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January 31, 2008

Church Marketing Lessons From Haiti, Part 2

(Filed under: Examples)

This is part two in a three-part series about church marketing lessons learned from my recent trip to Haiti.

A Holistic Approach to Church Works Well
Although commonplace in third-world countries, it was refreshing to see the value of having so many key community services stem from a local church. At both churches we worked with--just a few miles from each other--they had a medical clinic, an orphanage and a school connected to the main church. One had a homeless shelter and the other was building a trade school. When churches are the hub for community services, it serves as an excellent way for the Gospel to permeate all areas of life from a common birth canal. It's also a great way for the church community to be plugged into a vocation that really uses their strengths because there are so many options and outlets. I think this holistic approach is really what "church as a community" is all about.

Long Services Are Too Long
The church services in Haiti were really long, sometimes lasting up to three hours. At first I thought this was because it was one of the few big gathering points the community had so they loved being together and time was not an issue. After further inquiry and reflection, the point remains: long services are too long, regardless of the country or culture you're in. People doze off there just like they do here. Butts get tired. The heat gets hot. I realize these services felt twice as long for me because I don't speak Creole and there wasn't any translation, but c'mon friends. Long services are disrespectful and counter-productive.

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:44 AM
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January 30, 2008

Church Marketing Lessons From Haiti, Part 1

(Filed under: Examples)

I just recently returned from being in Haiti with my wife and family. It was a part of our alternate holiday plans as we continue to re-imagine what Christmas is all about. While working closely with two local--and very different--church congregations in Leogane (just outside of Port-au-Prince), I gleaned many lessons for church marketing. This is part one in a three-part series.

Bring Nothing Less Than Your Best
I was deeply moved by the incredible lengths the Haitian people go to bring their best. Every church service was an opportunity to dress up in the best they had--which was way better than anything I packed to wear. Guys wore suits, women wore dresses. Although the churches do not have a dress code or turn people away based on their appearance, the culture in Haiti suggests that unless you're dressed to the nines, you shouldn't even walk into a church service. The point here is less about external positioning and more about internal posturing toward God. They dress their best, bring their best and give their best because that's what they feel God does for them. How can we foster this in our church communities?

Continue reading "Church Marketing Lessons From Haiti, Part 1"

Posted by Brad Abare at 12:40 PM
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Church Bulletin Poll Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

Last week, we asked exactly what you do with the church bulletin when you get it. You spoke out in big numbers, and it looks like the bulletin is staying.

62% of you may skim it, but you won't be reading every bit. This solidifies the bulletin's place as an effective method of conveying news. Folks will at least look at the bulletin for information pertinent to them.

Another 21% of you will devour every word of it, and you might even save it for bathroom reading material. You're a stalwart fan of bulletins, and you wouldn't have it any other way.

12% of you send the bulletin straight to the floor. If you need to find something out, you'll get it through some way other than the bulletin--word of mouth, email etc.

A final 4% of you won't read it, but you might use it to take notes or make a fan. So the bulletin is useful, just not as a method of conveying information. This is obviously a small minority, so don't just start giving out fans quite yet.

This week, we're wondering would you pay for church content over the Internet?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 10:51 AM
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January 29, 2008

Lessons Learned: Being Banned From Church

(Filed under: First Impressions & Beyond)

by Brian Gaffney, Guest Blogger

The article "Banned from church" appeared on the front page of the "Weekend Journal" section of a recent Wall Street Journal. The piece is about churches that are reviving the "ancient" practice of shunning, or expelling members who are believed to be in deliberate conflict with the laws and leadership of their local church.

While I take issue with the story's tone that suggests that the church is more intimidating than inviting, when I looked more closely, I also found some useful lessons for becoming a more effective communicator for Christ:

Continue reading "Lessons Learned: Being Banned From Church"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 6:34 AM
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January 28, 2008

Twitter for Churches

(Filed under: Technology)

The mini-blog application Twitter seems to be the new shiny tech toy of late (which means it's already old news). So what is Twitter? Basically you send out 140-character to updates to anyone following you via the web, text messages, Facebook, etc. Twitter prompts you with the question "What are you doing?", which when taken literally can be incredibly inane. But the more creative folks can get interesting--especially trying to work within the 140-character limit (Ana Marie Cox of Wonkette fame has good, entertaining coverage of the Republican primaries).

