It seems that in today's society we are busier and busier and have less time to schedule events during the week. Mid-week services are dwindling or non-existent and home groups are not the cure-all that proponents claim them to be. So what is the solution? How about accomplishing the same thing you would accomplish at your brick and mortar building but doing so online? That is where building an online social network for your church comes in. In the following picture I am going to show you that there has been a cultural shift in how we relate to one another in our world. We can always do what we have done in the past which is scream and shout and refuse to adapt to the cultural change or we can see the change and adapt how we do ministry. Culturally, people have changed the way they interact with one another. They are moving towards interacting via social media and online groups. How To Build An Online Social Network For Your Church There is a way for you to have fellowshi… [more]

Finding and selling Christian advertising has been in the least, an adventure. I have been publishing articles on this website now for 2 years. During that time, I have had some successes but in all honesty, more failures than successes. The advertisers that have advertised with me personally have been a great success. I have been able to deliver as promised and given good customer service in my opinion. My efforts in using 3rd party ad networks have been less than successful. It is my hope that by writing this article that I will help you wade through the waters as you try to figure out what is best for you when placing advertisements or seeking advertisers on your Christian website. In The Beginning..... I started out, as do most bloggers, with Google Adsense. As you will notice, Adsense still is running on this website. As much as I am not a fan of Google in general, and especially with how they have adjusted their search algorithm over the last year, resulting in hurting smalle… [more]

Today I read an great article written on the Christian Post called "Google, Twitter, and Facebook Leaders Tell Christian Media to Embrace Tech Giants". It was written by my friend Alex Murashko. In the article it talks about how Christian media, including Christian internet media should embrace these so called giants. Honestly, my blood boiled at the hubris! After being a part of Christian media now for the last 2 years I can honestly say that my experience with 2 of the 3 so called tech giants has left a very foul taste in my mouth. So allow me if you will, to share my experience with these 3 so called tech giants and see if maybe there was a little bit of hubris involved in their request for the faith community to embrace them. My Efforts To Embrace Google, Facebook, and Twitter Google - The Fickle Bride That Never Meets You At The Altar When I first started blogging I didn't even realize that I had become part of what is called Christian Media. I wasn't even sure what blog… [more]

Many Christians have gotten a little fed up with Facebook. Whether they are finding that their posts mysteriously disappear, or are not shared with all of their friends due to Facebook's decision to censor religious speech, (http://www.christianpost.com/news/facebook-google-apple-censoring-religious-speech-55736/) or they are tired of posts that use inappropriate pictures or language, or they just want a place where they can go to get uplifted and encouraged, Christians have been looking for alternatives to Facebook. It was because of this need that Taber's Truths decided to enter the Christian social networking niche and launch Christian Faithbook. However, since I have always had a big tent philosophy towards other Christians and Christian websites, I wanted to provide you with a list of the best Christian Social Networking sites for 2013. I have used a 3 point criteria for this list. I have made the decision on who to include based on the number of members, number of features, and w… [more]

I am both excited and pleased to announce that Taber's Truths has launched its first sister website. Christian Faithbook, is a faith and family friendly alternative to Facebook. After careful prayer and consideration on how we could be a further blessing to the body of Christ, Taber's Truths saw the need on the internet for a Christian social network that would inform, encourage, and empower Christians to share their faith without the censorship and limitations that secular websites are imposing because of the politically correct agendas. What Does Christian Faithbook Have To Offer? Christian Faithbook is a full-fledged social networking site. You have.... Friends lists, Friend requests, and friends activity feeds You have groups that you can start and gather people around your particular interests You can upload pictures, videos, and post status updates You can share content from other websites or blogs that you own or like You can invite your friends via email so th… [more]

Have you ever wished that you could have a copy of the complete Bible on your Christian blog that people could use as a resource for their Bible studies or that they could click on when you reference a passage of scripture? We have almost 1000 articles on Taber's Truths, of which many are filled with Bible references. I was looking for a way that we could link each and every one of those references to a Bible that was part of this website, rather than sending people away to another website to read the passage in context. Well thanks to the people at eBible.com, now we are able to do that. Wordpress Bible Plugin I have been looking for a while for a plugin that would give us the ability to reference all the Bible verses we have used on this website and for the longest time all I found was plug ins that were not up to date or by someone that I didn't know from Adam and I needed some assurance that what was going to be used was both up to date and reputable. The last thing we as Christ… [more]

