« May 2006 | Main | July 2006 »

June 30, 2006

Church Marketing Lab Round Up #13

(Filed under: Peer Review)

The Church Marketing Lab on Flickr has grown to over 300 members with more than 400 pieces posted. Wow. Get in there and offer your feedback. Help church marketing to longer suck.

iWorship - series opening video. Also check out their Just Call Me Mark video.

Continue reading "Church Marketing Lab Round Up #13"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 11:02 PM
| Comments (2) | TrackBack

June 28, 2006

We're Looking for a Few Good Interns

(Filed under: News & Updates)

Well, one intern actually, but we'll take all the help we can get.

In addition, the Center for Church Communication, our non-profit parent, is also looking for graphic design, tech and coordinator volunteers. Check out the new CFCC volunteer listings if you'd like to help out.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 4:24 PM
| Comments (2) | TrackBack

June 27, 2006

Most Important 9-Word Sentence in Marketing History

(Filed under: Philosophy)

How's that for a teaser? Scott Aughtmon offers this 9-word doozie from elite copywriter Gary Bencivenga and applies it to the church.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:03 PM
| Comments (0) | TrackBack

Church Growth Series Wrap Up

(Filed under: Think Ahead)

I've wanted to talk about numbers and church growth for a long time, and this month we finally dove into it with this series. I said at the beginning that I don't know everything, and I stand by that claim. I'm learning as I go, so it's great to get feedback and responses. I also initially said that this was a touchy issue. And it is. But as we dialogue about it I hope we're learning something. I know I am.

Several people have said that I'm making strawman arguments, debating against something that isn't the real issue. And I probably have over-simplified things and missed some of the issues, especially in the beginning. That's the point of dialogue, so together we can get it right.

But I've noticed that when we (myself most definitely included) disagree we tend to assume the worst.

• If you're for church growth you must be only in favor of large churches, you focus on numbers alone, you forget God and you're a complete sell out.
• If you're against church growth, you must want tiny churches, you don't care about evangelism and you're petty and jealous.

Wrong on both counts, I hope. Sometimes we may not actually think this, but we give the impression with our words (I've certainly done this). And it definitely goes both ways.

Continue reading "Church Growth Series Wrap Up"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:27 PM
| Comments (4) | TrackBack

June 26, 2006

Anniversary Poll

(Filed under: Poll Results)

Last week we asked how we should celebrate our two-year anniversary, which is coming up in July. With 62% of the vote, it's pretty much a landslide for CMS T-shirts. We can't promise anything, but we'll keep that in mind.

No blogging for a week was not a popular choice with only 5%, a good reminder that there's no rest for the wicked.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:34 AM
| Comments (2) | TrackBack

June 24, 2006

Church Growth: God Makes it Grow

(Filed under: Think Ahead)

This is part nine in a continuing series, Is Church Growth the Highway to Hell?

One of the arguments I hear again and again against the whole idea of church growth is that it's synthetic. It's manufactured. It leaves God out of the equation and is a man-made process, and by definition doomed to failure (though said failure may not be visible in the number of people who show up on Sunday morning).

And I agree. Synthetic church growth sucks.

However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't optimize every possible angle to make sure your church does grow. God ultimately makes a plant grow, but a gardener would be foolish to deprive his plant of water, sun and soil for fear that he's manufacturing growth. The growth will happen if the conditions are right, so why not make what conditions we can right?

Continue reading "Church Growth: God Makes it Grow"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:40 AM
| Comments (2) | TrackBack

June 23, 2006

Super Church Marketing Lab Round Up

(Filed under: Peer Review)

We skipped the round up of Church Marketing Lab entries last week, so this week we'll offer the super round up! It's faster than a speeding bullet, able to leap creative lulls in a single bound and it's not the most expensive movie ever made (in fact, it's free). Check out the recent Church Marketing Lab entries and offer your thoughts.

Habakkuk - graphics for a series on Habakkuk.

