May 20, 2009

Where Do I Begin?

From a recent post in the lab:

Hello all... I am new to this board, although I have been frequenting Church Marketing Sucks for quite some time. We have been in existence for a year and are just getting off the ground.



As it is, we really have no one in the church with marketing/graphic design experience but I would like to do more of it myself. My background is in dramatic arts, so I have a experience with stage/theatrical design. 



Where do I begin?

This is quite common in the church, where you're brought onto staff as the youth pastor, secretary, etc. and then someone finds out you know how to use a computer and poof you're the communications person.

So what do you do?

Find Community
Though it may feel like it at times, you are not alone. There are many that are in the same boat as you. Join a local lab, jump into the Church Marketing Lab, reach out to surrounding churches. Surround yourself with people who are doing it well and are struggling to find their way. This is an opportunity to receive encouragement, learn the craft and speak into others.

Continue reading "Where Do I Begin?"

Posted by Michael Buckingham at 7:18 AM
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April 28, 2009

Church Saves $268,000 By Going Green

The First Baptist Church in Springdale, Ark., which has about 6,000 in attendance on Sunday mornings, implemented an energy savings plan in the last year and managed to save $268,000. The plan involves simple, practical things like shutting off the lights, powering down computers at night and turning down the thermostat over night.

"We tell our [staff]: Hey, act like you're at home," says Ben Mayes, the church's executive leader of finance, explaining how simple the changes are. "I think biblically, you're called to be good stewards of what God blesses you with, and I think that's the underlying reason why you do it."

Continue reading "Church Saves $268,000 By Going Green"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:39 AM
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April 20, 2009

3 Tips for Getting Better Freelance Design (A Parable)

by Hal Thomas, Guest Blogger

I walked into my local coffee shop, excited to be meeting with a prospective client who had contacted me only days before. I introduced myself to Jill (not her real name); we ordered lattes and sat down to talk.

Jill told me about a new company she was launching. She said she would need a logo, business cards, a brochure and a web site with e-commerce features and a registered user section. And she needed it all in four weeks.

After Jill gave me a few more of the project details I asked her, “What it your budget for this project?”

Jill seemed flabbergasted. After hemming and hawing for a few minutes, she finally responded to my question with a question of her own: “What is your hourly rate?”

Me: “I prefer to quote projects based on a price for the total job rather than by the hour. I’ve found it usually works out better for both me and my clients that way.”

Jill: “But if you had to charge by the hour, what would you charge?”

Me: “No less than $100 an hour. Maybe more for the web site coding. Depends on who is available to slice and code it on such a tight deadline.”

Jill: “You mean you don’t do all the web design yourself?”

Me: “No ma’am. Have you seen my portfolio or been to my web site?”

Jill: “I’ve been meaning to. I’ve been so busy I just haven’t had a chance yet.”

---

As a result of the current economic challenges, we are all looking for places to save money, and using a freelance designer versus having a full-time staff person is now a serious consideration for many churches. Contracting freelance design can seem like an intimidating process to the uninitiated, but it doesn’t have to be.

Churches can learn from Jill’s mistakes, as they are the same ones churches often make when they contract freelance design, as evidenced by my own experience and a number of the projects listed in the Freelance Lab. Follow these three tips the next time you have to outsource a design project and you’ll already be ahead of the curve.

Continue reading "3 Tips for Getting Better Freelance Design (A Parable)"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 5:05 AM
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April 6, 2009

Creative Solutions: Sharing Buildings

In this economy we're in need of creative solutions. And I love it when the church is a part of those creative solutions.

Intermedia Arts is a local nonprofit in Minneapolis that's been having a serious budget crisis. Salem Lutheran Church and Lyndale United Church of Christ are two churches that partner to share space and were looking for a temporary home.

Salem Lutheran Church and Lyndale UCC are now renting space from Intermedia Arts. All three organizations are coming together and everybody wins. That's cool.

Even reading about the partnership between the two churches sounds like a winning plan:

This partnership is not a merger, but a way for both congregations to be better stewards of their resources while still celebrating their individual history and identity and living within this ecumenical agreement.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:01 AM
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March 16, 2009

The Message of Giving

Christian History has an interesting little article exploring the recent history of the offering in church services. The article covers government-supported churches (that's right, here in the U.S. of A. until 1833) and explains how the weekly passing of the collection plate during worship services didn't become common practice until 1900.

It's a little bewildering to me that a staple of the modern church service is such a recent addition. But it's also freeing, considering how that staple so often trips people up and prompts finger-wagging over churches only wanting your money.

Money and the church have always caused problems--think lightning strikes, indulgences and selling pews, but maybe there's a way we could rethink this practice, still fund the church and do our giving. Without turning people off.

How do you go about doing your offering? And what message is it sending? Could you communicate more effectively by making giving less visible (online giving, pledge drives, etc.)? Or should giving be an active and visible part of our worship, and if so, how do we deal with the naysayers?

Churches have varied on this from the book of Acts and up through the centuries. There's no right answer. But maybe it's time to reconsider how your church conducts its fund raising and whether or not your conventions are communicating your convictions.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 11:06 AM
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February 19, 2009

Fair Use and Your Church: Part 3

by Richard Byrd, guest blogger

This is part three in a three-part series on fair use law and your church. This article is written by a copyright professional, but it is not to be considered specific legal advice for your church. As each situation is unique, if you have specific questions, please consult an intellectual property attorney.

Last time, we started asking questions to help determine if copyrighted material is suitable to use. Two final questions will finish our discussion of fair use for your church:

How much of the work are you using?

It has been said less is more. Nowhere is this truer than in use of copyrighted materials. Another key factor under this section will be whether you are using the “nut” of the copyrighted works. Are you using the portion that defines the essence of the copyrighted works? Parodies are a little different and are an issue unto themselves. Please be reminded there is no magic length or number of measures, etc., that constitutes infringement.

Continue reading "Fair Use and Your Church: Part 3"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 7:12 AM
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February 17, 2009

Fair Use and Your Church: Part 2

by Richard Byrd, guest blogger

This is part two in a three-part series on fair use law and your church. This article is written by a copyright professional, but it is not to be considered specific legal advice for your church. As each situation is unique, if you have specific questions, please consult an intellectual property attorney.

Last time, we talked about some of the essence of copyright law, and we left our conversation wondering how to decide if copyrighted material can be used. Here are a couple questions to use as a litmus test before using copyrighted material:

What is the purpose/intent of your use?

