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August 29, 2008

Church Marketing Lab: Non-Existent to Top 90

(Filed under: Peer Review)

Church Marketing Lab stories really get me fired up. At its best, it's a truly incredible tool to help churches communicate with excellence. Take the story of Park Community Church.

It all started as they were getting ready to move into a new building. They wanted to go from suburban to urban, and this was the beginning of their journey.

Continue reading "Church Marketing Lab: Non-Existent to Top 90"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:17 AM
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August 28, 2008

MinistryCOM 2008 in Oklahoma City

(Filed under: Events)

For the past several months I've been looking forward to being at MinistryCOM in Oklahoma City on September 18-19. With less than three weeks to go, the anticipation continues to build. Earlier this month I met with producer extraordinaire Mark Bennardo who is putting together quite the experience. I also spoke earlier this week with MinistryCOM maestro Terrell Sanders (the brain behind the whole event), and he is equally enthused about the great things in store. My prayer for this year's event has been that church communicators in attendance will be ministered to. A little less "com" and a lot more "ministry." Pray with me, will you?

Unfortunately, because of some significant recent developments at Foursquare (one of my day jobs), I have had to excuse myself from emceeing this year's MinistryCOM. What a bummer! I'll be in New York during MinistryCOM for some just-scheduled strategic meetings with Foursquare leadership.

If you haven't registered, there is still time. It's no secret the economy has had an affect on many travel budgets so no doubt you're hit by it too. The good news is that Oklahoma City is within a long day's drive of just about anywhere in the U.S. So grab a few friends, load up the iPod, and make it a road trip.

The line-up of workshops and presenters this year is going to be great!

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:03 AM
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August 27, 2008

Falling for God

(Filed under: Examples)

All right, all right. I'm sorry for the lame title pun. Westchester Church decided to do something crazy--go skydiving. This church had a message to communicate: We are not boring; we are not safe; we chase lions.

What better way to communicate who you are than to jump out of a plane from thousands of feet in the air?

And in a church with a weekly attendance of 150, forty people signed up. And they saw God do incredible things that day. Here's a little bit from their pastor about one person who was particularly impacted:

He’s not a Christian and admits he is not a very religious man but he wanted to tag along with a bunch of crazy Christ followers to risk his life to skydive. To me that is amazing in itself. I think he was more nervous hangin’ out with us than jumping. Not sure about that but he looked a little nervous when he met us in the parking lot for prayer prior to leaving.

Continue reading "Falling for God"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:54 AM
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Bad Marketing Poll Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

We've seen some pretty crappy church marketing lately (not to say we haven't seen some great ideas as well). But which move was the worst of the worst of the worst? Only you could decide, and here's what you had to say:

In a surprise move, you selected the most-hated church marketing move as the Focus on the Family commentator who is praying for rain on Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention. Given their recent history and rocky relationship, praying for rain seems like a compliment compared to what many evangelicals would wish on a Democratic candidate.

My personal pick for the worst marketing move would have to be giving away a free semi-automatic assault rifle at church. And 30% of you agree. It seems that there is nothing positive that can come out of someone walking out of church with a shiny new rifle, provided by your church.

Another 1 in 5 were awestruck by a church who would refuse $600,000 from a lottery winner. For many of you, that's about $600,000 more than your current marketing budget, so it certainly seems like a pretty egregious marketing error. Oh yeah, and there's the "If you're bad, we don't want your money" undertone.

The smallest group of you were most repulsed by Gary Lamb's violent outburst towards church trailer thieves. Judging by the large number of "I can't believe that!" comments on our original entry, it seemed this option would get a big spike. But lo and behold, it sits at the bottom of our responses, with only 14% of the responses.

Speaking of stolen church trailers, this week's poll revolves around that issue. Who do you agree with? Are you a church thief hugger (like Kinetic Church or Oconee Baptist) or knee-breaker (like Revolution Church)? RSS readers, be sure to click through to the site to make sure your vote gets counted.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 5:40 AM
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August 26, 2008

Church Marketing Lab: Group Branding, Newsletters & More

(Filed under: Peer Review)

It's been awhile since we've had a standard Church Marketing Lab update, so we thought we would let you in on a little bit of what's been going on in the photo pool.

