July 3, 2009

Christians Are Crazy Protestors

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

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

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

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

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

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:30 AM
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June 4, 2009

Is Christmas Dreams a Church Marketing Nightmare?

It looks like Covenant Community Church is up to some big business in Christmas, Fla. They want to open Christmas Dreams, a Santa-themed park for terminally ill children and their families to visit. Don't believe me? Try the Orlando Sentinel:

The group is trying to raise money to build a theme park for use mostly by terminally ill children and their families.

"We'd be able to say that it's always Christmas in Christmas," said the Rev. Jeff Dixon, a project proponent and pastor at Covenant Community Church in Sanford.

The group's vision is for families to spend several days at the park after taking a "time machine" limo from the airport to Christmas.

The park would be built inside a large warehouse, where reindeer would fly in the snow to Santa's house. The park would feature a giant Christmas tree, 25-plus feet high.

Continue reading "Is Christmas Dreams a Church Marketing Nightmare?"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:24 AM
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April 14, 2009

SoulWow...Wow

Watch out Billy Mays, here comes Father Vic. The Roman Catholic Church of Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island (That's the RCCoBQLI) created the video and soulwow.com to go along with it. It's a parody of annoying infomercials, with the product being a visit to church and participation in confession.

When watching this, I couldn't decide if it was brilliant or ridiculous. So I watched it two more times. So I guess, at the least, it's a pretty successful campaign.

Check out the video and your local RCCoBQLI parish to "get that almost baptized feeling."

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:58 AM
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April 9, 2009

Don't Go to Church on Easter!

It looks like Easter '09 will go down as "that one where those churches got tired of helicopter egg drops and went totally nuts." This one comes to you from A Little Leaven, and my impression is they aren't too friendly to innovative marketing ideas over there.

One church is encouraging you to ditch church on Easter. They even put together a little number at ditchchurch.com to encourage you to join them. Instead of church services, they'll just be having a big party. At 10:00 a.m. On Sunday morning. At a school.

After a significant amount of digging, it appears that this is being put on by Crossroads (or Cross Roads, this is apparently still up for debate). Perhaps the idea has legs, but it seems the execution is just a little bit shaky. I think they could have used some help from the Party Planning Committee.

I'm shivering as I ask this, but what say you? Will you be ditching church? Should we be encouraging the ditching of church in general?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 9:47 AM
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April 2, 2009

No Time Like the Present

No, seriously, there is no time like the present. USA Today is reporting that people are going to the church for help in record numbers. Here are some highlights from the report:

• Nearly two in three pastors (62%) report more people from outside their church asking for help
• Nearly a third (31%) see more such requests from church members
• 27% of pastors have paid for more ministry items out of their own pocket than normal.

Just in the last few weeks, we've talked about this a couple times. It's a better time than ever to make an economic impact with your church. How is your church helping out when times are tough?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:27 AM
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March 31, 2009

We Hate Church Too ... As Usual

There's a story that caught my attention, raises some questions and points to a trend in some church circles.

A church has launched a campaign that includes billboards that read "We hate church ... as usual." Of course the message is that this church has something different and for those that are disenfranchised by the church they are doing it in a way that will prove you wrong.

I wonder if this indeed reaches those who have left the church, or if it just reinforces some of the reasons they left, maybe even letting them know it's OK.

Continue reading "We Hate Church Too ... As Usual"

Posted by Michael Buckingham at 7:11 AM
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March 28, 2009

Would You Put Your Pastor in a Box?

One church would, and they're even aiming too. In a David Blaine-esque stunt, they've promised to suspend their pastor in a box for three days if 4,000 people show up on Easter.

You can visit the site, but there's not much more to say about it other than that.

This type of marketing doesn't sit exceptionally well with me. It communicates that you should go to whichever church will pull the biggest stunt, and it creates a pressure for one-upping other antics. One youth pastor will drink a cheeseburger that has been run through the juicer, but the other will shave his head.

I realize we should be willing to go as far as necessary to make disciples, I just don't think I'm convinced that these sorts of stunts are a good way to do that.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 8:07 AM
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February 9, 2009

Deidox and The Power of Story

Recently, Deidox.com wrote to us to let us know about their film project. They make incredibly moving short clips telling the stories of everyday people God is using, and then churches can buy and use the clips. It's a fascinating idea that's brilliantly executed, and it speaks to something much larger.

Several conversations in my life lately have been revolving around this idea: Stories matter. I don't simply mean that they interest people or that they can be funny. I mean stories change the world. When people hear a story, it connects with their imagination, and they can place themselves in that story. When they hear someone in your church is serving the poor and making a difference, they imagine what their life would be like if they were playing the lead in that movie. When they hear that people are helping orphans rise from a hopeless life, they feel the dirt of an African village crackling beneath their own feet.

Continue reading "Deidox and The Power of Story"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:10 AM
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February 3, 2009

Tough Times: More Them, Less Us, All Him

While one source reports a 5% increase in churchgoers in the UK, the Gallup reports for the U.S. are showing no growth. While we find ourselves in tough economic times, and the news is filled with doom and gloom our churches are not growing.

I was expecting otherwise. While we might pat each other on the back since church attendance is stable, in these tough times we need to ask ourselves where are people turning and why aren't they turning to the church.

As I pondered this I looked at a few churches, to see how they might be addressing this and while some churches seem to have the pulse of the people, many are missing the boat. I see sermon series like:

• Strategy for Spiritual Success
• Finding your place of ministry
• James : Time to Grow Up

These are all great and powerful teachings, but maybe today people need to know that God is here for them, has a plan for them. Maybe it's time that we made it more about them, less about us and all about Him.

We are facing tough times and the church should be, can be, a place of refuge. I wonder what else we can do to be that place.

Posted by Michael Buckingham at 7:06 AM
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January 29, 2009

NFL Allows Church Super Bowl Parties

After banning church Super Bowl parties in the past, the NFL has relented and is allowing churches to show the big game, provided they don't charge for the event or use the name "Super Bowl" (I recently saw TGI Friday's calling it "The Game We Can't Name" in their promotions).

While churches can't charge for the event, taking donations to defray costs is OK. Another stipulation is that the event needs to be held in a location where the church normally meets (apparently no renting out new space for your "big game" party).

If your church is having a Super Bowl party, hopefully you already knew that (doing your copyright homework is good marketing).

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:33 PM
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January 16, 2009

The Story of Rice Temple and Hooters

I personally grew up in a suburban, Bible-belt town. There was a big stink when Hooters came to town as local churches protested and tempers flared. Local churches and the idea that all of our men and children would surely be ruined is what closed the doors of the Hooters not too far down the road.

My church, and many others in my town, marketed itself as a church more concerned with keeping themselves safe than saving others. We didn't mind what happened to the people at the restaurant, as long as we didn't have to deal with them and their junk.

Another church had a different idea. They joined up with their local Hooters. Can't you hear it now? The First Annual First Baptist of Mayberry-Hooters Fun Run. The Associated Baptist Press tells the story.