Continue reading "Super Church Marketing Lab Round Up"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:59 PM
| Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 19, 2006

Even Nuns Need Marketing

(Filed under: Examples)

Lots of folks are coming around to the idea that churches need marketing help, including what is quite possibly the least likely group to use marketing--nuns:

"Whether you're doing branding for nuns or for Coca-Cola, the key is finding out what differentiates them" from competitors, CEO and creative director Mae Skidmore said. "There has been a hesitation among nuns and other religious orders that marketing should be left up to God." ...

"I think people think of nuns as being in a sequestered community and that they spend all of their days sitting in pews praying," said Holly Knight, spokeswoman for IMH [Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Monroe]. "Branding is just as valuable for us as it is for businesses. But that's been a tough sale for the nuns to understand."

The Detroit Free Press article also includes a quote from our very own Brad Abare.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:23 AM
| Comments (4) | TrackBack

Style Guide Poll

(Filed under: Poll Results)

Last week we asked if your church had a style guide. Only 26% reported using a style guide, which nearly causes editorial-induced hemorrhaging for this writer (I believe a great man once said something like "Give me consistency or give me death!"). So there's a few churches out there who might want to check out our entry on how to start a style guide.

This week we ask about our upcoming two-year anniversary. It's hard to believe it's been that long.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:02 AM
| Comments (2) | TrackBack

June 16, 2006

Welcome to Church Marketing Sucks

(Filed under: News & Updates)

We've seen quite an influx in traffic the past week or so as we've explored church growth with our series Is Church Growth the Highway to Hell? So I thought it might help newcomers (and remind old timers) to give an overview of Church Marketing Sucks.

• Launched in 2004, Church Marketing Sucks is a part of the non-profit Center for Church Communication. They're our more respectable parent organization that allows us to branch out and do more.
• Our goal is to frustrate, educate and motivate the church to communicate, with uncompromising clarity, the truth of Jesus Christ.
• You can read more about our mission or check out the links in the left sidebar under "read this first" for a good introduction.
• We encourage you to sign up for one of our e-mail newsletters and if you're the RSS type we hope you'll subscribe.
• The Center for Church Communication offers a few more resources in addition to this blog, including the Church Marketing Lab, a church marketing review group where you can share your work and offer feedback to others, the Events Lab, a public calendar of church marketing and communications related conferences, and more.
• If you want to support the work we're doing, there are a number of ways you can help, including:
  • Donate cash.
  • Spread the word and tell your friends.
  • Make Amazon.com purchases through our links (we get a small referral fee).
  • Become a guest blogger.
  • Volunteer to help out (Our 'Ways I Can Help' e-mail list is one way we get the word out about needs—and we plan to mention a slew of upcoming needs soon).
  • And most importantly, pray. We don't know everything, so we could use all the help we can get.

Thanks for being a part of the conversation.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:38 AM
| Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 15, 2006

How to Design a Church Logo

(Filed under: Brand & Identity)

It's been great to see more and more activity in the Church Marketing Lab. The level of creativity is matched only by the willingness to grow and expand the gifts God gave us. Logo and brand identity has come up time after time in the lab, and it's an area that can be both challenging and very rewarding.

Too often we jump to designing a logo when in fact we should be developing an identity. It may sound like symantecs, but it really isn't. A logo by itself is simply an appealing image connected to a church name. An identity is a strategy that tells your story through imagery and color. This certainly involves a logo, but must first begin with strategy.

Continue reading "How to Design a Church Logo"

Posted by Michael Buckingham at 10:33 AM
| Comments (22) | TrackBack

Quantity is Job 1

(Filed under: Think Ahead)

This is part eight in a continuing series, Is Church Growth the Highway to Hell?

Quantity is Job 1. That's the title of one of my favorite albums from the now-defunct ska band Five Iron Frenzy. The 17-track EP included the rousing "These Are Not My Pants" rock opera, eight dizzying songs in eight different styles. Quantity is Job 1 also included the live show favorite, "When I Go Out," which clocks in at under 10 seconds.

