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July 31, 2009

The Future of Church

(Filed under: Think Ahead)

Today I stumbled across a Collide magazine article from last month that pondered the future of the church in 2034. It's a lengthy piece that imagines what church may be like in 25 years (no judgments on good or bad, just predictions). Don't forget to check out the predictions of four bloggers as well.

Considering yesterday's post about the role of technology and the resulting comment storm (43 and counting!), perhaps it's a good idea to consider the future. Many folks slammed Brad's take on the Echo Conference as too pointed, too hypocritical, too [insert your adjective here]. You can read Brad's initial response in the comments here. Whether you think Brad has a point, is misguided or is just dead wrong, I think the basic idea of his post--we need to focus on Jesus--is vital (can a brother get a 'duh'?).

Continue reading "The Future of Church"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:26 AM
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July 30, 2009

Echo, God As Second Banana

(Filed under: Philosophy)

“Christianity is a demanding and serious religion. When it is delivered as easy and amusing, it is another kind of religion altogether.” —Neil Postman

The second annual Echo Church Media Conference is underway this week in Dallas. I was there last year and had a great time. I really like the folks who make Echo happen and from the presenters to the participants, I consider many of these people friends.

But I'm a little concerned.

While I appreciate the nobility of Echo's intent—"A conference for church leaders that love using media, technology, and the Internet to be more effective in sharing God's story"—I'm concerned about the premise.

Lovers of media, technology and the Internet are not necessarily the first people I would go to hear or see more about the greatest love story of all time.

My concern is that what we love is getting blurred with who we love.

Gatherings like Echo should be first and foremost fixated on the who of the story. We need storytellers that love the story. Artists who love their creator.

Continue reading "Echo, God As Second Banana"

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:20 AM
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July 29, 2009

Keeping Online Conversations Clean

(Filed under: Technology)

Many of your churches have Facebook fan pages, Twitter feeds, Internet campuses, live chat abilities, Internet-capable computers on-site and a thousand other whizz bangs and gadgets.

With all of these things, it's easy for four-letter words, malicious statements and heresy from evildoers and hooligans to crowd your church's online space. So how do you keep these folks out? Content filters? Volunteer moderators? Weekly exorcism services to remove the demons in the Internet?

Media Salt has you covered with three solid tips:

• Moderate discussion, but rarely intervene.
• Have blocking controls in place.
• Trust your audience.

Make sure to read their entire piece to get all the nitty-gritty details.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:57 AM
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Thanks, Sponsors!

(Filed under: News & Updates)

We'd like to take a quick break from our regularly-scheduled spoon-fed church marketing knowledge to thank the companies who sponsor us at Church Marketing Sucks.

We're not simply acting as corporate shills here. We allow these organizations to sponsor us because we believe that what they're doing is helping churches communicate the gospel more clearly. So, a big thanks goes out to:

• Clover Sites provides simple, sharp web sites for churches who need flexibility but don't want to break the bank.
• Faith Highway creates quality web sites with an eye towards attracting first-time visitors.
• Integrity Music focuses on communicating the gospel through quality worship resources and musicians.
• Collision Media handles both web and print design that aims to be beautiful and practical.

Thanks guys, it's great to have you in the CFCC Ad Network!

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:09 AM
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July 28, 2009

Selling Your Church for Your People

(Filed under: Examples)

We've got this church building, worth a shade over a million dollars, and it's almost completely paid off.

For many churches, this would be time to start dreaming of stuffing the pews with dollar bills or adding a doctorate program to their Sunday school repertoire. Perhaps the long-needed upgrade from burlap sacks to purple, velvet regalia for the choir?

But for one church in my home town of Fayetteville, Ga., it was the perfect time to cash in for the sake of the community. They're selling their building to focus on people. Carlos Whitaker covers the story.

They've decided to take those million dollars in equity and re-invest them, not in their building or furnishings, but in their people--and their people's people. That money is going back into the community to help those who are struggling.