It's basically digestible, bite-size, temporary content.

So what's the point?

Continue reading "Twitter for Churches"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:35 AM
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CFCC MeetUps Anyone?

(Filed under: Events)

Are you a designer who likes to meet other awesome designers? Or maybe you're an Average Joe with a voracious appetite for organizing large groups of people to meet together? Well over in the Church Marketing Lab, there's a discussion rolling about designers meeting up to--well, do what designers do. Probably sharing samples, playing layer tennis, discussing horn-rimmed glasses and drinking macchiatos.

Whatever they might do, it's a great way to meet some phenomenal designer that live near you.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:58 AM
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January 25, 2008

Seth Godin on Church Marketing

(Filed under: First Impressions & Beyond)

Scott Magdalein had the opportunity to ask blog marketing god Seth Godin three questions. Two of them were about church marketing. Although the questions and answers are somewhat basic and baseline, it's always interesting to get a peak inside the minds of "outsiders" with lots of wisdom.

Posted by Brad Abare at 11:28 AM
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Church Marketing Lab: Banners, Logos and More

(Filed under: Peer Review)

It's time for your once-weekly dose of Church Marketing Lab. Here's a little snippet of what's been going on, but make sure to get over there and check out the great work people have been submitting.

Bethel Baptist Church has a new Easter promo banner.

Continue reading "Church Marketing Lab: Banners, Logos and More"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 8:07 AM
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January 24, 2008

Shopping for God: Denominations and Megas

(Filed under: Reviews)

This is the fourth and final part in a series from the book by James B. Twitchell titled Shopping for God: How Christianity Went From In Your Heart To In Your Face.

In his chapter titled "Holy Franchise: Marketing Religion in a Scramble Economy," Twitchell reminds us that the mainstream denominations are in "deep trouble." He says the "majors forgot how to sell."

Just as we no longer keep the same job for a lifetime, or live in the same house as long as we used to, we also no longer are stuck in the same church we grew up in. Back in the day, "church denomination was a social marker."

"In the first part of the twentieth century, you could often 'buy' a family pew. It was yours. Your name sometimes was engraved on a little plaque. Plus, the further up front your pew, the more prestigious your social status."

In the end, says Twitchell, "consumers maintain the need for the product, but lose the bond to the brand." And when that bond to the brand is lost, the product usually ends up in generic packaging. And it's this "repackaging of spiritualism [that] is at the heart of many megachurches." "The megas are the triumph of the generic."

Continue reading "Shopping for God: Denominations and Megas"

Posted by Brad Abare at 3:56 PM
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January 23, 2008

Your Church, the Wifi Sharer

(Filed under: Technology)

The geek world has been abuzz lately regarding Ars Technica's look at the ethics of stealing wifi. At Church Marketing Sucks, we don't make too much of an effort to be arbiters of morality. But we would love to be proponents of ideas.

How about opening your church up?

Continue reading "Your Church, the Wifi Sharer"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 3:33 PM
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Awaken 2008

(Filed under: Events)

The Mosaic Alliance is hosting the Awaken 2008 conference this April 1-3 in Pasadena, Calif. They invited a handful of people to do some guest blogging leading up to the event, and yours truly pulled out a personal favorite that is now live on the Awaken blog.

The CFCC community--that's you--can take advantage of a 15% conference discount by using the code "awaken2008cms" when registering online or simply mentioning this blog if you register over the phone.

Posted by Brad Abare at 11:07 AM
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January 22, 2008

(Not) Celebrating MLK Day

(Filed under: The Christian Walk)

This is an open question to local churches everywhere, specifically predominantly-white congregations: Where were the MLK Day celebrations?

Firsthand, I heard of none*. A news search led me to the celebration of Willow Creek Community Church and Salem Baptist Church. The largely white Willow Creek and the largely black Salem Baptist joined together to celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to promote unity.

This seems like a wonderful day to move towards breaking the "white church/black church" stereotype, and I'm not quite sure why more historically-white churches didn't follow suit with Willow Creek.

It provides great occasion to ask ourselves, what message are we sending to others not like ourselves?

