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May 30, 2008

What Would Jesus Twitter?

(Filed under: Technology)

We've been talking up Twitter--the 140-character message/mini-blog application that's sweeping the early adopters--a lot in the past few weeks (Oh, and if you're looking for church marketing Twitter friends, about 70 or so have identified themselves in the Church Marketing Lab). We'll try to move on to a new obsession, though I promise this post has a wider application.

Marcus Goodyear blogged about speaking the truth in love and how sometimes it's too easy not to do that, especially in an immediate response environment like Twitter (or blog posts/comments, message boards, IM, cell phones, etc.). He points us to Cheryl Smith's post, What Would Jesus Tweet?. I suppose it's the same question we've been asking since the bracelet came out (and for 2,000 years before that), but it's always a bit jolting to apply it to our latest technological fad.

Our very character comes across in the things we say and do on a techno-wonder like Twitter (or blogs or message boards or cell phones or pick your poison), and while that should be obvious, it's easy to forget. And as Joshua Cody reminded us earlier this week, it's important to remember that our actions are out there for the world to see, and they speak a lot louder than our words.

What are your Twitter posts (or blog commenting or text messaging or whatever) telling the world about your church or your faith?

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:03 AM
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Church Marketing Lab: Here's to the Next 5,000

(Filed under: Peer Review)

The Church Marketing Lab has officially neared, reached and surpassed both 2,000 members and 5,000 posts. That's a heckuva lot of folks helping one another sharpen their skills. Here's just a taste of what we've seen lately:

This is the one, the only, submission number 5,000. Congratulations studiomuntz!

Continue reading "Church Marketing Lab: Here's to the Next 5,000"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:42 AM
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May 29, 2008

7 Ways to Put the CFCC Network to Work for You

(Filed under: Resources)

So you know about the Job Lab, Freelance Lab, Local Labs and the Church Marketing Lab. But here are a few ideas of ways to go outside of the norm to put the Center for Church Communication to work for your marketing.

• Comment and network. Maybe you're looking to connect with churches or fellow church marketers. Perhaps you're looking to get in good with some blogger. Who knows what, but you won't maximize Church Marketing Sucks without being involved in the discussion. Comment, and if you want to go deeper, stalk follow folks in the Church Marketing Lab on Twitter.

Continue reading "7 Ways to Put the CFCC Network to Work for You"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:59 AM
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May 28, 2008

Rep'in Your Church With Pride

(Filed under: First Impressions & Beyond)

Here's a little story for you.

The other day, I was in my local FedEx-Kinko's, where I spend a lot of time. Bruce was helping me ship some packages, and then an unnamed man came in, sporting a polo with a company logo. It's a big-time company that I do business with regularly, but I had never seen this man before.

He proceeded to hassle Bruce while he was helping me, and then he loudly complained that it would cost $7 to ship his package. This went on for probably 15 minutes as he loudly moved things around, sighed for an audience and complained some more. All in all, he made himself look like an idiot and was a jerk to Bruce from FedEx.

I'll never shop at my local [company where he worked] store. I will go out of my way to do business with them online or in the next town, and I will probably let whoever I deal with at the company know how he acted.

All that to say this: the things you do when you wear your church logo, write from an @yourchurch.org email account or say after letting people know what church you go to matter (OK, all that stuff matters period). That is church marketing, and you're going to fight an uphill battle if you don't represent your church proudly in your community.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 2:29 PM
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Video on Flickr Poll Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

This week, we asked how you are feeling about Flickr adding video awhile back. It was a pretty hot issue back in the day, with sides being drawn and battle plans being prepared. The small number of responses, however, would lead this statistician to believe the furor has died down.

Of those that weighed in, 46% have loved seeing video in the Church Marketing Lab. We even showcased some of the video capabilities and their impact on the Church Marketing Lab awhile back.

A quarter of you think video on Flickr is no big deal. Just a passing trend. While another 10% of you are pretty strongly against it. You're the vocal minority who got my mind running on this question, so I'm pretty disappointed you could only rally one of ten to crusade against video. And a final 19% of you don't give a rip about Flickr.

