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What do parents look for on your church website before they ever walk through the door? Usually it’s 9:30 at night, the kids are finally asleep, and your website is the only “greeter” they’re going to meet. 64% of parents say children’s ministry was very important when they chose their church, so if your kids’ info is hard to find online, you might be invisible to the families most likely to show up. In this episode: The five questions every parent is asking (yes, including “what if my kid melts down?”)Where each answer should live on your websiteHow to share kid content without kid facesThe two other “front doors” families find you through: Google and InstagramA quick family-page checkup, plus the Phone Test homework📋 Grab the free Family-Ready Website Checklist: https://www.studiokons.com/freebieform Show notes: studiokons.com/podcast

Microsoft Publisher is officially gone for Microsoft 365 users, and if your church feels a little behind on tech right now... honestly? That might be the best news you've heard all year. Most of us didn't choose our church software, we inherited it (right along with that casserole dish nobody's allowed to throw away). So let's talk about why being ten or twenty years behind means your church gets to leapfrog straight to the tools that exist right now, which tend to be cheaper, easier, and way more powerful. Plus: New 2026 data on church tech and AI from Barna, Pushpay, and LifewayWhy Affinity opening Publisher files is such a big deal for church bulletinsMy latest software finds, and a couple of duds (looking at you, Adobe)A three-question software audit you can do on the back of an old bulletin Learn Affinity with me in Bulletin Rescue, or come join me in The Commons: studiokons.comShow notes: studiokons.com/podcast

Every October, churches hold their breath, design a thermometer graphic and hope the pledge cards come back. This episode is about everything that should happen BEFORE the thermometer. A stewardship campaign is a storytelling campaign, and the ask comes last. Leslie walks through five ministry stories worth telling (circle suppers, the community meal, your music program, children's ministry and your staff), how to photograph kids and vulnerable neighbors with care, and the vision piece almost every campaign skips. Plus, how to pace it all over several weeks using the Event Ease phases. Event Ease: studiokons.com/eventease

"Churches near me" gets searched over 4,000 times a month. The results show up as a map with pins and the church with the best-looking pin gets the click, not necessarily "the best" church. Leslie Kons walks through exactly what shows up when someone searches for a church in your town, what your Google Business Profile says about you right now (probably not great), and the four things your website needs to answer in the first thirty seconds before a visitor moves on.

You're a pastor, a communications volunteer, or the person who somehow ended up responsible for the church's Instagram. You know your congregation is wonderful. You just can't figure out how to say that on a website without sounding like everyone else. That's what this episode is about. Leslie Kons, digital ministry strategist and church musician, makes the case that specificity is a magnet and that the most powerful thing your church can do online is stop trying to speak to everyone and start saying the real, specific thing that makes you *yours.*

Every summer starts with big plans to get ahead... and usually ends with a September panic. In this final episode before the summer break, Leslie gets real about what summer actually looks like for church communicators, why rest is a legitimate and valuable use of this season, and the few things genuinely worth doing over the next few weeks that will make fall feel different. From auditing your digital presence to building a fall event promotion plan before the rush hits, this is the realistic summer guide your future September self will thank you for. Event Ease: studiokons.com/eventease — build your fall event promotion plan now, while you have the time. $37. Digital Ministry Voice Tool: studiokons.com/dmv — free, takes ten minutes, do it before September. The Commons: studiokons.com/the-commons — church growth through a stronger online presence.

Most church social media skips a crucial step. We invite people to Sunday worship, community dinners, VBS, and special events before they actually know who we are. In this episode, I’m breaking down why your church social media needs more introduction content and less straight-to-the-invitation posting. We’ll talk about the know, like, trust framework, why social media is especially important for new people, and how to create posts that show what your church feels like before asking someone to show up. If your feed is mostly event graphics and “join us” posts, this episode will help you shift toward a more welcoming, strategic, and trust-building church social media presence.

AI can write your church's social posts in five seconds. The catch? Most of the time, it sounds like every other church on the internet. This week, we're getting into why your church needs a voice guide before you hand the keys to ChatGPT. You'll hear why generic AI copy chips away at trust with the very visitors you're trying to reach, why your online voice is doing way more first-impression work than you realize, and what changes the second your team finally has language for how your church actually sounds. Plus, I'm walking you through the Digital Ministry Voice tool, or DMV (yes, the acronym is on purpose, I couldn't help myself), which builds you a working voice guide and AI prompts so your church communications sound like you. Access the DMV here: https://www.studiokons.com/dmv

AI in ministry brings up a lot of feelings, and that makes sense! The good news is that nobody serious is suggesting AI should write your sermons, replace pastoral care, or make theological decisions for your church. Those things belong to you and your community. The administrative and communications work that piles up around ministry though? That is where AI can be a helpful tool. In this episode, I'm sharing what I taught in a room full of Presbyterian clergy about using AI for ministry with clarity, ethics, and confidence. We'll talk about why AI works like GPS (you're still the one driving), where it actually helps with church communications, and where it has no business showing up at all. I'll also walk you through a simple five-part prompt formula you can use for newsletters, event announcements, social posts, and other recurring ministry tasks. The goal is AI that sounds like your church, with your voice and your people in mind. Check out the Digital Ministry Voice tool here: studiokons.com/dmv