Continue reading "The Story of Rice Temple and Hooters"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:41 AM
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October 16, 2008

Marketing Hope through Economic Trouble

by Shane Boyd, Guest Blogger

The economy does not affect Jesus, and churches can grow even if the economy fails. Even if the economy as we know it fails tomorrow, God's church will still grow.

Now friends, I'm here to tell you that the economy does not affect the church negatively. Not at all. If anything, we can use this so-called failing economy as a tool to witness and spread the gospel to others.

Sadly, most of the people in the United States feel that our economy is failing and heading towards a depression. This should not effect how we as believers feel. We still have the hope of Heaven through our Savior Jesus Christ. We know how this story ends.

So to those whose hope appears to be in worldly treasures (our economy), introduce them to One who never fails. Introduce them to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let them know that His love never ends and He will never leave us nor forsake us.

To those who mourn because their bank account may not be as large as they like because of this so-called failing economy, let them know about the unfailing love of Jesus Christ.

This is not a time cry about our economy. It's time to act and reach others in our community. Invite folks in your town to a place the economy cannot touch, The Church!

Here's another tip for you. Host a Fall Festival at your church. Invite everyone. Run an ad in the paper, send flyers to every neighborhood, advertise on local radio stations and post it online. Call it the "The Economy Can't Touch This" festival. Have fun with it.

You want your church to grow? Spread cheer, and leave the doom and gloom for news agencies.

Posted by Guest Blogger at 6:07 AM
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October 7, 2008

100 Idea Starters From Outreach Magazine

The latest issue of Outreach magazine has a 10-page feature with 100 outreach ideas for any church and size. I would link to the feature, but alas, our Outreach friends apparently don't believe in putting content online. Huh?

So If you see a copy on a friend's desk, it's worth browsing through some of the ideas. From rain gutter cleanup to passing out bags of popcorn when people exit your local video rental store (do people still rent videos by driving somewhere?), the list is packed with simple ideas for serving people. It's not flashy marketing or hype-filled hilarity, just kind ways to extend community and Kingdom to the people right in front of you.

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:53 AM
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October 2, 2008

Invite a Friend

By Shane Boyd, Guest Blogger

This past June, my son turned four. We had a birthday party for him and invited all of his friends (well maybe not all, but a lot) to his party. I cooked hamburgers, hot dogs and sausage on the grill, and the kids were playing games and having a really good time.

We had the party on a Saturday afternoon, which seems to be a normal time to have a birthday party for kids. Funny thing is, the following Saturday my son did not have any of his friends come to the house. There were no grilling and no presents. No cake and ice cream. Nothing. Why not?

Well the reason is really simple when you think about it. Nobody was invited! I did not send out invitations, announcements or make phone call invitations. Simply put, his friends were not invited back.

Continue reading "Invite a Friend"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 8:33 AM
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September 17, 2008

Churches in Action

We get on churches a lot. We give them a tough time, and we point out when they seem foolish or ill-prepared. So I'm glad Outreach magazine is out there. In a reprint of a 1993 article, Churches in Action, they share stories of churches who have one principle in their marketing: Be the church. These are no gimmicks, and these churches are only pushing the envelope by radically living out the convictions of Jesus Christ. These are great and encouraging stories of when church marketing goes right.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 8:58 AM
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August 21, 2008

Pooling Talents to Multiply Talents

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

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

Continue reading "Pooling Talents to Multiply Talents"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:27 AM
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August 6, 2008

Bridge to Bikers, the Homeless and Prison Alumni

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

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

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

Posted by Brad Abare at 9:43 AM
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June 24, 2008

Like A Good Neighbor...

One church is having a problem. Outreach magazine looks at a growing church who can't get permission from their city to move to a bigger location. Why, you ask? Well, the city, making an economic decision, knows that giving up a bigger space to a church means they miss out on the tax revenue of a for-profit business.

The article looks at the troubling question, "Would the community weep if your church were to pull out of the city? Would anybody notice if you left?" And then looks to answer how you can make that a resounding "Yes."

Marketing yourself as an opponent of the city you're in isn't going to get you much of anywhere, so check out what Outreach has to say about becoming the Church, serving your community and partnering with those around you.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:57 AM
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June 13, 2008

The Big Summer Push

This week's poll asks you, how does your church adjust its marketing efforts for summer? Why do we ask that? Well, it seems tons of churches just kind of chill out over the summer, enjoying the smaller crowds and lighter workload. Maybe they listen to an edited Jimmy Buffett CD and drink a virgin pina colada, who knows?

But what about a big outreach campaign? The church I work for, awhile back, did a campaign called "A Seat for Everyone." Lots of churches already have plenty of seats for everyone, but if you're normally crowded, turn less crowds into a big win. Maybe crank out a video poking fun at people cramming in your church normally, and then let them know that there's plenty of room over the summer. There's a thousand more possibilities, but don't give up because it's summer.

Either way, church marketers, Church Marketing Sucks challenges you to turn the summer slump into a big win for church marketing. Or, to rhyme, turn your summer fizzle into a summer sizzle. If you've done it before, let us know how you succeeded. If you're ready to try it, head to the Church Marketing Lab to get started.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 10:19 AM
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May 21, 2008

Share the Gospel in 140 Characters or Less

When you talk about marketing it's easy to focus on design. But writing matters. A lot.

Here's a chance to sharpen your writing skills. Brian Baute has thrown down the first ever Tweet the Gospel challenge. The idea is to share the gospel message within the confines of the 140-character limit of Twitter. (What's Twitter? It's a mini-blog application. We've talked about how Twitter can be used for churches and Josh shared a great example earlier today with We The Church)

So check out Brian's blog for more details and see if you can share the gospel in 140 characters or less. It's kind of like trying to be the Billy Graham of the Twitter age. And hopefully one step smarter than bumper sticker slogans.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:48 PM
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May 13, 2008

Community Organizing vs. Community Building

I mentioned last week about the conversation my wife and I are a part of with a handful of churches in Northeast Los Angeles discussing issues of poverty, homelessness, education, etc. One of the models we were looking at for engaging our community is developed by an organization called Pico. The model is built around "one-to-one's" which is exactly what it sounds like--one person conversing with another person. (It's a little more complex than this so you can watch an overview on their site). Pico points to significant social movements in history (i.e., Civil Rights) and traces their roots not to dynamic personalities but to grassroots community building.

This got me thinking about "community building" vs. "community organizing" and how often church leaders--myself included--tend to go for organizing groups before figuring out what to organize around. It seems so much easier to do a big splash in the community around a trendy cause and hope everybody notices. But what would happen if we let causes surface on their own and let our focus instead be on making sure every voice is heard?

In the Pico model, individuals go to other individuals (neighbors, shopkeepers, government workers, you name it) and do interviews. One-on-one interviews to get to know what's going on in their world. What are their concerns? What do they want to see change? Would they consider being a part of that change?

I'll admit, this approach is much slower and it lacks the stimulating immediacy of our give-it-to-me-now mindset, but I think it has some merit.

