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October 30, 2009

Cultivate & Story: Church Communication in Chicagoland

As the autumnal march of church conferences continues, this was a big week with Cultivate and Story in the Chicago area. Both conferences had different approaches--Cultivate was no frills, community-based and interaction-driven while Story was big production, personality-based and experience-driven. But both events focused on communication and had loads of stellar ideas for your church.

There are plenty of good note-takers out there, so here are a few folks you can learn from:

• Tim Schraeder shares lots of notes from both events. He's a note-taker extraordinaire.
• Justin Wise collected his Twitter thoughts on both events.
• WebDrivenChurch gives overviews of both events.
• Church Whisperer shared thoughts on Cultivate.
• Catalyst gives a collection of links (including some overlap with the above links).
• Janet Oberholtzer was inspired by Story to share her story.
• Paul Steinbrueck asks what's changed after these events?

You can also check the Twitter conversation for Cultivate and Story to find way more thoughts, reactions and summaries. Also, the Chicago Tribune covered church marketing and Cultivate.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:59 AM
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October 27, 2009

Church Apps Poll Results

We recently wrote on churches developing iPhone applications. The article spawned some great discussion, and we wanted to know what the Church Marketing Sucks community thought--too techno-centric? A great idea? Something you could care less about?

Well, nearly 60% of you are on board. 31% of you are pumped up, fired up and generally excited (up) about it. You love the idea of keeping your church in your pocket, sharing it with your friends and staying involved in your community that way. Another 30% think it has potential, but it's only good if you can nail the execution and deliver something great.

The other 40% of you aren't so sold on the idea. Of those, 12% are keeping an open mind, but you think just having a workable web site and good product ought to do the trick. An equal number argue that you can spend your time and money more effectively than chasing the winds of technology. And 15% of you are just plain tired of hearing about an app for this and an app for that, and you couldn't care less about an iAnything.

Our own Kevin Hendricks made a great point relating to Twitter that sometimes it seems the church can never win. Either we're pegged as technophiles who are always chasing the latest technology or antediluvians who are ignorant of the world around us.

So it sounds like we'll be going back to some old advice on this one: use only when necessary. It's not a bad thing, and it's not a good thing. If it fits in with your church's strategy, it could be a great thing. If it doesn't, it could be a huge bust.

This week, we want you to let us know: How do you most frequently enjoy your dose of CMS?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:07 AM
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October 26, 2009

The Branding Process: Start to Finish

Designer Von Glitschka recently shared his experience doing a branding/identity project for Northwest Church in Shoreline, Wash. He shares the many iterations the design went through as well as some insight into the final product. Don't forget to check out the video.

This is a fabulous glimpse into the creative process. Designers can learn a lot of insider tips and process, and non-designers can get a feel for what really goes into a logo project. You get out what you put into it, and that definitely shows in this case. This was originally shared in the Church Marketing Lab, another reminder that it pays to check out that creative community.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:56 AM
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October 23, 2009

Church Marketing Lab: Story Books, Retreat Promos & More

When folks in the Church Marketing Lab haven't been chatting about the Christmas hall of fame, Twittering tools for churches and effective versus original, they've been helping one another through concepts and designs in a big way. Don't believe me? Check out some of their work and comments:

Steve the Yeti promotes the Totally Tubular Retreat in this video.

Continue reading "Church Marketing Lab: Story Books, Retreat Promos & More"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 11:14 AM
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October 21, 2009

Wambulance Poll Results

Crying babies in church services can be a downright pain in the backside. Partly because they're crying, loudly, in church. But even more so due to the inevitable mental gymnastics around the question, "What should we do about this?!" What do most churches do? What does your church do? We set out to find the answer.

43% of you just take one for the team, put on the attitude of Jesus and thank God for the little ones. It's a lot easier than making a scene and turning crying babies into crying mothers and angry fathers. And heck, it might even be a lot more Christ-like.

27% of you solve the problem before it starts, and you have your church police plugging babies into the nursery or your baby ministry. And another 24% of you are waiting a little longer to redirect, and you redirect into a cry room or overflow room--something of that sort.

A final 7% of you go with the always-fun option of staring and dirty looks. You don't care if the baby stops crying, but you at least want the parents to feel the pain in your eardrums.

This week, click on over and vote on our new question: Your church. Do you want an app for that?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:27 PM
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Deadly Viper Character Assassins

Editor's Note: Due to an on-going controversy over culturally insensitive themes in the book's design, the publisher of this book, Zondervan, has issued an apology and pulled the book from shelves.

