Sep
02Show & Tell: Asian Outreach CanadaPosted by RAY | 0 comments

Welcome to Show & Tell, a weekly feature that focuses on the work of ministries within the Electricurrent and AdvancedMinistry clientele.

Back in June, we featured one of our AdvancedMinistry client's sites -- Asian Outreach USA. Today, I would like to feature another one of their sites -- Asian Outreach Canada. This is a great example of how an organization with multiple facets can (and in my opinion, should) work when it comes to a branding an organization across multiple regions. Here, the Canada site has similar traits to the USA site and brings unity to the brand. Great job, Asian Outreach!

Asian Outreach Canada

Asian Outreach USA

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Aug
30A Radical Tactical ShiftPosted by ANDREW | 0 comments

We live in a world that feels like it's moving at a hundred miles an hour. Speed is believed to be of the essence. We attack every problem with speed and aggression not considering that each problem would benefit from it's own approach...and that that approach might not be speedy or aggressive.

Lewis Pugh talks about how he learned this lesson the hard way in his own life (6:25 to 8:10 in the video above). While his challenge within the video is applied to a call to steward the environment, my mind goes to other parts of life. For this blog in particular, my mind goes to communications.

There's no doubt that many of our communications efforts are time sensitive and as such require a speedy and aggressive approach, but that's not a blanket rule. Stop and think about each communications problem you have to face and determine whether it can be best solved by ramming through the issue as fast as possible or whether a slower approach is needed.

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Aug
27Casual Friday - This Kid is 4!!!Posted by ANDREW | 0 comments

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Aug
26New AdvancedMinistry Template: Ocean of GracePosted by RAY | 0 comments

We are pleased to announce a new AdvancedMinistry template entitled "Ocean of Grace". The template is based on the lyrics by John Mark Mcmillan's song, How He Loves, which was also featured earlier in the week through an Xpiritmental desktop wallpaper.

We are his portion
And he is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in his eyes
If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking...

You can view a preview of the new template here.

As usual, all AM 3.0 templates are fully customizable including the ability to change the number of columns, colors, fonts, etc. If you would like to use a simplified version of your home page, edit your template, click the Layout Tab and choose "Hide All Columns (Simplified Home Page)". Resource files for the new template can be found in the "Download Materials" menu under "Template Resource Files".

To change your template at any time, login to your AdvancedMinistry account and select "Choose My Template".

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Aug
25Major AdvancedMinistry Blog UpdatesPosted by RAY | 8 comments

We are pleased to announce a number of substantial updates to the functionality within AdvancedMinistry blogs.

1. You can now create categories. For every blog post that you make, you can put it in as many categories as you want. On the front-end of your website, users are now able to browse by category as well. To add/edit categories, login, click on “Edit My Blogs”, click on “Manage your blog categories”.

2. You can now feature your posts on the front page of your website (like WordPress). You have the option to enter your own custom or let the system generate one for you. To modify your homepage settings, login, click on “Edit My Blogs” and adjust the settings under “BLOG OPTIONS (for 3.0+ templates)”.

3. You will also see (when you check out #2) that we've included graphical calendar icons to spice up each post. You can choose your calendar color and font color.

4. In your blog, we've put the archived months in a pull-down menu to simplify the page. We've also, updated the RSS feed button to be more current.

5. You can now manage a spam blacklist to block out key words from being posted in your Comments field. (Obviously you can still keep your comments moderated so that they don't get posted without your approval, but this makes managing spam a little easier.)

6. Improved the way in which comments are moderated.

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Aug
24Show & Tell: Every Nation VancouverPosted by RAY | 0 comments

Welcome to Show & Tell, a weekly feature that focuses on the work of ministries within the Electricurrent and AdvancedMinistry clientele.

This week's feature is Every Nation Vancouver.

You can read more about Every Nation Vancouver by visiting their website.

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Aug
23Xpiritmental #69: If Grace Is An OceanPosted by DEREK | 0 comments

We are pleased to announce Xpiritmental wallpaper #69 entitled, If Grace Is An Ocean, inspired by song How He Loves Us by John Mark McMillan. We sing this song in our church from time to time and it is by far my favorite worship song. The line in the song “If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking” is particularly moving to me and I thought it would make a great wallpaper.

If you have not heard the song before you can listen to it here on YouTube.  It's also been used by many popular artists like David Crowder Band and Hillsong United.