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:48 AM
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April 22, 2008

What To Do When Someone Steals Your Church

Kinetic Church got in touch with us to tell us a story about themselves, which you may or may not have heard about.

One weekend in early March, our portable church trailer containing about 75% of Kinetic Church's equipment was stolen; leaving our church with virtually nothing.

As a result, Kinetic Church created five billboards and multiple web banners in hopes of grabbing the attention of the thieves (and everyone else for that matter).

You think church marketing sucks? Well getting everything your church owns stolen sucks way more. So they ended up getting some billboards loaned to them, and they leveraged the Internet in a couple more ways to try to get their trailer

Continue reading "What To Do When Someone Steals Your Church"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 10:49 AM
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March 18, 2008

Churches as a Media Platform

Veggie Tales founder Phil Vischer has been blogging about his big dreams for his new company, Jellyfish (if you're not familiar with Vischer's departure from Big Idea, you should read his book, Me, Myself & Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables). So far he's blogged about two problems:

• "Problem #1 – we need to raise a generation of Christians who know what it means to live out the Gospel."
• "Problem #2 – Christian kids media is dying for lack of a platform."

He's gone on to talk about a platform to address these problems, which he called the "world's smallest TV network." God speed, Phil.

But I've got another idea: Why can't the church be the platform?

Continue reading "Churches as a Media Platform"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:49 PM
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March 13, 2008

Erwin McManus Touches (Lightly) on Church Marketing

Erwin McManus has his thoughts about why churches are in decline. And it's not bad design, bad web sites or poor use of technology.

"My primary assessment would be because American Christians tend to be incredibly self-indulgent so they see the church as a place there for them to meet their needs and to express faith in a way that is meaningful for them ... I think the bottom line really is our own spiritual narcissism. There are methods and you can talk about style, structure and music, but in the end it really comes down to your heart and what you care about."

You don't market country clubs. You don't market your secret society. And you can't market your church if the attitude within is one of self-indulgence and only caring about what works best for your members. Simply put, you can't market your church if your church isn't ready to sacrifice. (link via MMI)

Posted by Joshua Cody at 1:36 PM
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February 28, 2008

Lent as the Christian Ramadan

We're playing telephone today: we got a link from the Cheapertising blog who highlighted the Get Religion blog who covered a story from the Telegraph. It takes a timely look at the season of Lent in the Netherlands, and a current re-branding that's under way. I'll quote:

"Dutch Catholics have re-branded the Lent fast as the 'Christian Ramadan' in an attempt to appeal to young people who are more likely to know about Islam than Christianity."

As the season of Lent has become less important for the Dutch over the past years, they feel something must be done. Martin Van der Kull, director of Vastenaktie, a Catholic charity, had this to say:

"The image of the Catholic Lent must be polished. The fact that we use a Muslim term is related to the fact that Ramadan is a better-known concept among young people than Lent."

Defining a Christian event in Muslim terms is a foreign concept, especially here in Protestant America. But thinking deeper, is it really so bad to explain Lent as a "Christian Ramadan?" It seems like at least a good way to communicate what happens during Lent to a non-Christian listener. Either way, it's sure an interesting way to market your church in a Muslim location, and it keeps with our international theme of late.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:07 AM
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February 26, 2008

NFL Gives in to Churches

Woohoo! Victory!

Reports are surfacing (via my investigative reporting of the espn.com main page) that the NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is giving up the fight against religious organizations holding live showings of the Super Bowl.

If you keep up with us, you've probably know of the church-NFL tension stemming from last year's Super Bowl. Essentially, churches were having Super Bowl parties and the NFL was getting mad because, unless you're a bar, you aren't allowed to have game screenings when the display is larger than 55".

We've talked about this again and again. And again. And again.

Comments on the original article show there's a possible hullabaloo coming up with the NFL exempting "religious organizations." (Although they already exempt bars.) Some folks aren't too happy about this exception to the rule. What about community centers? What about non-religious folks? It will be interesting to see how churches respond to getting this special status.

As for me, I only know of Jesus discussing football or the Super Bowl once...

Posted by Joshua Cody at 10:31 AM
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February 2, 2008

The NFL vs. Church

I guess tomorrow there's some big game--the Super Bowl or something. They're talking about it in the Church Marketing Lab and churches across the country are having parties--though perhaps warily.

Last year we talked about the NFL's crackdown on church Super Bowl parties. It seems this year it's more of the same. If your church's Super Bowl party involves a screen larger than 55 inches, you could run afoul of the NFL.

And it all seems kind of stupid. Churches want to get a bunch of people together to have a good time (and tell them about Jesus, hope they come back to church, etc.), the NFL wants people to watch the Super Bowl (and the super commercials). Why can't they come up with some kind of solution where everybody can win? We suggested a solution last year, but apparently nobody listened. Can't we all just get along?

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:53 AM
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January 5, 2008

Underpromise and Overdeliver

Seth Godin, one of our favorite marketing gurus, had some good advice recently. Underpromise and overdeliver.

This is a little different but particularly pertinent for the church. We can't overpromise. We have life change, world change and miracles to offer. But sometimes we self-promote rather than message promote.

When we promise big and huge and spectacular and over-the-top events, but we underdeliver, the message suffers. So when it comes to your church, underpromise and overdeliver, but when it comes to your message, remember: no promise is too big.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 2:00 PM
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January 3, 2008

Christmas is Broken

Now that the Christmas season is over (unless you celebrate the 12 days of Christmas, in which case keep on rockin'!) I think it's fair to say that Christmas is broken. And by that I mean our cultural celebration of Christmas in the 21st century America.

In my family Christmas is over a month long, stretching from Thanksgiving to New Year's as we visit family scattered across the country and exchange gifts. Lots of gifts. You haven't seen lots of gifts until you've seen multiple grandbabies.

Some of our family doesn't believe in the spiritual celebration of Christmas and the holiday becomes simply about gifts and food and family. There's nothing wrong with those things, but it's missing the point. And as we continue to celebrate Christmas year after year with the same massive pile of gifts, it's easy for us to miss the point as well, even though we whole-heartedly believe in the reason for the season.

I don't think I'm alone in this feeling and I see evidence of that as more and more people are coming up with alternative ways to celebrate Christmas than a pile of stuff. People are reimagining Christmas.

Continue reading "Christmas is Broken"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 2:11 PM
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December 14, 2007

Marketing Via Christmas Carolers

I love Christmas carols. Every year it seems like the words become more and more meaningful to me. It's amazing how much the gospel is sung in these songs!

So why have we stopped caroling in our neighborhoods? What other time of the year is it considered culturally OK to go to people's doors, stand outside and sing the gospel to them?

I'm all for singing carols inside the church walls but let's also remember to take advantage of opportunities we have to take the church to people. I can't think of a better idea this time of the year!

This photo is from Desert Carolers in Redlands, Calif. I have no idea who they are (thanks Google Image search) but maybe they could help you out.