Some of the first questions we ask in our office, what is your intention with the use of the copyright? Are you trying to make a point, create a new use, and how will the work be used.

For Example:

Fairside Fictional Baptist Church takes a series of copyrighted quotations about leadership and puts them under photographs of leaders in action in the Sunday Slide presentation. The combined use of the quotations with pictures have changed the original purpose of the creating a new commentary or insight into the original work. This is usually a “fair use” under the copyright law.

Continue reading "Fair Use and Your Church: Part 2"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 9:12 AM
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February 16, 2009

Fair Use and Your Church: Part 1

by Richard Byrd, guest blogger

This is part one in a three-part series on fair use law and your church. This article is written by a copyright professional, but it is not to be considered specific legal advice for your church. As each situation is unique, if you have specific questions, please consult an intellectual property attorney. We encourage you to read this material, digest it and put it to use at your church. We're going to be taking this material in bite-sized chunks since it's a lot to digest, so stay tuned all week as we continue looking at fair use.

Fair use is one of the most complicated and ambiguous sections under the copyright law. It is very open to interpretation and can only reasonably be looked at on a case-by-case basis. However, there are some basic guidelines and uses that can be applied to your situation. I will try not to burden you down with legalese in this article. For most of the people reading this article, this will not be new ground, my goal is to lay the groundwork for the subsequent parts of this series.

What is Fair Use?

Fair use is the general name given to a set of limitations of copyright found in section 107 through 111 of the Copyright Act. Specifically, the statute states:

The fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.

Continue reading "Fair Use and Your Church: Part 1"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 7:01 AM
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January 27, 2009

Recession-Proof Your Church

New layoffs are announced each week and the unemployment numbers keep rising. Talk of recession-proofing your life is becoming more and more common, and with shrinking giving the church is not immune. Margaret Feinberg says it's time to recession-proof your church. And she gives five steps to doing it that every church can follow. This is the type of thing that would be very good to e-mail your pastor.

She makes the great point that no matter what, God is still in control, and she sees these hard times as an opportunity:

Recognize that financially tough times provide an opportunity for the church and the people of God to shine the brightest. Today, more than ever, your dollar can go further and make a bigger difference in the life of another. As Christians, we are called to be the people who run in when everyone else is running out.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:06 AM
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January 21, 2009

Churches and Copyright

Admittedly, churches struggle with copyright concerns. We had the church-NFL debacle awhile back, and a search for "copyright" yields a small book worth of information.

We contacted a few people to set some of the issues straight where churches were concerned about copyright, and Brian Flagler was one of the first to respond. He let us know that he had a podcast coming up soon with the North Point Music Blog about copyright concerns.

So make sure you check it out, it's a 15-minute Q&A that will give you some great information on copyright laws as they pertain to your church.

If you don't listen, and you end up getting sued for using a song without permission in your services, we will publicly announce that your church marketing sucks.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 8:24 AM
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January 7, 2009

Activity vs. Action

Once again marketing guru Seth Godin stirred up some thinking with this post that caused me to think about all the ministries churches are involved with. While Seth is talking about online activity, this quote is worth pausing on:

"Is the work you're doing actually leading you where you want to go, or merely keeping you busy?"

Think about all the ministries housed in your church, all the effort you put into them and ask yourself that important question--is it leading you (and those you minister to) where you want (and need) to go?

Too often I believe we launch a ministry because it sounds like a great idea, or because someone really thinks it's needed, or maybe even because the hot church down the block just launched one. That can lead to busy work and often doesn't produce a result other than the addition of another ministry.

Before you launch the next ministry be sure that you understand the purpose and define where you want it to take you and those you minister to. There are great ministries that you can skip (or jump in head first). Maybe because there's someone better equipped for the task, maybe it's a question of focus or passion or maybe, and this is every bit as legitimate, you're already spread too thin.

Be purposeful in your ministry and don't confuse activity with action. This will create both successful ministry and happy ministers.

Posted by Michael Buckingham at 5:50 AM
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December 18, 2008

When Churches Market Like Airlines

For a bit of fun to help you through your week, check out Monday Morning Insight's discussion of what the church would look like if it were run like an airline. Really, it's just a look at what would be some fees the church could charge. Maybe this is a good way for you to weather the economic downturn? (Kidding, do not take that suggestion.)

• All aisle seats are now $10/week. Back row premium seating available for $20 per week
• Cell phone ringing during service: $50 one time charge
• Hit job on the organist (rates vary per city/church)
• Read the full list...

I would go beyond just the fees:

• You would arrive on a Sunday only to find out the service didn't begin until Monday, and if you didn't stick around, you would lose five hundred bucks.
  
• When you arrived, the greeters would be intensely angry and have already worked 14 hours for slim wages.
  
• As you entered the bulletin-pickup area, there would be a very, very strangely long waiting time between the bulletins getting to church and arriving in your hands.
  
• Communion would only be served in long services, and getting wine instead of grape juice would be five dollars.

When you look at airline business strategy, I guess church marketing doesn't seem so bad.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:44 AM
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November 24, 2008

Getting Generous With Your Offering

Waterfront Church has a unique model of marketing themselves as a generous church. They are giving away 100% of what they receive in their offerings to local charities.

...members do the unthinkable after passing the plate on Sunday: They give it all away to charity. Rev. Jim Semradek, founder of the new Waterfront Community Church in Schaumburg, hopes the novel concept will draw people turned off by constant appeals for money and concerned about how it's spent ... few churches are taking as radical an approach as Waterfront. Using a missionary model, eight sponsors cover Waterfront's expenses, including salaries and rent, so all of the weekly offerings go straight to the community.

(link via Generous News)

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:50 AM
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October 9, 2008

Overworked? Drained? Kill Five Birds With One Stone

By Danielle Hartland, Guest Blogger

At one point in the not-too-distant past, my part-time communications position (which is now full-time) got so un-part-time, that I started keeping track of my hours, determined to show my supervisor how crazy it had become. My life felt like it was going by fast--too fast. Some days, I was so scattered, I felt like I was unable to complete simple tasks, let alone full-out design and marketing concepts. I felt completely drained of any creative ability whatsoever.