My conclusions? Lots of church marketers don't care about Flickr. Plenty of you are in the business of speaking, editing, writing and beyond, so Flickr doesn't float your boat. Others of you use Flickr, but you're too wrapped up in deadlines to fight about whether or not they should have video.

This week, click through to tell us, Is your church Twittering?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:23 AM
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May 27, 2008

Graphic Design and Religion: A Call for Renewal

(Filed under: Reviews)

"Religions must begin to see graphic design not as an expensive luxury or an unnecessary frivolity but as a steward of goodwill. Of course, design with no strategic context or no immediate relevance may be experienced as superfluous or meaningless. But when the best plans are laid and the task at hand involves communicating, graphic design is the medium through which the resulting messages will likely take root."

I'm going to admit something; I'm not a big fan of Christian non-fiction. So when I heard I was getting a copy of Graphic Design and Religion, I wasn't that excited. Then it came in the mail. I opened the box, and it was two pounds of pure beauty. I flipped through the pages, and I couldn't wait to dive in. When I finally got the chance, I wasn't disappointed.

Author Daniel Kantor takes you from the illumination artwork of the 14th century to the modern-day world of graphic artists. His insight is magnificent, showcasing his design work with religious organizations without ever trumpeting his own knowledge or prowess. He touches everything from branding, desktop publishing and everything in between en route to arguing for the importance of the graphic designer in contemporary religion. And every page of text is accompanied by examples of great work in the theater of graphic design for religions organizations.

Continue reading "Graphic Design and Religion: A Call for Renewal"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 1:40 PM
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MinistryCOM Early Bird Deadline

(Filed under: Events)

If you've been keeping a watchful eye on our Events Lab, or if you've been reading us the last three years, you might know a little about MinistryCOM. For everyone else, MinistryCOM is the only national conference dedicated to church communications professionals. So that's probably a lot of you.

And our very own Brad Abare will be the emcee for the event, so that can add a little fuel to your desire to grab a spot September 18th and 19th in Oklahoma City.

You'll also see Jon Acuff of Stuff Christians Like, Mike Foster of XXX Church , Scott Hodge of Orchard Valley Community Church and Dawn Nicole Baldwin of Aspire!One. And some totally sweet workshops will be available too, including the return of Church Marketing Lab Live with Michael Buckingham.

Come hang out with us September 18-19, and be sure to register this week as the earlybird deadline ends May 31st!

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:23 AM
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May 23, 2008

Know Your History: Episcopal Ad Project

(Filed under: Examples)

While reading Graphic Design and Religion, I came across the Episcopal Ad Project of 1979. Apparently, Reverend Dr. George H. Martin decided he wanted to venture into advertising, which churches hadn't done much of before. The ads were a work in progress for six years with Fallon McElligott Rice of Minneapolis, and they looked to use contemporary language and ideas to communicate God.

The entire project (which is still being worked on) became the Church Ad Project, and is now available online to order the prints in many different formats. For the quickest browsing, check out their posters. (Editor's Note: Church Marketing Sucks does not endorse web design with so many font colors and "click here" links on the aforelinked site.)

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:25 AM
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May 22, 2008

Church and High Gas Prices

(Filed under: First Impressions & Beyond)

Here's a thought: Maybe more folks will be in town over the summer for church because of the spike in gas prices.

At least that's what the Minneapolis Star Tribune is positing. Less road trips and flights due to high gas prices might mean more people around on Sunday mornings for services. So how will you reach folks who are feeling the pinch of high gas prices?

Well, some churches might consider raffling away gas. The church in the Star Tribune article encouraged folks to bike to church and added bike racks. Others have paid gas stations the difference to have volunteers pump gas at a discounted cost (and give a car wash to boot!). Some churches have even given away free gas (back when it was approaching $3/gallon).

Or you could preach a sermon about how expensive gas is, but we should fill up our souls at Heaven's pump for free.