Sure, their site violates plenty of Tony Morgan's 10 ways to keep him from visiting your church, but it's a pretty great way to make me visit your church when you decide to sell all you have and give it away.

Way beyond slick web sites and pimped-out graphics, this type of stuff puts the church back in church marketing.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:43 AM
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New Churches Poll Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

Recently, we took a look at the three big reasons people choose a church. It essentially breaks down to theology, ministry and fellowship. So what is it that drives you to a church?

Well, for 58% of you, it's theology that's king. You want to know whether or not a potential church shares your dispensational premillennialism before you go giving their greeters your hand. Or maybe it's more practical and you want to know more of their day-to-day theology. But either way, theology is your thing.

Another 10% of you are looking for a place to serve. Does the church make it easy for you to get connected? Do they work with other local ministries? Will they let you make their web site?

And the final third of you (32% to be precise) are looking for friends. You want to go somewhere they'll sing "Happy Birthday" and the old people will bring you warm chocolate chip cookies.

This week, we want to know, which Sunday of the year would you be most likely to invite a friend to church?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:19 AM
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July 27, 2009

More Church Traffic Jams

(Filed under: First Impressions & Beyond)

National Community Church pastor Mark Batterson visited Woodlands Church in Texas this weekend and shared this perspective:

"When I got to Woodlands Church I couldn't believe how many cars were in the turn lane. And I had this thought: how cool that a church is causing a traffic jam. We need a few more traffic jam churches."

Maybe traffic jams are indicative of everything wrong with megachurches, but you've got to love Batterson's underlying point: lots of people coming to church is worth celebrating.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:22 AM
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July 24, 2009

Church Marketing Lab: Logos, Slides and Beyond

(Filed under: Peer Review)

Another great week has come and gone in the Church Marketing Lab. People are coming up with team names, re-emerging in creative work after child bearing and finding churches in New York City. It really is an incredible resource for church communicators to tap into and get the most out of their time. Here are a few of the graphics we've seen come through this week, too:

Rancho Community is getting a brand new logo.

Continue reading "Church Marketing Lab: Logos, Slides and Beyond"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:26 AM
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July 23, 2009

Church Communications Strategy Coaching Network

(Filed under: Resources)

Communications Director Kem Meyer is launching a new coaching network this fall for those involved in church communication. That could be a pastor, a creative or anyone else involved in determining what and how you church is communicating.

Here are a few of the highlights:

• Six coaching sessions with Kem, including targeted discussions.
• Direct access to Kem between meetings.
• Free books and materials, including Less Clutter, Less Noise.
• A free trip to Granger's Innovate 09 conference.

It'll set you back $2,200, but perhaps your church can find it in their budget--something like this could really pay huge dividends in the long run.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:16 AM
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July 22, 2009

Five-Year Anniversary

(Filed under: News & Updates)

On July 22, 2004 the first Church Marketing Sucks post appeared. It's hard to believe we've been at this for five years. In Internet terms that makes us a dinosaur. In human terms that makes us a kindergartner.

Thank you for these five years. We're honored to be a part of the church marketing conversation and we can only hope and pray that above all else the gospel continues to go forward.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:27 AM
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This Old Site Poll Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

Our church web site used to be the sort of thing you mumbled. And you only mumbled after you unsuccessfully tried to "accidentally" give a wrong address at least twice. Now that we've revamped things, it's a bit easier to spit out our URL. But how about you guys--how old is your church site?

38% of you have church sites that are in their prime. They're not brand new, but they're not over-the-hill either. That's good news.

But the next 21% of you aren't so fortunate. Your church site is over 4 years old. You're hoping to upgrade soon and sell the old one to a museum. While another 20% of you are knocking on that group's door with a site that's 2-4 years old.

Just a hair less of you, 17%, have a site that you've recently pulled the wrapper off. It still has that new site smell, and you're loving it right now.

Then, a tiny slice of you don't even have a site. That's 5% of you, and I'm sure some of you are members of a house church or no church. Those of you in a church with no site, what's the rub? Is a site in your future plans at all?

