The Greatest Question You Could Ever Ask

I have discovered the greatest question you could ever ask. A painstaking question that gets to the core of why you do what you do. This question helps narrow down your life to its foundation.

I ask a simple question.

You are going on a holiday. For what purpose? To get some rest. For what purpose? So you have enough energy to be effective in your job. For what purpose? So you can care for and feed your family. For what purpose? So they grow up to be strong and healthy. For what purpose? So they can go on a holiday...

I continue. For what purpose?

So they can enjoy their life. BUT for what purpose?

There is something greater to life than all of our mindless pursuits of happiness. We are created by a living God, who desires to have us live for him. Our purpose in life is derived from a God who saw it fit to create us and send his son Jesus Christ to the world to offer us hope and salvation.

If we put Jesus at the centre of our life, then the answer to the question, 'For what purpose?' changes dramatically.

I am happy to have a holiday, or look after my family, or live a healthy life, but the purpose in which I do these things is different when Jesus is at the centre.
  
As you become busy in 2014, I ask you the greatest question you could ever ask. For what purpose?

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Faith in 2014!

Faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see.

I am driven by faith. I must admit it. Maybe it's wrong, maybe it's right. The fact is, for me, I love that feeling inside myself that is absolutely convinced God is about to do something great!

I know the 'faith' thing I'm talking about is not for everyone. I understand some people simply live in the moment, or even believe merely thinking things are going to be better is convoluted and unnecessary.

This faith I am speaking of though, is the inner working of the Holy Spirit that speaks into your own soul and suggests to you that the best is yet to come! I wonder what the Lord wants to say to you right now?

Are you full of faith for 2014? Are you sure of what you hope for? Are you certain of what you do not see?

God bless you in 2014.

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How to Communicate Effectively through Social Media

Have you noticed the changing nature of the social media realm? Is it just me, or has social media become more volatile than years previous? You only need to read comments on a politicians page on Facebook, or browse through the tweets related to a hot topic and you read the vitriol.

How do you communicate effectively in this social media landscape? How do you promote your business, spark interest in your product or create change in the moral behaviour of your readership?
Here are some themes I see in relation to social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Blogs, etc):

• Popular leaders/artists/musicians, etc, do not have a Facebook Group, they have a Facebook Page. A page allows them to control the posts on the page. A facebook group allows anyone to upload a post, and therefore they shy away from this.
• Any contentious issue is normally ignored by the owner of the Facebook Page. An initial post is created by the leader and then they go silent. Everyone knows they are reading over the comments (or in the case of many comments, quickly browsing over the main theme of the comments), yet they choose to be silent. I do not witness many brave Facebook Page owners with many followers, choosing to engage in discussion on their Facebook Page.
• Using the hashtag effectively on Twitter can help get some momentum going with your brand or community. #social media #effectivecommunication #leadership
• Cutting edge social media experts are great at creating viral ideas and themes. The classic was the social media strategy of Coca-Cola who printed a name of a person onto a Coke Bottle and then encouraged that person to place the photo of the coke can onto their Facebook Profile Pic. What absolute creative genius, to have the consumer, purchasing the product then doing the advertising for you! There were pictures of Coca-cola plastered across social media, and Coke were just sitting back laughing all the way to the bank. 
• Images tell a thousand words and they evoke a response from the viewer, that's why they are spread all over the social media world. Use images as best you can, to engage people with your idea or brand.
• To communicate effectively through social media, you need to prick people's interest. The  articles, posts and YouTube clips that spark the most interest all the ones that have a viral nature about them, e.g. the top ten places no one has ever visited. Most people can sniff at social media and determine what news article they should read and which they should avoid. Attempt to connect the people with interesting, inspiring, viral type social media, that gets people talking.

From a faith perspective, try to find the balance between serious theological truth and entertainment. If you head down too far with the former, you turn people off from even engaging with the theological truth you attempt to communicate. If you head too far the other way, you merely entertain a fast-paced consumerist culture and fail to have them grasp any of the truth of which you are sharing.

Social Media continues to shift and you must continue to wrestle with the challenges of communicating effectively within that social media, if you want to continue to engage people with your business, church, brand or product.

See also:
How to Grow your Blog Traffic by 300%

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