I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that this is our last installment of the Getting the Word Out Series (sob). But the good news is that this installment is devoted to those glorious communication tools that are FREE! Yes, that's right: FREE! These are the online tools that stick it to the Man. No cost. Zero. Zilch. Zilp. After reading this article, I guarantee that you'll want to dance an Irish jig. Don't resist the impulse to do a lil' jig. It's good for the soul …

Before we enter into the utopia of free-land, let's review our journey to this point. In 1.0: Where's the Easy Button?, we explored the need to keep the mission first and to do our research. In 2.0: The Bling Bling, we looked at those expensive but essential tools to getting the word out: logo and design. In 3.0: The Bargain Bin, we found those inexpensive gems of marketing tools. In this installment, 4.0, we're mining those digital nuggets in a tidy little linked-up list for you.

Email
OK, technically, email isn't free. It requires a computer and Internet access. But both are so readily available that it can be assumed that you have access to a computer and the 'net. Thus, take advantage of paperless communication. Nearly all email accounts (Outlook, Gmail, Hotmail, etc.) allow you to create groups or distribution lists to send mass emails to. In your email account, set up a group for your ministry, and utilize the convenience to send out a weekly newsletter of all the happenings.

We call our newsletter "The VOX Haps." Each "Haps" contains all of our event information for the coming week, a 'mark your calendars' section for future events and a parting shot—a quote to ponder. We had one of our more computer-minded folk create an HTML template to dress up this newsletter with a header and footer, complete with our logo and links to our website. Simple, efficient and FREE.

Blog www.blogger.com
Blogs are a great way to get out information quickly and painlessly. In other words, you don't have to be a computer savant to update it. You can pay for blogs with a few more bells and whistles, such as Typepad, but you can easily use a FREE blog tool, such as Blogger. It's easy to set up an account, and you have a myriad of styles to choose from. Blogs are great for highlighting events, posting pictures and directing your community to articles of interest. You can also allow for your blog to be updated by a number of people, creating an online forum of sorts. This allows for others in your ministry to have a voice. You can check out our VOX blog here: www.voxohioblog.blogspot.com

Google Calendar www.google.com/calendar
In Google's never-ceasing sprint to global domination, they have now come up with a way to control your day … literally. Google has come out with an incredible online calendar tool, which you can use to create and update your ministry's events in a very user-friendly fashion. The best part: you can set your calendar to "public" for anyone to see. A Google calendar account is FREE, so anyone in your ministry can create their own calendar and integrate your ministry's public calendar into their own.

MySpace www.myspace.com
Yes, MySpace has been in the news for some pretty nasty stuff. But our unofficial motto: "We're using MySpace for good, not evil." And yes, the ads are less than tasteful, And yes, it appears to have been created by a caveman with a Commodore 64. And yes, it's owned by Rupert Murdoch. But the fact is, your community is on it, whether you know it or not. Plus, others who should be a part of your ministry are on it. Shouldn't we meet them where they are?

MySpace is simply an online social networking site. You can add links, images and videos to your MySpace page, and you can link your page with other "friends." In addition to it being FREE, another nice touch is its "bulletin" feature, allowing you to send a bulletin to all your "friends" with a simple click. MySpace also lets you upload mp3 files, allowing you to highlight local musicians in your ministry. It also allows you to join groups of similar interest. You can check out the VOX MySpace here: www.myspace.com/voxohio. You can check out RELEVANT's MySpace here: www.myspace.com/relevantmagazine

Squidoo www.squidoo.com
Squidoo is a relatively new experiment in how people access information. Users can create lenses through which people can view content you feel is important. Instead of random searching, people can search for lenses of content by topic. Squidoo is also another FREE way to get the word out about your ministry. It's an easy-to-use program that allows you to map your location, aggregate a blog, post pictures from your flickr account and link to your other online spaces (website, blog, MySpace, etc.). Only time will tell how successful this concept will be, but hey, it's FREE! Check out our VOX squidoo lens here: www.squidoo.com/voxohio

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are dozens of other helpful resources at your service. Take advantage of their free-ness. But remember: the marketing never trumps the mission. All this "marketing" is great, as long as it's an aid to your mission. Your ministry will grow more deeply through authentic relationships. These tools are merely icing on the cake. But who doesn't like a little icing?

Drew Moser is Bekah's man, Ben's dad and the adoptive father to be of a Guatemalan baby girl whom he's beyond excited to bring home. He's the founding pastor of VOX Ohio, a freelance writer, an aspiring theologian and a World Cup junkie. Check him out on the web at www.drewmoser.com.

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