Preview 3: Virtual Brainstorming

All right, so far we have given an overview of MinsitryHub.com, and in the last newsletter we dug into The Hub. So up next is The Virtual Brainstorming Area.

First, why brainstorming? When we first began to develop MinistryHub.com, we knew we needed a format that would allow those in ministry to communicate with one another, as well as, begin to develop a continually growing database of service ideas. So in the early stages we sent a survey to over 15,000 churches throughout the United States. From that survey, we discovered that an amazing 95% of those churches utilize brainstorming in some form during their weekly creative process. So, we thought why not use this format as the main focus of the site. Brainstorming is a process that churches already use and understand.

So how does it work?

The Virtual Brainstorming Area of MinistryHub.com has been broken into two parts. First is the Suggest area where you Brainstorm for ideas. Its here that you suggest, just like a typical brainstorming session, specials, worship choruses, movie clips, media clips, dramas and even out of the box ideas, that are then displayed in the Suggested Items area. When your team decides that enough ideas has been submitted, just select the Go To button and move on to Rank And Pair. In Rank and Pair there are two simple questions that need to be answered for each suggested element. First: Would you use it? Yes, No, Maybe or does the element not really apply to the selected topic? Then second: Are there any two items that work well together? You know, a song that perfectly sets up a drama, or a movie clip that leads into a song. If you see two that will work, simply link them together. That's it, in just minutes you've contributed and ranked your ideas, that are then collectively gathered and sorted among all of the ideas collected throughout Ministryhub.com for that topic.

Two Different Rooms, Two Purposes.

There are two types of brainstorming rooms found within MinistryHub.com. First: The Virtual Brainstorming Room. This room was designed to create an online replication of an actual brainstorming session that you might experience with your own creative team. Enter a room and you will see up to 8 people can sit around a chat based table and begin to search for ideas for their services. Join a public room from within The Hub and begin brainstorming with others in ministry from throughout the country, or create a private room for your own creative team. As you know, one of the biggest challenges of an all-volunteer creative team is finding a meeting time that works for everyone. Through the Create A Room feature found in The Hub you can create a brainstorming time that works for you and your team, such as, later in the evening when kids are in bed, or over a lunch break. All they need is a computer with an Internet connection to join in anytime, anywhere.

The second type of room is called The Open Idea Room. This room has been designed so you can draw as many people as you wish, to gather as many ideas as possible. Create this room to remain open for 24, 48 or 72 hours, and then send an invitation to anyone with an email address. Either directly from within The Hub or when the room has been created, a link will be sent to you that you can then forward to whomever you wish to participate. Think about it, how many time have you been stopped in the hall, before or after a service, for someone to tell you about a great song that you just have to do! With the use of the Open Idea Room you can begin to capture those ideas and many more while involving many people from within your church. When the room time has finally expired you can then go to the Rank and Pair area and answer the two questions for each element.

Room Features

One of the first things you will see when you enter the Virtual Brainstorming Area is the chat based table. Its here you can communicate to your friends or make new ones with the use of this chat area. Next select the tab for Suggest A New Item and begin making suggestions. In this area select the tab you wish to contribute to, enter in the search field what you are trying to locate, select your element from the items listed and then make a comment or description and then select suggest. We've added some fun things also, like emoticons, the Umbrella of Grace and if someone bags on your idea, hit them with a Splat Ball! Just select their table icon a pop-up will appear and fire away!

Once again it's our desire that The Virtual Brainstorming Area will be a fun place where you can connect with your team, or others in ministry, and enjoy yourself as you work towards building compelling services that can clearly communicate the Gospel.

Next up is The Results area, the real rewards of MinsitryHub.com!

The MinistryHub.com Team