A lot of church leaders hear the word marketing and immediately tense up. It feels corporate. Transactional. Maybe even a little manipulative. And honestly? I get that. But in this episode, I want to make the case that while digital ministry and church marketing are not the same thing, there are important things ministry leaders can learn from good marketing principles—especially when it comes to communication, trust, consistency, and helping people feel seen. We’re talking about why audience research looks a lot like pastoral care, why consistency builds trust online, how your church’s digital presence shapes first impressions long before someone walks through the door, and why the best digital ministry is always relationship-driven. I’m also sharing what surprised me most when I studied marketing formally through Harvard Business School Online, and why some of the strongest ministry and marketing frameworks actually arrive at the same place. Because this isn’t about turning your church into a brand. It’s about learning how to communicate your ministry more clearly, more consistently, and more faithfully online. Check out The Commons here: studiokons.com/thecommons

Your email list is the only channel you actually own — and for mainline churches especially, it's your most direct line to lapsed members, snowbirds, and people in transition who aren't ready to walk through the door yet. In this episode, Leslie breaks down why most church email falls flat (hint: "May Newsletter" is not a subject line), the one-person rule that transforms your tone instantly, subject lines that actually get opened, a three-part structure that takes fifteen minutes to write, and why showing up consistently in someone's inbox is its own form of pastoral care. Plus: a callback to last week's sermon episode that ties it all together. The Commons: studiokons.com/thecommons - church growth through a stronger online presence. Founding members join for $17/mo now (as of May 4, 2026), price increases soon.

Great news: you don’t need more ideas for what to post! Your church is already creating meaningful content every single week.... you’re just not using it fully yet. In this episode, I’m walking you through a simple, sustainable way to build your church communications and digital ministry around something that’s already happening: the sermon. Instead of scrambling to come up with social media posts, emails, and website updates from scratch, you’ll learn how to turn one message into a full week of connected content that actually reflects what’s happening on Sunday morning. We’ll talk about how to use the sermon before Sunday, during worship, and in the days that follow so your church social media, email, and website all feel aligned and intentional. I’ll show you how to pull out the key elements of a sermon (the theme, scripture, story, and invitation) and turn them into posts, reflection questions, newsletter content, and even short-form video. Because your message deserves to go further than the sanctuary... and your digital presence should make that possible!

You planned a beautiful event. The logistics were solid, the volunteers showed up, everything ran smoothly. And the room still wasn't as full as you hoped. That's a promotion problem. And it's a fixable one. In this episode I'm breaking down why so many church events — community dinners, VBS kickoffs, spring concerts, outreach gatherings — end up reaching the same familiar faces instead of the new ones you were hoping for. We'll cover the most common promotion mistakes churches make, how to write event copy that actually feels like an invitation, and how to think about your audiences in concentric circles so you're building toward your outer community, not just communicating with the people already in the room. I'll also walk you through a practical promotion timeline you can follow without burning out, a channel-by-channel breakdown that includes your website, email, social media, and your Google Business profile, and the one post-event move that almost every church skips — and really shouldn't. Plus I'll tell you about Event Ease, my event promotion guide and plan generator for churches, and how it takes everything I teach in this episode and turns it into a custom, ready-to-follow plan for your specific event. You can get it here: https://www.studiokons.com/eventease If you've got events coming up this spring and you want more people to actually show up, this one's for you.

Easter is over. The services happened, the content went out, the visitors showed up—and now everything feels… a little weird. In this episode, I’m talking about what I call the Easter hangover—that post-Easter crash so many church communicators, staff, and volunteers feel after their biggest church communications and digital ministry push of the year. If you’ve ever sat down the Monday after Easter feeling tired, foggy, or unsure what comes next, you’re not alone—and you’re not doing anything wrong. We’ll walk through how to use this moment as a strategic reset for your church communications, website, email, and social media, instead of just pushing straight into the next thing. I’ll share a simple post-Easter check-in to help you evaluate what worked, what didn’t, and what’s worth repeating, plus how to follow up with Easter visitors and keep momentum going in your digital ministry. Because these weeks after Easter? They’re not a slowdown—they’re one of the most important windows you have for connection, clarity, and sustainable growth.

In many churches, Easter communications turn into a last-minute scramble. Service times change, details arrive late, graphics get rushed, and one person ends up trying to hold the entire plan together. In this episode, we’re talking about why Easter church communications so often feel chaotic (and what’s actually underneath that stress!) Easter doesn’t just create more work. It puts pressure on every part of your church’s communication system at the same time. I’ll walk you through the most common reasons Easter planning gets messy, why promotion is usually not the real problem, and how to create a clearer, more sustainable process for sharing event information across your website, email, social media, and in-person announcements. If you’ve ever wished there were a calmer, more organized way to handle church events like Easter, this conversation will give you a practical place to start.