I think this is one of the biggest complaints when we talk about church growth and numbers. Quantity somehow crushes quality, as if the two are mutually exclusive. They're not. This was Rick Warren's third myth about large churches. He argued that the two feed on one another. A quality church attracts quantity, and quantity in a church results in having more qualified people to contribute.

Despite its focus on quantity, Quantity is Job 1 is still one of my favorite albums. It exemplifies Fire Iron's goofiness, but also their depth with songs like "Dandelions." I liked the song so much I used it as the inscription for my novel.

Continue reading "Quantity is Job 1"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:54 AM
| Comments (4) | TrackBack

June 14, 2006

Why Churches Should Care About Numbers

(Filed under: Think Ahead)

This is part seven in a continuing series, Is Church Growth the Highway to Hell?

Numbers are important because they are a sign of effectiveness (notice I said a sign, not the sign). If you don't know what your numbers are, how do you judge if anything is improving? How do you know where you're at? I don't know a single youth pastor who could get away with not counting heads on a trip because 'numbers aren't important.'

"Numbers (which represent people impacted by ministry) help us make better decisions." -Tony Morgan, author of Simply Strategic Growth

Numbers can prove the effectiveness or failure of outreach methods. They can show you that your worship services are filling up and you better start thinking about a solution. Numbers can tell you if people are only showing up on Sunday or if they're also digging deeper in small groups or other opportunities. Try telling the trustees that you're not going to keep track of receipts because numbers aren't important. Keeping track of numbers helps us keep on track.

Numbers Not the Only Thing
Of course numbers aren't the only thing. If we based decisions strictly on numbers we'd be just like the businesses that focuses only on the bottom-line and don't care about the souring public opinion, which will eventually hit the bottom-line—but then it will be too late.

Continue reading "Why Churches Should Care About Numbers"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:51 AM
| Comments (11) | TrackBack

June 13, 2006

The Purpose-Driven Church

(Filed under: Reviews)

I've had The Purpose-Driven Church sitting on my shelf for almost two years. It's one of those books that you should eventually read for a site like this, but I never had the motivation. I mean, it's Rick Warren. It's a bestseller. It's the forerunner to an even bigger bestseller. I could just see myself groaning at the lowest common denominator approach.

But that's a rather pessimistic view, so I decided I better read the book. After all, despite the critics, Saddleback has to be doing something right. What I found is some interesting Saddleback history:

• They've met in 79 different facilities in the first 15 years.
• Their massive size didn't come by leaching from other churches. 80% of their members came to Christ and were baptized at Saddleback. (Admittedly the book was written in 1995, so who knows how that number has changed)
• They used a lot of advertising at first, but now with thousands of members and word of mouth, advertising is unnecessary.

Rick Warren has some interesting ideas and approaches, and while it's not perfect, it's worth taking a look at.

Continue reading "The Purpose-Driven Church"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:41 PM
| Comments (8) | TrackBack

Numbers are People, Not Evil

(Filed under: Think Ahead)

This is part six in a continuing series, Is Church Growth the Highway to Hell?

"A church that has no interest at all in increasing its number of converts is, in essence, saying to the rest of the world, 'You can all go to hell.'" -Rick Warren in The Purpose-Driven Chruch (52)

I don't know of many churches that actually have no interest in bringing people to Jesus, so I'm not sure that's the real issue. It's often an argument that numbers become the priority to the exclusion of anything else, or that numbers are the sole justification for what works, or that numbers are all about comparing your church to other churches. While those pitfalls do exist, the bottom line for numbers is people.

Continue reading "Numbers are People, Not Evil"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:00 AM
| Comments (8) | TrackBack

June 12, 2006

The Events Lab

(Filed under: News & Updates)

The Center for Church Communication, our non-profit parent organization, just launched a new resource: The Events Lab.

It's a Google-powered public calendar listing church marketing and communications related events. This week alone there are four events happening across the country in Miami, Phoenix, Philadelphia and Chicago.

