With Wordle, you can create really cool word clouds for your ministry like the one above. Since it is a Java Applet, getting it to be an image file (.jpg or .gif) is a bit difficult, but here’s what I did.

1. Create the Wordle
2. Print it as a PDF
3. Open the PDF and use the snapshot tool to copy the area you want to use
4. Paste the copied area into Publisher or graphics editing program
5. Save the copied picture as a .jpg or .gif using, right click–>Save As Picture

Happy Wordling!

You may also be interested in:

1. Lots of free videos, looping backgrounds, and countdowns
2. Open source graphics editor

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I wanted to interrupt our little series to tell you about a free webinar on church websites. I found this over at Church Communications Pro.

I have seen some really shotty children’s ministry web pages so this webinar is certain to help some of you out. You do have to sign up for it ahead of time. Here’s a quote from their blog entry:

Join WebDesign.com co-founders Cory Miller and James Dalman for a special webinar titled 4 Keys to Effective Church Websites on Thursday, Oct. 1 at 11 a.m. Learn the essentials of highly effective church websites with two experienced church marketing professionals.

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/342534819

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

KidzPlace is a website for children and CM leaders. It is sponsored by the North American Mission Board and contains tools for leaders to teach kids how to be Matthew 28:19-20 Christians as well as interactive gospel presentations for kids and games.

You will definitely want to check out the video presentation, “God’s Special Plan for Children.” You can show it to kids online, embed it into your own website, and if you call NAMB and talk very nicely to them, they will probably send you a high quality version of it on DVD free of charge (at least it worked for me about a year ago!).

See Also:

1. Free Safe Web Browser for Kids
2. MP3 Bible Stories

You may have read my post early on about K9 internet filtering. K9 is a good resource to use in home computers, but I have recently found out that to put it on your church computers (i.e. business) you need to purchase a license.

You may want to check out OpenDNS. It provides similar internet saftety solutions and is completely free for any setting. I must admit that I have not used this yet. I plan on taking K9 off of one of my church computers and installing OpenDNS on it instead.

Have you had any experience with OpenDNS? Tell us about it.

Let me make two qualifications on the post:

1. I do not advocate debt (except for real estate)–I’m a big fan of Dave Ramsey
2. I will never send something your way that I do not trust

Credit Karma is a pro-consumer company that offers you free credit score monitoring by allowing financial and insurance companies to advertise on their site. They offer their service for free in much the same way that Mint does. You can log in and get your credit score (something that is not available from AnnualCreditReport.com) at any time you wish.

This service is good for you to monitor if your credit is being used the way you want (i.e. identity theft) and for providing you assistance in getting out of debt by looking at offers that may present better interest rates. Nonetheless, it is a helpful financial tool. Give it a spin!

Since my church does not have a paid videographer or tech person, I’m the one who edits almost all of my ministry videos and children’s worship slideshows. I’m often looking for interesting sound effects to round off the presentation. I have found a great site for free sound effects called Partners In Rhyme. You can purchase a good deal of effects, but they offer a large number of free ones. You can access all of these off of the main page.

If you are looking for a simple and free sound effects player that will run effects directly from your computer to your soundboard, then V-Sampler Basic from Kidzturn Labs (go to bottom of page) is what you need. You get a limited 20 banks of effects, but it is a nice basic program which should meet most ministry needs.

Well, I’m at camp again this week! Aside from my own camp with Grey Stone Baptist Church, I’ll be doing 3 other church camps this summer. I’m in the second of three right now. Needless to say, I’ll be brief in the next few posts. But that reminds me…if you are looking for a retreat/camp speaker or worship leader, feel free to get in touch!

Here’s a blog similar to Free CM Stuff. It’s called Children’s Minister Blog. He has some ideas and reflections, but also links to free or low cost resources.

I’ve been at camp this week, so not much time to comment. Want some free curriculum and puppet skits? Check out Fishers of Kids.

Note: I’ve found that even if I do not use sites like this to establish my entire scope of curriculum, I can often use it to accentuate other lessons I might be organizing or children’s sermons I am writing.

If you have not stepped into the world of online registration for your ministries, then JotForm is the site to get you started! Having parents sign up for your camps, VBS or summer events online can really save you a lot of administrative paperwork and headaches. I mean, why should you input all of that computer data? Let the participants do it.

With Jotform’s basic (translated free) edition, you will most likely not push its limitations. With the free version, you obviously get no technical support apart from the forums, but you get 100 submissions per month, 10 MB of uploading, downloading results in various formats and the ability to run secure financial transactions (i.e. PayPal, etc.). Of course if you feel that your needs would exceed the allowances for the free version, you can pay $9/month for the more versatile account. I have been using Survey Monkey for some of these same purposes and paying around $19/month.

Something about JotForm that amazes me is its user-friendliness. All of the form creation is drag and drop. It allows you to email the forms, code them into your website, display real time results of the results on your site (for polls) or link registrants to a web page containing your survey/form.

A tool like this is handy for a variety of functions. You can certainly use it for registrations, but other uses could include:

• Parent/Volunteer feedback survey for various ministry events or programs
• RSVP forms for volunteer banquets or ministry events
• Questionnaire concerning volunteer intentions to renew commitments

Can you think of other uses? Know of any other free tools similar to this one? Let us know by commenting below!

I have come across a great guy in recent weeks named Chris Sykes. He is a Children’s pastor in Alabama and co-author of a CM Blog called Big Hair/No Hair. Chris has some “meager” (he says) design talents and has agreed to give away some of his talent to one lucky Free CM Stuff reader. Here’s a note from Chris:

This week’s give away comes from Christopher Sykes, a creative children’s pastor who is tired of boring design. He’s finally decided to offer his meager design talents for ridiculously meager prices. And this week, Chris is giving away one custom logo design absolutely FREE ($40 value)! He’ll spend time helping you put your vision into words and then into a graphic that shows what your ministry is all about. Check out his INFUZED Kids Website and his personal design site. Chris loves connecting with other ministries and helping equip children’s pastors with one of a kind custom solutions at a price that any budget can afford.

So here’s what you’ve got to do. Make a comment below about why your ministry logo deserves an overhaul or why you don’t even have one yet. If you have one, submit it here, and then I can have some visible proof regarding how lame your logo is! You have one week. I will select a winner next Wednesday June 24th. Good luck!

**Disclaimer: All logos submitted to Free CM Stuff may be posted, mocked, ridiculed, laughed at or generally made fun of during the week of June 24-July 1st. Failure to be a good sport regarding said ridicule and mockery will result in your disqualification from the contest!