#56 - The S.P.I.R.I.T. framework with Natchi Lazarus of Open Minds Agency

Ministry At Scale

On this episode of the Ministry at Scale podcast we hear from Natchi Lazarus. Natchi is the co-founder and chief consultant of Open Minds Agency and works with churches and nonprofits, teaching them how to use social media to grow their impact.

Many years ago, Natchi had a life-changing experience walking down the street. He saw a series of three individuals, each sharing something of value, but nobody stopped to listen. Nobody acknowledged the street preacher, enjoyed the melodies of the musician or listened to the pitch of the salesman. Natchi believes that the Holy Spirit told him that the ears of this generation are already occupied. Most people had their earbuds in while walking down the street that day and Natchi realized that in order to share the gospel message more effectively, churches and ministries needed to get into the digital space.

When Natchi begins working with different churches and ministries to reach people for the gospel, he believes it needs to begin with a shift in mindset. It’s important to think about your audience as a singular person. Although you may want to reach a large group of people when individuals are on their phones they are by themselves. Once you can shift your mindset to think of your audience as a large group of individuals, Natchi believes you can minister more effectively.

He’s also come up with the acronym S.P.I.R.I.T. to serve as a framework for ministries in the digital space. It stands for structuring, packaging, integrating, releasing, igniting, and tracking.

Structuring involves giving a foundation and shape to your digital ministry such as God did to Adam’s body as He created man.

Packaging has to do with presentation and how messaging and formatting are put together. For example, what formats do videos require, where is it shown, and how long should it be?

Integrating addresses the need for each church or ministry as a whole to work together and think about the extended audience. Integration of your brand and voice needs to be cohesive and consistent throughout each department of the church or ministry.

Releasing is all about distribution. How is your content spread? It’s important to think about how, when, and where content is released.

Igniting is a key factor in expanding your reach. It can be extremely useful to get technical and light your content on fire by using promotion to give your content an extra push.

Tracking is where you continually look at the data and measure metrics so you can learn what works and what doesn’t work. It’s not exciting, but it’s a vital part of this digital framework.

To learn more from Natchi Lazarus, check out the entirety of episode #56 of the Ministry at Scale podcast.

Resources:

https://www.natchilazarus.com/

Natchi's Instagram

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