You can subscribe via RSS or iCal and keep track of the events yourself. And there are always events that could be added, so if you know of one that should be included (remember, marketing or communications related), let us know.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:12 PM
| Comments (2) | TrackBack

It's Not Always Numerical Growth

(Filed under: Think Ahead)

This is part five in a continuing series, Is Church Growth the Highway to Hell?

I think numerical church growth can also be an idealized state, the place we want to be. It doesn't always happen. Or at least we don't think it's happening.

Look at persecuted communities or places where the church is barely established. Sometimes a body of believers is barely hanging on under continued onslaughts. In this sort of environment numerical growth can be difficult.

But I think we do still see growth—it just may be tiny or impossible to measure. If the church survives at all, it is because of growth. How many times has the church exploded after a period of persecution where it seemed impossible for the Gospel to take root? It looked and felt like failure. But growth eventually exploded out of an infertile land. Sometimes it takes time for the seeds of the church to grow.

Continue reading "It's Not Always Numerical Growth"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:30 AM
| Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 11, 2006

Stock Photography Poll

(Filed under: Poll Results)

In response to some heated debate on our post Stock Photography Sucks, we asked how many churches use stock photography. The results varied, with 6% using only original and 23% using mostly stock. More than half had a more pragmatic approach, with 34% using original when they can and stock when they need to and 24% using whatever works.

The biggest surprise? Only 13% report using stock clipart.

This week we ask about the joy of editors everywhere, style guides.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 3:58 PM
| Comments (1) | TrackBack

June 9, 2006

Church Marketing Lab Round Up #11

(Filed under: Peer Review)

It's been a busy week in the Church Marketing Lab, our community to share your work and offer feedback to others. So dive in and give your suggestions.

Amped - t-shirt concept. Also see concepts #2 & #3.

Continue reading "Church Marketing Lab Round Up #11"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:31 PM
| Comments (0) | TrackBack

Healing, Sick and Dying Churches

(Filed under: Think Ahead)

This is part four in a continuing series, Is Church Growth the Highway to Hell?

So if a church isn't growing, what's happening? Rick Warren says it's dying, that it's diseased. It's a bleak image, but one that seems fairly accurate.

However, organisms do get sick. It's fairly natural for churches to go through sick periods when they get off track and need to heal. As a result, growth may sputter.

Continue reading "Healing, Sick and Dying Churches"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:08 AM
| Comments (8) | TrackBack

June 8, 2006

Perpetual Church Growth

(Filed under: Think Ahead)

This is part three in a continuing series, Is Church Growth the Highway to Hell?

The Out of Ur blog from Christianity Today has an interesting post about Jim Collins (author of Good to Great and Built to Last) and how to define the success of a church. Collins argues that while the intangibles are the goals of a non-profit like the church, you can often measure those through tangibles, like attendance and offerings. The Out of Ur blogger isn't so sure:

Perhaps there is truth to the growing or dying organism analogy. But something in me doesn’t want there to be. Somewhere inside of me wants to believe that attendance can be going down and God might still be blessing our community. I want to believe that giving can be decreasing but lives could still be changed.

Continue reading "Perpetual Church Growth"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:14 AM
| Comments (10) | TrackBack

June 7, 2006

9 Church Growth Myths

(Filed under: Think Ahead)

This is part two in a continuing series, Is Church Growth the Highway to Hell?

There are a lot of knee-jerk reactions to church growth. Somehow wanting more people to come to my church makes me unspiritual. I don't get it.

A healthy church should be growing. Isn't that the point of church? But a few myths and misnomers get in the way. Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, addresses some of these myths in his book The Purpose-Driven Church:

Myth #1: The only thing that large churches care about is attendance.
"The truth is, you won't grow large if that is all you care about" (48)

Continue reading "9 Church Growth Myths"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 4:58 AM
| Comments (9) | TrackBack

June 6, 2006

Is Church Growth the Highway to Hell?