Finding adequate WordPress hosting has been a journey for me to say the least. I am still on that journey but hopefully it is close to the finishing line. When I started blogging, I was using Blogger. Needless to say, as Taber's Truths grew, I outgrew Blogger. It is great for hobby bloggers or mommy bloggers but if you want to have your blog become a website and not just a blog, then you definitely have to graduate to using WordPress as your content management system. Now I am not talking about the website WordPress.com. I am talking about using the WordPress program and having your own website. WordPress is no better than Blogger in my opinion and they don't allow you to monetize your blog. If you want to go to the next step in your blogging adventure then you have to use WordPress as your blogging program and you need to find adequate hosting for that program. That is where the adventure begins. Let me share with you a little about my adventure and some of the pitfalls that you ma… [more]

Recently analyzed pictures of the Shroud, utilizing new micropictography, may help explain the origins of the famous artifact. (Austin, TX)  Ronald Stewart, PhD, ThD, has just released 3 digital images of the controversial Shroud of Turin (or "Shroud of Jesus") which may shed some additional light on the centuries-old question: "Is this fabric the actual burial cloth of Jesus Christ?".  The Shroud is, still today, one of the most researched and controversial artifacts in history. Stewart's initial analysis of various close-ups of the available pictures and images of the Shroud has shown what seem to be pictographic images/icons within various areas of the Shroud's negative.  In addition, via various images it appears as though the eyes of the man alter from open to closed.   What this may mean is unclear- and requires further investigation.  Stewart has released the following short video which explains specifically what he has uncovered, as well as a bit about his imaging m… [more]

A Christmas Gift For Evangelical Christian Blogger's From Taber's Truths. In the spirit of how Taber's Truths has always operated, we want to bless those of you in the Christian blogging community with something that God has freely given us. We have over 1/2 million readers per year. We want to give you some of those readers with no strings attached. We would like to accomplish this in 2 ways. Send us a link at dukums777@gmail.com, or leave it in the comment section below, to an article that you would like shared from your blog on our Facebook fan page to over 30,000 fans. Search our site for an article that is related to one of your articles. We suggest you use the Google search bar instead of the site search bar in the header because it is more accurate. (Please don't click on any Google ads shown in the results otherwise this would be construed as a violation of the terms of service for using the Google search bar.I cannot encourage people to click ads.) Send us the link … [more]

Backlinks are an important part of getting your Christian blog recognized and improved search engine results. When you are first staring out, it is difficult to get backlinks naturally because nobody knows you or knows that you write really good content. There are some legitimate ways to build backlinks to your website like guest blogging on other blogs, writing articles to be syndicated on article directories, and posting your website on quality website directories like Yahoo and Dmoz and niche specific directories, and using other social sharing or bookmarking sites. There are also some less than ethical methods of building backlinks that in today's age of Google's penguin and panda updates can destroy your website and it's rankings. Because the Christian blogging community has been so good to me, I want to give back by making you aware of some of the link building schemes that could end up costing you more than you know. What is a link building scheme? Link schemes  Your… [more]

I get questions from time to time about the plugins I use for WordPress. There are a lot of choices of plugins out there and sometimes it can be quite hard to find ones that actually do what you want them to do. Many others do the job but they slow down your site so much that they are not worth having. Some, in all honesty are plain junk. Now I am not talking about plugins that will put Bible verses on your website, or give you cute Christian pictures, or make a dove fly across your screen. I am talking about plugins that will help you accomplish your mission of getting the word out about Jesus. They will help you create more creative content, harness the power of social networks, have good comments with almost no spam, and make your blog posts search engine friendly. I hope that this is the type of article that will give you practical help and advice concerning WordPress plugins. A Plugin To Help You Make Your Content More Creative My friend Mark over at Razor Swift went wild when … [more]

To go along with our series on putting Christ back into Christmas, this article gives you some contemporary Christian Christmas songs to go along with the Christmas Bible verses and the Christian Christmas quotes that I have already posted. I for one, love the sounds of Christmas music in my home. It brings back a lot of memories and helps me keep focused on the true meaning of Christmas. So take a moment to listen to these great contemporary Christian Christmas songs and allow this Christmas to be one about celebrating Jesus coming to the world and changing our lives. Taylor Swift - Silent Night Kelly Clarkson-Oh holy night Jars of Clay - "Love Came Down at Christmas" Casting Crowns - I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day Joy To The World, Third Day Carrie Underwood - Do You Hear What I Hear? This Baby: Steven Curtis Chapman O Little Town of Bethlehem - First Call Light a Candle by Avalon  O Come All Ye Faithful - Casting Crowns I hope … [more]