Continue reading "(Not) Celebrating MLK Day"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 8:49 AM
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Extra! Extra! Poll Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

There's a thousand ways to distribute news--blogs, mailers, e-mails, Twitter, Bat Symbols, etc. We wanted to know what works for your church and how you distribute your news. Here's what you had to say:

The most popular way to distribute news was through announcements or bulletins. Apparently 19% of you use a weekly bulletin and in-service announcements to distribute news. About 127% of churches I've been to use a bulletin and announcements, so I think we might have had some error in our statistical methodology. Or maybe just all churches I don't attend tend not to use bulletins and announcements--what do you think?

16% of you post news to your web site. This is good, people visit your web site. If you didn't hear, we had a snow storm in the south here recently (about 3/4" of accumulation), and it was refreshing to see churches announce their closing online. It's far better than the endless game of watching the scrolling thing on the news channels.

Another 14% of you depend on your church's pre-game show to announce events. It gets your message across, you can do these pre-service slides attractively and it encourages folks to show up early. Next up are the 12% of you who go for the church-wide e-mail newsletter. Some trouble exists here--folks disable receiving HTML email, it gets caught as spam, it's not designed well, etc. Have you seen success with announcing via e-mail?

9% of you still send out a snail-mail newsletter. It gives a fun, antique feel to church. Then come the bottom dwellers: 3% of you use a blog or RSS (come on readers, we can get this number higher), 3% of you use e-mails from individual departments and 3% go with some sort of automated calling system.

Bringing up the rear are the 2% of you who go with "Something else." What on earth could this be? Twitter? Town crier? Door-to-door? Let us know down below.

This week, we need to know...you walk into church and are handed a bulletin. What do you do with it?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 8:15 AM
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January 21, 2008

Jesus Billboard is an Eyesore

(Filed under: First Impressions & Beyond)

This is fun: A Minnesota newspaper does a story about the city cracking down on "eyesores" and the accompanying front-page photo features a billboard for a local church with "Jesus" in giant letters. The photo was meant to show the various billboards crowding Highway 22 (and it does--you can see six separate billboards in the photo), but more than a few folks took offense to Jesus being described as an eyesore.

So class, a few questions for discussion:

• Is this billboard an eyesore?
• Are billboards generally eyesores?
• Can a billboard be redeemed by Jesus? (Does putting Jesus on an ugly billboard make it less ugly?)
• How come no one complained about the cropping of the photo which rendered the url as: "www.jesusass"?
• Could your church's billboards (or bulletins or web sites or whatever) be labeled as eyesores (whether the medium or the design earns the label)?
• How would your church respond? (Not sure if Jesus Assembly of God has or will responded, but at least their billboard matches their web site and apparently their building.)
• How come none of these letters to the editor (save one) address church marketing issues? And what is all their complaining accomplishing? Is that the message of Christ--that we're easily offended? (As one blogger put it, "Let's get it straight: Defending the honor of a billboard that says 'Jesus' in eight-foot-high letters is more important than, well, gosh, just about anything else." Ouch.)

More than a few angles here, from a specific church doing marketing to how the Christian community responds. Break into groups and discuss. (link via Eyeteeth)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 3:12 PM
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Shopping for God: Great Awakenings?

(Filed under: Reviews)

This is part three in a series from the book by James B. Twitchell titled Shopping for God: How Christianity Went From In Your Heart To In Your Face.

Twitchell suggests that modern church marketing really began to take off when Mel Stewart, an Assemblies of God minister, created the J. M. Stewart Corporation, the nation's largest manufacture of church signage. More than just a roadside nameplate, these signs, with their changeable letters, "would spell out something to give the tastes, the personality, the pizzazz of the place. In so doing, [Mel Stewart] would change forever what is called in church parlance 'the last hundred feet.'"

Church signage, suggests Twitchell, would open up the fascinating subject of "how churches position themselves, how do they separate themselves from one another, and how do they break through the clutter."

Supply and Demand
Twitchell goes on to argue that while "religious consumption" has remained pretty consistent from a historical perspective, it's the delivery of it that has been "incredibly innovative." "Often what excites the market is not increased demand but shifts in supply, innovations in packaging, new lingo, new sound system, new payment schedules, new pastorprenuers. New signage."

Continue reading "Shopping for God: Great Awakenings?"

