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August 31, 2009

Inside the Creative Process at North Point

Many of you have heard of North Point Community Church or their lead pastor Andy Stanley. They were one of the pioneers of the attractional church model, and to this day, not many churches do it better.

A big part of that is top-notch design. And recently, they explained their creative process for the media of one of their series. You might not have the funds they have or the manpower, but you can certainly learn something from their process.

They do a great job going from their starting point with a magazine image, through their promotional videos and title packages, all the way to their final graphics. Make sure to either check their process out yourself or share it with the creatives working at your church.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:41 AM
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August 28, 2009

Another Word for 'Church'?

My wife and I traveled to Hawaii a few weeks ago for a co-worker's wedding. We stayed over an extra day and attended a church service in downtown Honolulu with a friend of many years who had just moved to Hawaii. The community she is a part of is called Bluewater Mission, a newer church plant by a Stanford and University of Chicago grad with roots in the Presbyterian Church and the Vineyard Church (what a combo!).

Aside from the refreshing collective of diverse people, gathered in a noisy community center to worship and learn from the Word, what struck me most was their name.

Bluewater Mission

Not Bluewater Church.

Bluewater Mission.

Mission.

I think I like it.

Continue reading "Another Word for 'Church'?"

Posted by Brad Abare at 3:21 PM
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August 27, 2009

Still Don't Think Social Media Matters?

Many pastors still think technologies haven't caught on or that investing in social media isn't worth their church's time. Next time you hear that from someone, perhaps you could share a few of these statistics with them:

• It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million listeners. Terrestrial TV took 13 years to reach 50 million users. The Internet took four years to reach 50 million people... In less than nine months, Facebook added 100 million users.
• Universal McCann reports that 77% of all active internet users regularly read blogs.
• More than 120 million users log on to Facebook at least once each day and more than 30 million users update their statuses at least once each day. Combined, more than 5 billion minutes are spent on the site on a daily basis.
• Over the past 12 months, Twitter’s year-on-year growth rate has broken the 1000% barrier.
• If Facebook were a country, it would be the fourth most populated place in the world. This means it easily beats the likes of Brazil, Russia and Japan in terms of size.

Catch some more social media statistics in these two posts.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:44 AM
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August 26, 2009

Fall Conferences Poll Results

If you browse through our Events Lab, you'll see there's no shortage of conferences over the next few months. There are some really great ones out there run by people who are incredibly passionate about communicating the gospel clearly. So naturally, we wanted to know how many you'd be attending.

56% of you don't have a conference in the budget this year. Luckily, if you're in the D.C. area, you can be a part of the Idea Camp for free, as Michael Buckingham recently shared. If you're nowhere near, then you can still catch some great notes and videos online.

13% of you are planning to do just that. You're not subsidizing anyone's buildings and paperwork; you're going straight to the Internet for your fall conference needs.

30% of you have your go-to conferences that you're at every year, and this year will be no different. Let's hear what they are and what keeps you coming back to them in the comments.

And a final 1% of you are church conference junkies. You'll be live-blogging, conference-hopping, freebie-loading and doing lots of other hyphenated conference-speak. But it's certainly over two conferences for you.

This week, we're interested in knowing: If you were checking out a new church, what type of facility would you be most inclined to visit?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 2:17 PM
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A Conference of Compassion

If you look at our calendar, you'll see that there are a lot of conferences out there--one for everyone. There's one right around the corner that sets itself apart for a number of reasons.

• The price. It's free.
• The focus. The focus is on the participants, not the keynote speakers (and I've said before the speakers aren't the best part). This conference positions itself as focusing on you the participant not the keynote speakers.
• The topic. This time around the conversation centers around compassion. They'll be talking about homelessness, immigration, water, and many other conversations about the Church's role in showing compassion.
• You don't have to be there. This is the first conference I ever attended, that I didn't attend. Through Twitter and video it was (almost) like I was there.

This conference is of course Charles Lee's brain child--Idea Camp. This time around it is in Washington, D.C., which just seems so fitting. This is the second "camp" and already I've seen the effects of the first with many conferences now broadcasting live, and we're bringing the conversational tone to Cultivate as well. But the biggest lesson I've taken from Charles Lee and Idea Camp is authenticity. This sort of thing isn't faked, people would see through that. It is the real deal.