"Don't judge a book by its cover," they say. I've heard it plenty of times but I've just never been able to buy into it. I do judge a book by its cover--and order food by its picture. You might have the greatest content ever, but if you don't do something to connect with me, if I never pick up the book--it's just words that are never read.

For me it doesn't just stop there. I have a really tough time taking the time to read. I know I should do more of it but I get bored and distracted easily. Let's face it, in a day of iPods and Kindles, why do I need to buy your pages of words?

That's why I appreciate Mike Foster and Jud Whilhite's Deadly Viper Character Assassins: A Kung Fu Survival Guide for Life and Leadership, the hardcover guide to their Deadly Viper initiative. It is engaging both with content and visuals, a book that's more magazine than book, similar to Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw. It was almost as if they were watching me reading it and just as I'd begin to drift away--BAM--an image of nunchuks or an illustrated comic would pull me back in.

Continue reading "Deadly Viper Character Assassins"

Posted by Michael Buckingham at 8:27 AM
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October 20, 2009

Tell a Story That's True

I keep coming across videos being passed around by Christians that are essentially video versions of debunked e-mail forwards. There's the more professional "Does God Exist?" video featuring a childhood Albert Einstein (oh wait, no, Snoped!) and the more homemade "This Will Keep Us All Thinking" video telling the story of a USC professor who disproves God every semester (and Snoped!). Both videos have upwards of 100,000 views, boatloads of comments (don't even go there unless you want to see lots of idiocy) and both are being used to argue for the inclusion of religion in schools. The more professional version is from Macedonia's Ministry of Education and Science and is arguing for religion in general, the other video is being used by an organization arguing to put Christ back in schools.

The irony is deep.

Let's make an argument to put religion back in schools that uses debunked stories that we claim are true. That doesn't say much for the type of educational improvement you want or the integrity of the religion you're promoting.

Continue reading "Tell a Story That's True"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:22 AM
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October 19, 2009

Your Church: Is There an App for That?

You might have heard the old news that Mars Hill in Seattle has developed an iPhone application. As has The Reaction, a movement in Denver. And a couple weeks ago, NOOMA provided me the opportunity to preview one of their iPhone applications--designed to give owners an opportunity to look on with a friend and go through discussion questions together.

A search through the App Store revealed a few more church applications, plenty of church finders and some Christian quote search engines. It seems that the church is getting on board with this whole "app" thing. Even theWashington Post covered the idea of religious applications.

This whole idea has got me feeling conflicted.

Continue reading "Your Church: Is There an App for That?"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:49 AM
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October 15, 2009

Donald Miller's Million Miles

I think Donald Miller has finally written a book to compete with the attention from his last hit, Blue Like Jazz. I realize he has written other books since, but none of them seemed to connect as well as Jazz did.

Miller's latest, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life, is quite a read. It's a first person narrative about a guy who is offered a movie deal and, in the process of trying to write a script, realizes his story is boring. Donald Miller's life had been caught up in writing other books and stories while the story of his own life had become as exciting as a movie about a guy who buys a car. But, says Miller, “Nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo.”

A Million Miles reflects the same great humor Miller had in Jazz, and yet is packed with more vulnerable emotion than I was prepared for. The stories Miller tells are mostly his own, as he attempts to understand the components for what makes a good life story. In the process, I found myself wrestling with the same issues. What makes a good story? What stories do people want to be a part of? What stories do we ignore? What stories are worth living?

“If you aren’t telling a good story, nobody thinks you died too soon; they just think you died.”

As communicators of the greatest story ever told, we could do well to learn from Miller's Miles. By learning and applying the principals for what makes a good story, we can move closer to living a life worth telling.

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:45 AM
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October 14, 2009

$5 Million Bridge to Somewhere: Tie it to the Purpose

Church building campaigns can be hard for congregations to swallow. But how about building a $5 million bridge to ease parking congestion for a church? That's what North Point Community Church outside Atlanta, Ga., is doing with their Let's Build a Bridge campaign. When I first saw it I literally thought it was a joke. As the opening copy explained:

Are you tired of sitting in the parking lot for twenty minutes after church? Do you hesitate to invite friends to church because of the complexity of getting on and off our campus? Have you ever skipped the closing song to beat the crowds to lunch?

Therefore North Point needs a $5 million, three-lane bridge that spans 1,000 feet of floodplain and wetlands. It's no joke. As North Point pastor Andy Stanley explains, this has been nine years in the making.

Before anyone dumps all over North Point, complaining about $5 million going to a better use or pointing out the evils of megachurches or urging North Point to go multi-site (uh, they already are and also plant quite a few churches), it's worth letting Stanley explain it:

Is it worth it? It all depends. If our mission is to be a church thatʼs perfectly designed for the people who already attend, then we donʼt need a bridge. But if we want to continue to be a church unchurched people love to attend, then yes, itʼs worth it. From my perspective, this is not a “nice to have” option. Honestly, I donʼt want to raise money for, or give money to, something thatʼs not mission critical. I believe creating a second access point allows us to stay on mission. That is why weʼve been working on this for nine years.