(Filed under: Think Ahead)

Start talking about church growth and things can get ugly. Eyebrows raise. Tempers flare. Comments explode. Just ask any blogging pastor who has broached the subject. It's as if growing your church is taking the on-ramp to the highway to hell.

This is the first in a multi-part series on the supposed evils of church growth.

Churches Should Grow
The bottomline is that churches are supposed to grow.

"No matter what size you are, there should be growth happening." -Tony Morgan, author of Simply Strategic Growth, from the Simply Strategic Show, "Numbers are People Too".

"I don't think anyone who is intellectually honest can say that God isn't into the church growing." -Perry Noble, pastor of New Spring Church.

"Since the church is a living organism, it is natural for it to grow if it is healthy. ... If a church is not growing, it is dying." -Rick Warren in his book The Purpose-Driven Church (16).

Continue reading "Is Church Growth the Highway to Hell?"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:06 AM
| Comments (21) | TrackBack

June 5, 2006

Church Marketing Philosophy & Free Gas

(Filed under: Philosophy)

Another church is giving away free gas. This time it's the Crossing Community Church in Chandler, Ariz. The church isn't shy about marketing, even including a section on their web site that explains why they do marketing:

It is astonishing to me the lengths secular corporations will go in order to market relatively insignificant products like deodorant or nail polish. It is equally astonishing to me that while the church has the most important, most compelling message ever – Jesus Christ and His atoning work – that we have done so little to "market" His message. We need to get that message out using every means possible so that every life possible may be positively changed forever. Therefore we advertise The Crossing through many different avenues.

To those who scoff at church marketing, Lead Pastor Mike Harper says:

"It comes down to your vantage point of how you view the Gospel," Harper says. "If you think it's the best product out there, you need to get that message out using every means possible."

They even mentioned little old us as a source of ideas and resources. Aw, shucks.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:22 PM
| Comments (0) | TrackBack

VBS Meets the 21st Century

(Filed under: Technology)

VBS--has there ever been a more churchy acronymn? Today those summer church programs for children (Vacation Bible School, for those who aren't in the know) are far from glorified Sunday School. They've got video games, DVDs, Happy Meal-esque prizes and connections to major movies.

"Times have changed, and we have to keep up with our kids and we have to go along with some of the things they like," said [Angila] McLaurine, who will send her two sons, 7 and 14, to vacation Bible school this year. "If not, we're going to lose them."

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:06 PM
| Comments (6) | TrackBack

Driving Traffic To Your Blog

(Filed under: Technology)

You've got to love Seth Godin, marketing guru and author of Purple Cow. He posted a wonderfully contradictory post, How to get traffic for your blog, that perfectly illustrates his ideas. In addition to Godin's ideas, here's a few lessons from his lesson:

• Everybody loves a list. Notice it's the first item on his list. And ask yourself if you would have bothered reading the same 56 points in paragraph format.
• Short and sweet. None of the items run more than two lines.
• Lots o' links. His list is full of explanatory links. Though not overly crammed.
• Be different. For the first time Godin opened up the comments, wracking up 81 so far.

It's a perfect little case in point. He's totaled 38 trackbacks so far (and we'll give him another one), so it's definitely making the rounds.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:33 PM
| Comments (0) | TrackBack

Stories of Emergence

(Filed under: Reviews)

You've probably heard about the emergent church movement. It's a collective of ideas that loosely fall under the postmodern label and draw nods or scowls, depending on the crowd (Brian McLaren? nod. Chuck Colson? Scowl.) Stories of Emergence is a collection of first-person accounts of exploring postmodernism and new ways of doing church.

Whether or not you jump on the emergent train and no matter how you feel about postmodernism, this book offers ideas and perspectives worth considering.

I love hearing church stories. I like hearing about how church works and the different ways it happens. Sometimes church doesn't work, but grace pervades. That's what Stories of Emergence offers.