At the very least, don't tone down your marketing efforts for the summer. Create experiences for the people who can't normally leave town; give them family activities to do without taking the long drive. Churches have a big opportunity as gas prices go up, how will your church use it?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:06 AM
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May 21, 2008

Share the Gospel in 140 Characters or Less

(Filed under: Evangelism & Outreach)

When you talk about marketing it's easy to focus on design. But writing matters. A lot.

Here's a chance to sharpen your writing skills. Brian Baute has thrown down the first ever Tweet the Gospel challenge. The idea is to share the gospel message within the confines of the 140-character limit of Twitter. (What's Twitter? It's a mini-blog application. We've talked about how Twitter can be used for churches and Josh shared a great example earlier today with We The Church)

So check out Brian's blog for more details and see if you can share the gospel in 140 characters or less. It's kind of like trying to be the Billy Graham of the Twitter age. And hopefully one step smarter than bumper sticker slogans.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:48 PM
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wethechurch.org and Your Church

(Filed under: Examples)

There's been a lot of buzz going around about WeTheChurch. It's a quick and easy way to share a prayer or a praise, and it's a great way to spend a few minutes--praying for others and celebrating with them. It grew and grew, then it ran into problems when a lack of moderation opened the door for some miscreants to bring down the site. So what does all this mean to your church?

It means there is something we should all be doing.

Folks are looking to share both their struggles and their successes. There's a place for us to do that with boldness and openness, and there's a place for us to do that with anonymity, trusting God will do the work even when we don't know the names and faces.

Continue reading "wethechurch.org and Your Church"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:20 AM
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May 20, 2008

CFCC and HOW Poll Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

CFCC and HOW Design are official. If you missed out on that news, now you're in the know. At the HOW Design Conference, Michael Buckingham led a session on behalf of CFCC, and we're excited about what the future will bring us. So we wanted to know what you thought of these going-ons.

Most of you aren't fully in the know yet about all this will mean. You're not sure of exactly what HOW is, so you can't be too excited about the partnership. Well, HOW Design is a creativity, business and technology magazine for graphic designers. You can get involved in competitions, their creative tip of the month or tons of other stuff on their site. So for the non-voters and the 68% who aren't sure of what HOW is, you are now equipped to check them out.

Another 8% of you say HOW isn't exactly your thing. That's all right, we're not all graphic designers. Perhaps Forbes or Apple or Krispy Kreme will knock on our door next for a partnership. And for the record, yes, we are interested.

Our favorite Another 25% of you are totally stoked about the partnership. As are we. Maybe some of you were at Michael's session at the HOW Design Conference, and if you weren't, watch for a summary from him soon.

For those of you in an RSS reader, make sure to click through this week and let us know, will video in the Church Marketing Lab be of any use to churches in their marketing efforts?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 5:17 PM
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Minnesota Church Files Restraining Order Against Autistic Boy

(Filed under: Public Relations)

Have you seen this news story? The Church of St. Joseph, a Catholic church in Bertha, Minn., has filed a restraining order against 13-year-old Adam Race, a severely autistic boy, in an attempt to keep Race from disrupting services and endangering parishioners. The mother was threatened with arrest if she went to church and the whole story has prompted a debate about how to accommodate people with autism.

The story has made the national news circuit and has quickly turned into a 'he said/she said' battle, with the church giving its story of the 6-foot-tall, 225-pound Race being disruptive, sexually aggressive, nearly knocking over parishioners and needing to be restrained--tied down and sat on by his parents. The parents, meanwhile, give a different view of things, explaining soothing techniques they use and pointing out that the church hasn't responded to requests to help the situation.

However you see this story, whether the parents need to be more respectful of others in church and find a way to keep Adam from being a danger to others or the church needs to be more understanding of autism and come up with a solution that isn't court ordered, I think the whole thing is kind of silly.