Then one day, someone said a word that would change my existence. That word was "intern." She had a contact who was a marketing professor at a local college. Long story short, I made that professor my contact and begin talking internships. After a very short wait and interview process, I had selected a candidate. I thought my biggest hurdle would be convincing my supervisors that it was a good thing to "hire" someone who isn't a Christian (gasp, I know). The staff at our church is great. Everyone was 100% on board.

Continue reading "Overworked? Drained? Kill Five Birds With One Stone"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 6:11 AM
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October 6, 2008

Church on the Cheap

Times are tough. You need to go no further than the front page of your favorite news site to see that. So what's a church to do?

First things first, head back to the article Lessons in Not Sucking: Cheap Marketing Ideas for Church Planters. You might be thinking, "I'm not a church planter! We've been around for forever!" Well, money is tight, so maybe it's time to act like you just started with your church. And here are a few other rules to keep your ship going straight as the financial water stir:

Just because you do it now doesn't mean you have to keep doing it.
Sure, you've been printing bulletins every single week since forever. And you've always bought coffee for 2,000 people (just to be safe) when your attendance is 500. But just because you offer an event, service or product doesn't mean you have to keep offering it. Re-evaluate where your money is going and your return on investment.

Continue reading "Church on the Cheap"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 1:31 PM
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September 9, 2008

Talking Politics

About three months ago, we posted a friendly reminder about politics and your church during the election season. Things have been mostly quiet, except for one former-pastor who prayed for rain on Obama's acceptance speech (and didn't get his prayers answered). Now that the conventions are over and you're marketing for the fall, the Ten Commandments of Talking Politics might help keep you and your church on the right track.

Our mission is sharing the gospel, not swaying votes. Our hope is in eternal salvation and the restoration of Christ, not the efficacy of a candidate. Don't make any secret of that in your marketing.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:46 AM
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September 2, 2008

Churches Create Gas Company

Some churches in Germany have gas. And they're looking to compete with local companies to help the community deal with sky-high energy prices. Here's what the chairman of the society of churches had to say:

"At first we want to concentrate on supplying gas to our parishes and to charitable and social organizations here in Baden-Wuerttemberg. If that works out well, we'll be glad to welcome others from outside who will increase our purchasing capacity."

So how do they do it? They simply work with gas suppliers and cut out the middle man to provide cheaper gas. They're in this for charity, not for windfall profits.

I guess 10% off your gas bill is a good incentive for church membership, but going head-to-head with local business might be a bit foolish. I don't know whether to call genius or foolery on this one, but I wouldn't be too upset if a local church could give me a good deal on gasoline. (link via Monday Morning Insight)

Posted by Joshua Cody at 9:06 AM
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July 21, 2008

Skills and Bills: Working with Churches & Contractors

A recent comment about churches paying their bills prompted my post today, although this has been a pet peeve of mine for as long as I can remember. Having worked on both sides--both as the church paying the bill and as the person looking to be paid from the church, I'm keenly aware of the systemic issue this is.

I've been ripped off and taken advantage of more than I care to even remember when it comes to "working for the Lord." Although it's easy to slip into bitterness-mode, I've always found more harm than help doing that. Perhaps a few of the following lessons can help you--whether you're paying or being paid.

Continue reading "Skills and Bills: Working with Churches & Contractors"

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:05 AM
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June 18, 2008

Election Time

Calling all 501(c)(3) organizations. In all likelihood, that is your church. And with that tax-exempt status, you lose the right to endorse a candidate or oppose a candidate. It's set to be a particularly heated and monumental election, so make sure to hold tight to the law regarding political involvement.

In case you do feel the community will respond positively to your politicking, this is a reminder to you that the IRS will not feel the same. Here's some beach reading from Big Brother regarding churches and politics:

• Tax Information for Charities and Non-Profits. An overview of what your church should know.
• IRS Reminds Charities and Churches of Political Activity Ban. An IRS press release regarding this particular election.
• Publication 1828. The nitty-gritty, boring .pdf of all these rules.

Being the object of the newspaper article titled "Local church loses tax-exempt status for political position" is in no way, shape or form a good marketing move, so be especially careful this election season.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 10:27 AM
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June 16, 2008

Ministry vs. Business

How does your church toe the line between business and ministry? Some churches are corporate wannabes, other churches are rebels against a corporate mindset, but here was a school of thought I found interesting.

Google, in a completely unrelated search, took me to What Every Non-Profit Can Learn From a For-Profit (Powerpoint or HTML). Those of you eager to learn from the corporate world are probably salivating just from reading the title. Well, it's an outline from the CEO of Kanakuk Kamps regarding the way they run their organization, and it's got some pretty great gems. Here are a few regarding business and ministry:

• Kanakuk's "mix" is 51% ministry and 49% business
• All decisions must follow this commitment
• Ministry is fueled by business operations, not dependent on donations
• Business is always second to a ministry application

Continue reading "Ministry vs. Business"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 8:52 AM
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April 21, 2008

Going From Corporate to Non-Profit

I'm sure we've got at least a few readers out there who are in the corporate world and thinking of dabbling in the realm of churches. If you're thinking of leaving a job with a profit-making company to one with a nonprofit, there are some issues you need to concern yourself with.

The New York Times writes in a question and answer article "Your True Calling Could Suit a Nonprofit":

Q. What are the biggest misconceptions about switching from the corporate world to the nonprofit world?

A. Many people are surprised to find the hours longer and stress greater than in the corporate world. Brian Olson, who left the private sector for a nonprofit in 2006, found the decision-making process to be unfocused.

“No matter how good a volunteer board is, it’s not the same as a corporate board, because everyone has a different agenda,” said Mr. Olson, who returned to the private sector a year later to be vice president for public affairs at Video Professor Inc., a company in Lakewood, Colo., that sells self-tutorial programs. “There was a purity to corporate life I missed,” he said.

Continue reading "Going From Corporate to Non-Profit"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 12:30 PM
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December 10, 2007

Marketing Waste: When To Stop

by Tim Wall, Guest Blogger

This is part 4 of a 4 part series on using your marketing budget effectively. You can read the original post to get a better understanding of Tim’s money-saving advice.

We’ve begun to looking at ways to stop wasting money on marketing. Step one taught us to "Establish a measurable indicator for every marketing effort." Step two taught us to “Run a small marketing effort to determine your cost per conversion.”

Step 3: Know when to stop.

