Exponential Church Planting Conference 2008

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Sep 18, 2007 in Church, Church Planting | 0 comments

The 2008 Exponential Conference (National New Church Conference) website has launched.  This year's theme: The DNA of Reproducing Churches.

12 pre-conference intensives.   Over 30 national church planting leaders including Tim Keller, Andy Stanley, and Alan Hirsch.  Over 35 denominations, networks, and heritages.   6 main tracks including pre-launch, post-launch, reproducing churches, multi-ethnic, missional, and nuts and bolts.  Over 40 sponsors representing the best services available to planters.  Over 2,000 church planting leaders in one place.   Orlando, Florida.  Sun.  Disney World.   Super Early Bird Rate… under $100 (for a limited time).

Church & Ministry Credit Card Processing

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Sep 17, 2007 in Church, Church Planting, Church Technology | 0 comments

The Tentmaker Group has teamed up with Simplêfy, Inc to offer churches, ministries & companies the best credit card processing rates available.  

Simplêfy is a consulting arm for First Data.  In our unique partnership we are able to leverage and negotiate the best pricing for our prospective clients.  Typically, the merchant processing and the management of the processing portfolio of any company are handled by an Independent Service Organization or "ISO".  This "third party" vendor, be it Chase Merchant Services, Wells Fargo etc purchases the processing from First Data and resells it to the merchant.

Simplêfy can provide the most cost effective pricing for prospective clients because they literally usher the merchant directly to the source, thus the merchant receives their processing and contract from a FDMS (First Data Merchant Services) alliance bank.    Simplêfy/FDMS conducts an audit of the prospect's current fee schedule and exposes compliance issues that cost the merchant even more money, i.e… Downgrades, EIRFs and any other compliance issue.  Most ISO(s) encrypt day to day processing to make such compliance issues invisible to the untrained eye. We are committed to illuminating such fees and eliminating the "fat and gristle" in your merchant portfolio.

Not only are churches/ministries able to go with the global leader of credit card processing, but Simplefy will invest monthly on new accounts into Tentmakers.  In turn, Tentmakers will use the money for church planting and city transformation.

Churches & Ministries:  Receive a free credit card processing audit for your church or ministry.

Companies: Receive a free credit card processing audit for your company.  Learn why companies like Walmart & Disneyland go direct to First Data to save the most money and be supported directly by their processor.  

Church Planting Discounts & Offers

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Sep 17, 2007 in Church, Church Planting, Ministry Design | 0 comments

It pays to be a church planter.  Church Planting Resources has a limited time offer of (requires registration):

50% off all purchases at Highway Video for a limited time! Biblically based and artistically inspired, Highway Video's top-quality sermon and worship videos edify believers and build bridges with unbelievers. With hundreds of finished-films and almost a thousand spiritual stock motion clips, Highway Video is widely recognized as a key innovator and leader in the church video market.

Visit: Discounted Sermon & Worship Video  

$20.00 off ANY order at Christian Audio for a limited time! Christianaudio has created a thriving and growing audiobook publishing business and the largest Christian audiobook website on the Internet. Christianaudio.com digitally distributes hundreds of audiobooks from publishers like Tyndale, Oasis Audio, Baker, Regent, Blackstone Audiobooks, and Naxos Audiobooks. Moreover christianaudio.com distributes audio for ministries such as John Piper’s Desiring God Ministry, John Eldridge’s Ransomed Heart Ministry, and Richard Foster and Dallas Willard’s Renovare Ministry.

Visit: Free Christian Audio Book Deal

25% off display orders at Group Imaging for a limited time!  Group Imaging manufactures a line of affordable displays for churches. Some examples of what their displays can be used for include (but aren't limited to); information tables, childcare, classroom, parking & directional signs. They make these displays from start to finish and have patented the designs for their stands. Group Imaging is able to make Roll-up displays from as small as 18 inches wide to as large as 7 foot wide and up to 10 feet tall. If you are in need of something larger then their Fold-up displays are the solution for you. These displays can be joined together to make a display of any width and going as tall as 16 feet. All of the displays are designed with replacing the graphic in mind without the use of any tools.

Visit: Discounted Custom Displays for Church Plants  

Church Planting Research & Presentations

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Sep 5, 2007 in Church, Church Planting | 0 comments

Ed Stetzer has posted a fine selection of research, best practices and presentations on church planting on his blog .  Including:

A presentation of the best practices research that I recently gave at the NAMB State Summer Leadership Conference. It is a big download, but you can get it here.

In that presentation, I combined the presentations of 4 denominational leaders who shared their best practices in the areas we found statistically significant. Each network or denominational leader presented their overall church planting system, then presented their specific best practice as determined by our research. Each of them gave their permission to share their presentation. The presenters were:

Steve Childers presented the Presbterian Church in America assessment system.
Rod Koop presented the Foursquare peer support / mentoring system.
George Klippenes presented the Evangelical Free team approach and funding system.
Steve Pike presented the Assemblies of God community minsitry approach.
Tom Nebel and Gary Rohrmayer presented the Baptist General Conference training for local church giving.

Read his Church Planting Research post.

Tentmaker Group graduates first class…

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Aug 29, 2007 in Church, Church Planting | 1 comment

Church Planters, missionaries, ministry leaders and kingdom-minded business people flew in from across the country (and drove in from the SoCal area) to attend our three day Tentmaker Group training.  The training went great and we all left encouraged as we begin to create a new funding mechanism to plant churches, send missionaries and invest in city change.  Tentmakers is launching in cities like Seattle, Cincinnati, Detroit, Tacoma, Portland, San Diego, Carlsbad, Chula Vista, Bloomington, Las Vegas and we are in discussions with several other cities.  We plan on scheduling an information session for those interested in learning more & an internet training session in September for those who were not able to attend.

My Cat Blog Post

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Aug 29, 2007 in Church | 2 comments

It's been a while since I've posted some pictures.  Here are  a few shots from the last few months that are mainly family pictures.    I typically don't do many 'personal' posts since I'm not wanting to have a 'cat blog'.

Cat Blogs are blogs for and by and about the person blogging. All sorts of posts about you and your cat, what you did today, how you feel, what you ate.  You get the picture.

Boss Blogs are blogs used to communicate to a defined circle of people.  Some pastors write most of their post for their congregation as a communication tool.  These would be boss blogs.

The third kind of blog is the kind most people imagine when they talk about blogs.  These are the blogs that are changing the face of marketing, journalism and the spread of ideas. Godin calls these Viral Blogs.

You can read more about this from Seth Godin's book, Small Is the New Big183 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas (Or in his free e-book) where he classifies three types of blogs: Cat Blogs, Boss Blogs & Viral Blogs .   As more and more people people (including pastors, ministry leaders, etc) start their blogs, you need to determine what type of blog you want to have.  Who are you looking to communicate to?  What information are you willing to share?