Continue reading "Minnesota Church Files Restraining Order Against Autistic Boy"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:02 PM
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Innovation of Ideas

(Filed under: Think Ahead)

I don't know about you, but oftentimes when I think of innovation, my mind immediately jumps to products or services. Things like the telephone, the assembly line, solar panels, airplanes and wireless Internet come to mind. Tangible innovations that have changed or are changing the way way we live. We can see them, touch them and use them.

The other kind of innovation--the intangible type that is more difficult to get our minds around--is ideas. Although equally as innovative, ideas are often forgotten when we talk about innovation. The theory of relativity, Newton's laws of motion, loving your neighbor, paying it forward and ending slavery are very innovative ideas and are definitely a part of changing the way we live.

Some recent brands have done a decent job at introducing innovative ideas. Consider Citibank's "Live Richly," Nike's "Just Do It" and Dove's "Real Beauty" campaigns. All ideas and concepts that have changed or are changing the way we live.

It's this innovation of ideas and not products where I think the church is best positioned to be catalysts of. Our track record has been full of ups and downs. Martin Luther and no more indulgences was a good thing. The Crusades, not so much.

What are you a part of innovating? How can the ideas within your community help change the way people are living and interacting with each other?

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:05 AM
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May 19, 2008

Last Call for Don't Suck List 2.0

(Filed under: News & Updates)

We're just putting a last call out there for anyone who might want to help with our revision of the Don't Suck List. We've had some great interest and volunteers so far, but we want to make sure everyone gets a chance to be a part of rebirthing one of our best resources.

There's a few different things we need from you in order to make this much-needed project a reality. Here's how you can help:

• Designing and programming
• Volunteering to help plan and steer the project
• Feed us ideas about the Don't Suck List

For the total rundown of what we need, check out Brad's original post, Our Don't Suck List Still Sucks.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 12:44 PM
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When People Avoid Your Advertising

(Filed under: Advertising)

Here's a pretty great quote from Cammie Dunaway, the vice president of sales and marketing for Nintendo of America in an interview by the Wall Street Journal concerning the Wii Fit:

"What we see is consumers are increasingly turning to friends, family and news articles as credible sources of information about products, more so than in the past ... because consumers are getting much smarter, because they have better access to information and they are able to share information online. They are bombarded with advertising messages--so they have more tools to avoid that advertising today."

I don't think it's any secret, but it's a good reminder.

Branding for Dummies says we are subjected to over 3,000 marketing messages a day; I've heard numbers as high as 10,000. So what are we to do?

Continue reading "When People Avoid Your Advertising"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:48 AM
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May 16, 2008

Communication: Lifechurch.tv Style

(Filed under: Philosophy)

Craig Groeschel has been tackling communications techniques on the Swerve blog lately. So far, he's looked at The Question and The Visual.

Just to whet your appetite...

Great teachers and communicators know the power of a well-timed question ... Asking a direct question and giving your audience time to answer can open the door for a life changing moment ...

Most studies show people forget most of what they hear within 72 hours. Their retention rate jumps dramatically when other senses are engaged. When preparing a message, ask how I can show instead of just tell.

Check out the Swerve blog for examples of questions and visuals Craig has used and made a difference with.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 12:12 PM
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May 15, 2008

CFCC Ad Network Grows

(Filed under: News & Updates)

We take a lot of pride in the CFCC Ad Network. Not just anyone can throw up an ad in the CFCC network for whatever they want so long as they fork up the cash. They have to add value to your time here. That said, we just recently added two new advertisers, and we'd like you to meet them.

Splat Print is where full color never meets full price. They'll print anything from catalogs to business cards to door hangers, so be sure to check them out when your designs are done.

Faith Highway covers TV commercials, web sites, print media, production and graphics. And right now they're offering free direct mail services or free hosting and streaming until 2009.