Palm Valley Church is working on the branding for their small groups.

Continue reading "Church Marketing Lab: Group Branding, Newsletters & More"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:59 AM
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August 25, 2008

More Identity Struggles

(Filed under: Brand & Identity)

Last week I had the opportunity to speak at the Echo conference in Dallas, Texas, with a few hundred church media artists. I presented a spoken version of my "Bastards With Bibles" series that I wrote about here.

The basic premise of my session was about identity and how we've got to figure out who we are, both as individuals and as organizations (i.e., church). It's a serious problem with serious implications which is why I get fired up about people figuring this stuff out.

My wife and I visited a church community this past Sunday and I ran into a friend who happens to be a regular attender and, ironically, was also a presenter at Echo the day before. He told me he started attending here because his previous church of 20+ years was in the midst of figuring out who they were ever since the original pastor departed five years ago. He said that many people had left the old church and come over to this one for the very same reason. Talk about identity crisis! I happen to know the church he is speaking about and indeed, they have been struggling with this big time.

Continue reading "More Identity Struggles"

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:54 AM
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August 22, 2008

Internet Ministry Conference - Register Soon!

(Filed under: Events)

Ever get frustrated that you're only metafriends with us at Church Marketing Sucks? The Internet Ministry Conference is the perfect place to fix that. If you hadn't heard, Brad Abare and Michael Buckingham will be tag-teaming two workshops.

A little more about the IMC:

You’ve got a web site. You would even call it an online ministry. But what kind of influence are you having in your online world? People are visiting your site and some might be coming back day after day or week after week. But are you really making an impact on people? Whether its online evangelism or online discipleship, we will focus on the importance of using your web presence to make an impact toward accomplishing the Great Commission online.

And don't miss the two sessions--Don't Suck Online and You've Got Personality--from Brad and Michael.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:08 AM
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August 21, 2008

Pooling Talents to Multiply Talents

(Filed under: Evangelism & Outreach)

Many of you are familiar with the parable of the talents. Essentially God entrusts us with things, and we diligently care for and use those things. Maybe it's a knack for making pies. Maybe it's a boatload of cash. Or maybe it's a job as a dermatologist. But we then take those things and use them faithfully. That's what Reynoldsburg United Methodist is asking its members to do. And they gave them $67,000 to do it.

Churches have given away money before. Reverse offerings have been done by plenty of churches, and at the surface, it seems like Reynoldsburg United Methodist is doing the same thing.

Continue reading "Pooling Talents to Multiply Talents"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:27 AM
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August 20, 2008

Atheists Marketing Billboard

(Filed under: Advertising)

We've talked about billboards a lot. No, really. A lot.

But here's a little something different. Coming to you courtesy of DJ Chuang's Twitter, here's sort of the opposite of a church marketing billboard. It's an atheist marketing billboard. Kind of clever, but I have to say, chalk up a victory to the church for having better and more clever billboard marketing.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:10 AM
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August 19, 2008

Future of the Church Poll Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

The future of the church. It's a huge topic, and it's one we need to be ready for. But what is that future?

Well, 37% of you think multi-site churches are the future. More sites, more impact, yeah? Probably the convenience, pooled resources and leadership of multi-site churches lead you to this conclusion (and maybe The Multi-Site Church Revolution). And another 18% of you are looking the opposite direction. Mini-churches are the future in your eyes.

11% of you think there's no change in store. It's 379 more years of the same thing -- some mega-churches, some mini-churches, some middle-churches. 9% of you think McChurches are the future. $1 double cheeseburgers for visitors and McSermons for everyone.

And the lonely group of you are the 3% who thing mega-churches will multiply thousand-fold to become giga-churches. Just imagine, showing up to find 20,000,000 friends for the 9:30 a.m. service. Hopefully, we will also see a revolution in church architecture and parking lot infrastructure.

There's another 21% of you out there who say "something else." So what is that something else? House churches? Internet churches? Twitter churches?