One common way churches waste money on marketing is by believing that a successful marketing effort will continue to be successful forever. Knowing and continually tracking your cost per conversion (see step two) will help you avoid this costly mistake.

Continue reading "Marketing Waste: When To Stop"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 6:27 AM
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December 7, 2007

Marketing Waste: Cost per Conversion

by Tim Wall, Guest Blogger

This is part 3 of a 4 part series on using your marketing budget effectively. You can read the original post to get a better understanding of Tim’s money-saving advice.

We’ve begun to looking at ways to stop wasting money on marketing. Step one taught us to "Establish a measurable indicator for every marketing effort."

Step 2: Run a small marketing effort to determine your cost per conversion.

Before you launch into a full-blown campaign, test run your effort to see if it is effective. With your indicator, or goal, clearly established and your tracking measures in place (see step one), you can now determine your cost per conversion.

A conversion, in the marketing sense, is not someone coming to faith in Christ. Rather, it is simply one completion of your goal (remember step one when I told you this wouldn't seem very spiritual?). Your cost per conversion is the amount of money you spend divided by the number of conversions you achieve.

Continue reading "Marketing Waste: Cost per Conversion"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 7:51 AM
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December 5, 2007

Marketing Waste: Measuring Success

by Tim Wall, Guest Blogger

This is part 2 of a 4 part series on using your marketing budget effectively. You can read the original post to get a better understanding of Tim’s money-saving advice.

We established last time that avoiding wasted money in marketing hinges on measuring results. So, how do we do that in a church? Well, I've put together a simple, three step process to help you.

Step 1: Establish a measurable indicator for every marketing effort.

What will you watch to see if your marketing effort is successful? If you can't answer that question, stop right now before it's too late!

Measurable indicators, or goals, should be specific so that you can tell if you really meet them. For example, you might send out a direct mail piece to your community and then watch your worship attendance the next Sunday to see if it goes up. Well, that's an indicator, but it's not terribly specific. A lot of things might influence your worship attendance, so how do you really know if your marketing helped?

Continue reading "Marketing Waste: Measuring Success"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 8:19 AM
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December 3, 2007

Stop Wasting Money On Marketing

by Tim Wall, Guest Blogger

This is part 1 of a 4 part series on using your marketing budget effectively.

Whoa, hey now! I thought this blog was all about marketing. What's with the title?

Notice I didn't say, "Stop spending money on marketing." I said, "Stop wasting money."

Here's the deal. It's really, really easy for churches to waste money. In fact, I think it's much easier for churches than for comparably-sized businesses. That's because businesses have a bottom line--making money. It's easy to tell if you're making money, and it's easy to tell if the money you spend is helping or hurting. But churches don't really have a bottom line that can be easily measured, and measuring is the key to not wasting money.

So, if you're not measuring the results of your marketing efforts, then you are wasting money; but you can change. In my eight years of full-time church communications work and my current work marketing our company's content management system, Light, I've wasted a lot of money on marketing. And I’ve learned from my mistakes. So, based on my experience, I've put together a simple, three-step process to help you. We’ll continue with three more posts describing this process. Stay tuned.

Posted by Guest Blogger at 11:33 AM
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November 27, 2007

Lessons In Not Sucking: Working With Firms & Freelancers

This is part eight in a series on Lessons In Not Sucking. Today we discuss working with freelancers and firms. Having both owned my own creative firm in the past that worked with churches and now being on the other side of the table working with and hiring freelancers, I've learned a few things here and there. As always, if you have additional comments to add to this, fire away!

1. Architect vs. Contractors.
It's important to know the difference between architects and contractors when it comes to getting your project done. Architects are the ones who create and plan, contractors are the ones who execute. Many freelancers and firms attempt to do both and, in many cases, it can work out due to the size of a project. However, make sure you know what you're asking for when it comes to your project. If you're acting as the architect, make sure the freelancer or firm you're hiring knows that their role is to make your plans happen. Too many architects is like too many cooks in the kitchen. No architects is like a plan with no vision.

2. Build the relationship.
The more you know your freelancers and firms, the better they will be able to understand you! And the more they understand you, the better your projects will get. Don't be afraid to tour their studio or do coffee together. Invite them to a service, let them come to a staff meeting. You already know the value of relationship, so extend it to them too.

3. Freebies ain't free.
I strongly suggest you stay away from the freelancer or firm who offers to do your project for free. This is especially difficult when you're using someone that goes to your church because they really want to help. By the way, I'm not always a fan of using people from the inside--it depends on the size of your church. Free stuff is never really free. It always costs something. Headache, hassle, hoops, etc.

Continue reading "Lessons In Not Sucking: Working With Firms & Freelancers"

Posted by Brad Abare at 5:38 PM
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November 20, 2007

Lessons In Not Sucking: Working With Volunteers

This is part seven in a series on Lessons In Not Sucking. Today we discuss working with volunteers. Love 'em or hate 'em, volunteers are here to stay. And here's to hoping they make your day, not take your day.

1. Match strengths, not availability.
Just because someone says they're available to help out doesn't mean that will actually result in someone helping you out. So what if they know how to use Photoshop, do they know how to use it in a way that results in stuff you are expecting? Always look to match the strengths of a volunteer, not the availability of a volunteer.

2. Remember reciprocity.
Volunteers are volunteering because they get something in return. It may sound selfish, but it's just the way we're wired. Whether it be satisfaction, a free meal, kudos, recognition, promotion or just plain smiles, the concept of reciprocity is alive and well. Don't forget this because when you know what the volunteer is looking for, you can better help them to obtain it.

3. Realistic expectations.
Be realistic when it comes to the expectations you have for volunteers. Expect too little and you'll never cause them to rise to the challenge. Expect too much and they'll feel like they failed you. Communicate up front what you're expecting and give them opportunity to respond.

Continue reading "Lessons In Not Sucking: Working With Volunteers"

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:37 AM
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September 12, 2007

Franchising Church

We're living in modern times. Everything is outsourced, and everything is franchised. Why should church be any different?

Todd Rhoades at Monday Morning Insight discusses this model of church planting where a larger church will directly partner with a new church plant.

Of course, every instance of this is different, but with a North Point plant franchise in my own town, and with friends working there, this is what I see.

Continue reading "Franchising Church"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 11:36 AM
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July 10, 2007

Oops: Mistakes in Church Leadership

Craig Groeschel is sharing four mistakes he's made at LifeChurch.tv. I think it's always helpful when people share their mistakes so you can learn from them and hopefully not make the same ones.