Posted by Michael Buckingham at 6:22 AM
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August 25, 2009

Is Your Church Communicating Love?

Kevin recently penned "The Episcopal Church: Come Watch Us Argue Over Gay People", and Tim Schraeder added to the conversation with "Love is an Orientation".

His article is a wonderful reminder to continually re-examine whether we are communicating a message of love. Not much commentary to add from this end, just an encouraging reminder to honestly consider exactly what you're communicating, especially to those different from yourself.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:23 AM
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August 24, 2009

A Multi-Site Church Road Trip

by Danette Griffith, Guest Blogger

A Multi-Site Church Road Trip is for leaders in the church who read A Multi-Site Church Revolution and thought, "Wow, this could be us." This follow-up narrative answers the question, "Is this really what we should do?" It delves down into the major issues a multi-site church must consider. It was an easy, yet thought-provoking read, and it was fun to “travel” around to different multi-site churches.

The value of this book is that the three authors visited over 100 multi-site campuses to conduct interviews and organized surveys. What more do you want? The research is done. The authors themselves were not afraid to use the mistakes they had made in their churches as examples. In fact, the hidden treasure in this book in the short chapter, “Multi-Site Roadkill.” For some, learning what a multi-site church is not clarifies what it is.

Continue reading "A Multi-Site Church Road Trip"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:03 AM
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August 21, 2009

SXSW for Your Church

Plenty of you have surely heard of South by Southwest (SXSW) before. And some of you probably know that you can vote for what sessions are held at SXSW 2010. Their web site gives some of the details on how you can vote for sessions. But how does this relate to you?

Well, the church has a huge opportunity to make an impact at SXSW. There are at least five panels related to churches and technology being proposed for 2010, but you need to vote for them if they're going to happen. Here are what they look like:

• Creating Authentic Online Community: Tony Steward, Carlos Whittaker, John Saddington & Cynthia Ware (moderator)
• Technology For Results Not Profits: Bobby Gruenewald, Brad Abare, Kent Shaffer & Terry Storch (moderator)
• LifeChurch.tv: Reaching 2 Million+ With Technology: Terry Storch, Tony Steward, Bobby Gruenewald & Kent Shaffer (moderator)
• Pushing Technological Change Without Alienating Your Co-Workers: Kem Meyer & mystery experts
• A Conversation about Social Change through Social Media: Mark Horvath

So head over to the SXSW site and vote (requires a login) so the church can make a big impact on all the attenders of SXSW. And hopefully we can all learn to communicate a little more effectively in the process.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 9:51 AM
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August 20, 2009

Church Traffic Jams Poll Results

Recently, we discussed Mark Batterson's joy at finding a church traffic jam in Texas. For some, including Mark, this was an immediate cause for rejoicing. For others, it was cause for frustration that a church would be so inconsiderate of their neighbors.

The biggest chunk of you are hesitant to rejoice in this madness. You think it's more a product of poor planning than simply excited crowds. In case you're wondering, that's over half of you--54%.

Next up are the 32% of you who are rejoicing that this many people are showing up to church, regardless of any traffic mayhem that comes along.

Finally, 14% of our respondents are irked that churches are causing such a commotion. Instead, churches should be focused on being less invasive and being better neighbors.

This week, we turn our eyes to the fall conference season. Check our right sidebar to vote: As fall conferences heat up, are you going to be attending a conference this fall?

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

7 is greater than 1

7 is greater than 1. I know that sounds obvious, but as this video from Soul City Church reminds us, we seem to forget that when it comes to church. That's a big reason I do what I do. We need to communicate in a way that is sticky, sticky enough to show up on Tuesday and Thursday and not just a warm fuzzy feeling on Sunday. Watch the video and let it challenge you not just in the way you do church, but also in the way you live your life.

Soul City Church hasn't launched yet, but if this video is an example of what they're going to unleash they're one to watch.

Posted by Michael Buckingham at 7:35 AM
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August 18, 2009

Adoption Over Abortion: We'll Take Any Baby

One Atlanta church has a bold challenge to anyone considering abortion: "Peachtree Presbyterian Church will care for any newborn baby you bring to this church."

So says Pastor Vic Pentz in a recent sermon. The church is partnering with the adoption agency Bethany Christian Services to make this happen and to start the education process for their congregation. Adoption is never simple and easy, but I love this bold action instead of the usual rhetoric around abortion.