There's still room in our advertising network, and we have lots more info for you if you need it.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:36 PM
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Little Tweaks, Big Gains

(Filed under: First Impressions & Beyond)

Tiny adjustments can make a big difference. Sometimes if you just slow down a little bit, you'll see big gains:

• American Airlines is saving $4 million by having their planes taxi with only one engine on.
• Southwest slowed its flights by one to three minutes and is saving $42 million.
• Con-Way Fright shaved 3 mph off the top speed of their trucks and saved $13.3 million and are only adding 20-30 minutes to shipments.

The obvious application for churches might be to drive the church bus slower, but I'm thinking bigger picture. Instead of focusing all your energy and effort on the big splash, focus on the little things. This should be encouraging advice for cash-, volunteer- and time-strapped churches that can't pull of the big splash. It's OK if you can't.

Instead, focus on the little things. Communicate consistently. Double-check your work. Greet people with a smile. These small steps will have a much bigger impact with less effort than any massive initiative you could launch. (links via 37Signals & thoughts)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:19 PM
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May 14, 2008

HOW Design Conference: Design Evangelist

(Filed under: Events)

I'm really honored and looking forward to speaking at the HOW Design Conference next week. For those of you who will be there, I thought I'd give you a sneak peak at the CFCC session and for those of you not going, maybe it'll give you a reason to attend.

We'll start by looking at the landscape of church marketing, some of our mis-turns, some of the embarrassing excuses and some of the highlights of church marketing. I'll start off with one of the funniest, if misguided, church signs I've seen and offer something the corporate world could actually learn from the church marketing world.

Continue reading "HOW Design Conference: Design Evangelist"

Posted by Michael Buckingham at 11:34 AM
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Jesus Did Polls Too

(Filed under: Demographics/Research)

Last year at MinistryCOM, it was a delight to hear Shawn Wood's keynote titled "Brand Schizophrenia". Shawn is the experiences and creative communications pastor at Seacoast and a new author. And if that doesn't win most links in an opening blog entry here on Church Marketing Sucks, I don't know what does.

It was certainly not his main point of the day at MinistryCOM, but Shawn made a great observation about how Jesus was the first one to do a Zoomerang poll. In Matthew 16:13-16, Jesus asks his disciples what people are saying about him. He wanted to get a pulse for what everyone was thinking. "What are people saying about who the Son of Man is?" The disciples replied with some of the things they had been hearing. "Some think he is John the Baptizer, some say Elijah ... "

Thankfully, Jesus didn't let the polls or the pollsters have the final word. Although he cared about what people were thinking, he cared more that they were thinking rightly. The right answer, as we hear from Simon Peter, is that "You're the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Simon obviously checked the right box on his survey.

Surveys are a great way to get feedback on things that matter to you. They're also a great way for you to measure if the things that matter to you actually matter to the people you're polling.

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:52 AM
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May 13, 2008

Earth Day Poll Results

(Filed under: Peer Review)

It's a hot topic right now, the relationship between Father God and Mother Earth. With everyone and their brother describing everything they do as "green," whether or not it's good for the earth, we wanted to know if your church was jumping on the chance to celebrate Earth Day.

The vast majority of you treated Earth Day the same way you treat Pi Day or National Weimaraner Appreciation Day--you don't. 29% of you didn't even realize Earth Day passed on April 22. At least now you can go ahead and pencil it in for next year! Another 64% of you knew about it, but you didn't care to give the planet a gift.

A small 6% of folks celebrated. Your marketing is seven shades of green, and you walk the lonely road of speaking up for our voiceless blue sphere. Did you go paper-free for a day? Turn the lights out? Walk barefoot? Let us know in the comments.

And for now, tell us, what do you think of CFCC's partnership with HOW?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 3:54 PM
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Community Organizing vs. Community Building

(Filed under: Evangelism & Outreach)

I mentioned last week about the conversation my wife and I are a part of with a handful of churches in Northeast Los Angeles discussing issues of poverty, homelessness, education, etc. One of the models we were looking at for engaging our community is developed by an organization called Pico. The model is built around "one-to-one's" which is exactly what it sounds like--one person conversing with another person. (It's a little more complex than this so you can watch an overview on their site). Pico points to significant social movements in history (i.e., Civil Rights) and traces their roots not to dynamic personalities but to grassroots community building.

