Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Showcase Wednesday: Never Run on Empty

"Running on Empty" is a key concern for all of us in 2008. The gas prices have all of us rethinking how much driving we can afford. We all work on staying healthy and fit for fear of "running on empty" in our energy and emotional resources.


A life truth you can bank on is: generosity keeps our "tanks" full. Generosity with a clean heart will ensure you'll never run on empty in life. People who are quick to give their resources to help others thrive.

Thrive Christians Blog is declaring Showcase Wednesdays begin today.

My first Generosity Champion is Yvon Prehn.

This brillant writer, editor and consultant generously gives her wisdom away on her website:
http://www.effectivechurchcom.com/templates/cuslionsvoice/default.asp?id=29745

She offers relevant, cutting edge advice for writers, church leaders and media ministers on her blog:

http://effectivechurchcom.wordpress.com/

I am creating a newsletter for a prison ministry in my church. My research for this project drove me to find Yvon's sites. I wrote a comment on her blog thanking her for the solutions she has beautifully provided on her websites.


To my surprise she responded in an email with more help. Her warm response took my breath away. She wrote me just after the earthquake hit yesterday. Now, friends, I'm not sure what I would be doing immediately after an earthquake, but writing a stranger in SC who is concerned over creating a newsletter is not what comes to mind.

She did request prayer for the electrical power to stay on so that she could load many more documents that she felt would help me and others. Wow!

Read a portion of this generous Christian professional's mission statement:
"The way I summarize the Great Commission and apply it to church communications is to define effective church communications as communication that accomplishes two purposes:

To help people come to know Jesus as Savior.
To help people become mature disciples of Jesus.

Another way to say it, is that our communication is effective if:

It is enabling people to get closer to Jesus.
It is enabling people to become like Jesus.

The essential requirement for me and upon which I base my ministry is the desire to fully fulfill the Great Commission. To be the very best at doing that, excellence in communication strategy and communication creation are important, but not primary."

For years I have been concerned with many Christians' flippant attitude about church and ministry publications, web presence and communications. I am a serious Bible student and I see, like Yvon, that we are called to COMMUNICATE the gospel to the world. Shouldn't we invest much of our resources to be the best communicators in the world?

Go Yvon!!!

Here is a brief overview of Yvon's ministry:
Currently Yvon writes blogs and books and creates training materials on church communications. She also teaches about church communication ministry, skills, and strategy at seminars, conferences, and national conventions all over North America. She is the founder of Effective Church Communications, a ministry whose purpose is to enable churches to create communications that will help them fully fulfill the Great Commission.


Yvon has worked in communication ministry as a writer and teacher for over 25 years. She was a newspaper reporter and religion writer for the Colorado Springs SUN for nine years. When desktop publishing was first invented Yvon was a top-rated, national trainer in desktop publishing for Padgett/Thompson, the nation’s largest one-day seminar company. She worked as a communications consultant in Colorado Springs and was senior editor at both Compassion International and Young life International.

Yvon is the author of twelve nationally published books; she has written for many of the major Christian magazines including Christianity Today, Discipleship Journal, Today’s Christian Woman, Youthworker Journal, Ministries Today, Computing Today, Clergy Journal, Church Office Computing, Pulpit Helps, and Your Church. She has been the communication columnist for Christian Computing Magazine for 15 years.

Her most recent books include The Heart of Church Communication, What Church Leaders Need to Know about Church Communications, and Ministry Marketing Made Easy! In addition to these books, she has a number of shorter booklets, how-tos, training CDs and other material available on her storefront at www.lulu.com/yvonprehn.

Yvon has a master’s degree in Church History and has done additional extensive graduate work in theology and communications. She has taught high school English and was an adjunct professor in church history at Regis University.

In addition to her formal experience in these areas, Yvon gets the opportunity to practice church communications in very practical ways. She and her husband Paul have worked in many different areas of ministry in the church, especially in single adult ministry, adult education and small group ministry wherein Yvon has taught and created many church communications and marketing materials. She and Paul live in Ventura, California.

Yvon’s seminars and written material have helped thousands of people in ministry maximize their church communications and enabled them to use them to help fully fulfill the Great Commission.

Acts 20:35.......

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'

1 comment:

Lynn Cowell said...

Hello Kay,
Thank you so much for stopping by my blog yesterday. I love to have new friends!
It is so encouraging when those who have more experience are so willing to share it.
I went to a speaker's and writer's conference this summer called She Speaks here in Charlotte. I met this wonderful author named T. Suzanne Eller. Suzie has been so helpful to me when I have questions about book proposals, etc. I hope I can do the same for others!
Hope you will stop by my blog again!
Lynn

© 2008 Kay Martin

Thrive In Christ

Who I Am In Christ by Neil Anderson

For several months we will center on this book to pursue Thriving in our Christian journey.

Neil challenges us with: "Do you know who you are in God's eyes? We are no longer products of our past. We are primarily products of Christ's work on the cross. Who we are determines what we do.

You are not who you are in Christ because of the things you have done, you are in Christ because of what He has done. He died and rose again so that you and I could live in the FREEDOM of His love."

That's just the introduction. More to follow.