1. It's not your ministry.
2. Let people go.
3. Don't build small.
4. Don't be stingy.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:31 PM
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July 2, 2007

Mad Church Disease Awareness

The good thing about Church Marketing Sucks is that we're people. People have friends. Thus, we have friends. Anne Jackson comes out of this simple logic. She's written for us before, and she likes to hang around and help church marketing not suck. We're pretty proud to know her.

She's got a new project she's working on called Mad Church Disease. It's about the epidemic of burnout among church staff and volunteers. Church marketing and communication sucks when it burns out your staff, so this is an important issue to consider. I sat down (virtually, via e-mail) with Anne to get the proper diagnosis.

Continue reading "Mad Church Disease Awareness"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:57 AM
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April 25, 2007

9 Ways to Use Google Apps in your Church Marketing

In the computer world, there's three things I'm crazy for. Macs, Quicksilver, and Google. (No, it's not just search.) Macs aren't so much church marketing related (except, of course, that they're better than PCs), and Quicksilver definitely isn't church marketing related. Google, I would argue, is. A little over a week ago, we asked you, and 12% of you said Google was essential to your church marketing efforts.

This is for the other 88%. Nine ways to use Google Apps in your church marketing.

Continue reading "9 Ways to Use Google Apps in your Church Marketing"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:05 AM
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February 5, 2007

Visitors, Beer and Sex--Oh My!

Yet again the links have piled up around me faster than I can blog them, so it's time to blow the dam and just let you have them. Here we go...

• The Visitor's Card - The most potentially interesting of the new Outreach Magazine blogs, it's written by a non-Christian describing her experiences visiting church (via Dan Ohlerking)
• Beer and the Bible - Interesting news article about a church outreach that unfortunately draws too much attention to the alcohol. The pastor of the church in question offers some explanation in a comment on this blog post (via Brenton Balvin).
• Does Size Matter? - Swerve, the new blog from lifechurch.tv, has an interesting series on church size.
• My Dad Went to Church. Yay! - A video of a son taking his dad to church for the first time in 20 years--this is what it's all about. It's also so raw and quirky that it almost seems made up, but that's just the Internet hoaxist in me. (via Tony Morgan)

Don't worry, there's much, much more after the jump ...

Continue reading "Visitors, Beer and Sex--Oh My!"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 4:29 PM
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January 12, 2007

Church Staff Free Agents

Ooh, ooh, did you hear the news? Forget about that Beckham guy, Tony Morgan, former pastor at Granger Community Church in Granger, Ind. and one of the Simply Strategic guys is moving on to New Spring Church in Anderson, S.C., pastored by Perry Noble.

And if that's not enough, Terry Storch, former big name blogger and author of some book on the subject (huh--how do you write a book on blogging but then stop blogging?!) is transitioning from Ed Young's Fellowship Church in Dallas to Craig Groeschel's LifeChurch.tv in Oklahoma.

Whew.

Is it me, or does this sound like some kind of pro sports offseason when players are traded and swapped like, well, like baseball cards? You've got the big name managers bringing in the top talent for their teams. Congratulations on the new gigs, guys, we hope they're great opportunities. I'm glad to see church staffs pursuing the top talent, I just never thought church staff changes would be such intriguing news.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 11:15 AM
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November 6, 2006

The Money-Back Guaranteed Tithe

Here's something different. LifeChurch.tv, the church with locations in Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona and online is offering a three-month tithing challenge. Give for three months. If God doesn't deliver on his promise to provide for you, you can ask for your money back. All of it. No questions asked.

Wow. Now there's a potentially divisive approach to tithing.

Continue reading "The Money-Back Guaranteed Tithe"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:37 PM
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July 29, 2006

Lessons from a Chuch Plant

Looks like we're not the only ones celebrating two years. Ridge Stone Church in Canton, Ga. just celebrated its two-year anniversary and Pastor Gary Lamb shared his 21 Lessons from Two Years of Church Planting.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:58 AM
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June 1, 2006

Money and the Church

Money is always a touchy issue, especially for churches. There can easily be issues, whether actual or perceived. And while actual abuses cause enormous problems, I'd guess it's the perceived issues that are more rampant:

• Accusing a church of mismanaging funds when they actually just disagree with the vision of the church (the 'church buildings/amenities are evil' or the 'too plush' mindset).
• Accusing a church of watering down the message in order to keep the cash rolling in--offering 'Christianity lite' and not touching difficult topics like materialism (the 'megachurches are evil' mindset).
• Accusing a church of talking about money or asking for money too often--which has to be the biggest complaint, no matter how much churches try to downplay the offering.

An article about how churches use money (registration required) touches on some of these issues, but doesn't bother to dig into some of the real issues. What is interesting is that they report that among non-profits, churches have the most honest financial records.

When it comes to money and church I often hear big time churches and leaders saying it's better to talk more about money, not less (Ed Young, for example). They argue that Jesus talked more about money than he did a lot of things, and that people simply need help dealing with money.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 11:33 AM
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May 31, 2006

The Ins and Outs of Sponsorship for Churches

by Kristina Hill, Guest Blogger

I was browsing the web site for T.D. Jakes' 2006 MegaFest Conference and noticed something quite interesting: Coca-Cola, Pine-Sol and Clorox have signed on as sponsors of the larger than life event.

On the heels of the blockbuster success of Christian-based projects such as The Passion of The Christ, The Chronicles of Narnia and Joel Osteen's New York Times bestseller Your Best Life Now, is corporate America finally starting to recognize the importance of targeting Christian consumers on an ongoing basis? Are corporate bigwigs grasping the fact that just like regular folks, Christians eat, sleep, go to the movies, clean our homes, purchase cars and engage in other normal activities on a daily basis?

As corporate interest in Christian consumers intensifies, recruiting a corporation to support your next ministry event could result in a win-win opportunity for your ministry and your sponsorship partner. Sponsorships are a great way to offset the costs associated with producing your event, while also providing businesses an opportunity to promote its products/services to an engaged audience.

Sponsorship can also be a way to cloud your message, encourage consumerism or at the very least allow your church to be labeled a sellout, whether or not the description is fair.