This got me thinking about "community building" vs. "community organizing" and how often church leaders--myself included--tend to go for organizing groups before figuring out what to organize around. It seems so much easier to do a big splash in the community around a trendy cause and hope everybody notices. But what would happen if we let causes surface on their own and let our focus instead be on making sure every voice is heard?

In the Pico model, individuals go to other individuals (neighbors, shopkeepers, government workers, you name it) and do interviews. One-on-one interviews to get to know what's going on in their world. What are their concerns? What do they want to see change? Would they consider being a part of that change?

I'll admit, this approach is much slower and it lacks the stimulating immediacy of our give-it-to-me-now mindset, but I think it has some merit.

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:48 AM
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May 12, 2008

Fun With Links

(Filed under: Link Round Up)

Amidst end-of-the-semester craziness, a wealth of links have come my way. And now, they're coming your way. So if you want to delay the start of your Monday, check out these links.

• Is marketing evil? Paul Steinbrueck takes a look at this question.
• Four myths about reaching the unchurched. Outreach magazine looks at how to bust these myths and reach the unreached.
• Bright green marketing practices. Worldchanging discusses creating a positive world for consumers to enjoy the products we market.
• When guerilla marketing goes bad. WebUrbanist looks at five times guerrilla marketing tactics have gone terribly wrong.
• Things they tell church planters that are wrong. A reflection considering God and (some) marketing regarding church plants.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:15 AM
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Church Marketing Lab: Because You Love Your Mother

(Filed under: Peer Review)

Don't you owe it to moms all over the world to give them the best designs ever? Head to the Church Marketing Lab and give some feedback for these Mother's Day designs, because it's never too late for feedback. There's always next year.

Here's a poster to promote a "Celebrate Mom" service.

Continue reading "Church Marketing Lab: Because You Love Your Mother"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:20 AM
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May 9, 2008

Our Don't Suck List Still Sucks

(Filed under: News & Updates)

For those counting--you know who you are--it's been 31 months since our last update about the infamous Don't Suck list. Lots of people have made suggestions publicly on this site, through e-mail and countless conversations offline. I think we've finally blurred the lines enough so that people can't tell the difference between the despicableness of the list itself or of our inaction to actually do something about it. There is no excuse.

I have decided to pull a Ty Pennington (no, I don't plan a drunken arrest) and make this my special project. The bulk of the work will begin in June with a goal to have something launched later this year. Although I will personally take the lead on this project, it will definitely be in the same collaborative spirit we've all been a part of here in the CFCC community.

Here's the plan:

1. There are two layers to this project. The first is a directory of sorts that is more comprehensive. It will be a pre-screened list of go-to people and companies for helping churches communicate. The second layer will be a regularly published "Don't Suck" list that is chosen entirely based on the opinion of the panel behind it. It will be more editorialized which means many will like it and many will hate it. Consider this your warning.

2. There is a post on the CFCC Freelance Lab looking for a web designer/programmer to help build this stuff. If you fit the description, please respond el pronto.

3. If you want to volunteer and be a part of planning/steering this, you can email me: brad [at] cfcclabs dot org. Please put "Don't Suck Volunteer" in the subject line including a brief description for why you want to be a part. If you email me to volunteer it means you will make time to respond to a survey or two and possibly make yourself available for some conference calls, among other related tasks.

4. If you have specific comments that you want to put out there and make sure we're considering, you can also email me: brad [at] cfcclabs dot org. Please put "Don't Suck Comments" in the subject line.

Thanks for your patience and for helping us build this thing right. The Don't Suck list is nearly always in our top ten most most frequented links, and it's one of the most practical things we as the CFCC community can do to help churches beyond what we're already doing through this blog and the labs.

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:54 AM
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May 8, 2008

Small Churches Should Embrace Cheap Technology

(Filed under: Technology)

Last week's poll/quiz revealed the encouraging stat that 62% of churches have a web site, up from 57% in 2005 and 34% in 2000. The results come from a recent Barna survey (nicely summarized with pretty graphics by Kent Shaffer).

