Here are ideas to make your guests feel warmly welcomed

Christmas is a time when people seek to renew or even start a relationship with Christ. And it is a wonderful time for churches to embrace these seekers.

To help you, the NTC Communications Department is gathering the dates and times of local church Christmas services and events to share via social, electronic and print media to help bring visitors inside your doors. If you have not submitted your events, you can do so by clicking here.

EvangelismCoach.com says our conversations with visitors are key: “A significant conversation is any dialogue that goes beyond gossip, relatives, weather, sports and politics to talk about meaning, intimacy, life purpose, personal growth or faith.”

Use refreshment time to build ties. Train the servers to articulate the core message of the church. Deploy leaders to work the crowd. Follow up conversation in the sanctuary with even deeper conversation in the fellowship hall. Seek out the seeker. Go to the stranger.

The NTC Communications Department is offering a Pinterest-inspired Christmas photo album during December and January. Please submit the Christmas photos from your churches’ worship services, musicals and live Nativity scenes.

Lake Cities UMC

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is an increasingly popular, relatively new social media platform that allows users to collect images such as favorite hairstyles, inspiring quotes and recipes.

Do I have to be a member of Pinterest to use the NTC version?

No, you do not. All you need to do is enjoy the photos posted by others or add your photos. The album resides on the North Texas UMC site, but you can share the photos on Pinterest or Facebook if you hover your mouse over the photos.

St. Paul UMC

Why should the NTC churches use it?

Our Pinterest-type Christmas photo album is designed to create a community across the Annual Conference. Time would not permit a visit to every local church to see the beautiful Christmas decorations and events taking place there. But through our Pinterest-themed photo album, everyone can see and appreciate what is taking place in numerous locations.

Sharing also gets churches a pat on the back. Each photo that is included in the NTC Christmas photo album is linked to the local church that submitted it. When you run your mouse over the photo, the name and email address of the church will appear. Also, a Facebook photo link will appear, giving you the option to post the photo on your Facebook page.

First UMC Bonham

This is also a place for sharing best practices for Christmas events. We have a lot of quality events scheduled. If we take the time to listen and learn from each other, we can improve greatly. A photo of a program at one church or a choir photo from another church may give you an idea to use next Christmas.

Add your Christmas Photos

Advent /Christmas is nearly upon us! What a fantastic season in the life of our church and in North Texas. To help celebrate this and to help draw attention to the events at your Church, the Conference Communication team has a number of ways to help, but we NEED your participation! If you are the Communications Director or webmaster for your Church, please read all the way through this very important document!

Advent / Christmas Advertising Campaign

The annual conference will advertise in the following media outlets during this Christmas / Advent season!

1. Radio Disney
2. Dallas Morning News
3. Facebook Ads
4. Google Ads

Print ads that will look similar to this, but will have a custom URL such as

Each advertising spots will use specific URLs which will then direct the visitor to a landing page specific to that market where they will find YOUR church advent event listings as long as you fill out the advent form here: http://www.ntcumc.org/adventform. So this is the #1 thing your church needs to do ASAP!

Also, here is a tip. To optimize your own church's Christmas Eve worship service pages, we highly recommend you name your page and optimize the page for this term

If you need further assistance with submitting your Christmas information, or optimizing your website for this, please email our Webmaster Patrick Steil at patrick@churchbuzz.org for additional help.

Christmas Service Landing Page

When the visitor goes to the URL listed in the advertisement or they click on the Facebook/Google Ad, they will see a "landing page" that looks like the following.

Note the list of cities and the Facebook "stream". The user will click on the city that is closest to them to expand the view to something like this:

Ok, so what is up with the Facebook stream on the right? The Facebook stream is there to encourage them to LIKE "Christmas in North Texas". We hope to provide much Christmas / Advent information including "The Christmas Story," bible verses, Christmas trivia, as well as providing opportunities for interaction between Facebook users with questions such as "What is your favorite Christmas Carol?," "What are some of your favorite family traditions," etc...

Again, for this to be successful, we NEED YOU! Here is what you can do to encourage participation on this Facebook page and encourage people to visit your church:

1. Like the Christmas in North Texas Facebook Page.
2. Enable "Get Updates via SMS" on the page (this will notify you via "text" when we post something new so that you can be sure and go "comment," "like," etc if you are so inclined).
3. "Share" this page on your Churches' Facebook Wall once a week during Advent.
4. Use the "add to My Page's Favorites" to add a link from your Church Page to this Page

5. Use the "Invite Friends" link to invite your entire network of Facebook friends in the North Texas area to the page!
6. If you want to invite your friends via email, you can send them a link to the Facebook page directly here: http://www.facebook.com/ChristmasInNorthTexas

Your Christmas To-do List

Ok, to stay off the "naughty list," here is a re-cap you need to do! :)

1. Make sure your Advent / Christmas events and worship times are setup on your church website.
2. Submit your Advent Event info for the Conference advertising destination pages.
3. "Like" the Christmas In North Texas Facebook Page
4. Interact on the Facebook page when we post updates on it!

Help or Suggestions?

If you need any further help or clarification, please contact me and I will be glad to help!  If you have other great ideas or comments on this campaign, please make a comment below!

Your Conference Webmaster
Patrick Steil
Email: patrick@churchbuzz.org