Posted by Brad Abare at 9:04 AM
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November 7, 2007

Fall Church Shopping

USA Today seems to feel that autumn is the perfect time to find a new church. I guess when we asked you what would make you leave your church, we should have included "Autumnal Equinox" as an answer.

USA Today is catching on to what other premier news organizations (Read: us) have been saying for a while now: Church web sites are vital.

"Having a web site allows the religious consumer to be a much more informed consumer. (If people) can find can a congregation that fits their needs and their interests, they're more likely to make a long-term commitment and to be a serious participant in the life of that church."

Continue reading "Fall Church Shopping"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:43 AM
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August 27, 2007

The Free Gift of God is ... iPhones and Disneyland Trips?

The free gift of God is an iPhone and a trip to Disneyland.

OK, so that's not the whole story.

We've talked here before about churches partnering with local business. Perhaps it was just due to the title of "Your Church, Sponsored by Crest White Strips," but the idea didn't go over well. This time we wanted to talk about churches using similar tactics, but with a twist.

Continue reading "The Free Gift of God is ... iPhones and Disneyland Trips?"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 9:52 AM
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August 20, 2007

Batterson on Marketing

Mark Batterson, a CMS favorite and annual interviewee, had a little to say about marketing last week in his Evotional blog. He said a few things I wanted to point out and share here.

He lets us in on the lens through which his church views marketing:

"The greatest message deserves the greatest marketing ... we don't want anybody in the metro DC area to be able to deny our existence!"

Continue reading "Batterson on Marketing"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 5:15 AM
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July 27, 2007

Building A Network

by Kevin Peterson, Guest Blogger

Call it church marketing if you want, but Southeast Christian in Louisville, Ky. (my own church) is taking a unique approach to reaching the community.

Kyle Idleman has taken a three-part sermon series and turned it on its ear. The series is focused on prayer, not so much how to pray, but why we should pray. In an effort to connect the community to prayer, 25 small ballot boxes were placed around town.

You’ll find them in restaurants, doctor’s offices, bus stations, stores and even a prison. Each box has a simple sign letting people know they can write their prayer request on a slip of paper and a church in their community will pray for them. Or if they would like they can visit www.prayerboxnetwork.com (Ed. note: Link no longer working as of June 15th, 2008) and enter their request or praise online.

Continue reading "Building A Network"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 11:48 AM
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July 23, 2007

Embracing Online Video

According to comScore, 75% of Internet users watched online video in May 2007, averaging 158 minutes per viewer. Nearly 8.4 billion videos were streamed online in the month of May. That's a lot.

Online video isn't a market that's too saturated to succeed in, either. It's not even a market that can become too saturated to succeed. If you missed the boat on the whole web 2.0 craze, you should read up on it. No matter how many videos stream online (in our case, 8,357,000,000), if you have a solid message and something fresh to offer, you can succeed.

Continue reading "Embracing Online Video"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 3:56 PM
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July 18, 2007

Grow Your Church By Asking People to Leave

Craig Groeschel at LifeChurch.tv has an interesting series of blog posts on getting people to leave your church. It seems completely counter-intuitive, but it makes sense. If people aren't moving your church forward, they're dead weight (which is kind of scary--am I dead weight?). And it's not just about helping your church, it's also about helping those people find the church for them.

Craig gives an example where he preached on the church's vision trying to get everybody on board. If people weren't on board with the vision, he asked them to find another church. He even offered brochures from 10 other churches he knew and recommended. It was a serious challenge and 500 people ended up leaving. Most people would freak out at that thought. Not Craig:

The next week, we had about 500 new seats for people who could get excited about the vision. Within a short period of time, God filled those seats with passionate people. Many of those who left our church found great, biblical churches where they could worship and use their gifts.

Everybody won!

That's why I sometimes say, "You can grow your church by asking people to leave."

Craig focuses on making leaving a church a graceful option and a positive thing and not the bitter experience it often is.

Or for a, uh, slightly different perspective, there's Mark Driscoll from his book Confessions of a Reformission Rev:

"The church is a body, and one of the most important parts is the colon. Like the human body, any church body without a colon is destined for sickness that leads to death." (page 131)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:24 AM
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June 4, 2007

Gee, I Should Go To Church Today

It's time to go back to the basics.

I don't know any non-Christian who wakes up and thinks, "Gee, I should go to church today." Churches need to find ways to make people think that very thought--whether it's through billboards or outreach events or the incredible example of their members (or all three and more--my point, don't get hung up on the method). If churches aren't getting people to think that, then what are they doing?

Unfortunately, too many churches have settled for the status quo, the steady stream of Christians who do wake up thinking they should go to church, and for some churches that's good enough. Those churches are social clubs, and useless. Sadly, many Christians are that way too.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:05 PM
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May 4, 2007

Christians vs. Atheists on Nightline

Grab the popcorn and call your friends--ABC's Nightline is staging a smackdown confrontation with eternal consequences. It's a debate between Christians and atheists. In the atheists' corner we have Brian Sapient and Kelly (last name withheld) of the Rational Response Squad, an atheist group best known for their Blasphemy Challenge. In the Christians' corner we have Growing Pains star Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort of Way of the Master.

Anybody sense a coming train wreck? Check this out:

Comfort--who claims he can prove the existence of God, scientifically, without mentioning faith or the Bible--stated, "The network originally offered me only four minutes to present my case. After speaking with Kirk and conferring with the atheists, they settled on 13 minutes. I'm ecstatic. I can prove the existence of God in that amount of time.

Comfort also told Nightline, "We cannot only prove that God exists, but we can prove that the atheist doesn't."

Wow. The single question humanity has wrestled with since the dawn of time--does God exist?--will be answered by a former sitcom star and a preacher with no theological training in a mere 13 minutes. Let's just hope they leave the banana out of it.

Continue reading "Christians vs. Atheists on Nightline"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:00 PM
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May 3, 2007

Rate a Church

Just stumbled across the unique and somewhat tongue-in-cheek site ChurchRater from Off the Map (the guys who bought an atheist on eBay). It's exactly what it sounds like, a site to rate churches. It reminds me of much less serious and more open source version of Guest Reflections.

It also seems like a promotional after-thought for the book Jim & Casper Go to Church: Frank Conversation About Faith, Churches, and Well-Meaning Christians. (link via Knightopia)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:49 PM
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May 1, 2007

What Makes a Church Grow?

Wanting your church to grow isn't enough. You have to take intentional action to make it happen. (Disclaimer: Yes, God makes it grow, not us. But God uses us to make it grow--by inviting our neighbors, living out our faith, etc. OK? Put the stones down.) And now we have stats to back that up. The Facts on Growth report from Hartford Seminary explores key factors in making a church grow. And it comes down to planning for growth. Among the common factors for churches that have grown:

• Multiple services.
• Launching or maintaining a web site in the past year.
• Racial diversity.
• Involving children in worship.
• Avoiding major conflict.

