Jen,
I wouldn't say your completely wrong, but I think there needs to be a balance. Where as some churches consider image as everything, there is the polar opposite (As you presented above) that believe image is nothing.

So, not that I disagree with you 100%, I just think that there needs to be something more to the 'image' (for lack of better terms).

Jennifer,
I totally agree with too much fuss in the church about image. Though, there is a good balance, most churches don't seem to find it. Good design and marketing is simple and direct like God's word. If a church has talented creative people in visual communication who are eager to help with their God-given talents, great. If not let God handle it. I mean the best messenger for God's word is GOD. And if he thinks that your community needs to be reached in the ways of marketing and visual communication he will bring people to your church for that. God is also the best talent scout, I know he brought this graphic designer to work for his little ones at a Christian adoption agency.

Once more, let me toss into the breach - the "B" word -- BALANCE. Too much of a strength becomes a weakness. If we are all "logo" and no Word - we are useless. But if we want to catch fish, we have to use the bait that works (as long as it is not sinful bait, of course) Why oh why does it seem that people want to create a "God in a box" and say it is all one way or another. The challenge and the beauty of serving the God of the universe is that He is dynamic. Just as the children of Israel that followed the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by nght never knew when the pillar was going to move, we MUST be flexible and able to acknowledge that we must follow the Holy Spirit and be willing to mix/blend whatever He says in the measures that He says.

Some people may have said that there used to be too much fuss over fish...why is everybody always worried about fish? But Christ gave them fish, that's where they were at, that's one of the ways he connected them to Him.

Perfect world: people would come to Christ because it's what their soul longs for...but today people still need a hook...from there the Holy Spirit will take hold and show them what they've been searching for.

I look at it this way...it's about doing what works for your audience. God doesn't call every church to reach out to every individual. (I know, that's crazy talk, but hear me out.)

God has called Brian Nichols to reach out to a part of the community and he's doing it with everything he's got. That's the point that I wanted to make here. It's perhaps the most basic marketing principle that there is... know your market and know how to reach it.

That's exactly what he's doing.

"Use the bait that works"?

This is the fundamental problem with the Western Church. The Holy Spirit draws people to Christ. Period. I am a graphic designer and I make my living creating memorable imagery for businesses. But would find it difficult to think to terribly hard about creating “an effective brand strategy” for a church. The Gospel simply doesn’t need an identity. I have created identity systems for quite a few churches in the past but have recently been convicted of using my gifts to brand a church. I do, however, create communication pieces within the church (much the same way the first century churches might have written letters or announce upcoming events using scribes). I do not, under any circumstances, charge for my service to the Church. I charge private businesses and individuals for my livelihood and not to affect the Gospel in any way (much the same way Paul made his living as a tentmaker). I am exteamy distressed about the direction the Western Church is going as it relates to marketing Jesus.