|
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE JOINT MEDIA COMMITTEE
of Southern California
| |
|
The inaudible voice of Truth is, to the human mind, "as when a lion roareth." It is heard in the desert and in dark places of fear." Mary Baker Eddy
| |
Joint Media News - May 2023 | |
The Christian Science Joint Media Committee of Southern California (CSJMC) is an important outreach and healing arm of the Christian Science branch churches and societies of SoCal. Find out more The Committee supports and facilitates activities that individual churches would not be able to maintain on their own. | |
Our joint activities . . . | |
-
SoCal websites - PrayerThatHeals.org and LaOracionQueSana.org share information about Christian Science churches and lectures in Southern California and link to worldwide Mother Church online resources.
-
Telephone line (323) 805-8700 - Features the weekly Bible Lesson, Daily Lift, weekly Sentinel Watch podcast, and weekly El Heraldo program in Spanish.
-
Weekly El Heraldo program - Reaches Spanish-speakers in SoCal via our phone line, LaOracionQueSana.org/ElHeraldo, and KFWB radio, 980 AM, on Sundays at 7 a.m.
-
Internet advertising - Includes Google ads on Google search pages and Facebook ads for lectures, Thanksgiving services, and more.
Watch for email updates on Joint Media activities throughout SoCal.
To be added to our email list for Joint Media News, email us..
| |
Support for Branch Church Reps | We are grateful to have a number of new Branch Church Representatives and new Board members from throughout Southern California. Some attended our CSJMC quarterly meeting on Saturday, April 22. At that meeting, the Board voted to appoint a Representative Coordinator to support our new and continuing Reps. Christine Negley accepted the appointment. If you have questions about our Joint Media activities such as church website content or Google listings for your church or Reading Room, you may email csjmediasocal@yahoo.com or call Christine at 312-330-6855. | |
Watch for some exciting new developments with our SoCal websites and social media | |
|
PrayerThatHeals.org and its Spanish counterpart, LaOracionQueSana.org, will be transitioning to a new platform in the next few months. The company that has been hosting our websites for many years is closing. Although moving our sites will require a lot of work, there is a bright side. We will have more design options and stronger search engine optimization which will help newcomers find our websites.
We are moving to WordPress.com. Our website team members all have experience with WordPress so the transition will be smooth.
Branch church sites will be coming with us
About half of our branch churches and societies in Southern California have websites hosted on our SoCal site. The first six pages are free, and there is a one-time charge of $75/page for additional pages. If your church website is on PrayerThatHeals.org, your site will be moved to the new platform at no charge to your church. For churches with independent websites, we will continue linking to your church site.
Visit our newest church site on PrayerThatHeals.org, La Mesa.
| |
|
Funding for our website move
The Solvang Society and Solvang Legacy Fund have paid for the design and maintenance of PrayerThatHeals.org since it was created in 2008 and our Spanish site since it was added in 2018. Solvang will also be covering the cost of migrating content for both sites to the new platform.
CSJMC oversees the websites. Regular contributions to the Joint Media Committee from the churches and societies in Southern California - and from others wanting to support our outreach - pay for marketing and updating information on both sites.
A good time to develop an online marketing plan
News that we would need to move our sites came after the Joint Media Committee meeting in January when the Board voted to establish an Ad Hoc Strategy Planning Committee to develop a strategic plan for committee activities in 2023. The Ad Hoc Committee recommended to the CSJMC Board that Tina Johnson, our Online Marketing Consultant, enlist an outside consultant to work with her in developing a marketing plan for our internet outreach as we move - and enhance - our websites.
The plan will be a “roadmap” to use now and in the future. It will address all aspects of our internet outreach,
- Websites
- Social media
- Email marketing
- Online advertising
All elements of the plan work together, with the websites being the foundation of our Joint Media online marketing. The plan will outline how to create better relationships with users, improve online performance, enhance user experience, and improve search engine optimization.
| |
Issues with our phone line | |
|
Our phone line provider had technical difficulties this past month, and some callers had trouble accessing the individual sections of the Bible Lesson. They have solved the problem.
If you have questions or concerns when you are on the phone line, you can press #5 to leave a message that goes to the Joint Media Committee.
Blessing many
We have about 10,000 visitors each month calling the phone line hosted by the Joint Media Committee for our Southern California Churches.