We don't need more protests and picket signs. We need more churches stepping forward and making life an easy choice (whether it's adoption or helping a pregnant woman keep the baby).

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:53 AM
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August 17, 2009

Recession Squeezes Churches

The Wall Street Journal recently covered the financial strain churches are facing as the recession continues. It's really the same story we've seen before with churches tightening budgets, laying folks off, and on the plus side, increasing ministries to the unemployed and helping folks out.

But the most telling quote comes from Brian Keith, a 39-year-old engineer who is currently unemployed. He cut his financial donations to the church, but increased his volunteering:

"Ten percent of zero is zero," he said. "I can't tithe without a job."

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:03 AM
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August 12, 2009

Your Slogan/Name Is Not A Strategy

It appears Radio Shack is attempting to rebrand itself as "The Shack." They say it's what their friends call them. Have you ever met a friend of Radio Shack? I might be alone, but the last thing I would call Radio Shack is a friend. Although they are sometimes reliable like a friend in time of need (for those quick cable/connector runs), I find I walk out of there spending twice as much as I would have elsewhere. Some friend.

The Shack. Really? David Coursey says this is a "silly comb-over" attempt. My friend Brett Hutchinson says that a "nickname is not a brand strategy."

I couldn't agree more.

The next time you consider adding or revising your slogan, or even more drastic, changing your name, remember that slogans and names have very little to do with who you are. It's nice when they reflect who you are, but once you have an identity, names and slogans must reinforce who you already are, not who you aspire to be.

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:51 AM
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August 11, 2009

Preaching Poll Results

Recently, John Piper came down on extracurricular activities during sermons. It ignited a great debate in the comments, so we wanted to break it down into some totally unscientific data to pretend we have a better idea of how our audience feels. Here goes:

48% of you are cautiously in agreement. Sometimes we can get carried away with our interpretive dancers and Braveheart clips mid-sermon. But other non-speech activities can be beneficial sometimes.

33% of you think he missed the boat, probably somewhere shortly after he came up with that "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him" line. Seriously, preaching gets bo-o-o-ring; let's get some snazzy media in there.

And a final 19% of you are in total agreement with him. You're tired of all this chatter about Twitter during church and all the hullabaloo of the newest media fad. Let's just focus on great teaching, and let the rest take care of itself.

This week, let us know, what do you think of when you hear of church traffic jams? We'll have the results for you this time next week!

Posted by Joshua Cody at 11:37 AM
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How Bad Is Your Children's Ministry?

For a church in Utah it was apparently bad enough to prompt a 7-year-old to steal the family car and drive himself home. The boy told his father he didn't want to go to church. There's even YouTube video of the police chase.

As goofy as this story is (and dangerous--the boy ran a stop sign and nearly hit another motorist), it does prompt an obvious question for folks like us: Is your church a place kids (or anybody) would love to be? Or is your church so bad visitors would engage in a little grand theft auto to escape? (via Tony Morgan)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:20 AM
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August 10, 2009

September 13: Back to Church Sunday

We thought new years, Easter, the first Sunday of fall and Christmas Eve were the best times to invite a friend. Did you know that September 13th is Back-to-Church Sunday?

MMI reports that Outreach, Inc. is looking to organize September 13th as the day to invite unchurched and de-churched friends to join you at church. They cite various statistics--82% of the unchurched would attend if asked, only 2% of attenders invite friends each year, etc.--that make the point that what we really need to invite people to church is a marketing campaign and rallying cry.

I don't know that I buy into the need for a new church holiday to bolster attendance. What are your thoughts?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 8:59 AM
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August 7, 2009

Giving Prayers to Those in Need

One church in Michigan is skipping the giveaways, glitz and glamour. The LA Times tells the story of a church in a Michigan town, hit hard by the recession. They set up a prayer booth at their local city hall, offering a prayer to each passerby.

At first it might sound a bit cheesy or ineffective, but they're seeing around 175 people per week dropping in for a prayer. When a third of a town find themselves jobless, prayer becomes a bit more of a felt need.

Any worries of ineffectiveness or general heavy-handedness are eased by this paragraph from the article:

Word of the prayer station has spread as the City Hall crowds have grown. The manager of a 7-Eleven wants a station set up next to his soda machines. So does the owner of a ConocoPhillips gas station.

