contact.

Plus, whether you have a full blown website with media downloads, bible studies, and just about anything else you can imagine, or just one page with your church name, address, and phone number, people can find you on their cell phone or computer by going to that domain.

It makes it much easier for them to FIND YOU.

You do have to realize though that the domain name you want, may already belong to someone else. This happens quite a bit even to large businesses, let alone other ministries that are similar.

So what then?

The simplest idea is to add another word to your domain name. Instead of just using churchname.com, add thechurchofyourcity.com or other variations. Sometimes, you can get lucky by using just the initials of your church name followed by your city name, and it would be easy for anyone to remember.

Another option is changing the first level domain. First level domains are the ones we all know. The .com, .net, .org, etc. are called first level domains. Typically, most churches, ministries, and organizations opt for the .org on their domain names, but these days most any of the others are also options you can consider.  The top three everyone has heard of, but there are many other options available, from .cc, .us, .info, .me, .tv, and many more. Some domains may cost a different amount to use, but it won’t take long that people know your domain name and identify you with it.

Tell them how to find you, and in doing so, help them find Jesus!

Want to see if your chosen domain is available? You can check out here on godaddy. Click here! I choose godaddy.com because I have found them to be easy to work with, affordable, and reliable in my own dealings.