Continue reading "Stories of Emergence"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:08 AM
| Comments (4) | TrackBack

No Longer Sucks Poll

(Filed under: Poll Results)

Last week we asked how you help improve church communication. 25% volunteer, 23% make suggestions and point to good resources and 21% are on a communications team for their church. But only 7% participate in the Church Marketing Lab and only 5% support Church Marketing Sucks. Another 8% stand in the back and whine and 10% do something else.

While it's good to see people involved and doing something to help church marketing no longer suck, I'm a bit surprised at the low numbers. Especially when there are more people complaining than helping out in the Church Marketing Lab or supporting this blog.

We want to see churches communicate better so more people can come to Jesus. We try to make it easy to do that.

Supporting us is easy: Get involved, donate or pray. None of the options demand a lot of time or effort. And participating in the Church Marketing Lab is easy--you just have to tell others what you think. I know you can do that.

This week we're asking about stock photography, seeing as we managed to rile up a few folks with that post.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:40 AM
| Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 2, 2006

Church Marketing Lab Round Up #10

(Filed under: Peer Review)

We do this every Friday. You know what to do, right? Good.

Friends - graphics for a sermon series on friendship that will appear in the church foyer and also be worked into slides, bulletins, video and more.

Continue reading "Church Marketing Lab Round Up #10"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 3:09 PM
| Comments (0) | TrackBack

Marketing a Church Plant

(Filed under: Examples)

Ridge Stone Church in Canton, Ga., has launched Ridge Stone Backstage, a blog to share some of the lessons they've learned as a church plant that held their first service in August 2004. Pastor Gary Lamb (you may remember him for only freaking out a few people during his Buzz Conference panel) shares some of the marketing techniques they used prior to launch:

• Cover & two-page article in local direct-mail magazine.
• Partnered with the city to provide the entertainment (concerts/ inflatables) for a big car show.
• Invite cards.
• 10,000 door hangers.
• Huge neon yellow banners.
• Press release that was picked up by local newspapers.
• T-shirts their people wore all over town.

Lamb reports they did all of this for less than the cost of a single direct mail campaign. They had about 200 new people show up at the opening service.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 2:48 PM
| Comments (4) | TrackBack

June 1, 2006

Money and the Church

(Filed under: Church Business)

Money is always a touchy issue, especially for churches. There can easily be issues, whether actual or perceived. And while actual abuses cause enormous problems, I'd guess it's the perceived issues that are more rampant:

• Accusing a church of mismanaging funds when they actually just disagree with the vision of the church (the 'church buildings/amenities are evil' or the 'too plush' mindset).
• Accusing a church of watering down the message in order to keep the cash rolling in--offering 'Christianity lite' and not touching difficult topics like materialism (the 'megachurches are evil' mindset).
• Accusing a church of talking about money or asking for money too often--which has to be the biggest complaint, no matter how much churches try to downplay the offering.

An article about how churches use money (registration required) touches on some of these issues, but doesn't bother to dig into some of the real issues. What is interesting is that they report that among non-profits, churches have the most honest financial records.

When it comes to money and church I often hear big time churches and leaders saying it's better to talk more about money, not less (Ed Young, for example). They argue that Jesus talked more about money than he did a lot of things, and that people simply need help dealing with money.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 11:33 AM
| Comments (6) | TrackBack

Would Jesus Discriminate?

(Filed under: Examples)

2,000 yard signs, four newspaper ads, 650 bumper stickers, 720 T-shirts and 25,000 door hangers have appeared in the Indianapolis area, all promoting Jesus Metropolitan Community Church as a part of a $55,000 ad campaign. And the campaign focuses on homosexuality.

"Do you know someone who is homosexual? Would you give your life for that person? Jesus did," the church's ad says. ...

[Pastor Jeff] Miner said a future ad in a Sunday edition of The Star will show a group of Klansmen around a burning cross with a headline, "Remember a time when a symbol of love was used as a symbol of hate?"

In addition to the campaign, the church is also holding a town hall meeting on homosexuality and the Bible.

However you feel about their position, their campaign and approach is an interesting example.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:18 AM
| Comments (29) | TrackBack