It's important to note that none of these are clear paths to bringing more people into your church to hear about Jesus. They're all indicators that these are mission-minded churches doing what it takes to draw people in. And as we all know, the number of butts in pews means nothing if you're not also seeing Christ in hearts. (link via Turtle Interactive, which also shares some best practices for church web sites)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:11 AM
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April 27, 2007

Taking Outreach Lessons From Denny's

by Brenton Balvin, Guest Blogger

I love what Denny's restaurant is doing to try and attract the college crowd, via Nation's Restaurant News (subscription required):

Denny's plan is to become a "social gathering" place for students who want to study for exams or meet with friends over a sit-down meal instead of grabbing a quick burger at a fast-food drive-thru, Polydoroff said.

To lure them in during the promotion, Denny's is offering meal deals because students are on a budget, he said, and using free Wi-Fi , text messages and banner ads on Facebook to communicate with students because they are heavy users of those media.

"It's pretty new and significant for us," Polydoroff said. "We never did text messaging before."

Marketing support also includes direct mail, coupons and ads in college newspapers.

Continue reading "Taking Outreach Lessons From Denny's"

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April 19, 2007

Church For Men

Most of you have heard the debate that church doesn't speak the language of men, that the church with its tears and emotion doesn't cater to men. There have been books written, and now there's a church taking on the challenge. The goal of Church for Men is to "help churches create an environment where men can thrive in every aspect of church life. Instead of creating a little outpost of masculinity called men's ministry, we help churches unleash the masculine spirit throughout the organization."

I like a lot about this; they meet on Saturday evenings, so this isn't about replacing the family church. It's so relevant that even the press is taking notice. They're doing more than talking about a problem in the church--they're doing something!

What do you see in the church that maybe you could not just talk about but begin to take action on?

Posted by Michael Buckingham at 7:46 AM
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April 16, 2007

How To Achieve 277% Growth

OK, so the title isn't fully accurate. But it is how one church did it. Eastpoint Community Church in Middletown, Del. had an incredibly simple, strategic and successful marketing campaign, detailed by Marketing Sherpa (membership required). Here's a quick summary of their story:

A small, young church, they were looking to reach a community saturated by a younger generation with a general disquietude towards the idea of church. They knew that an unobtrusive web site would bring just the proper message--we don't merely want to tally converts, but we want you to discover us. Thus the brainstorming began.

Continue reading "How To Achieve 277% Growth"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:28 AM
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April 13, 2007

Andy Crouch on Culture

Andy Crouch of The Christian Vision Project was recently interviewed on the Catalyst podcast. He made some interesting points which I'll summarize for our loyal CMS readers. Essentially, Andy presents a picture of the way we, the church, relate with the world around us (keep in mind that these are his ideas in my words).

There are two basic ways we present ourselves to the world as believers: gestures and postures. Gestures are the things we do, and postures are the way we carry ourselves. For example, bending over might be an appropriate gesture, but it's not an appropriate posture, as it's not good for everything.

Continue reading "Andy Crouch on Culture"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 9:14 AM
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April 12, 2007

Where's the Church's Ask a Ninja?

Online entertainment has been taking the world by storm. Homestar Runner. Ask a Ninja. lonelygirl15. ZeFrank. For the most part these were projects started by small groups of people with small amounts of money. They are media empires on shoestring budgets. They can be created by folks in their pajamas and they have incredible impact.

While watching Ask a Ninja co-founder Kent Nichols talk about his rules for success in this new entertianment world in a video from Pop!Tech, I wondered where the church is in this new online entertainment phenomenon.

Continue reading "Where's the Church's Ask a Ninja?"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 11:23 AM
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April 4, 2007

Church "Mascots" for Children's Ministry?

by Brenton Balvin, Guest Blogger

Recently I was part of a team of people that used a store mascot to do some local marketing. OK, I was the guy dressed up as a giant A&W Root Beer Bear. My team visited an elementary school in the community that was having a family carnival night. From the nasal perspective of my costume (I see out of the nose), the evening was a massive success for the school, the families and our store. In fact, I even overheard a few kids talking about when the Bear mascot had refereed their hockey game a few months ago.

It reinforced an idea I have been thinking about for awhile. Why don't children's ministries in church utilize some kind of mascot or character to connect with kids? I have seen how much my own kids love going to Chuck E. Cheese and singing and dancing with the mouse mascot there. And my experiences in the Root Beer Bear suit have given me first hand, experiential knowledge of the fact that most kids really enjoy interacting with an over-sized animal. I think churches need to get on board with this and use it as a way to get kids excited about visiting church each week.

Continue reading "Church "Mascots" for Children's Ministry?"

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March 20, 2007

Where We're Missing

I was reading my good friends (I've never met them, but it sounds better, and I like them) over at Church Relevance, and they posted some interesting statistics from the Barna Group. They define being unchurched as not having attended church in the last six months. And using that definition, Barna and friends came up with the following statistics of unchurched demographics:

• 63% of Asians are unchurched
• 49% of homosexuals
• 47% of political liberals
• 37% of single adults
• 34% of Hispanics
• 31% of heterosexuals
• 29% of married adults
• 25% of African Americans
• 19% of political conservatives

To me, the numbers in and of themselves aren't scary. When you group them, it gets different. Look at liberals vs. conservatives. Heterosexuals vs. homosexuals. Hispanics vs. Asians vs. African Americans. Married vs. single. It's easy to say that the problem is on the attendee's end. But is it right?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 4:34 PM
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March 17, 2007

The Anti-Welcoming Church

No matter how welcoming churches think they are, they usually aren't. Why does it have to be so hard to find and connect with a church? I don't know, but you might want to check out 10 Ways to Keep Me from Discovering Your Church. And then make sure this list isn't describing your church.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:37 AM
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March 7, 2007

Churches Talk About Sex (Gasp!)

That incredibly illicit image of two pairs of naked feet hanging off the edge of a bed from Granger Community Church's My Lame Sex Life campaign is getting around. Lately they showed up on the web site of a church in Rochester Hills, Mich. and they're not making everybody happy. The Granger campaign has prompted tons of other churches to use the same approach, some with the same imagery available from Granger and others with their own unique twist.

I think it's cool to see churches trying to approach difficult topics where people want and need to hear a biblical perspective. What I think is amazing is when the complaints come from within the church.

"Instead of using scripture, he's using fads," said Gene Koessel, 70, a retired Lutheran pastor from Roseville, about [Epic Church Pastor Tim] Kade. "What's next?"

What's next indeed? Because we all know sex is just a fad.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:51 AM
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February 28, 2007

Stand-Up Comic Helps UK Clergy

Comedian Andy Kind is offering help to British clergy with a workshop that focuses on performance skills in an effort to help them better communicate with their congregations.

"Christianity is not seen as accessible by the majority of people," said Mr Kind.

"If we want the Gospel message to engage with people's spirituality, then we must first learn to better engage with them in human terms."

Anything we can do to banish the Rev. Lovejoy-esque intonations so common on Sunday morning is a worth a shot.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:40 AM
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February 27, 2007

They Didn't Teach Marketing In Seminary

Rev. Matthew Moretz laments that they didn't teach him marketing in seminary, despite the fact that he does more print jobs than sermons.

