Free shipping ends soon March 29, 2006

Just a friendly reminder - our March special offers, including free shipping with the purchase of any holiday resource, will end this Friday. If there's an order you've been meaning to place, now is a great time to do it!

CP In-site February 08, 2006

Did you know that the upper right-hand corner of the CreativePastors website is dedicated to you? That's right... YOU! In this upper right hand corner you will find links that will take you to your very own tools on the site.

For example, when you click on ACCOUNT, you can:

• check your order history
• change your e-mail address
• change your password
• update your subscriptions
• update your contact information

(You may want to note that the UPDATE CONTACT INFORMATION link is where you need to put in your Fellowship Connection Member Number to receive your discount.)

The DOWNLOADS link will let you access any downloads that you have purchased from CreativePastors. And we give all of our users a little something just for creating an account with us. So, even if you haven't purchased any downloads from CreativePastors, you should check out the DOWNLOADS link! There you will find a free download of the transcript from Retro - Back to the Basics titled Relational Realities.

The CART link takes you to, where else? The cart! If you've shopped with us before and had not made it all the way to the checkout, you will most likely find your last selections still loaded! You can continue on from there, add items to the cart, or remove items by clicking on the negative sign (-) next to the item you wish to remove.

We hope this helps you to enjoy your visits to CreativePastors even more in the future!

Holiday Schedule December 26, 2005

We're on a break! The CreativePastors offices will be closed from December 26-27 and from December 30 through January 2.  This means that any orders requiring shipping will be processed on the next available business day, including express orders. In the meantime, be sure to check out the thousands of downloads available throughout the site!

CP Offices Closed Today December 08, 2005

Well, it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas here in Texas! With ice-covered roads and temperatures well below freezing, our offices will be closed today. However, we will be checking our email and voicemails throughout the day and will do our best to serve your needs. Please allow an extra day for your shipping calculations. We expect to be thawed out and fully functional tomorrow!

Show us What You're Made Of! - Runners-Up! December 01, 2005

As you've heard, the amazing response to the Show Us What You're Made Of! contest left us struggling to make a decision. It was so difficult to pick just one winner that we decided to choose two runner-ups who were too good to leave un-recognized. You've heard about the first winner, but we didn't want to miss the opportunity to share the other two entries:

Door of Hope - Fairbanks, Alaska - Media Director, Tyler Williams

They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words. So what is a video worth? Well, I'm not sure about the answer to that one, but I do know that the media guys at Door of Hope have the video announcement thing down to a T. They use small video clips to announce upcoming events, new resources or on-line tools for their congregation, reminders, outreaches, and, well, just about everything! These short clips tell a story of some sort and yet convey the information they need to be communicated, often in a humorous way. Some examples...

ARMY MAN - One video they created is a kids release video that plays at the end of the announcements letting the kids know that they are released to their classes. They also used this as an opportunity to communicate the fact that Jr. High classes were starting back up. This one had us rolling! Watch out for those "crazy-eyed" Jr. High-ers!

JOE'S ANSWER - This video introduced the Weekender, an on-line bulletin featuring news and events within the church community. The video encourages people to check it out on the church website and even shows them a graphic description of exactly how to find it! Joe may be a "nerd" but we think he's cool.

Terrific job, Door of Hope! The videos are great and we know your congregation must truly love them! Keep up the great work!

Epic Church of Sterling Heights, Michigan - Lead Pastor Tim Kade

Life is a Ride. And Epic Church is evidence of that! God placed the vision for this church plant into Tim's heart during the 2004 C3 Conference and the church has grown from there. Epic Church used the Life is a Ride campaign as the official launch for their church in September. They flooded their local area with these eye-catching flyers to draw in the crowds and advertise their upcoming series. 

The video team headed out to their local amusement park to catch some fast-paced footage to use for their website, message intro, and some sermon illustrations. You can feel the spins, drops and turns right in your stomach!

Epic Church kicked off the launch with their band playing Dare You to Move. The video that accompanies the song literally takes us up the long, gradual, anticipatory slope just before that breathtaking drop and proceeds to take you through the whole roller coaster ride in tune with the music.