Continue reading "The Ins and Outs of Sponsorship for Churches"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 9:43 AM
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May 30, 2006

Pastors Overworked; Numbers Underchecked

Everybody and their brother is linking to a post by Mark Driscoll about how pastors are overworked. Amen. We've said this before and it's definitely true. Driscoll offers some good signs a pastor may be overworked and some potential solutions. Worth the read.

However. The piece also includes a section of some shocking statistics (50% of pastors get divorced, 70% fight depression, 40% have cheated on their spouse, etc.) credited to a presentation by Darrin Patrick who apparently gathered the info from Barna and Focus on the Family. No direct links or specific attribution is given.

Continue reading "Pastors Overworked; Numbers Underchecked"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:45 PM
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March 31, 2006

Is Leadership Spiritual?

Christianity Today has an interesting debate between North Point Community Church's Andy Stanley and the author of Good to Great, Jim Collins. Well, it's not so much a debate. Both are interviewed in the April issue of Leadership and some of their comments are pulled together into this teaser thinly disguised as an article. But the comments are still good.

The topic is leadership and whether or not there's a spiritual aspect to it, which is very similar to our continuing discussions on marketing. The article seems to put Stanley and Collins at odds with Stanley saying good leadership is good leadership and Collins saying the church environment has special circumstances that a good business leader may not know. I think both are right.

Continue reading "Is Leadership Spiritual?"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:05 AM
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March 3, 2006

Church Marketing Without Money

Granger Community Church Communications Director Kem Meyer shares eight ways to improve church communications with little or no budget:

• Have conversations. Lots of them.
• Create a style guide.
• Identify your specific audience.
• Document your communication values.
• Outline a strategy.
• Reduce emotional overload.
• Implement an official proofing team and process. (Have we convinced you of the need for proofing yet?)
• Assemble a group of consumer advocates (or secret shoppers).

Kem offers greater detail on each point, including links to complete entries for several points and a few handy downloads.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:24 AM
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February 21, 2006

Church Surveys

A church survey is a great way to get input from your congregation and find out what's working and what's not. Tony Morgan from Granger Community Church (yes, they're the MyLameSexLife.com folks) shares an all-church survey Granger put together. Sometimes it helps to see what others are asking and how they're wording questions.

Surveys can't answer everything, but they can give some insight. I'd also recommend Survey Monkey for online surveys. While an online survey might not work for a church-wide survey since your sample will be heavily high-tech, at least the tallying and nifty graphs are automatic.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:23 AM
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November 14, 2005

Church Business Applied to the Airline Industry

Perry Noble, pastor of New Spring Church in Anderson, S.C. has an interesting blog entry imagining what would happen if church business practices were applied to the airline industry.

It's funny stuff. Sad, but funny.

I'm not sure if there are any easy answers to church business. It seems like there are dangers on every side. But it is kind of funny to look at how we do things from a different perspective.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:54 AM
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November 2, 2005

Is Your Church a Safe Church?

The DesMoines Register covered church security this weekend, a topic that usually doesn't get a lot of attention. Some of those church safety precautions include:

• Training and screening church leaders and volunteers.
• Issuing ID cards for parents that are required in order to pick up their kids from children's ministry programs.
• Installing security cameras.
• Monitoring sex offenders.

Making churches safe should be a no-brainer, especially after the spat of Catholic sexual abuse cases. According to the article, there are more sexual abuse incidents in Protestant churches than Catholic churches. And in the last 10 years churches have averaged 70 child abuse allegations per week.

Continue reading "Is Your Church a Safe Church?"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:35 AM
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October 28, 2005

Anglican Newspaper Banned

Maybe I have an anti-establishment streak, but when an upstart conservative paper is banned by the church, I have to laugh. The Anglican Journal is the official newspaper of the Anglican Church in Canada, but many conservatives have felt the paper is too liberal. Earlier this year they responded by publishing The Anglican Planet to offer a more conservative voice within the Anglican church on issues like same-sex marriage.

The response has been more than they expected: 5,000 subscriptions instead of a few hundred, and censorship.

Continue reading "Anglican Newspaper Banned"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:59 AM
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October 25, 2005

Starbucks and Rick Warren

USA Today has a great article about the recent Rick Warren Starbucks cup story, in addition to several other mainstream companies that incorporate some sort of God-factor into their marketing and business model.

Warren's quote on the Starbucks cup comes from his best-selling book, The Purpose Driven Life, and certainly doesn't hold back:

You are not an accident. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. He wanted you alive and created you for a purpose. Focusing on yourself will never reveal your real purpose. You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. Only in God do we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance and our destiny.

What would it look like if your church facilitated a conversation among business leaders and owners, and thought of ways to incorporate God-oriented messages in their marketing?

Continue reading "Starbucks and Rick Warren"

Posted by Brad Abare at 9:39 AM
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October 8, 2005

Performance-Based Salaries for Pastors

I seem to be on a Mark Oestreicher roll this week (actually, I've just been catching up on my RSS feeds), but I stumbled across another great entry: Worst Church Idea of the Month Award:

A pastor said to me that he loves to try new things. And the thing he's trying right now that he thinks is such a good idea? [drum roll, please — and brace yourself] He's paying his staff based on how many people, on average, attend the ministries they are in charge of. He grinned as he told me that, for example, one of the pastors has a fairly low monthly salary, because he's new and his particular ministry is average-sized; but if the ministry reaches x-amount on average, his pay will bump to another level, and at xx-amount, to another level, which is a great salary for their area. He said it's a great system because it builds self-motivation in automatically.

Wow. Performance-based salaries for church. Ouch. That hurts on so many levels.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:04 PM
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October 3, 2005

The Smiling Pastor

An entry over at Tony McCollum's Churchwerx talks about the power of a smile. McCollum uses the example of General Dwight D. Eisenhower:

During World War II, Dwight Eisenhower, supreme commander of the allied forces, made a conscious decision to never allow a photo of himself to be taken unless he was smiling. He reasoned that his fighting men all over the world would see these pictures and he felt that he must exude confidence no matter what. He once said that he was trying to make everyone feel that he understood something they didn’t about the war and that no matter how bad it might seem to his men, their commander must have a plan or something up his sleeve.

McCollum also points to Susan D. Whiting, CEO of Nielsen Media Research, who had this to say about smiles to Fast Company:

When you're the CEO, you've got to get off the elevator each morning with a big smile on your face. No matter what's going on in the company. Everyone looks to you for a temperature reading.

So is there value in presenting a smiling facade?