Click through your RSS reader to let us know what your "something else" is, and to give us feedback on this week's question--what is your vote for the worst church marketing move of late?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 5:18 AM
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August 18, 2008

Name a Church Contest

(Filed under: Examples)

Here's a new and innovative way of going about naming your church -- ask your whole country to help. And give them a Wii if they're right.

[Insert name here] church of Australia took that route. They held a competition, which has since closed, in which anyone from Australia could submit as many ideas as they would like to name their church. A simple site allowed anyone to submit a church name and tagline, and the church is now deciding among the submissions for a winner.

You can sign up to find out more about the church -- details of the winners, info about the community and ongoing updates about the community. Seems like a genius way to draw a community to your new church. Keep your eyes peeled for the winning entry, and best of luck to the church to be named later!

Update: A winner has been named! CitySoul is the new name of the church. Read on for the full emailed press release.

Continue reading "Name a Church Contest"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:01 AM
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August 15, 2008

Praying for Rain on Obama & Saying No to Money

(Filed under: Off the Wall)

Here we have two case studies in why Church Marketing Sucks still sucks:

Church Rejects Donation from Lottery Winner
The title pretty much says it all. $600,000 could do a heck of a lot for your marketing budget. And taking $600,000 to invest in the community could be a wonder for the way you're viewed. Or, you could take the press hit and the "dummy" label by making the Drudge Report for refusing $600,000. Perhaps you'll get some points for sticking to your guns and refusing to accept money from sin. But in all likelihood, people around you will think you're irrational for giving a lottery winner $600,000 extra to gamble rather than taking it and multiplying it for the kingdom.

Man Prays for Rain to Spoil Obama's Speech
The first line of this story reads, "A former pastor and former TV meteorologist." When you start politicking from the pulpit and combining prayer with your weather forecast, that's when you become a former pastor and meteorologist. Now Stuart Shephard is working for Focus on the Family and leading nationwide campaigns for rain on Obama. For the records, praying to smite people who disagree with you is never good marketing.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:58 AM
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August 14, 2008

Church Marketing Lab: Capturing Great Ideas

(Filed under: Peer Review)

We take a break from our typical Church Marketing Lab updates to show you a different way you can use the Flickr group. Usually, folks post their designs, and other folks come alongside them to help them out. As we've chronicled many times before. But ryan.sworth had a different idea. How about using the Church Marketing Lab to put faces to church marketing wins? That's what we see here:

Here's how he described the experience:

We did Spontaneous Baptisms at our church this past Sunday, to kick off our new series "Awakening"--we baptized over 600 people, and provided all the essentials (shirt, shorts, flip flops, towels, hair care stuff, personal photograph, etc.) to leave people without an excuse.

This is why we do what we do. These are 600 of the faces of church marketing--whether that marketing came in the form of word-of-mouth, great design, strong communication or something else, we won't ever know, but the Church Marketing Lab serves as a great place to display the wins of church marketing.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 8:34 AM
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August 13, 2008

Merlin Mann Calls Out Branding

(Filed under: Brand & Identity)

Productivity guru Merlin Mann has this to say about branding, via Twitter:

If you're really worried about your "branding," try to stop thinking about life as a press release and just focus on making something.

I'm pretty sure this is a common view, and I'm pretty sure he knows more than I do about most things. But I'm also pretty sure that your church shouldn't listen to people who espouse this view. At least not fully. Let's look a little deeper at what he says:

Continue reading "Merlin Mann Calls Out Branding"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 10:54 AM
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Church Taglines Poll Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

In the Church Marketing Lab, a discussion fired up on how to choose a church tagline. So we wanted to know just how your church went about it.

The majority of you went with a shrug and admitting that there is no tagline involved in your church's marketing. And just a few less of you left a note on your pastor's desk that said "Need tagline, leaving office, e-mail me tonight." Those two options make up a whole 80% of folks who responded.

Among the rest of you, here's how things shaped up: 9% of you hired a copywriter, communicated vision and let the congregation approve of it. And it only took most of you 7-12 years. And another 5% couldn't hit the 12 year window, and it's still lost somewhere between the Finance Committee and the Senior Citizens' Church Marketing Committee.