But considering the success of his Father Matthew Presents series on YouTube, I don't think he has anything to worry about.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:40 PM
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February 21, 2007

Marketing to Agnostics and Not Atheists

by Joe Suh, Guest Blogger

I was giving a demo about online church communities at the Community Next Conference recently. I opened with a comparison of churches and schools--namely, that there are more Christian churches in the US than K-12 schools, colleges, and universities combined. As I finished that thought, someone in the audience yelled out "That's sad!"

His comment disrupted me. But I realized two important things.

Continue reading "Marketing to Agnostics and Not Atheists"

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February 15, 2007

Churches Should Do What Works

LifeChurch.tv's Craig Groeschel talks about cutting back church ministries. What?! No VBS? No choir? No women's ministry? (gasp)

I love his simple and calm reasoning that churches should do what works to spread the gospel, not just what other churches do and not just what keeps Christians entertained:

• "We stopped doing church sponsored sports. Why take believers out of corporate leagues to put them together in Christian leagues?
• We stopped VBS because we reached more kids for Christ each weekend than we did during VBS (and with a lot less money and effort).
• We stopped doing concerts because we were basicly providing entertainment for Christians."

And it's not that these things are wrong, it's that they weren't working for LifeChurch.tv. Are they working for your church?

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:31 AM
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February 13, 2007

Church Marketing Lessons from PETA

So today I stumbled across this little pornographic video from PETA and blogged about it on my personal site. Don't worry, I'm linking to my blog post and not the video, both to deny PETA the link love and to keep us one step removed from the controversy (if that means anything).

The video features a woman proclaiming the great things PETA has done this year in a 'state of the union' style, while she strips. Yes strips. By the end of it she's sportin' the Eve look, sans cleverly placed leaves.

As I pondered the whole thing and wrote about it for my personal blog, lessons for church marketing came to mind. It's a stretch, I know, but bear with me.

Continue reading "Church Marketing Lessons from PETA"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:26 PM
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February 6, 2007

Multisite Churches Spreading Across D.C.

"We as a congregation made a decision that if we are going to embrace people, we must leave the four walls of the church." - Rev. Deron Cloud, founder of the Soul Factory in a Washington Post article exploring multisite churches in the Washington, D.C., area. (via Ben Arment)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:49 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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February 4, 2007

Official NFL Church Super Bowl Parties

Or maybe the solution to the NFL sacking church Super Bowl ™ parties is to get organized. What if church Super Bowl ™ parties were officially sanctioned events?

A church registers with the NFL and reports all the needed details--screen size, capacity, accurate attendance numbers after the event, etc.--and follows whatever guidelines the NFL has (no charging admission, following copyright rules, etc.). Perhaps there's a small broadcast fee the church pays (but c'mon, NFL, the church is simply boosting your numbers, don't make them pay for that priviledge), perhaps to cover administration costs or to keep this on par with what sports bars have to do.

In the end everybody wins. The NFL can have its power. The TV network partner and advertisers get more viewers--and (perhaps more importantly) a count of those viewers. And the local church can go ahead and have its Super Bowl ™ party and use the communal event to connect with people.

Continue reading "Official NFL Church Super Bowl Parties"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 2:00 PM
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February 3, 2007

NFL Bans Church Super Bowl Parties

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl, in case you didn't know (I had to look it to be sure, so don't feel bad), and amid all the stories about commercials and the halftime show and, oh yeah, the game itself, is a little story about the National Football League shutting down local church Super Bowl parties (best headline? "Wrath of NFL Smites Parties at Churches").

It seems churches are running afoul of the NFL's broadcast copyrights, including the following limitations:

• No unauthorized use of the copyrighted terms (i.e., "Super Bowl") in promotions.
• No charging admission to watch the Super Bowl™.
• No public showings of the big game on TVs larger than 55 inches.

An exception is made for sports bars and other places that regularly show sporting events.

So what's a church to do?

Continue reading "NFL Bans Church Super Bowl Parties"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:15 PM
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January 15, 2007

MLK Day On, Not Off

Following up my post post from earlier this week about how more churches should be making a bigger deal about MLK day, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that many do.

I flew to Michigan Friday for a board meeting of a non-profit I serve on. During my ride from the airport, I was talking with fellow board member Pastor Clifford Barnett of Brighton Rock A.M.E. Zion Church in Portsmouth, Va. Besides being on my list for one of the coolest pastors in the world (this guy gets up every morning during the school year and waits with kids who are waiting for their bus!), Pastor Barnett and team are active participants in their local "day on/day off" program.

The concept "it's not a day off, it's a day on" honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day as not just a holiday break from working, but a chance to serve our communities. The idea is brilliant (thank you Congress of 1994!).

I'm sure Dr. King would have preferred any honor people were going to give him to be done in the name of serving others rather than serving ourselves.

Thanks Pastor Clifford Barnett and to all other churches who make a big deal out of this holiday!

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:01 AM
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January 10, 2007

Post-Holiday Linkfest

My post-holiday recovery never quite happened, thanks to the fact that my family is trying to sell our house. So I've got a pile of links I haven't had time to blog about. But lucky for you I'll take the lazy route and throw 'em all up here in one big list. Enjoy:

• Congregations Go High-Tech to Deliver Message - From PowerPoint and basic web sites (ooh, shiny!) to podcasting and blogs.
• Location Doesn't Matter for Most - Storefront churches are working despite locations: "I quickly discovered that the absence of typical church decorations doesn't matter a bit. What makes a church 'church' is what goes on inside the heart and soul of the pastor and the congregation."
• How Toyota Would Run a Church - Church Relevance speculates about how Toyota might run a church.
• The 25 Most Innovative Churches in America - Outreach put out the list with help from Tony Morgan, but we'll link to Church Relevance since they have the list in non-PDF format and show what other lists those churches have landed on.
• What Makes a Church Grow? - Growing churches are often multiracial, have more men than women, make an effort not to be reverent and use drums in worship (gasp!).
• New England Churches Shy From 'Baptist' Name - Even NPR is getting in on the church name change game. Dawn Nicole Baldwin is even planning a series on church name changes.
• God Bless the Bulletin - Wow, some newspapers still run bulletin bloopers?

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 11:16 AM
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December 6, 2006

Church Vandals Score Xbox

Here's an odd little story: Three teenagers break into South Hills Evangelical Church in Missoula, Mont., steal money and smash windows and computers causing several thousand dollars in damage. In response, the following Sunday's sermon used the incident as an example to talk about mercy and forgiveness and the church gave the teens several hundred dollars worth of gifts, including an Xbox and a DVD player.

Church pastor Jason Reimer said the congregation wanted "to reach out and extend love and mercy to them".

"A lot of us, whether we're churchgoers or not, have been in their shoes before and have made some bad choices," Mr Reimer said. "But God forgives us."