There is a great story behind his writing of the song which explains his emotion through the last verse.

Download the new wallpaper by selecting your preferred screen resolution (below) or visit the Xpiritmental Archives for more wallpapers.

Xpiritmental No. 69
If Grace Is An Ocean
John Mark McMillan



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Aug
20Casual Friday - Broken EscalatorPosted by ANDREW | 1 comment

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Aug
19Balancing your PassionPosted by ANDREW | 1 comment

Your passion can drive you to do great things. It can also drive you and everyone around you crazy.

There are so many people that do amazing things and have amazing stories that stem from their passion. A passion for the music. A passion for travel. A passion for ending poverty. In each of these areas and many more, there are examples of people who put legs to their passion and it's resulted in the accomplishment of incredible feats.

But your passion can also lead to you run down a path with blinders on, not aware of the people, circumstances and to-do's around you that still need your attention while you chase down your dreams and convictions

Often the ironic truth is that those people, circumstances and to-do's that you ignore in pursuit of your passion, are ignored to the detriment of executing well (or at all) on your passion itself.

So run with your passion, but check yourself often to make sure that you're not dropping the ball in other areas...finding and keeping balance in pursuit of your passion.

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Aug
17Show & Tell: St. Cuthbert's Anglican ChurchPosted by RAY | 0 comments

Welcome to Show & Tell, a weekly feature that focuses on the work of ministries within the Electricurrent and AdvancedMinistry clientele.

This week's feature is St. Cuthbert's Anglican Church.

You can read more about St. Cuthbert's Anglican Church by visiting their website.

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Aug
16Desktop RequestsPosted by DEREK | 7 comments

As of Friday of last week all outstanding requests for desktop designs we have received from our faithful readers have been fulfilled. So today I am casting my line out for more requests. The requests and results are shown below:

Wayne Sankarlal requested Philippians 4:5 and the following was created:


mj bravo requested John 3:16 and the following was created:


Jeremy Edmonstone requested Matthew 7:13-14 and the following was created:


Tim Ninnis requested Psalm 27:13 and the following was created:


Tim Ninnis requested Philippians 4:6-7 and the following was created:


The point of this post is: “ask and you will receive” :)

I love getting requests for desktops knowing they are downloaded and proudly displayed on hundreds of computers out there. It's just one more little interesting way to spread the word of God. Maybe it's hard to bring up the topic Christ or Christianity, but if someone asks you about your desktop background and what it means, you have an opening to speak truth to someone.

So keep the requests coming!

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Aug
13Casual Friday - Xpiritmental #68 (The Peace of God)Posted by RAY | 0 comments

We are pleased to announce Xpiritmental wallpaper #68 entitled, The Peace of God, inspired by Philippians 4:6-7.

Download the new wallpaper by selecting your preferred screen resolution (below) or visit the Xpiritmental Archives for more wallpapers. Have a great weekend!

Xpiritmental No. 68
The Peace of God
Philippians 4:6-7



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Aug
11Coloring Inside the LinesPosted by BRIAN | 1 comment

In my career, I have witnessed decisions being made on a constant basis. Some decisions that almost seemed prophetic and others not even being made with a ounce of intelligence.

Why?

As I reflect, it seems to me that many of our decisions are made in the heat of battle. You might be saying at this point, that is impossible to avoid. My response is: most of the time it can be.

I would suggest that planning is the key. Take the time to think about issues before they occur so when the time comes, crazy emotions do not wield the biggest stick. Let me be clear, emotions are not a bad thing, however when making decisions under the influence, clarity and reason are usually thrown out the window.

This is but one more reason to include professionals in your business or ministry. A professional should walk you through a sound, planning process resulting in non-emotional decisions based on the facts...your brand.

Now, remember, I didn't say emotions should not be involved. After all, if there is no emotional connection to what you are trying to accomplish, why are you doing it? I look at emotions as the crayons of life. A skilled practitioner can add beauty and life, however a less disciplined practitioner will be coloring way outside the lines making a mess of the entire scenario.

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Aug
10Show & Tell: Elizabeth's HousePosted by RAY | 0 comments

Welcome to Show & Tell, a weekly feature that focuses on the work of ministries within the Electricurrent and AdvancedMinistry clientele.

This week's feature is Elizabeth's House, a ministry for women, committed to teaching God's inspired word and applying it's principles to everyday life.

You can read more about Elizabeth's House by visiting their website at www.elizabethshouse.ca.