5% went with either a rhyming dictionary or the elusive alliterative dictionary to create a cool concept to communicate cause. And a small, small slice of the pie either asked Google or just straight up stole it from another church's advertising. But only after you couldn't find a good tagline on Napster, right?

When the Church Marketing Lab weighed in, here's what they had to say:

"Church taglines should not make churches sound self absorbed ... they should be about the person you're talking to. Taglines should tell the reader how he or she can benefit from interacting with your church."

"You tag line needs to be an extension of who you are. Trying to come at it any other way is a mistake, and will lack integrity when you're done."

"I have no idea. I'm a Presbyterian. Our implicit tagline is 'Come because you were born here.' We don't do marketing. I'm here to learn."

"One of the best church taglines (and description) that caught my attention, and I still remember it is: Vintage 21--a community of God seekers, God followers, and God doubters."

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:09 AM
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August 12, 2008

Be Your Own Church

(Filed under: Philosophy)

This week Craig Groeschel of LifeChurch.tv is talking about his journey to "find his voice" as a leader:

"Many leaders lack originality. One reason is that they’re learning from other great leaders, but often trying to reproduce what they see. ... I’d suggest you study great spiritual leaders, read anointed authors, and talk with gifted friends. But don’t try to be them. God made them to do what they are doing. You’re created to do something else!

These are good words for leaders and I think they're good words for churches, too. It's so easy as we read about the cool things other churches are doing to simply follow in their footsteps. As we borrow ideas from other churches or even businesses, repurposing them for ourselves, we rarely realize that we're no longer being our own church. We're somebody else's church.

So as Groeschel says, learn from other leaders and get inspiration from other churches, but in the end you've got to be your own church. Be the church God wants you to be, not the church down the street.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:42 AM
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August 8, 2008

Shawn Wood's Pomegranates

(Filed under: Resources)

In case you've been hibernating the past year, or are new to this conversation about church communication, Shawn Wood's first book is out today, 200 Pomegranates and an Audience of One. Shawn is the experiences and creative communications pastor at Seacoast and is one of the louder loved voices helping churches to communicate better. It's been great getting to know him over the years.

Shawn has timed the release of his book so that he can watch the Olympic opening ceremonies tonight and pretend it's all for him. Way to go Shawn!

You can download a peak of 200 Pomegranates, or go buy it on Amazon.

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:57 AM
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August 7, 2008

Death to the Church Bulletin

(Filed under: Examples)

Tim Schraeder writes "June 22 was a sad day at Park Community Church, we lost a dearly beloved friend ... our weekly program."

The choice might not fit every church to throw out the bulletin, but the exercise they went through to come up with the decision would be good for any church. Often we do things for one simple reason--that's what we've always done. By taking a closer look at the people that make up Park Community Church and the pros and cons of the bulletin, the team at Park realized there was a better way. They didn't just get rid of the bulletin, it was replaced with something that worked better for the church.

My guess: this new option will be read and passed around much more than their old printed piece. Read Tim's blog entry for a blow-by-blow account.

Posted by Michael Buckingham at 6:27 AM
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August 6, 2008

Bridge to Bikers, the Homeless and Prison Alumni

(Filed under: Evangelism & Outreach)

I was in Fort Wayne, Ind., this past weekend for a site survey and setup trip for an upcoming Foursquare simulcast later this fall. It's always a treat for me to meet local leaders on the front lines of ministry and this trip was no exception. On Sunday I went to a service at Life Bridge (the location for the simulcast) and went to lunch afterwards with several of the church leaders, including Pastor Bill Campbell, Mark Ellington (administrator), Aaron Jackson (worship leader), Arron Foster (tech wonder-boy) and their families. These people are the real deal and have a big heart for the community of Fort Wayne.

Life Bridge is also reaching some people that many of us don't see (sadly) in a typical church for your average Midwest suburban town. On the front row each Sunday are several women who have recently gotten out of prison. Some of them are on probation and have to wear ankle bracelets (and you're still worried about the head covering thing?). There are also a handful of bikers that are a part of the Life Bridge Community, and they're extending that invitation via a full blown biker weekend later this month called Cross N Dagger. How many times do you get to see a world champion knife thrower, a bunch of bikers, and a pentecostal congregation eating burgers and dogs together on a Sunday afternoon?

