Archive for category Magazines
The “Member” Part of Missionary Work
Posted by Christopher in Magazines on March 7th, 2010
In an article entitled Bring Souls Unto Me Elder Tom Perry Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles wrote, “Missionaries will continue to do the best they can, but wouldn’t it be better if you and I stepped up to do a job that is rightfully ours?”
So, what part of missionary work is ours? He said we know “personally those who are lost and need to be rescued” and then he explains our specific duties as members of the restored church of Jesus Christ.
Let me offer a simple way for you to start your missionary work. Get the addresses of the people you would like to help and send them a subscription to one of the church magazines. We’ll even pick up the cost of the subscription; just give us their address here.
They may not read it the first time or maybe not the first few times it arrives, but they will when they’re ready. This way you don’t have to try and figure out when they’re ready, they’ll decide. (The Holy Ghost will help as much as he can to persuade them to read, but he can’t persuade them to read something they don’t have.) (And having it come every month is a nice reminder too.)
Do it now or help us afford all of the subscriptions that people are requesting by donating.
Focus on Magazines
Posted by Christopher in Magazines on September 3rd, 2009
This month we’re going back to our roots – back to focusing on giving stagnant investigators and less-active members 12 more chances to accept the gospel. It’s been a year and a half since we gave out our first church magazine subscription with the hopes that one of the issues would arrive when they were ready to read it. We’ve seen families helped by the regular church messages in their homes and we hope to see more with your help.
If you know of any investigators that have slowed in their progression toward baptism or less-active members that would benefit from a subscription, please fill out the form below (including which magazine(s) they should get) and we’ll set them up with a year-long subscription. Hopefully in the months to come we’ll have success stories to share.
Less-wet Missionary Goals
Posted by Christopher in Magazines on August 2nd, 2009
While serving in Las Margaritas in Puebla Mexico my missionary companion and I were asked to help a member with her less active family. We visited them and they were nice but didn’t want to return to church or learn from us in a reoccurring way. I’m sure my story is not a unique one. I felt there was little I could do for the family and little was done. I wish I had had the foresight to offer them a Liahona. They probably would have accepted this less personal option and they would have had the chance learn more about their church and feel the spirit prompt them to accept it again. I know this assumes they’d actually read it, but I don’t think I’m so far off to think that they would. After all they felt the promptings of the spirit at least once before in their life and acted on it.
This same concept translates to the members in our wards now. They have at one time felt the spirit and acted on it. If the spirit has a way of presenting itself in their home, through home and visiting teaching, phone calls, acts of service, or through church magazines, then they just might act on it. Let’s all experiment on this idea and send a few less active members church magazines. Send their addresses to subscriptions@missionaryeffort.org and we’ll do the rest. If you don’t know who they are or want to expand your list ask your ward mission leaders. They would love to help.
Lead Nurturing
Posted by Christopher in Magazines on June 9th, 2009
This past week I was eating at a pizza place with a friend and we saw the missionaries come in. I told them to come join us after they had ordered. We talked about this missionary effort and they started to suggest names of people that we should send Ensigns to. They were interested in sending magazines to help the people that failed to progress all the way to membership. I’m hopeful that we’ll continue to receive contacts from them.
This principle of working with someone and trying to prepare them for personal interaction (again or for the first time), in marketing, is called lead nurturing. An example of this is a “drip” campaign where a lead will receive an email every two weeks to a month and if they show interest by opening the email, clicking on a link, or any number of predefined actions they’ll be contacted by sales, or they can even have the option to contact sales directly.
That is one of the goals we have with buying subscriptions for investigators. We want to nurture the investigator without utilizing our missionaries valuable time. It’s like the drip campaigns because they get regular contact and the chance to make the next move. Then when they show interest they are much more likely to be baptized.
For Example – Liahona
Posted by Christopher in Magazines on March 15th, 2009
I’m sure every missionary has had a similar experience of investigators progressing, and progressing and then nothing happens. You try your hardest to teach them, to find out what stalled the progression, and usually, just to find them. Eventually your efforts aren’t enough and you have to leave them to make their own decision, which isn’t what you’d wish.
One man, that filled this description, kept coming to mind. He lived in a town where the church only had a branch and no priesthood. My companion and I taught him almost all of the lessons and then he disappeared. He didn’t move; we just couldn’t ever seem to catch him at home.
I wished I could give him another chance to accept. Well, we found 12, monthly ways for him to be exposed to the church. I dug through my missionary address book, found his address, and bought him a subscription to the Liahona. I haven’t heard anything from him yet, but hopefully one of the issues will find him at a time when he is ready to read it and accept.
Dig through your missionary journals, address books, contacts and send us the addresses of those people that have been close to accepting. Maybe their time is in the next 12 months and we can be ready.
Our Mission Statement
Posted by Christopher in Links, Magazines, Support Us on February 17th, 2009
MissionaryEffort.org makes it easy to share the gospel. Our goal is to make the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints easy to find for those who are looking for the truth. We’re adding links to internet searches, directing people to official church websites, and sending out church magazine subscriptions, DVDs, and other official church materials. Please join us in our efforts.