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Aug
09How To #005 – Design Your Own Navigation BarPosted by DEREK | 0 comments

If you have ever considered wanting to use something other than a solid colored bar for your main navigation this post will take you through the process (a very simple one) of how to achieve that. For this post we are going to use the template “School Is In” as our example.

1. Design your site however you see fit in Photoshop or whatever other graphic application you may have access to.
2. Save out your background image and upload to your file manager in AM.
3. Set up your site defining the space for the banner, location of nav, page title and banner and all the padding associated with those elements (see details below).
4. For the navigation itself, under the navigation tab you will want to erase all the numbers in the field that define the menu background color, leaving it blank.
5. When you save and then preview your site, you should see your navigation words without a solid color rectangle behind it.

In the sample site you can see that I designed the navigation bar to be thicker and it contains thin vertical lines. For this to work my specs are:

1. Banner height on the homepage is = 406 pixels with padding of 50 pixels above and below the banner.

2. The title header is contained within the main banner image and a padding above of 50 pixels and 60 pixels to the left. This is so the words are away from the edges of the blackboard.

3. Lastly there are 8 pixels of padding above the banner and 15 pixels below. As stated, the Menu Background Color is blanked out.

Now this is just a list of all the variables and settings I needed to consider for my particular design. For what you design your numbers and variables will be different. The trick is just setting all the numbers/elements of the AM backend so that they will align with your graphics from your design. It's really simple. You can check out all the specs for yourself by going to the “choose my template” section in your admin panel and looking through tabs of the design section for the template titled “School Is In”. If you have any questions for me, please ask in the comment section.

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Aug
06Casual Friday - We're Outta HerePosted by ANDREW | 0 comments

In light of the fact that it's Friday and we're leaving for the weekend in a few hours, this video seemed fitting.

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Aug
05It's (always) too soon to know for surePosted by ANDREW | 0 comments

The cost of being first is higher than it's ever been...

It's entirely possible that you're racing.

Racing to the market with a new product or a news story or a decision or an innovation. The race keeps getting faster, doesn't it?

If you're racing, you better figure out what to do about the times that you don't know for sure...because more and more of your inputs are going to be tenuous, speculative and possibly wrong. Day traders have always understood this--all they do is trade on uncertainty. But you, too, if you're racing, are going to have to make decisions on less than perfect information.

Given that fact, what are you going to do about it? I think it's worth a few cycles of your time.

Read the rest of the blog post on Seth Godin's website >>

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Aug
04Show & Tell: Unashamed Generation MinistriesPosted by RAY | 0 comments

Welcome to Show & Tell, a weekly feature that focuses on the work of ministries within the Electricurrent and AdvancedMinistry clientele.

This week's feature is Unashamed Generation Ministries.

You can read more about Unashamed Generation Ministries by visiting their website.

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Aug
02Long WeekendPosted by RAY | 0 comments

Please note that our offices are closed today (Monday, August 2nd) for the Civic Holiday (Canada). We will be monitoring all of our systems (as usual) to make sure that everything is running smoothly and will be back in business tomorrow. God bless!

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Jul
28"Your camera takes really nice pictures"Posted by RAY | 1 comment

For anyone that's ever said to someone, “Your camera takes really nice pictures”, this is a MUST read this article by Erin Farrell. I'll quote the first few paragraphs and then you can read the rest of it on her website (along with a fantastic case study). Great job, Erin!

“Imagine that you’re baking dessert for a party. It’s your special recipe: the one everyone asks for. You make it from scratch, of course, never looking at the recipe that you committed to memory so long ago. Sugar, beaten eggs, sift in the flour… you’re crafting something delicious from basic elements. Now you’re at the party and everyone is gushing about your dessert. The flavor! The texture! But most of all you’re being asked, 'What kind of oven do you have? It makes great cakes!'

That’s pretty much how a photographer feels when people look at their photos and say, 'Your camera takes great pictures.'

Of course it’s not the camera that takes great photos, any more than it’s the oven that makes a great dessert. Ovens and cameras are just tools that make our jobs easier. Yes, better equipment does make a difference. I wouldn’t spend thousands of dollars on cameras and lenses if it didn’t. However, you must understand the camera to take advantage of all it can offer. Just because you’re using a professional camera does not mean you are producing professional images.”

Read the rest of the article and case study on Erin's website >>
(Be sure to scroll down the page on Erin's site)

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