Replace Words Quickly

In your word processor (Word, WordPerfect, etc.) hold CTRL and hit ‘H’ (you can let go of CTRL). Type in the word or phrase you want to change, then what you want to change it to. You can make the search case-sensitive if you want (for instance, replacing “he” with the divine “He”). I use it to get rid of double spacing after periods a lot.

It’s usually in the same menu as the Find function, which is CTRL+F.

Start Your Own Blog

Blogs are great platforms – especially for pastors – to create a little space for exploring and sharing ideas.  In case you weren’t sure, you’re reading a blog right now!  I can’t recommend them enough, as an opportunity to offer personal transparency into your life and thoughts, as well as a way to reach people beyond your church.

Start Simple

If you’re new to blogging, the best way to start is simply getting your feet wet.  Head to Blogger.com and sign up for a free blog.  Blogger is the simplest free blog platform, which makes it ideal for beginners.  I recommend phrases for blog names, since all the short names are taken.  You don’t have to share your blog yet, just get used to writing in a public space.

Writing Tips

 

• The Reverse-Pyramid: Make your point first, then explain.  Your writing teachers may have taught you to introduce your ideas, build up the background, and conclude with that magic bullet sentence that ties it all together.  That sentence needs to be your first.  Readers online scan text to see if it’s worth reading in detail, so make it easy on them.
• Write Often: Many Christians describe blogging as a spiritual discipline.  There’s no rule about when to blog, but see if you can post something at least once a day, even if it’s only a couple sentences.
• Use links! The internet is taking over because it gives users control with hyperlinks.  Whenever you mention a book, another website, a bible verse, or anything with more depth, make that text a link (you don’t need to write ‘click here’ or anything).
• Lists, Bullet Points and Sub-Headers: Like I said, readers online scan text first.  If you write more than a couple paragraphs, break it up with headers and bullet-pointed lists (like I did with this post!).

Wrapping Up

Blogging is part of the postmodern language.  You don’t have to have something profound to say.  Part of the Christian mission is sharing ourselves as the living gospel.  Blogging is an opportunity to share yourself.

There’s a lot we could talk about with blogs and blogging.  This is just a primer.  Soon we’ll talk about websites, and eventually how you can put a blog on your church’s website.

PS: I’m trying a new polling feature here!  At the end of each post I’ll put a little poll so you can let me know how helpful it was.

Make PDF Documents for Free

Ever try to e-mail a document to find out people on the other end can’t open it?  Or maybe you want to e-mail something weird like your Excel attendance chart or something with special fonts and graphics. There’s a file format, PDF, which can display virtually anything and virtually anyone can open it.

PDF files are typically read in the free Adobe Reader (www.adobe.com/reader), which most modern computers come with pre-installed.  This is like a demo version of their PDF creator Adobe Acrobat, but Acrobat costs money.  We’re going to make PDFs for free!

There’s a few programs you can use, but I like PDF995 (download it here) because it doesn’t have any bells or whistles, it just makes PDFs.  On the download page you’ll need the Printer Driver and Free Converter.

Once they’re downloaded and installed, open up a document you’d like to PDF-ify (try your newsletter).  Go to File > Print.  At the top of the Print dialog box (the new menu that pops up) you should see your printer in a dropdown box.  Click the name to see your other options.  PDF995 should be there.  Click on it, then click Print.  After a second it’ll ask you where you want to save your new file; pick a spot and hit OK.  You’ll get a progress bar, then a pop-up advertisement (the cost of free software), which you can close.  Your new PDF should open for you to inspect.  E-mail it to all your friends!  (Or don’t.)

Questions?  Leave a comment!