It has been a while since I did an article for Christian bloggers. I try to help all of my fellow Christian bloggers in their efforts to use their blogs to reach our world. Recently I was contacted by a larger Christian website that was interested in syndicating our content from Taber's Truths onto their websites. Needless to say, I was quite excited. This would be the second major Christian website that wanted our content and felt we had a a valuable voice to add to the Christian world. So I started doing some checking on their website with other content that they were syndicating and I made sure what I thought I knew was in actuality true. This post is the result of that research. If you are every approached about having your content syndicated on other websites or you want to use content from other websites then this information will help you navigate the complexities of content syndication and content curation. What Is Content Syndication And Content Curation? Content syndication… [more]

Yesterday as I was heading up to Great Falls Montana, I was reminded that another year had passed and I started to think back to where I was a year ago in my life and what God had brought me through during the last year. As I did so, I began to become so thankful for His faithfulness to me. You see, a year ago I was still heartbroken about a failed relationship. This website was still in it's infancy. The church I pastor was still in the transition phase of getting a new pastor. Today, I am no longer heartbroken. I am sad that it failed, but I am also excited about my future. This website has started coming of age and has gone further than I ever thought possible. My church is now starting to grow and learn how to be the body of Christ. God has been so faithful to me and I am filled with thanksgiving because of it. So I wanted to share with all of you some Christian thanksgiving songs so you too could think back to how much God has given you and give Him thanks as well. Together we can… [more]

Blogging, like music or painting or other art forms needs a certain amount of creativity in order to be successful. I say that because I look at Christian blogging as a ministry and not just a business or way to make some extra money. The world doesn't need a bunch of copycat websites all saying the same thing in the same way. It needs you, as a living epistle of Jesus, expressing how Jesus lives and works in you. Because of this, and because of the temptation to just do what other people are doing is why I am encouraging you to step out of the box and learn how to cultivate creativity in your Christian blog. As I wrote in my last article on Christian blogging concerning dealing with blog envy, I have recently been going around looking at what other Christian bloggers were doing. Sometimes that can be a good thing and sometimes that can be something that is not quite so good. In this case, I came away from that journey feeling quite good about what we are doing here at Taber's Truths … [more]

Richard Dawkins, the poster child for the Atheist faith, refuses to debate those that would hand him his lunch. Such was the case when Richard Dawkins ran from an invitation to debate William Lane Craig, so William Lane Craig decided to use the same tactic that Clint Eastwood did at the Republican Convention. Here is a video of that debate. … [more]

Honestly, there is not a lot of commentary that I can say about this video that would add to the discussion so I will just let this video speak for itself. Blessings! Pastor Duke … [more]

I imagine that all of you have heard of the Jesus movie that was translated in thousands of languages and shown to millions of people worldwide. Well Jesus Film Media has now taken that mission to the next level with a smart phone app that allows everyone to stream the Jesus movie, teaching clips, and other gospel aids directly from their smart phone. The best part about this? The app is free! Take a look at this video presentation of the app. Free Smart Phone App Available To Share The Gospel According to Jesus Film Media they have put this app together to provide a huge resource to you for your smart phone. Here is what they say on their website. Through the robust search feature users have the ability to find our resources by country, language name, theme, and title of the film. This website and app puts close to 64,000 video clips at your fingertips including: JESUS – 2 hour traditional format and 61 teaching segments – in over 1,150 languages; Magdalena   [more]

The Bradley family was like many American families growing up in tough situations. When they heard the prosperity gospel that came into their church, they were entranced by the promise of God giving them the American dream. Unfortunately what they were given was something else. Take a moment to to listen to their story and to the testimony of God's faithfulness to bring them out of this false gospel and into the only gospel that gives true riches. … [more]

Blog Envy. All of us go through it one time or another. It is when you go around and look at other people's blogs and compare them to yours. It can really stifle what God wants to do with you if you don't get control of it. I remember when I first started blogging a year and a half ago. I signed up for a blogger account, chose my layout, tweaked some colors and put all kinds of widgets in the sidebar. I posted my articles that I had been writing for the local newspaper and thought, "Dang, you are a pretty smart cookie." It was ugly. In fact, it was as ugly as the lady that used to sell Dodge pickups on TV and tell us "Don't you buy no ugly truck". The colors were bad, the layout was cluttered with way too many ads, ect. It was just plain ugly. That is when I first struggled with blog envy. Improvement Is Good, Envy Is Not! I figured out pretty quickly that I needed to improve how my blog looked. I thank God for friends who helped me in this process and made me realize that my blog… [more]