Posted by Brad Abare at 11:38 AM
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January 18, 2008

Church Marketing Lab: Waffle Thermals to Revolutions

(Filed under: Peer Review)

The Church Marketing Lab has been bustling with activity as people get ready for everything from Valentine's Day to Easter. Here's a taste of what we've seen this week:

Here's a new Elevation waffle thermal for you to check out.

Continue reading "Church Marketing Lab: Waffle Thermals to Revolutions"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:47 AM
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January 17, 2008

Shopping For God: The Spiritual Marketplace

(Filed under: Reviews)

This is part two in a series from the book by James B. Twitchell titled Shopping for God: How Christianity Went From In Your Heart To In Your Face.

Twitchell starts the book with a nice summary of what it's all about. "Essentially, this book is about how religious sensation is currently being manufactured, branded, packaged, shipped out, and consumed." He takes the first chapter and gives a sweeping overview of the "Spiritual Marketplace." His observations are viewed entirely with a consumer mentality as he looks at movies, television, radio, Internet and books. Twitchell wants his readers to see how our crave for spirituality is being met with product experiences that we purchase. Just as Madison Avenue says we drink the advertising not the beer, so Twitchell says that what we buy is the story. The product is thrown in for free.

Continue reading "Shopping For God: The Spiritual Marketplace"

Posted by Brad Abare at 4:37 PM
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Overnight Web Site Challenge

(Filed under: Technology)

A Minnesota tech company is hosting the F1 Overnight Web Site Challenge, where teams of geeks will create fully functional web sites for Minnesota nonprofits in only 24 hours. Public radio's Future Tense covered the challenge on January 4 (scroll down):

"When you look at 24 hours of time from a team of five or six people, that's a lot of value we're delivering to the nonprofits," said Mark Hurlburt of Sierra Bravo. "We're hoping the teams are going to like working with the nonprofits and they'll continue to be working with them and making that donation as time goes on," he said.

I love this idea. Most nonprofits (like churches) have terrible web sites and don't have the resources to do them right. So here's a way to give one highly-caffeinated push and move those nonprofits into the 21st century.

I think it could work for churches, too.

Continue reading "Overnight Web Site Challenge"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:29 AM
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January 16, 2008

Shopping for God: The Book

(Filed under: Reviews)

Over the Christmas break I took a couple of days and read James B. Twitchell's latest book, Shopping for God: How Christianity Went From In Your Heart To In Your Face. A professor of English and advertising at the University of Florida, James is the author of several other gems including Lead Us Into Temptation: The Triumph of American Materialism and Living It Up: America's Love Affair with Luxury. The titles of his books are a good indicator of the lens Twitchell views life through. In Shopping for God, he is no less insistent on suggesting that too much of life is all about too much. "Everything in this culture goes to market," says Twitchell, "why should religion be any different?"

Continue reading "Shopping for God: The Book"

Posted by Brad Abare at 1:59 PM
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Best Internet Marketing Blog Posts of 2007

(Filed under: Link Round Up)

We can't all be super techies. Not everyone has an intimate understanding of every new technology trend or can keep pace with all the Twittering, Digging or StumbleUponing.

But never fear, 250+ links about Internet marketing can bring you up to speed.

So cuddle up with your computer, a cup of coffee and a blanket on a cold January day and check out the best Internet marketing blog posts of 2007.

(link via Seth Godin)

Posted by Joshua Cody at 8:18 AM
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Presidential Marketing Poll Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

If you've kept up with the presidential race at all, you've been bombarded with tricky ploys, clever slogans, crazy ads and a thousand other marketing moves. So we wanted to know which move you would love to pull off for your church. Here's what you thought:

The majority of you wanted the deep pockets of Mitt Romney. A personal fortune lets him do most anything he wants, and you guys think this would be helpful for your church. What are you thinking? Eradicating poverty in your city? A sweet new building? A pastoral Rolls Royce?

The next biggest percentage of you, 21%, would rather launch a church blimp, a la Ron Paul. Then, from hundreds of feet, everyone could see the name of your church. Maybe you could even offer free rides to first-time visitors.

16% of you want a celebrity endorsement. Barack Obama has Oprah, Mike Huckabee has Chuck Norris ... First Community Church of Your Town could have anyone--Britney Spears, George Bush, Church Marketing Sucks. The possibilities are endless.