Continue reading "The Smiling Pastor"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 4:55 PM
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June 2, 2005

U.K. Churches Looking in Parking Lot to Gauge Income

Vicars in the U.K. are being urged to check the cars in the parking lot to get an idea of what their congregations should be dropping in the offering plate. Yikes. I can't help but feel like I'm missing part of the story, or that there's some transatlantic cultural differences I'm not aware of, but yikes. Is it that hard for people to calculate their own tithe? Or to pledge what they're going to give for the year so the church can form a budget? Do we really need to be asking church members to fill out income declaration forms, even if they are anonymous?

Apparently part of the story is "fair share" programs where the richer congregations help out poorer congregations in the same diocese, but it still seems like a lot of intrusive fuss. The church never seems to look good when it comes to money.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:26 PM
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April 29, 2005

Connecting Church Marketers

Last week Brad posted an entry about design and marketing positions in churches and theorized that churches will soon have a Pastoral Director of Design & Marketing. Based on the feedback we're getting, it's starting to happen. Maybe not a specific pastoral role, but churches are definitely hiring designers and creative people.

monkeyboy commented on Brad's entry asking about getting church creative folks together:

"I would think that there might be enough people like myself who are on staff at a church as the Creative Director or a similar category that it might be beneficial to schedule something where we could all get together outside of our areas of ministry and begin to talk through the whole idea of communicating and presenting the gospel through our respective lenses. I know for me that I often feel like an island when it comes to doing what I do and feel there could be some definite benefits to networking with similar people when it comes to resources and such."

Continue reading "Connecting Church Marketers"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:27 AM
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April 19, 2005

Pastoral Director of Design & Marketing

For quite some time now I've been thinking a lot about the future of the church in terms of the makeup of its staff and personnel. More specifically, I'd like to predict two positions that do not exist now, but within the next 5-10 years, will exist in every church of affordable size.

Say hello to the:

• Pastoral Director of Design & Marketing
  
• Pastor of Philosophy & Ethics

The second position is another post for another day (perhaps another blog). The first position is where I focus my attention and begin to get real jazzed about the potential.

It seems I am not alone in my thinking. Kevin posted an interview yesterday with church creative director, Ryan Hartsock, from Four Corners Community Church. On March 8, Micheal Felker made a comment on his blog about a conversation he had with a "ministry buddy" of his. "Mark my words, the next ministry position will be a person with a design degree whose job it is to advertise." I'm sure there are many others who could opine on this topic.

In order to communicate with their communities and capture the eyes and ears of all generations, churches must make this position a priority. The culture is demanding it. In a world that continually seeks to engage and enrage our senses, the church can be the leaders in excellent communication and marketing practices.

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:15 AM
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April 6, 2005

Cut Your Pastor Some Slack

So often when it comes to the church marketing discussion everything falls to the pastor. As much as I want churches to improve their marketing, I also want to be sensitive to the plight of the burned out pastor. I've said this before, but it's worth repeating: Supporting pastors is good for marketing.

Scott Williams offers a good perspective on what pastors face in his post, Why Pastors Quit The Ministry:

we are tired of pretending that we cannot be hurt. people assume ministers are available for their criticism 24/7. people say things to clergy they would not say to their worst enemies. for some reason they feel at liberty to delve into every aspect of clergy life. they have an opinion about everything we do. they believe it is their god-given right to critique your personal life, your professional life, your emotional state, the way you dress, your use of colloquialisms, your kids, your personality, how much you spend on a car, your friendships, how you drive, how much you fart, the list goes on and on. pastors live their life in the limelight. they, therefore, constantly disappoint people. it is hard to disappoint people all the time. as a pastor, and maybe it is just me, i seem to let people down all the time. recently i was at a small group where several complained that i was not their close friend. besides the obvious fact that i do not have enough hours in the day nor the emotional energy to be friends with everyone, let alone friendly, how can you assume i would would want to be your close friend? ministers spend their entire life pretending to like a portion of the population that they really cannot stand.

Whew. Can you feel that rant? So cut your pastor some slack. (link via Jordon Cooper)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:42 PM
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March 12, 2005

Outsourcing the Drive-Thru?

Listening to the news today (I love talk radio), I learn that McDonald's is re-thinking their approach to the drive-thru. Instead of having orders radioed a few feet ahead to the minimum wage communicationally-challenged employee, MickeyDees gurus are thinking about collecting their fast-food requests in a call center located potentially thousands of miles away. The order then gets beamed electronically back to the employee at the window who presumably can read as well as the call center can listen.

After further research, I learn McDonald's says that professionals "with 'very strong communication skills' could help boost order accuracy and ultimately speed up the time it takes customers to get in and out of the drive-thrus."

What's next? Churches offer local counseling services that are powered by call centers in India?

Although I assume churches are intelligent in their approach to what to outsource and what not to outsource, this does bring up a good lesson.

Continue reading "Outsourcing the Drive-Thru?"

Posted by Brad Abare at 12:58 PM
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February 18, 2005

Supporting Pastors Is Good For Marketing

Recently stats have been floating around the Internet that point to the difficulty of being a pastor, including numbers like the following:

• “80% of pastors say that ministry has negatively affected their family.”
  
• “70% say they do not have a close personal friend.”
  
• “37% say they have been involved inappropriately with someone in their church.”
  
• “70% say they have a lower self esteem than when they started in ministry.”

Let’s state up front that these numbers are not necessarily accurate. I eventually tracked some of the numbers to a 1984 study by Dr. Archibald D. Hart and Ph.D. student Rick Blackmon from Fuller Seminary. Before we go spreading these stats across the web, it’s important to know that they could be more than 20 years old—which brings their reliability into question.

But despite questions about their reliability, these and other statistics point to the problems the modern pastor faces. Leading a broken, stumbling body like the church is no picnic, and our pastors, priests and rectors deserve a lot of credit. They could also use a lot of help.

What have you done to help your pastor?

Continue reading "Supporting Pastors Is Good For Marketing"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 2:41 PM
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February 11, 2005

Pastor as Manager

Managing a team can be one of the many roles forced on a pastor that they're sometimes not prepared to handle. Business management isn't always a skill taught in seminary. But smartly managing your team can reap great benefits for your church, whether your team includes administrative staff and assistant pastors or a loose-knit collection of volunteers. Check out the free 18-page PDF "How to Manage Smart People" for tips on better managing your flock.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:02 AM
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January 19, 2005

Franchising Church

Borrowing from McDonald's, churches are beginning to franchise--or offer multisite locations, as it's commonly described. The solution allows larger churches to expand beyond the limits of their facilities and location, often reusing elements of the church service for these satellite locations.