Desk announcements, pew cards & church newsletters
Be sure to include our Southern California phone line in your Sunday and Wednesday desk announcements, pew cards, and church newsletters. For sample announcements, go to Desk announcements in the "Info for Churches" section at the bottom of the homepage on our SoCal website.
SoCal Phone Line
323-805-8700
Press 1 - Weekly Bible Lesson
Press 2 - Weekly El Heraldo program in Spanish
Press 3 - Sentinel Watch podcast with examples of healing
Press 4 - Daily Lift (weekdays)
| |
|
Joint Media focus on youth outreach
We welcome your continued metaphysical support and your ideas!
| SoCal churches are sponsoring a series of mini web lecture for young people and others interested in short talks, and we have added Instagram to our social media mix. If your church would like to co-sponsor a young adult talk by contributing $600, email contact@prayerthatheals.org. | |
|
1. Love your enemies
Our first 15-minute lecture by Giulia Nesi Tetreau premiered on YouTube and our website Young Adult page on Sunday, February 5. From January through March, 653 visitors came to our Young Adult page. The previous year we had 148 visitors in the same period of time. View the replay at PrayerThatHeals.org/YA.
| |
|
|
The lecture was co-sponsored by Ojai, Solvang, and Ventura churches and societies. It was listed on ChristianScience.com and our SoCal website, and Joint Media sent email notices to all branch churches and societies in SoCal asking them to invite older Sunday School students and young adults in their 20's and 30's, as well as all members and attendees.
We began our online advertising after the replay had been posted so people responding to our ads could immediately click and watch the 15-minute lecture. Our ads reached 24,219 users, and there were 1,591 clicks (758 were 18-34 year olds) which was amazing. The online ads create awareness of Christian Science, lectures, and Prayer That Heals.
| |
|
2. Giving Freely
Our second short talk by Melanie Wahlberg premiered on Sunday, April 30 on YouTube and our Young Adult page. Within 48 hours we had 300 views of the talk. Our online ads will begin soon, and the number of views will increase. Sponsoring churches and societies were Glendale, Montrose, and Camarillo.
| |
|
|
3. Ama a tus enemigos
A Spanish version of our 15-minute talk by Giulia Nesi Tetreau will premiere on YouTube and our Spanish website, LaOracionQueSana.org, on Sunday, May 21, at 2:00 p.m., immediately following Third Church LA's weekly Spanish church service from 1:00 - 2:00 via Zoom.
| |
|
To access the Zoom church service and YouTube short talk, invite Spanish speakers in your church and community to go to LaOracionQueSana.org. Churches and societies sponsoring the lecture are Third Church Los Angeles, Ojai, and Ventura. | |
Connecting with young people on Instagram | |
|
To share Christian Science with a younger audience, we have added Instagram to our social media mix. It's a photo and video sharing social platform that appeals to people of all ages, but especially young people. In just three months, we have 250 followers, and there have been 752 content interactions.
We encourage everyone to follow us on Instagram.com/PrayerThatHeals.
| |
|
|
Donate often to support Joint Media & our SoCal churches/societies
The Joint Media Committee welcomes contributions from individuals and charitable foundations, as well as monthly/quarterly church contributions.
The Joint Media Committee is a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization and your contributions are tax deductible. Your support is always appreciated and provides increased connection with the public, a benefit for all of Southern California.
Your on-going support is needed to maintain and expand the activities of the Christian Science Joint Media Committee of Southern California (CSJMC). Our key activities are in the bulleted list at the top of this newsletter.
Click here and donate often by credit card or PayPal, or you may mail a check payable to CSJMC to the Joint Media Committee, P O Box 846, Los Angeles, CA 90078-0846.
| |
|
Please send photos
We would like to have a photograph of each church/society and Reading Room in SoCal for our photo galleries on PrayerThatHeals.org.
View the galleries
If we haven't included a photo of your church or you would like to submit an updated photo, please send us a photo from a cell phone or digital camera. We also need photos taken at lectures. It's helpful to have people in some of the photos. If anyone is facing the camera, please have them complete a photo release form. Print form.
Please email your photos to contact@prayerthatheals.org.
We post photos on our English and Spanish websites and on social media to promote church activities, Reading Rooms, Sunday School and lectures.
Photo: From La Mesa Reading Room
| | | | |