It's easy to get caught up in making church more sexy when a lot of people simply need the church to be more available.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 8:33 AM
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August 6, 2009

Story: Oct. 28-29 Near Chicago

Last week I received a very nice package from Ben Arment, the lead brain behind Story. It looks like Carlos Whittaker received a similar package--watch Los open it, he looks a lot better than I do!

I love Ben's heart behind Story. On the handwritten note he included with the package, he said simply, "My passion is to help church leaders become better communicators." It's as if Ben is speaking the love language of the Center for Church Communication!

If you're a church communicator, I encourage you to get to Aurora, Ill. (about an hour's drive from downtown Chicago) on Oct. 28-29, 2009. And while you're at it, consider coming a day early for Cultivate. It will be a nice primer for Story to get the conversation going. Plus, Cultivate is located in downtown Chicago, a great excuse to come check out the city.

I hope to see you there.

By the way, in my post last week that unintentionally stirred up a firestorm of comments and commentary (along with my sincere apology), I challenged all of us event-goers--including those of us going to Story and Cultivate--to keep our focus first and foremost on Jesus. For a lot of you this seems to be a big "duh." For me, I need constant reminders.

On a related note about Story, when my wife and I were in South Africa last month attending a national arts festival, I had to do a double take at this poster. For a moment, I thought Ben was on a world tour!

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:20 AM
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August 4, 2009

What Time Poll Results

You hear of church attendance spikes at certain times of the year--after the new year, in the fall, Christmas, Easter, etc. But how are these newcomers arriving? Is it at the urging of friends? Are they simply picking a church on these days? We decided to ask you if you're the ones doing the extra inviting at these times.

The resounding answer? Nope. 53% of you don't make a special effort to aim for these special days. You simply invite them to whichever Sunday works in the context of the relationship.

The most popular day for you to invite a friend after "Eh, anytime," is Christmas Eve. 15% of you are most likely to invite friends to your church's dancing Christmas tree, hand bell concert or candle light service.

Sadly, the next most important time is "no time." Your church isn't worth inviting to, so you don't bother on any special days.

After that, call in the scrub holidays. The first Sunday of the fall and Easter hover around 10%, while only 1% of you would be most likely to invite at the beginning of the year.

Recently, the issue was hotly debated here on Church Marketing Sucks, and this week, we're asking this: John Piper thinks we should keep our preaching pure, focusing on the power of our words instead of media. What do you think?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 10:43 PM
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How Does Your Church Play Nice?

I saw this over the weekend from a church in Eagle Rock, Calif., about eight miles outside of downtown Los Angeles. Christian Assembly has been in Eagle Rock for decades and although the size of the church community has grown substantially, they refuse to move or expand their current "campus" (if that's what you call a cluster of rag-tag houses, mobile dwellings and offices crammed into a corner lot, steps away from a busy street). The sanctuary looks the same today as it probably did 30 years ago, including the carpet and pews. Love it.

In their weekly bulletin, which includes announcements, a ministry spotlight, sermon notes, a financial summary and core values, there was a section titled "How we play nice at [Christian Assembly]."

How we play nice at Christian Assembly
• 1. We park at the mall because we don't want to upset our neighbors by blocking driveways or crowding streets.

• 2. We are a big family so we wear name tags.

• 3. We give up any saved seats at the greeting time because admit it, they aren't coming.

• 4. We reserve the last two rows of the section in front of the upper room for parents accompanied by small children... they might need a quick exit.

• 5. In our church family everybody serves in some way.

I'm drawn to this simple approach to remind people about how to behave. It may be a little juvenile to some, but I think it has an appropriate dose of pant-kicking persuasion.

Posted by Brad Abare at 8:37 AM
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August 3, 2009

A Man Has Needs.

In my opinion the demographic that is ignored the most, or at least not considered as much in the what and how of church, is men. We say we want more men in the church, but do our actions back that up?

Crying, flowers, high pitched music ... where's the guy stuff?

Here's a great list from David Moore of some of the things guys need in a church.

A few of my favorites:

Men need to be able to sing the music. I won't say much here, I can't sing a lick. But if all the songs are in a high pitch, all the time, a man will never take a stab at singing. If he never sings, he will never get to experience a quality of worship most enjoy.

Continue reading "A Man Has Needs."

Posted by Michael Buckingham at 10:08 AM
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