One of the interesting, though hardly surprising, things about the survey is that no matter the technology--web sites, projection systems, e-mail newsletters, podcasting--large churches are adapting these new technologies much faster than small churches.

Continue reading "Small Churches Should Embrace Cheap Technology"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:02 AM
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May 7, 2008

Quiz Time Poll Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

The most recent Barna poll asked about church technology usage, comparing the results across the years 2000, 2005 and 2007. We decided to quiz you and see how well you would be in tune with what other churches are doing. We asked you what percent of churches you thought currently have a web site.

44% of you guessed guessed that 0-50% of churches have a web site. Maybe that number is so high because 0-50 is the biggest range. Or maybe you just don't think many churches have sites.

The numbers go down from there. 21% of you thought that half to 65% of churches have sites. Another 21% of you thought 66%-80% have sites. That's the group I was in, as an optimist.

The really optimistic bunch of you thought either 81%-100% of churches have web sites. That'd be pretty sweet, but unfortunately, only in DreamLand.

Well, if you didn't cheat, the results are in...

62% of churches have a web site. That's up from 57% in 2005 and 34% in 2000. Check out Kent Shaffer's wrap-up for more complete results, including stats regarding e-mail blasts, social networking, projectors and more.

This week, we want to know, did your church do anything to celebrate Earth Day, either corporately or around the office?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:27 AM
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May 6, 2008

People Gotta Know

(Filed under: Promotion)

Earlier this week my wife and I were part of a conversation with a handful of churches brought together in Northeast Los Angeles. Those present were about as eclectic as you could get: inter-denominational, multi-generational, multi-ethnic and people from every part of the socioeconomic spectrum. We had come to discuss how our individual churches could unite together and be one church community within our city, particularly as it relates to addressing issues of poverty, homelessness, education and other hot topics confronting us. Unfortunately, this was an historic moment for churches in Northeast Los Angeles.

In response to how we could broaden the conversations we were having on this night to the rest of the people in our church communities, an elder in the room stood up. Tony was from one of the nearby Catholic parishes responsible for the only 7-day-a-week feeding program in the area. They've gone from feeding a handful of people to nearly 150 every day for lunch, and dinner on Friday nights.

You can imagine my surprise when Tony said the majority of people in their parish did not know their own feeding ministry exists. "In spite of printing something in the bulletin every week," said Tony, "our own people have no idea what's going on." Many others in the room nodded in sympathetic frustration. The collective sigh sounded like this: "How could we get others in our church on board with social justice topics when it seems like very few others even care?"

Continue reading "People Gotta Know"

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:10 AM
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May 5, 2008

Job Lab and Freelance Lab Roundup

(Filed under: News & Updates)

We've seen some good action in our Freelance Lab and Job Lab since our announcement that they're free forever. If you haven't been checking them out, here are some opportunities for you.

Design a worship folder and banner for Concordia Lutheran Church.

Create a wedding booklet for First Baptist Fort Lauderdale.

Or, if you're looking for more full-time work...
The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina is looking for a webmaster and a graphic designer.

Remember, if you're looking to fill a communication-related project or job opening, our Freelance Lab and Job Lab are now completely free.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 2:05 PM
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May 2, 2008

Church Marketing Lab: Stages, Shirts and Summer Fun

(Filed under: Peer Review)

Let's talk numbers here for a minute. We're only 52 members away from the 2,000 mark in the Church Marketing Lab, and the conversations just get better and better. Last June we hit member 1,000, and now we're already at 2,000! In October, we were looking at the 3,000th posting. Now, we're almost at 5,000! So if you aren't in the conversation, head over and join in. Here's some of what we've been seeing lately:

Here's a smorgasbord of ideas for a vision-casting print.

Continue reading "Church Marketing Lab: Stages, Shirts and Summer Fun"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 9:43 AM
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