Ah, love and mercy in the form of an Xbox. I love the idea and I love the gesture, but the practical side of me wonders what this accomplishes. Maybe this is one of those things where Christians are just supposed to act and let God sort it out, but I can't help but wonder if teens across the country will see this as a good way to score an Xbox. I can see it now: "Stupid Christians, let's trash their church and see if they turn the other cheek."

Continue reading "Church Vandals Score Xbox"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:40 PM
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November 30, 2006

Lessons Learned from Skipping Church

Pastor Gary Lamb of Ridge Stone Church in Georgia recently took a Sunday off (gasp!) and blogged about lessons learned from NOT attending church.

Some of the best lessons have to do with evangelism:

• The large majority of people DO NOT go to church.
• Men don't go to church.
• People are craving community and they will find it SOMEWHERE.
• A lot of people work on Sunday mornings.

When you spend all your time in the church you have to constantly remind yourself that some people do something entirely different on Sunday morning. I remember realizing this in 8th grade when all my friends at school talked about watching Ren & Stimpy on Sunday mornings while I was at church like a good little Baptist.

It's also a good reminder that Sunday morning doesn't work for everybody. Some people work, some people stay out too late on Saturday night, some people just aren't morning people. Alternate service times are a must if you want to reach unchurched people.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 2:52 PM
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November 14, 2006

Operation Christmas Child Bans Christmas to Spread the Message

It's collection week for Operation Christmas Child, the high profile project of Franklin Graham and Samaritan's Purse, and while shoeboxes are being packed for kids across the world, they're also being unpacked of any religious message. According to the Daily Mail Samaritan's Purse has banned any religious items from the boxes, including Bible stories, images of Jesus and any other religious items (though these don't make the list of other banned items on their web site, which also includes war-related toys, chocolate or food, breakables, medicine and liquids).

Shocking, isn't it? A Christian charity banning its own message. But it's part of making sure the message gets through. They need to respect local cultures where the boxes will be distributed--which are often primarily Muslim. Giving a Jesus doll to a Muslim boy could cause problems on the scale of a certain cartoon that caused worldwide riots. Samaritan's Purse hopes the simple act of giving will speak for itself, followed up by the ongoing interaction with the organization. The idea is that there will be other, better avenues to spread its message, so they voluntariy opt not to put the message in the shoeboxes. Instead the shoebox itself is the message.

Continue reading "Operation Christmas Child Bans Christmas to Spread the Message"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:40 AM
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November 1, 2006

Church People are Weird

That's what Gary Lamb, pastor of Ridge Stone Church in Canton, Ga. says in the post that made him famous. He originally posted it last year and it resulted in 137 comments and soaring traffic. He re-posted it this week for those of us who weren't around for the infamous rant (like me).

It's good stuff, a confessional of sorts about how he visited another church's fall harvest festival. The application is if the church is truly going to reach people, we need to do some remarkable stuff, not just cater to other Christians. Here are few of my favorite lines:

• "I want my kids growing up digging church not thinking it is lame."
• "Man the christianize language was in full affect. ... If someone called it Harvest day instead of Halloween one more time I was going to punch them. Unchurched people think we are weird because we are."
• "More and more pastors are very sissy men."
• "I am worried about the church. Overall she just doesn't get it."

I'm sure Gary's post riled a lot of people up (with 137 comments I bet a few weren't too happy), but I love his attitude of doing things with excellence and not the churchy norm--all so we can reach people.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:39 AM
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October 27, 2006

Canceling a Church Service to Do Service

This is what church is supposed to be.

Gateway Community Church in South Riding, Va. had "The Big Event" on Sunday, October 15. Instead of a typical Sunday morning worship service, the congregation went out and did volunteer work for 61 area homes. One member even blogged about the experience.

The event included business sponsors, a web site and balloons and yard signs to mark the "winners"--the homes that received the free work. While all those extras help maximize the impact of the event, I just love the simple idea. (link via Church Tech Matters)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:37 AM
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October 17, 2006

18 Word of Mouth Marketing Tips for Churches

by Marcus Neto, Guest Blogger

At a recent Word of Mouth Marketing convention several bigwigs sat down and came up with 40 ideas to boost word of mouth marketing in 40 minutes. As leadership in a church shouldn't we be thinking about these same types of things? What are we doing to refocus our congregation on relationship building, evangelism or servant evangelism? What tools are we putting in their hands to make that happen? So often we forget that as leaders we can reach a few people, but if we empower our congregations they can reach exponentially more people. It's how the church works.

So without further ado here is my list of Word of Mouth boosters for churches. Some of these are taken directly from the Word of Mouth Marketing Association list (link via Brand Autopsy) as they apply in both instances. And some are originals. I whittled the list down from 43 to 18 as I felt some of theirs were redundant or did not apply.

1. Identify the Connectors (see Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point) in your church and encourage them to do what is natural.

2. If you train your congregation in the ways of evangelism, they become better recruiters. Teach them about servant evangelism, enable them to make friends in the world, make evangelism easy. Bring it back to the way that Christ modeled.

Continue reading "18 Word of Mouth Marketing Tips for Churches"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 6:07 AM
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October 2, 2006

Church Outreach & MySpace

by Joe Suh, Guest Blogger

In the real world, preaching to the choir is as effective in outreach as preaching to the choir. Community within church walls is great, but it makes for an easy excuse to avoid outreach outside the church building.

The digital world is no different. 80% of church visitors come because they were personally invited by friends. Now we have a fancy term for it: social networks. And now we have an incredible way to engage our social networks: MySpace.com.

You can choose to believe or reject the latest numbers about MySpace demographics. In taking surveys before creating MyChurch.org, I also found that MySpace users were older than what we originally thought. Social networking isn't just for teens and twentysomethings. The point is there has never been an easier way to connect with the congregations' social networks in history.

A year ago, we canvassed church flyers at the local shopping mall. Today we manually post bulletins and church events on Craigslist and blogs. In one year, we’ll be automatically syndicating widgets of the church event calendar and sermons onto MySpace profiles. It may seem ironic, but our purpose of creating online community at MyChurch is to drive content outside of that community. Shouldn’t that be the purpose of every church, both online and off?

Technology will continue to change. The need to outreach and evangelize to the un-churched on their own turf will not. MySpace is the new mall hangout.

Archbishop William Temple once wrote, "The church is the only organization that exists for the benefit of its non-members." We love our church communities. But it is not just for us to love.

Posted by Guest Blogger at 6:06 AM
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May 31, 2006

Church Lessons from Six Flags

Tony McCollum of Churchwerx offers four lessons for churches from Six Flags amusement parks:

• Signage - show then you care
• Broken rides - deliver what you promise
• Stupid rules - people are more important than rules
• Good byes - leave them with a smile

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 2:04 PM
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May 29, 2006

Reporter & Pastor Attend DaVinci Code

The L.A. Times has a column from Joel Stein about his experience attending The DaVinci Code with a pastor (registration required). Ken Baugh of Coast Hills Community Church in Aliso Viejo, Calif. had already appeared on the Today show when Stein approached him about seeing the movie:

When I found out he was considering giving congregants tickets and Starbucks gift cards so they could bring a non-church-going friend to discuss the film, I immediately thought: free nonfat venti chai.