It's not a bad ideas, as long as community is emphasized. Unlike McDonald's, people are important to the church and there needs to be a communal connection between a group of believers. Satellite churches can't turn into fast food locations where you visit the corner franchise for the sake of speed and convenience.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:18 AM
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January 14, 2005

Charging for Church

English cathedrals are reinstating admission charges to overcome lost donations since 9/11. While raising prices in an economic downturn is fairly typical, that doesn’t always mean it’s successful (eBay tried it this week).

The Daily Telegraph explores the history of cathedral admission prices, focusing on Frank Bennett who abolished the Chester cathedral’s sixpence admission price in the 1920s. In addition he reworked the way the cathedral operated and as a result voluntary donations brought in four times as much as the admission price did.

It seems grace is not only at the core of our faith, but it’s also an idea that can work in the business world (see Seth Godin’s Free Prize Inside).

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:04 AM
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December 11, 2004

The Talent Myth in the Church Office

by Andy Havens, Guest Blogger

There's a very interesting manifesto titled "The Talent Myth" published at ChangeThis by Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point. His basic argument is that when it comes to businesses, individual smarts may not be as important as having smart systems. His chief example is that of Enron, which is a company that went with the "promote genius indiviuals at all costs" method.

Continue reading "The Talent Myth in the Church Office"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 12:17 PM
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October 21, 2004

More Marketing Savvy, Less Theology

Bouncing off Kevin's entry about Purpose Driven Business, I am reminded of a book I read earlier this summer.

Tony Campolo, in Adventures In Missing the Point: How the Culture-Controlled Church Neutered the Gospel, a book he co-authored with Brian McLaren, gives some poignant comments on church marketing. In their chapter titled "Seminary," Campolo says this:

What if the credits eaten up by subjects seminarians seldom if ever use after graduation were instead devoted to more subjects they will actually need in churches – like business and marketing courses? It is not true that with a gifted preacher, a church will inevitably grow. Good sermons may get visitors to stay once they come, but getting folks to come in the first place may take some marketing expertise.

It was a marketing degree, not an M.Div., that Bill Hybels had when he launched the tiny fellowship that would one day be Willow Creek Community Church. It's not that Hybels is a theological lightweight, contrary to some critics. His sermons are biblically sound and brilliantly relevant to the needs of his congregation – and the relevance comes not from giftedness or theological discernment, but from thoughtfully studying his congregation. As any good marketer would, Hybels deliberately surveys his people with questionnaires in order to determine what they worry about, what their needs are, what's important to them. During the summer months he reflects on their responses, studies the Bible for how it speaks to their issues, and reads extensively about the same issues. Then he schedules what subjects he will preach on in the coming year, and circulates the schedule to those on his team responsible for music and drama in the services.

The result is preaching that is utterly biblical and acutely relevant. But the process isn't something you'll learn in most seminaries. Maybe it's time that some business school courses find their way into seminary.

Right on Tony.

What's the point of all that theology in our heads if we can't even get people in the door to hear it?

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:44 AM
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October 20, 2004

Faith-Based Election

With the election only a few weeks away, many churches are struggling with the issue of how they can take part in the political debate. The fact is that as tax exempt organizations, churches are limited in the role they can play.

Republicans have been reaching out to evangelicals, but pastors need to be careful that any endorsement they give doesn't put their church's tax exempt status in jeopardy.

The IRS offers the Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations (PDF) that covers some of the common questions (see pages 7-11 for specific questions and examples).

But regardless of which candidate you personally support, it's important to remember that there's no God-approved candidate.

Continue reading "Faith-Based Election"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:28 AM
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October 18, 2004

Purpose Driven Business

Business leaders are taking advice from Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church and author of The Purpose Driven Life. Of course it's his earlier book, The Purpose Driven Church that they're interested in.

Now that's an odd turn of events. How often does the mainstream world borrow something from the church?

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 2:05 PM
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September 30, 2004

I Can't Afford Marketing That Doesn't Suck

Working with hundreds of churches over the years, I get so frustrated with the "we don't have any money" excuse so prevalent with today's pastors and church councils. I understand tight budgets, small tithe and offering collections, and options too numerous to count for what to do with the limited money churches do have. From building funds to paper for the copier, better toys in the nursery to paying the electric bill, church ain't cheap. Add in all of the ministry options like youth group trips to Mexico, holiday productions, and new curriculum for Sunday school, and you've got bona fide benevolence bliss.

Continue reading "I Can't Afford Marketing That Doesn't Suck"

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:11 AM
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September 24, 2004

If You Don't Build It, They Will Come

Isaiah Church has no building, but that's okay. Rev. Troy Benton plans to build his church by forming a congregation first, and worrying about a building later. It's a common practice for new church plants to forgo a building project and focus on people.

What if the local church was known for its people and not simply its location on the corner?

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:28 AM
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Money Grubbing

Stewardship has to be one of the touchiest subjects in the church. Until churches start charging a cover and collecting it at the door, offerings and pledge drives are a reality. But there are good ways and bad ways to ask for money.

The Dallas Morning News covers the plate passing, and gives some helpful collection advice, and some scary stats (between 30-50 percent of church goers don't give at all).

And for the lighter side of stewardship, they also offer a collection of offering jokes.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:14 AM
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September 2, 2004

Getting Your Church Council On Board

I had a conversation with a pastor friend of mine a few weeks back. He is a big believer in church marketing that doesn't suck. He doesn't have a big budget. His church is less than 50 families and the staff numbers a whopping two and a half people. His church council hammers him on nearly every expense, especially when it comes to marketing. Despite the need for several of these members of the council to have effective marketing in their own businesses, translating those principles to reaching people for Christ doesn't always come through very clear.

My pastor friend manages to pull-off a few direct mail pieces a year (10,000 homes) in addition to some nice branding with weekly bulletins, a logo, 1-page Web site, and a few banners. Nothing big and spectacular, but a very good start for a church of this size.

Working with church councils can be quite a pain when it comes to finding funds for marketing.

Continue reading "Getting Your Church Council On Board"

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:14 AM
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