The amusement park with all of its ups and downs, twists and turns and even the agonizing wait in line was used as the basis of their sermon series:

• Survive the Ups and Downs - Picture of Us and Jesus: He's sitting right beside you as you go through life's peaks and valleys.
• Rise Above Your Fears: The audience gets to witness lead pastor, Tim Kade, conquer one of his lifelong fears - heights. The video crew made him climb on to the Tower of Power sending him shooting straight into the air only to send him dropping right back down just as quickly.
• Let Go of Control: In this sermon illustration, the taping process was unexpectedly interrupted. Instead of letting it hit the "cutting room floor" they used it as an example of the fact that we really aren't in control. God is.
• Anticipate the Thrill: Learn to enjoy the journey, the time between life's highlights. During the song 100 Years they show a moving black and white slide show of life and its different stages...friends, families, graduation, weddings, marriage, pregnancy, and the every-day wonders of the in-betweens.

It was an amazing ride, Epic Church - good job!

Our runners-up will receive the complete DVD set for our upcoming C3 conference. Thank you, again, to everyone who participated in the Show Us What You're Made Of! Contest. We really loved going through all the submissions. Keep that creativity going because we just might do this again!

Contest Update November 04, 2005

Our desks and inboxes are overflowing with your creativity! We're sorting through entries for the Show Us What You're Made Of! Contest and narrowing them down to the top ten. Next Thursday we'll meet with our panel of judges and the final votes will be cast to determine the big winner.  So check back here next week to see who will be attending C3 for free!

Lovably Last Minute October 31, 2005

There's nothing like a deadline to get us motivated, is there? I think church leaders have a special respect for deadlines since they face a big one week after week after week! Over the last few days, the entries for our Show Us What You're Made Of! Contest have been pouring in. Thank you all so much for sharing your creative ideas - we've been amazed at the cool things you are doing! We're giving each entry due consideration and assembling a team of judges to help determine the big winner. We'll keep you posted here with our progress and the final results!

And the winners are... October 18, 2005

During the Catalyst Conference, visitors to the CreativePastors booth had the opportunity to enter a drawing to win $200. A few persistent entrants used extensive persuasion tactics to improve their chances, but we stuck to protocol and held an honest-to-goodness drawing. Here's who won:

• Michele Carlson, who attended with her husband, the senior pastor of a United Methodist Church in Webster, NY. She enjoys seeing what churches are doing to keep in step with current technology, because, "If we want to reach people where they are at, then we need to stay involved..."
• Alan Klasi, Senior Pastor of Bethel Assembly of God in Elmhurst, IL. Alan has been in full time ministry for over 12 years but this year marks his first time in the role of senior pastor. He said that getting away allows him to, "take a breath, step back and look at the big picture of what I’m wanting to accomplish for my church and community."

We couldn't agree more! Don't miss your chance to refocus and re-energize at our Creative Church Conference this January. You can look forward to an amazing speaker lineup, behind-the-scenes insights, and lots of fresh ideas for your church. Learn more here.

On our way October 04, 2005

We're hopping on a plane tomorrow morning, headed to Atlanta for the Catalyst Conference. We're looking forward to rubbing shoulders with some of the most creative people around - our users! It's always a pleasure to hear the cool things you are doing and the incredible ways that God is working in your churches.

And on that note, check out what we've got going this October on CreativePastors: your creative church idea could score you two free tickets to the C3 conference in January! Click here to find out how you can show us what you're made of!

Suite Deal Winners! August 05, 2005

We had a great time earlier this week awarding the two Sweet Media Suites from our July giveaway. And the winners are...Curt Seaburg, co-lead pastor of Victory Church in Lancaster, PA and Tammy Austin, of Crosspointe Church in Oklahoma City, OK.  Both will be receiving the newest version of Media Shout 3.0 along with the following CreativePastors Media Kits:

Who’s Kidding Who? Media Kit
Countdown Clock
Just Lust Media Kit
Apostles' Creed Video
The Table Media Kit
Ignite Media Kit

Congratulations Curt and Tammy!