by Jeremy Roberts | Monday January 3rd, 2011
I suppose this article exposes my naïveté, but I simply assumed that I own that which I preach. What I mean is that I assumed that any mp3 floating around the internet with my best attempt at whimsical homiletic illumination was my property. However, I have learned of tax laws that state that it is, in fact, the property of the place where the message is being preached.
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If you’re interested in the tax intricacies involved in this subject, click here to read a great article by Paul Rivera entitled, “Pastors Do Not Own Their Own Sermons!” As you are reading this, you may be thinking about transitioning this intellectual property from the church to the pastor. Read the quote below from the Rivera article:
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“Is There a Right Way For Me to keep My Own Sermons?
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YES! As a matter of fact, getting this right is simpler than you might think. A minister is described as a self employed individual under Section 3401(a)(9). This section of the code allows for the minister to negotiate a creative license agreement with the church. Under this agreement, the pastor retains his right to keep the copyright to his own intellectual property, and if the church records his sermons, he will be allowed to keep a copy. In order to avoid an excess benefit transaction, the written agreement must describe how the church will transfer the recorded sermons to the pastor in a way that establishes that such transfer is in keeping with the purposes of the church. Generally, churches have a clause in the purpose statement of their articles of incorporation which states that the church will spread the good news of the Gospel. That clause is enough to allow for a sufficient agreement to be written which honors that clause. Following are three different ways it can be done.
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1. Pastor that is on a salary: in order for the pastor to be on salary at the church, he must sign a compensation agreement. As part of that compensation agreement you will want to include an article titled Creative License. That article needs to state that the pastor retains his rights to any and all intellectual property he produces while employed by the church, and that he may use it as he sees fit in order to spread the good news of the Gospel. It must also state that the pastor will reimburse the church X amount for each of the sermons of which he wishes to receive a copy. As we teach in all of our conferences, the board of directors must hold a board meeting and approve the contract.
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2. Pastor that is not on a salary: When a pastor is not on salary, an independent Creative License Agreement, covering the points in step one above, is signed between the pastor and the church.
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3. Pastor that is coming into an existing church: When a minister is going to become the pastor of an existing church, at the time that an agreement is being signed for him to come, he has a little more negotiating power. This is because he is not considered to be someone of substantial influence until he actually becomes the pastor and, therefore, at the time of signing the agreement he is not subject to the requirements of Section 4958. As a result, the Creative License Agreement does not have to state that he will pay X amount for each of the sermons for which he wishes to receive a copy. So long as that original contract is in place, he can continue to get copies at no charge.”
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You also may be reading this and thinking, “Who cares who owns the intellectual property of a sermon?” The reason I care is that I have goals of writing books including content previously used in sermons I preached, and I do not have the legal right to do this if I do not go through the proper legal channels.
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While this may not be the most exciting subject on Earth, it sure is an important one so that churches and pastors follow the law of the land.
by Jeremy Roberts | Tuesday December 14th, 2010
Despite the launch of our new blog right in the middle of the Christmas season, the frequency of new posts will increase. Today, a simple thought of improving the excellence of your sermon graphics will be set forth. Ultimately, the best way to handle your sermon graphics is to delegate the responsibility to a volunteer or staff member with a keen eye for excellence in graphics and skill with creating them. However, if you’re in a similar boat as was I while pastoring in Tennessee, then you may be the person in your church who needs to create the graphics for the sermon.
I have an odd afinity for packaging sermons and sermon series. If you’re a “series preacher,” then this makes it easier. Whether preaching through a book, or through a series of topics, you can package your sermons to be more pleasing to the eye in either instance. Here are a few websites where you can either buy sermon series templates at an inexpensive price, or they’re provided free:
- PastorGraphics.com
- Jim LePage (he is way more edgy–some pros, some cons)
- LifeChurch.tv (this non-denomenational megachurch based in Oklahoma provides all bumper videos and sermon graphics for free)
If you, or a person within your church, has Adobe Photoshop, it’ll make your design much cleaner and sharper. However, if you’re in a situation where neither you nor the church you serve has money to buy an expensive program, the most inexpensive way to create sermon graphics on your own is to design something in PowerPoint, then click “File–Save–JPEG” and it will transition from being a PowerPoint file to being a picture you can upload to your church website, blog, etc.
In conclusion, please don’t fall into the trap of allowing pragmatism to supercede orthodoxy within your sermon series development. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide your teaching/preaching ministry, then cover details such as sermon graphics. May God be glorified as you seek to improve your church’s technological strategies.
by Jeremy Roberts | Tuesday December 7th, 2010
Social media is hot right now. You need to embrace social media to expand your ministry horizons.
Why? Your goal is to develop more and better disciples of Jesus Christ. Think of these statistics:[1]
- FACEBOOK
- - Half of their users log on daily (175Million daily users)
- - Over 35Million users update their status daily
- - 2.5Billion pictures are uploaded monthly
- - Translated into 70 different languages
- - 65Million users access Facebook through mobile devices
- TWITTER: 15Million active users
- FLICKR: 4Billion images
What strategy should I use to embrace social media to expand my ministry horizons?
Use the post strategy.[2]
P – O – S – T (People, Objectives, Strategy, Technology)
People: Assess your community’s and church members’ social activities.
- Who do you want to target?
- - Congregation?
- - Potential Visitors?
- - Lost?
- - Found?
- - Leadership Team?
- - Program/Ministry?
Objectives: Decide what you want to accomplish.
- Are you educating or informing?
- Are you starting conversations or picking fights?
- Are you energizing or evaluating?
- Are you looking for feedback or telling how it is?
Strategy: Plan for how relationships with church members will change.
- Is your goal a closer relationship with your . . .
- - Congregation?
- - Ministry leaders?
- Do you want people talking about your church or about what your church does?
- What is the result of this particular effort?
Technology: Decide which social technologies to use.
- What fulfills your objectives the most?
- - Facebook
- - Twitter
- - YouTube
- - Vimeo
- - Flickr
- - iPhone/iPad app
Check out the SBTC’s Twitter page here, and our Facebook page here.
[1] These statistics were found at the following website: http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/5324-20+-mind-blowing-social-media-statistics-revisited
[2] The “POST” strategy is detailed at the following website: http://churchcrunch.com/a-social-media-strategy-for-ministry/
by Jeremy Roberts | Wednesday December 1st, 2010
What’s the deal with this blog?
It’s not just another blog . . . it’s going to sharpen you. It will assist you in more progressively reaching your community for Christ while strengthening your ministerial backbone.
Let me tell you what to expect with SBTCBlog.com
- Technology Tuesdays: Every Tuesday, you’ll learn of creative ways to leverage technology to make more and better disciples for Christ in your ministry context.
- Statistical Research: As a communicator of the Gospel of Jesus, you want to know the state of society, don’t you? You need to know about the people to whom you are ministering. You’ll receive timely insights about statistical data from both religious and non-religious statisticians.
- Topics of study to sharpen your ministry. For example, would you like to become a better preacher? In a few weeks, a series of posts written by leading preachers in evangelical Christianity will teach of how they prepare their exegesis, illustrations, and application points.
- Encouragement will be found here.
- Loving writing will be found here.
Let me tell you what to not expect with SBTCBlog.com
- Political posturing of either American politics or denominational politics
- Picking fights on tertiary theological issues. There are blogs that do this. SBTCBlog.com is not one of them.
- Calling-out individual people or churches.
Go ahead. Add this site to your “favorites” on your web browser. Sit back. Relax. Enjoy the blog.