Continue reading "$5 Million Bridge to Somewhere: Tie it to the Purpose"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 2:35 PM
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Invitations Poll Results

The question is a little bit awkward, and it can feel like you're about to get in trouble. "Have you invited anyone to church recently?" For me, memories of youth group surface, where your Christian street cred was based totally on the number of popular kids you were bringing to church.

But the painful reality is, many of us don't actually invite friends and family to church. We decided to do some investigating. Keep in mind that our audience is a group of church marketers--people fundamentally concerned with getting the word out about churches.

23% of you haven't invited anyone to church in the past year. That's not to belittle you or anything of the sort. Maybe you're trying to help your own church get to an "invitable" place. Or maybe you're working on discipleship on a more personal level.

The biggest chunk of you have invited someone a small handful of times. That's nearly half of you who are inviting at a clip of one person every few months.

Next, we're headed to the super-inviters. A quarter of you are inviting four to ten people a year, and 12% of you are going over ten a year. That's pretty impressive--sounds like you're either the pastor of your church or have a church you're really excited to bring guests to.

So let's hear it in the comments--what is it that keeps you from inviting people to church?

I'll start: I don't slow down enough during the day to talk to people and build relationships that get to a point where I could invite someone.

Your turn.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:47 AM
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October 13, 2009

We're on Facebook

We've recently been diving into the world of social media and content as status updates with our foray into Twitter. Now we've joined the Facebook bandwagon as well, utilizing much of the same content. So pick your favorite flavor of social media and join us for the continuing church marketing conversation.

For more on using Facebook for your church you can check out Facebook for Pastors and the accompanying Facebook group. For some practical tips you can check out a piece I wrote for businesses that could also apply to the church, 10 ways to make the most of Facebook fan pages.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:50 AM
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October 12, 2009

Nov. 8th: Orphan Sunday

In October, we didn't really get any church holidays. In all fairness, it's a busy season. With fall festivals, trunk or treats, harvest fairs and tribulation trails, there's very little room for holidays like Faith in Action Day and Back to Church Sunday from the preceding months.

But I must say, I'm pretty excited about November's option. Orphan Sunday is Nov. 8th. From their web site:

On Orphan Sunday, Christians stand for the orphan. We are a people called to defend the fatherless … to care for the child that has no family … to visit orphans in their distress ... Nov. 8, 2009. Orphan Sunday is your opportunity to rouse church, community and friends to God’s call to care for the orphan.

Continue reading "Nov. 8th: Orphan Sunday"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:23 AM
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October 9, 2009

Church Marketing Lab: Themed Lobbies & Christmas Coming Early

It's been awhile since we've rounded up all the shenanigans going on in the Church Marketing Lab, so we thought we'd let you know what's been going on. Discussions have ranged from themed lobby space to free MailChimp accounts to church-front signs. And of course, fun is still being had at the expense of Papyrus. And of course, we've been seeing tons of graphics come through for critique, review and general fun:

The Christmas Conspiracy is a giving campaign to raise funds for great causes around Christmas.

Continue reading "Church Marketing Lab: Themed Lobbies & Christmas Coming Early"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:07 AM
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October 8, 2009

America's Giving Challenge

The Case Foundation just kicked off a month long fund raising effort with America's Giving Challenge. They're giving away $150,000 in prize money to charities that can mobilize the most supporters from Oct. 7 to Nov. 6. There will be daily prizes of $1,000 and $500 to the charities with the most donations, and month-long prizes of $50,000, $25,000 and $10,000 for the top seven charities.

It's all based on the number of donations, not the amount donated, and it utilizes Facebook's Causes application. Which means it's all about spreading the word in your network. The minimum donation is $10 and you can donate once per day to be counted towards the daily totals.

So what does this have to do with church marketing?

Continue reading "America's Giving Challenge"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:21 AM
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Values of the CFCC Community

This is a follow up to my post earlier this week about the purpose of the Center for Church Communication (CFCC). Communicating the values and purpose of CFCC are in light of what I wrote last week about purpose, values, vision and mission.

Values should guide everything you do. They are the glue that hold everything together. And like purpose, they should never change.

