The Salvation Army Blog

MyCorps.org and MySalvatioarmy.org have been the result of an effort of The Salvation Army with two main objectives; a) The creation of a social network where Salvationist can interact in a "safe environment" and b) An opportunity for The Army to let the people know that we are a Church.

Both of the objectives have been addressed very well and as the network grows, we are facing different challenges to bring to our Salvationist better features and resources to empower their Online Ministry.

Please take a look of a blog posted by Joe Suh (Co-founder of MyChurch.org) where he remarks the presence of the Army as a Church within the network.

Thanks to everyone that believes in this project! 

Many people feel that they are receiving way too many emails from MyChurch.org. Since I have received many emails and phone calls on this topic, I decided to record a short tutorial about this and other handy tricks about MyChurch's environment.

Feel free to use the "Comments" to ask for any particular theme.

Blessings.

[ See Tutorial ]

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The lights went out. It was pitch black in the sanctuary. Silence fell. Then a heart pounding beat began. It was the kind of beat that made you want more. The anticipation was mounting. Seconds, maybe minutes passed as the crowd sat, waiting, eyes trying to peer through the darkness. There was an almost tangible feeling of excitement and mystery going around. When would the concert begin? What song would be first?

And then it happened - all at once, the lights came up and the band began to play. Marty Mikles' concert Benefitting HopeHIV and the Overseas Child Sponsorship program had begun. He opened with "Glorious King," one of his own from his "Running In Circles" album and followed it with "Bless The Lord," another upbeat number from his personal CD. During the evening Marty covered songs such as "All Over The World," "Marvelous Light," and "Our God Reigns." He delighted long-time fans with more personal songs like "Needy" and his re-write of "How Great Thou Art." Near the end of the concert he also gave fans a treat by unveiling a new song called "Everlasting Light" which did not disappoint.

The concert was an effort to raise money and awareness for a non-profit organization called HopeHIV currently only working in sub-Saharan Africa. HopeHIV was begun by a Salvationist in the UK with the goal of seeing the AIDS pandemic overcome by a generation of young people. HopeHIV spends their time, energy and resources investing in programs which provide life's necessities for children who have been orphaned by AIDS. A few of their programs include education such as skills training and leadership development, foster care programs, programs which reach out to street children and creative arts therapy to help children deal with the trauma of losing one or both parents to AIDS.

At the concert, Marty raised over $650 to go towards HopeHIV. The following morning, Major Rick Mikles gave the members and soldiers of the Atlanta Temple corps an opportunity to match the offering raised the night before. In total, $1380.23 was raised for the organization. In addition to the offering that was taken, nine children from The Salvation Army's own Overseas Child Sponsorship program were sponsored by concert goers.

Marty's sole effort in performing on Saturday evening, February 16 was to see God's children glorify their Father by caring for children who might not be able to care for themselves. Job well done Marty. Job well done.

[ See Marty's Blog ]

[ See Marty's website ]

The new york times has an interesting article today on why we’ve been seeing social networking sites refocus their attention towards an older crowd. the argument, and a good one, is that the younger demographic tends to stick around only as long as you’re on the cutting edge or only as long as you’re the latest trend. a few days ago it was friendster, yesterday it was myspace, today it’s facebook, tomorrow it will be something completely different.

The older demographic, on the other hand, likes the comfortable. once they’ve learned how to use one site and have created a network, they are most likely to stay there regardless of the latest trends.

With almost 80 million baby boomers (almost three times the number of teenagers) and the number of internet users who are 55 or older being the same as the number of internet users in the 18-34 age range, it makes sense to try and capture a audience that’s equally as large but far from being as fickle as the younger crowd. furthermore, given that sites like facebook and myspace already have a majority of the younger people in their paws (and are facing competition from dozens of other virtually similar networks) it seems not only logical but rather smart to tend to the older, untapped audience.

I think that MyCorps interface is very user friendly and easy to figure out, and it is a usefull tool to communicate, so I encourage you to invite your friends and relatives en create your own network where you can share your faith and experiences on the past...

If you have a comment for this post please do so by using the "comments" fature of this web site..

Blessings. 

Hey guys!!! I’m trying to collect here and there some useful tips about best practices for bloggers…  and I’ve found tons of them, but here are what I consider the top 12…  enjoy  and GIVE ME A STAR!!!! 

1. Write about what you know and are passionate about.  Just as the people who are best at their jobs are those who love what they do.
2. Be unique.  It could be your experience, unique perspective, contacts, writing style, or something else. 
3. Write great titles. 
4. Write great articles. 
5. Encourage comments on your blog.  your readers will also benefit from the additional insight and varying perspectives. 
6. Interact with your readers.  When someone comments, don’t just leave them flapping in the breeze, post a comment in response. 
7. Link generously to other websites and blogs in your articles.  (specially mine!!)
8. Write regularly.  Personally, I think it’s best to write at least once a week, but quality is more important than quantity. 
9. Facilitate RSS & email subscriptions.  People will not remember to check your blog every day.  You have to let them let you remind them by offering RSS and email subscriptions.  I recommend both because while RSS is not really mainstream yet, it is mainstream with hardcore bloggers and you want to accommodate them.
10. Register your blog in search engines and directories. 
11. Comment on other blogs and in forum discussions related to the topic of your blog.  Often you can include the name and URL of your blog in your post, which will bring visitors to your blog and (assuming you don’t sound like a total idiot ) build your credibility.
12. Be patient.  (cause I'm not!!!)Unless you already have a high-traffic site or are famous, it takes a while to build up an audience.

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So, there you have it, the top 12 blogging tips of all time!  If you follow these tips you will become a world-famous, unbelievably successful blogger… or not… but definitely one of the two.  Agree?  Disagree?  Got one more you think ought to be added to the list?  Post a comment and let me know...