And for this week's poll, we want to know: People usually pick a church for one of three big reasons. Which is most important to you?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:43 AM
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July 21, 2009

Preaching Zen

(Filed under: Technology)

We've had a lot of comments on last week's post about John Piper's thoughts on video and mass media in sermons. Short recap: Piper doesn't like them.

You can read all the comments on the post. You can read Collide Magazine's response. Here's my take: Preaching, just like any presentation, doesn't work if you can't communicate it well. If you drown your sermon in PowerPoint slides and fancy video, you risk losing people. But if all you do is stand at the pulpit and talk, you risk losing all the visual learners and ADD people who simply don't learn that way.

The more I hear conversations about the pros and cons of technology in preaching, the more I think Garr Reynolds' Presentation Zen is very applicable to the church. Reynolds talks about how to give great presentations, and the same advice applies to preaching.

Rather than argue about the place of video and drama in Sunday morning, how about we focus on giving better presentations? If that means less video, so be it. If that means more video, so be it. Focus on the ideas and the clear, concise presentation of those ideas, and you'll be good.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:35 AM
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July 20, 2009

Updates from the Job and Freelance Lab

(Filed under: News & Updates)

You don't need me to let you know about any economic troubles. And as many folks haven't been hiring, things have been a bit more quiet around the Job Lab and Freelance Lab. But we have been seeing a bit of a spike lately, so we wanted to let you know about the newest opportunities.

If you're looking for a little work on the side, check out these opportunities:

• This church is looking for postcards and graphics for an upcoming sermon series.
  
• Wolf Lake Church is looking for someone to design a site for them.
  
• A Winston-Salem church plant needs a map created for them to use in various media.

Or maybe you're looking for something more full-time? Then check these jobs out:

• If you can produce video and audio, then the Portland Rescue Mission might be right for you.
• Journey Church is hiring a graphic artist in Norman, Okla.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:19 AM
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July 17, 2009

Keeping Preaching Pure

(Filed under: Technology)

John Piper is someone I respect to an extraordinary degree. We might not agree on everything, but on those matters, if you want to be safe, you should defer to his point of view rather than mine. When it comes to theology and preaching, don't mess with this guy. So it obviously interested me when he addressed using movie clips and non-speaking material in the context of preaching. Here's the crux of his argument:

I think the use of video and drama largely is a token of unbelief in the power of preaching. And I think that, to the degree that pastors begin to supplement their preaching with this entertaining spice to help people stay with them and be moved and get helped, it's going to backfire. It's going to backfire.

So what say you, intrepid Church Marketing Sucks reader? Dare you step in the ring and go toe-to-toe with the hard-hitting (Christian) hedonist? Or do you buy his argument that we're getting a little soft in our preaching with all this non-preaching bologna?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 10:11 AM
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July 15, 2009

The Episcopal Church: Come Watch Us Argue Over Gay People

(Filed under: Philosophy)

Forget I Am Episcopalian. The Episcopal Church has a new marketing slogan: "Come watch us argue over gay people."

OK, not really. But wouldn't it be funny? I came across this nugget of a marketing statement in the midst of an NPR story on the continuing battle in the Episcopal Church over gay bishops. The statement comes at the end of the article and isn't actually a potential new slogan, but a bit of frustration over the conflict. But I think it presents an important marketing insight.

Susan Russell, a liberal priest in California, thinks it is time the Episcopal Church moves forward:

"A church that is obsessed with fighting over whether or not gay and lesbian people can be bishops is not real attractive. I mean, 'Come watch us argue over gay people' is not a great marketing scheme. And I'm of the mind the decisions we're making are going to encourage church growth rather than decline."

Continue reading "The Episcopal Church: Come Watch Us Argue Over Gay People"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 11:35 AM
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July 14, 2009

Growing Church Poll Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

It's a point of curiosity for us to know about our readers' churches. It helps us get a better picture of what to cover and how to cover it. So we decided to turn to you in order to find out what's going on with your church in terms of growth.