Another 14% of you want your pastor to be a part of a network TV series, like Fred Thompson of Law and Order. Maybe Extreme Life Makeover or a pastoral karaoke show is waiting in the wings.

Rounding out the bottom, 7% of you want to follow Dennis Kucinich and hype your staff's UFO sightings. Another 7% of you want to take a cue from John Edwards and put some green in your logo, to let folks know you care about the environment.

This week, we want to know, how does your church distribute its news?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:51 AM
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January 15, 2008

Mission, Vision, People

(Filed under: Philosophy)

I blogged an entry recently on Personality's site about knowing the mission, doing the vision and treating people really well.

It's an approach I learned a few years ago from Jared Roth, a former vice president at Foursquare. These three steps have helped me most when it comes to working with my staff and volunteers. The challenge is to keep the simplicity of this approach from overshadowing the significance of the outcome.

I hope it helps you like it has me!

Posted by Brad Abare at 8:05 AM
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January 14, 2008

Four Pastoral Blogging Taboos and How To Fix Them

(Filed under: Technology)

by Scott Magdalein, Guest Blogger

We see from the Blogging Pastor Poll Results that were posted back in November that 72% of pastors aren't blogging successfully. I can't imagine that the percentage has changed over the Christmas season, so we'll assume those numbers are still accurate.

Ignoring the fact that 56% said that they don't even have a blog, we'll jump straight to the next issue. What's keeping your blog from being as effective as possible? We're going to look at four common problems and offer four easy ways to fix them.

1. Using misspelled words and poor grammar.
While distracting readers is one risk, another is the possibility of losing credibility with your readers. Although there's little need to stick to MLA or Turabian formatting rules, that doesn't mean you're allowed to throw out intelligent writing altogether.

Continue reading "Four Pastoral Blogging Taboos and How To Fix Them"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 6:43 AM
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January 11, 2008

Church Marketing Lab: Financial Freedom to New T-Shirts

(Filed under: Peer Review)

We thought you might be interested to know what's been going on in the Church Marketing Lab over the past week and a half, so here's a little taste for you:

Here's a background graphic for a series on financial freedom.

Continue reading "Church Marketing Lab: Financial Freedom to New T-Shirts"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 10:42 AM
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Church Marketing in the UK

(Filed under: Interviews)

I came across Drew McCarty in the Church Marketing Lab, and he was looking for some advice for a church plant (Drew's note: new web site coming soon) that was "radically relevant" and "orthodox in theology." Sounds tough, huh? Well, the church plant is in England. Sounds even tougher. I sat down with him (via e-mail, across the Atlantic Ocean), for a little Q&A about church marketing from a British perspective. Here's what Drew had to say:

Continue reading "Church Marketing in the UK"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:47 AM
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January 10, 2008

A Reader's Resolution

(Filed under: The Christian Walk)

by Brian Gaffney, Guest Blogger

Happy New Year friends! I am writing to share my 2008 resolution…

I pray that 2008 brings with it the day that we no longer debate the need for church marketing and unanimously agree that Christ's kingdom cannot afford for it to suck.

The urgency of our need to effectively spread the Good News was recently underscored for me when I came across a quote from Shelly Lazarus, Chairman and CEO of Ogilvy and Mather Worldwide, in the summer 2007 issue of Hermes, Columbia Business School’s alumni magazine:

“We are going to have to entice the consumer, seduce the consumer, charm him, invite her in a way that she cannot say 'no'. That is the creative challenge ... how do we make them come to us of their own free will? How do we surprise and delight, build connections and deep loyalty?"

Continue reading "A Reader's Resolution"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 6:14 AM
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January 9, 2008

Pray for Competition

(Filed under: Philosophy)

As we pursue the unique calling that God has for each one of us individually and collectively, both as ministers and as ministries, we are foolish if we care not for competition. If you don't want competition, you must not care enough about the people you are trying to reach. Many think that without competition they are in the perfect position to realize success. I think without competition we're in the perfect position to never realize success because it means that no one else cares about what we care about. And if no one else is sharing the same cares I have, maybe I am caring about the wrong things.

If another church across town starts a college ministry like yours, great! It must mean college students need to be reached in your community. If the after-school program you host is busting at the seams, wouldn't it be great to know a church nearby is also starting one?