Continue reading "Bridge to Bikers, the Homeless and Prison Alumni"

Posted by Brad Abare at 9:43 AM
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Special Guests Poll Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

Just how special does your church treat visitors?

Well, for nearly a third of you, the answer is not special at all. They get a pat on the back, a bulletin and maybe a handshake from the pastor. Then again, so does everyone else at your church. Another 12% of you go just over this low bar for a pulpit shoutout. Low-effort, low-cost for you.

The next 5% of you are where visitors really, really start to get special. Maybe it's a sticker, a pin, standing up in the service or wearing a dunce cap, but you make your visitors do a "subtle" action that screams, "I'm a visitor."

The final group of you (over half) bribe give your visitors something. Whether it's church resources, a gas card, burritos or whatever, it's slightly more than the obligatory pastoral welcome or funny-smelling bulletin lady hug.

This week, we want to know how you came up with your church’s tagline?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 8:29 AM
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August 4, 2008

Alltop and the Church

(Filed under: Resources)

For those of you who haven't used Alltop, now there's a reason to check it out--they’ve added a church section.

Alltop is an categorically organized aggregate of the greatest information sources from across the web. And one of the founders is Guy Kawasaki. The church section includes sources such as The Digital Sanctuary, LifeChurch and, oh yeah, Church Marketing Sucks.

As Alltop says ... that means we're one of the cool kids.

Posted by Michael Buckingham at 8:34 AM
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Jesus for President

(Filed under: Examples)

Superstition Springs Community Church gets the prize here. They were the first link we received of a church to tying a marketing campaign to the presidential campaign, and thus the deluge begins.

Beginning now and running through the election, they're running a "Jesus for President" series (not to be confused with Shane Claiborne's Jesus for President), along with a microsite, anewplatform.com. Their premise is simple: "A new platform, a new set of issues, a new way to live ... delivered on a mountainside 2,000 years ago." It's a look at Jesus' run for office on the agenda of the Sermon on the Mount. Sounds like a pretty great idea.

One of the most interesting facets of this story, however, is an article in a local paper. If you read the article online, you can view readers' reaction to the campaign. Some is positive, but a lot is negative. Is the negative reaction to church marketing here a vocal minority or a bellwether of public opinion?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:47 AM
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August 3, 2008

Design Site NOTCOT.org on Church Marketing Sucks

(Filed under: News & Updates)

The design inspiration site NOTCOT.org recently featured Church Marketing Sucks. NOTCOT.org is basically a collection of eye-candy for "your visual filtration of ideas + aesthetics + amusements."

We're glad we can be so amusing. Thanks for including us and welcome to the new folks from NOTCOT.org.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 3:02 PM
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August 1, 2008

Bastards with Bibles, Part 4

(Filed under: Brand & Identity)

This is the fourth and final post in a series about how our impending identity crisis is funking our souls. You can read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 to catch up.

Church as Soul Provider
If we are indeed living in an era where individual and collective identity is drawn from organizations, the church will continue to lose ground unless we get back on the soul train. If there is any organization that should be in the role of helping people find their soul, it’s the church.

We used to be a soul provider. Richard Halverson, former Chaplain of the United States Senate suggested that “In the beginning the church was a fellowship of men and women centering on the living Christ. Then the church moved to Greece, where it became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome, where it became an institution. Next, it moved to Europe, where it became a culture. And, finally, it moved to America, where it became an enterprise.”

James Twitchell, in his book Shopping for God, points to research from Eva Hamberg and Thorleif Pettersson that shows how a competitive market spurs innovation and increases consumption. In other words, the reason the spiritual market continues to grow is because it feeds off itself. The U.S. has the highest weekly church attendance and the most diverse supply of religious pluralism in the world. The more we sell, the less we have to give. And the less we have to give, the more irrelevant we become.

Continue reading "Bastards with Bibles, Part 4"

Posted by Brad Abare at 8:42 AM
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