32% of you are on a plateau--you're neither growing nor shrinking. But you're visiting our site in order to find new ways to grow. And 31% of you are growing, however slowly it might be. You have your eyes on the prize, and you're excited to be moving up instead of moving down.

After that, there are two groups of you that are polar opposites. 15% of you practically wrote the book on multiplication (No, not that kind of multiplication--don't flatter yourself.), and 14% of you are shrinking and you don't know how to stop it. I don't know that our blog, particularly a poll results post, is the way to help you right a shrinking ship, but hopefully this humble blog can provide some assistance.

Finally, 5% of you are staying steady and loving it, while 4% of you are shrinking, but it isn't your fault. I'm not sure whether to applaud this as uncanny wisdom and peace, or to say that it's run-of-the-mill foolery. I'm sure our commenters can make that call.

This week, we want to find out: How old is your church's web site?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 11:40 AM
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July 13, 2009

Web Usability and Donations

(Filed under: Web Sites)

Web usability guru Jakob Nielsen recently wrote an article entitled Donation Usability: Increasing Online Giving to Non-Profits and Charities. In it, he discusses the virtues of creating a usable online donation system with effective design and writing.

Copywriters, designers and information architects, pay attention. Nielsen has this to say:

Non-profits would collect much more from their websites if only they'd clearly state what they are about and how they use donations. Our new usability studies revealed considerable frustration as potential donors visited sites and tried to discern various organizations' missions and goals--which are key factors in their decisions about whether to give money.

In 2008, non-profits got about 10% of their donations online, according to a survey by Target Analytics. Given the high growth rate for Internet donations, we estimate that they'll constitute the majority of donations by 2020. If non-profit organizations get their sites into shape, that is.

Churches may think they're exempt from this, but the same basic idea holds true. People want to know what you're doing with their money. Since churches have a poor track record that's even more important.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:42 AM
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July 10, 2009

Church Marketing Lab: Heroes, Asian heroes and Female Sexuality

(Filed under: Peer Review)

Think your design or idea is too out-there or unusual to execute or to post in the Church Marketing Lab? Well, this is one of those updates that will let you know we see it all. Here's a hair of what we've been seeing through the image pool this week:

This design is for redeeming female sexuality, a panel discussion for women.

Continue reading "Church Marketing Lab: Heroes, Asian heroes and Female Sexuality"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:14 AM
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July 9, 2009

2009 HOW Design Conference Wrap-Up Report

(Filed under: Events)

I'm a week late posting this, as I really struggled how to put the HOW Design Conference in words. It was really quite incredible to simply be invited to speak again, let alone the tremendous conversations that were started and continue to happen.

Those connections were the best part, but lets save the best for last, and start by talking about me. I've been asked by many what I talked about. I think I rewrote my outline alone a dozen times before finally settling on what to bring this incredible audience. I settled on:

• Vomit : doing church with mediocrity makes God sick.
• God : created in his likeness, creativity is in us and wants to experienced.
• Nightclubs : it's time we stopped hiding within the walls of the church and engaged with those outside.
• Ninjas : it is time we moved away from us vs. them and linked the creative's talents with the pastor's vision.

Thank you to everyone that attended, the great questions that you brought (the best part of the talk in my opinion) and welcoming me so warmly. As promised we are giving away a ninja ... actually 2 ninjas. The winners are...

Continue reading "2009 HOW Design Conference Wrap-Up Report"

Posted by Michael Buckingham at 7:33 AM
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July 8, 2009

Guns in Church Poll Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

One church recently asked members to bring their guns to church. A whole heap of you weighed in with your comments, but we wanted to give you some cut-and-dry options to find out exactly how you, our readers, feel about this.

57% of you think that bringing guns to church sucks. You prefer not to be at a church where everyone is packing heat.

Another 23% of you are just wondering what guns have to do with marketing, and that's a good question. When you ask people to bring their guns to church, you have marketed yourself in a certain way. And that's why we're asking about it.

The final 20% of you are totally in favor of churches supporting the right to bear arms, and you don't see any issues with keeping churches and attenders safe in this way.

