When I am leading a workshop or session on networking technology, I really try hard to give people an immediate visual of working in the programs that I’m teaching on. One opportunity to show off the Presbytery’s blog happened last week at the Big Tent. During a workshop I taught on Design an Effective Network for the New Immigrants Ministries group, we actually posted four different blogs about the event and those participating from the Des Moines Presbytery.So today, during a Lunch & Learn session on "Blogging 101 and Podcasting", we wrote and uploaded a blog to publish in "real time" with a photo to boot! This proved how easy and quick it truely is to post a blog. We visited various Web sites that I frequent in the course of a week/month to various Presbyterian/Christian and secular blogs and podcasts that are available. A few of my favorites are listed below:
Blogs
- www.pcusa.org/navigation/news.htm - for a list of Presbyterian blogs including:
- www.mod.reyes-chow.com/
- http://presbyterian.typepad.com/vicemodblog/
- http://presbyterian.typepad.com/lindavalentine/
Use these sites to create a free blog:
Podcasts
- Speaking of Faith, NPR in Minnesota with Krista Tippett
- Pipedreams, American Public Media, in Minnesota with Michael Barone
To create a podcast:
- Libsyn.com
- Altarcast.com
- Sermoncast.com
- Podpoint.com
- Godcast.org
- AudioBlog.com
- www.ourchurchvideos.com/
- www.youtube.com
There are many that were left off these lists... you can find more by going to a search engine and looking for them. Some are free and some have fees associated with a contract. I guess it depends on how you'll use the blog or podcast. The questions to ask are: Will we attract more members? Will you keep connected to the current members? or Who will update the site on a regular basis? If you need help working through these and other tough decisions, give me a call, I'll be happy to help.
Kim Coulter, Director of Communications
515-276-4991 or officeinfo@presbyteryofdesmoines.org