This is not about competing with other churches for buildings, budgets or behinds. Friends, this is about competing for the hearts and minds of people that want to know, need to know and don't know Jesus.

So who is your competition? Do you care?

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:51 AM
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January 8, 2008

Doing Design Poll Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

Last week, we wanted to know how your church goes about doing its design. Full time? Part time? No time? Here's how you broke it down:

34% of you can't afford design. Two and a half years ago, we discussed this to frenzied commenting. Go back in time and check it out.

Almost as many of you have one full time designer on staff. That's 28% of churches that devote part of their budget to keeping someone on staff. I imagine you make sure this person can do both web and print in order to avoid having to pay someone else extra? Rounding out the top three are the 17% of you who don't do design. Eeeeek. Some sort of design is always a good thing. Might I suggest our Job Lab? Even if it's just enough to keep people's attention. You don't have to "wow" anyone, but you shouldn't scare them, either.

8% of you have multiple designers on staff. Wow. Maybe a web person and a print person? Three cheers to being devoted to design, we like that. Another 8% of you mix staff with freelancers to give your staffers a little help--an awfully nice thing of you to do.

Rounding out the list are the 6% of you who only use freelancers. I honestly thought this number would be much higher, it sure seems like freelancers are everywhere. If you're looking to use one, let them know in our Freelance Lab.

Any small churches full of design staffers? How about large churches without a design staffer? My feeling is that, as usual, the group you're trying to reach out to is the most important factor in making this decision.

This week, let us know which presidential marketing tactic would you most like to use for your church?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 12:35 PM
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You Get What You Preach For

(Filed under: Philosophy)

When you preach salvation, people come to know Jesus.
When you preach about loving Jesus, people become better lovers of Jesus.
When you preach prosperity, people want to be prosperous.
When you preach about the second coming, people get ready.
When you preach healing, people will be healed.
When you preach hope, people are more hopeful.
When you preach about tithing, people tithe.

What you talk about is what people are going to respond to. In other words, you get what you preach for.

This is not about communication manipulation. This is about communication transformation.

So, friends, what are you preaching for?
What are you communicating for?

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:31 AM
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January 7, 2008

Church Marketing New Year's Resolution

(Filed under: News & Updates)

New Year's resolutions never work. Let's face it, you'll probably be too busy to get organized. And somehow chocolate will be the downfall of your diet. So maybe you could join us in a little bit better New Year's resolution this year: Make us change our title.

Church Marketing No Longer Sucks isn't quite as catchy, but it'd be a lot more encouraging. We'd even settle for Church Marketing Kinda Sucks.

Here are some ideas for how you can help church marketing no longer suck in 2008 ...

Continue reading "Church Marketing New Year's Resolution"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:42 AM
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January 5, 2008

Underpromise and Overdeliver

(Filed under: Evangelism & Outreach)

Seth Godin, one of our favorite marketing gurus, had some good advice recently. Underpromise and overdeliver.

This is a little different but particularly pertinent for the church. We can't overpromise. We have life change, world change and miracles to offer. But sometimes we self-promote rather than message promote.

When we promise big and huge and spectacular and over-the-top events, but we underdeliver, the message suffers. So when it comes to your church, underpromise and overdeliver, but when it comes to your message, remember: no promise is too big.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 2:00 PM
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January 3, 2008

Christmas is Broken

(Filed under: Evangelism & Outreach)

Now that the Christmas season is over (unless you celebrate the 12 days of Christmas, in which case keep on rockin'!) I think it's fair to say that Christmas is broken. And by that I mean our cultural celebration of Christmas in the 21st century America.

In my family Christmas is over a month long, stretching from Thanksgiving to New Year's as we visit family scattered across the country and exchange gifts. Lots of gifts. You haven't seen lots of gifts until you've seen multiple grandbabies.

Some of our family doesn't believe in the spiritual celebration of Christmas and the holiday becomes simply about gifts and food and family. There's nothing wrong with those things, but it's missing the point. And as we continue to celebrate Christmas year after year with the same massive pile of gifts, it's easy for us to miss the point as well, even though we whole-heartedly believe in the reason for the season.

I don't think I'm alone in this feeling and I see evidence of that as more and more people are coming up with alternative ways to celebrate Christmas than a pile of stuff. People are reimagining Christmas.

Continue reading "Christmas is Broken"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 2:11 PM
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