This week, we have a pretty simple question for you--Is the church you're attending growing?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 5:53 AM
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July 7, 2009

Why People Pick a Church

(Filed under: Demographics/Research)

Here's an oldie but a goodie: Over at Church Relevance Kent Shaffer answered a question about why people pick a church. He shares the results of three different studies, but across the board it seems that theology, ministry and fellowship are the big three that bring people in and keep them coming.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:15 AM
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July 6, 2009

Come and Care

(Filed under: Evangelism & Outreach)

I spent 90 minutes last week with a pastor from the northeast who was visiting Los Angeles for a few days. He moved to the United States from Ghana 20 years ago and is pastoring a church he started 15 years ago in the Hyde Park area of Boston. I love hanging with "local" pastors! These men and women who live where they are, caring for the community right in front of them are too often overlooked in our superstar culture of celebrity leaders. But I digress.

I asked my friend how he has continued to be a part of growing a healthy church community for so many years. Two words, he said, "come and care."

Instead of spending his time trying to get people to come to church, he invests his time getting the people that do come to actually care. When people care, there is no longer an issue of getting people to come, he said. The people who care will get people to come which gets more people to care... and the cycle continues.

At the risk of trivializing so many other well-known and proven "strategies" for building healthy churches, including those that may be this same approach stated differently, it was a breath of fresh air to hear such a simple approach.

What would it look like for you to get people to care?

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:00 AM
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July 3, 2009

Christians Are Crazy Protestors

(Filed under: Evangelism & Outreach)

Phil Cooke and Think Christian have recently covered a marketing stunt by Electronic Arts surrounding the release of a new game, Dante's Infrerno. Here's a bit of what happened:

The game publisher hired a group of nearly 20 people to stand outside the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles on Wednesday and appear to protest the upcoming EA game "Dante's Inferno." EA spokeswoman Holly Rockwood says the stunt was arranged by a viral marketing agency hired by EA.

This is a reckless, foolish stunt by Electronic Arts, and it makes them seem like very disingenuous [insert a derogatory name of choice]s. Stunts like this at the expense of others and that are so blatantly dishonest really irritate me.

But all that aside, as Christians, we set them up for this joke. I told the story of when Hooters came to the town of the church I attended here, and I think this is in the same vein. We've made ourselves the butt of the joke by being protesters rather than servants. And now, it's a tough pill to swallow as we reap the fruits of that stance.

What is your church doing to distance itself from these sort of outlandish protests in favor of a more philanthropic, gospel-based views?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:30 AM
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July 2, 2009

Scalejacking and Performance Metrics

(Filed under: Demographics/Research)

Jeff Goins recently posted at Wrecked for the Ordinary entitled Marketers, Quit Hijacking Our Communities.

In it, he makes some great points regarding marketers' obsession with numbers and metrics. I'll give you a couple snippets to whet your appetite, but you don't want to miss the entire article.

I'll quote Jeff who quotes Seth Godin who is quoting Dave Balter (welcome to the Internet.):

"Because marketers were raised on the scale of mass-TV, radio, newspapers, they have a churn and burn mentality. The Internet turns this upside down. The Internet is about who, not how many. The Internet lets you take really good care of 100 people instead of harassing 2,000."

Continue reading "Scalejacking and Performance Metrics"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:03 AM
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July 1, 2009

The Power of a Testimony

(Filed under: The Christian Walk)

by Tobias Sturesson, Guest Blogger

"And they have overcome (conquered) him by means of the blood of the Lamb and by the utterance of their testimony..." (Revelation 12:1, Amplified Bible)

In the marketing world, there is a great understanding of the power of a testimony. It doesn't matter what you claim about your product, but it does matter that some of the people who have used your product share their experience.

I am involved in the marketing strategy group of a large Christian conference center in Sweden, and we encourage all of our guests to comment on their visit. Then, we ask for permission to use that in our printed material or on our web site, and it has proven to be incredibly effective for us.

Continue reading "The Power of a Testimony"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 7:21 AM
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