Center for Church Communication Values
These are the values for the community that is the Center for Church Communication:

• We communicate clearly.
• We seek to build friends for life, not friends for leverage.
• We pursue and pioneer the impossible.
• We cultivate opportunities and pull weeds immediately.
• We never stop learning.
• We are generous in our praise for others.
• We humbly express our unique personality.
• We disagree well.
• We collaborate with integrity and transparency.
• We don't steal.
• We own mistakes and immediately resolve problems.
• We have a life outside of the CFCC community.

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:49 AM
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October 7, 2009

CMS on Twitter Poll Results

I'm sure most of you have noticed, but in case you haven't: Church Marketing Sucks recently joined the Twitter party. Since then, we've made tons of new friends, shared some great content and even got a comma in our follower count. But we really want to do this whole Twitter thing right, so we wanted to know how you'd like us to use the service.

Far and away your biggest request is for short church marketing links that don't merit a whole post. That's a whole 25% of you.

And a big request is just for a more personal side to our crew. Back-and-forths, at replies, opinions and recommendations are at the top of your list for Church Marketing Sucks on Twitter. And heck, I guess live coverage of events could fall into this category, which 11% of you are hoping we provide.

But do you want to be linked to actual Church Marketing Sucks stories? Well, 15% of you want links when comments get interesting and 9% of you want a full feed of entries. But 14% of you are begging us not to flog you with every single entry. So we'll try and strike up the right balance there. Feel free to keep giving us feedback.

And lastly, 4% of you just want mentions so you can get followers. That's not to mention those who just want mentions for their product or their service. But blog rules apply: Feel free to let us know about what you have to offer, and we'll plug it if we see the value for our community. No link exchanges, cut-and-dry retweet swaps or vanity mentions.

We're excited about the value this can bring to the Church Marketing Sucks community!

This week, our poll question is personal for you: How many people have you invited to your church in the last 12 months?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:21 AM
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October 6, 2009

Purpose of the CFCC Community

As a follow up to my post last week about purpose, values, vision and mission, it seems appropriate to communicate the purpose and values of the Center for Church Communication (CFCC), the nonprofit behind Church Marketing Sucks (CMS) and a handful of other projects both happening and in the hopper.

I'll break this into two different posts, and follow today's "purpose" post with a post later this week about our values.

History
First, a brief explanation of CFCC and its role in Church Marketing Sucks and sister projects. CFCC and CMS started in 2004. The original idea behind CFCC was to provide communication and marketing services to churches. CMS started as a conversation for the community of communicators to learn and grow together as we frustrate, educate and motivate the church to communicate, with uncompromising clarity, the truth of Jesus Christ. Although CFCC and CMS were birthed at the same time by the same group of people (under my meager leadership), they were separate ideas powered by different teams without any relationship to each other (to avoid any potential or perceived conflicts of interest). It didn't take long for CFCC to abandon its original model (mission), and instead come alongside and be the over-arching organization for CMS, the Church Marketing Lab, and other projects being hatched. In 2005, CFCC was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.

Continue reading "Purpose of the CFCC Community"

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:18 AM
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October 5, 2009

Leadership Lessons from the Nines

About a month ago the Leadership Network hosted the Nines web conference on Sept. 9, 2009. It was a day-long event of over 70 leaders sharing lessons via nine minute videos. Leadership Network has posted those videos online to watch at your convenience.

There’s loads of great content, including Shawn Wood talking about managing creatives, Anne Jackson going sans makeup to talk about authenticity and many more. We wanted to highlight a few of those videos and summarize their lessons, but there are 77 videos on the site, so we’re just scratching the surface.

Scott Williams: Church Diversity Sucks
Scott Williams, the campus pastor of the Northwest Oklahoma City campus of LifeChurch.tv, starts things off with a challenge: “Church diversity sucks.” Talk about finding a place in our hearts! He goes on to talk about the importance of diversity within the church and quotes Martin Luther King Jr. talking about Sunday morning being the most segregated hour of the week. In a perfect world race shouldn’t matter, but were not in a perfect world and it does matter. Church diversity sucks, but it doesn’t have to.

Watch Scott Williams

Continue reading "Leadership Lessons from the Nines"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:19 AM
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October 1, 2009

Thanks to Clover, faithHighway, Integrity Music and Wix

We need to give a big shout out of thanks to our current CFCC Ad Network members:

• Clover provides affordable web sites for churches.
• faithHighway helps churches reach their communities with web sites, commercials, online sermon streaming, design services and more.
• Integrity Music focuses on communicating the gospel through quality worship resources and musicians.
• Wix offers a free Flash web site builder to add some, well, flash to your church site.

We try to keep the advertising minimal on the site (which is why we only display one ad at a time), but it does help pay the bills. So big thanks to these guys! If your company or organization is looking to reach church communicators, consider the CFCC Ad Network.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:39 PM
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