It's a funny read. Good stuff. (link via John Carney)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:32 AM
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May 27, 2006

Breaking Growth Barriers

Reaching more people often means changing how we do things, and that's not always easy. John Jackson, pastor of Carson Valley Christian Center in Minden, Nev., offers the PDF Breaking Growth Barriers, which gives concepts and ideas to help churches break some of the typical growth barriers. Most of the document focuses on churches with under 200 people (which account for 85% of churches), but it also covers the 200-400, 400-700 and 700-1500 barriers.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:23 AM
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May 25, 2006

24/7 Church

by Keith Gardner, Guest Blogger

Whenever one is down there seems to be a supply of 24/7 places to help you out with a snack and coffee.

Why can't this be the case with the church? I'm not talking about a drive-through McDonald's church, I'm talking about a jazzy, cozy, relaxing comfortable place. The type of place where prayer and reaching God is possible.

Many people don't like the formality of the church or church groups. It just isn't a convenient means to really pray and seek God. When you have an emergency and need God, you need someone somewhere who is readily accessible.

Ideally, I would like some low key, piped jazz playing while sitting in the relaxed atmosphere of a coffee shop.

Once I'm comfortable, I would love to find peace, chat with the 24/7 minister on staff or other Christians, and find God for the first time in my life.

Posted by Guest Blogger at 6:48 AM
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May 18, 2006

Churches Respond to The DaVinci Code

In the past few weeks I've talked to the L.A. Times, Fox News and Court TV's Crier Live. It all started with The DaVinci Code.

I worked with a church on a DaVinci sermon, just as many churches across the nation are doing and have done. We converted the sanctuary into a movie theater, replacing offering plates with popcorn buckets, the pulpit with movie seats and opening the sermon with the DaVinci trailer. All so pastor James Damude could equip people to have conversations about the movie.

Continue reading "Churches Respond to The DaVinci Code"

Posted by Michael Buckingham at 6:12 AM
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May 12, 2006

Hug Your Customers by Jack Mitchell

Does your church hug your visitors? Well, not actually physically hug your visitors—that's fraught with touch-feely vibes and is going way too far over that safe church line—but does your church do the equivalent of hugging a visitor by making their day? Jack Mitchell, CEO of the high-end clothing retailer Mitchells/Richards, pushes this customer-first philosophy in his book Hug Your Customers.

For Mitchell it's all about giving his customers the equivalent of a hug by going out of his way to serve them. It's not about good customer service—it's about amazing customer service. The standard faire doesn't cut it. The standard customer service doesn't get talked about and won't bring people back.

Continue reading "Hug Your Customers by Jack Mitchell"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:00 AM
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April 24, 2006

Ditching Sermons for Drama

A Pennsylvania church plant hopes to spread the word by ditching sermons in favor of dramas. Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community in Pittsburgh, Penn. is an emergent congregation that targets the unchurched.

"Instead of coming to our church and listening to a sermon, you can be part of the sermon," says co-pastor Jim Walker. Their dramatically different approach is drawing lots of media attention, including the Wall Street Journal and the Today Show.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:55 PM
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April 19, 2006

Easter Brings Churches Together

My wife and I were invited by some friends to attend an Easter service this past weekend. A handful of churches were coming together for a "county-wide celebration of Christ" at one of the famous outdoor amphitheaters here in Southern California. Thousands of people gathered for a surprisingly low-key service--not a a big show or production--with worship, a simple yet profound drama, and a cut-to-the-chase invitation for salvation. I was so moved by the people who responded to the invitation. What a thrill to see so many lost people found!

I was particularly glad to see churches coming together in partnership for reaching their communities. Although the host church, Rock Harbor, was the main organizer, there was not a single plug for them. Instead, they actually passed out cards with addresses to a dozen or so churches in the area for people to check out. I love it!

I also received word from Tim Schraeder of Riverside Community Church in Peoria, Ill. of something similar. They hooked up with St. Paul Baptist Church for a joint service. Not only are these churches of different denominations, they are of different cultures, too. I love it! You can read more about this and the media coverage they have generated on their blog.

Posted by Brad Abare at 8:45 AM
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April 6, 2006

Episcopal Church Online Visitor's Center

The Episcopal Church has an online visitor's center that serves as a first step for anyone considering checking out an Episcopal church. It's another way denominations can help drive people to the local church, especially since denominations usually have more resources at their disposal than local churches do. It's the franchise approach.

Is it working? The Episcopal Church is running a survey to get input on the visitor's center, so you can offer your input. The survey is available until April 7. (Yes, that's tomorrow. We're a little behind on our e-mail)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:08 AM
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March 3, 2006

21 Easter Outreach Ideas

Outreach magazine offers 21 Easter outreach ideas, including:

• Instead of decorating the church with flowers, donate them to local hospitals.
• Offer yard signs (think election year) to church members to invite neighbors to an Easter service.
• Give every member an invite card and challenge them to bring one friend on Easter Sunday.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:14 AM
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February 21, 2006

Stripper Outreach

You've probably heard of the porn ministry XXXChurch, but have you heard of the stripper ministry JC's Girls Girls Girls? Started by a former stripper and supported by Sandals Church in Riverside, Calif., the ministry attends porn conventions and reaches out to workers in the adult entertainment industry, much like XXXChurch, but these girls have been there before.

The news media is starting to pay attention (they just love a good church sex story, don't they?), though some of the coverage is a little more incendiary than it needs to be, like the title of the AP story: Minister Buys Lap Dances To Tell Strippers About God.

Continue reading "Stripper Outreach"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:03 AM
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February 7, 2006

Community Swimming Pool Built By a Church

Harvest Church in Billings, Mont. is planning to build a community swimming pool. And you thought cup holders were cool. The community has tried to pass three bond measures in 15 years to pay for a pool but they've always failed. The second attempt failed in 2000, mere weeks after Harvest opened, giving Pastor Vern Streeter the idea of the church stepping in.

And the plan is for it to be a community pool, operated by a non-profit separate from the church.

"It's very important people understand this is a Yellowstone County pool. This is a Montana pool," Streeter said. "It's not a church pool. You don't have to be baptized in it before you can swim in it. ...

"There's been a sense by the general public that church is irrelevant," Streeter said. "We want Harvest to be a place where the most ardent critic of Christianity would be bummed if we ceased to exist."

Continue reading "Community Swimming Pool Built By a Church"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:14 PM
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January 26, 2006

The Art of Evangelism

Guy Kawasaki, a former evangelist for Apple computers, talks about the art of evangelism. In a nutshell, what used to be a religious term has been borrowed by business.

In a quirky step farther, let's take evangelism back to the church and reapply Kawasaki's art of evangelism on churches. Obviously we're a couple steps removed from the original concept of evangelism so not everything fits, but it's an interesting exercise.

Continue reading "The Art of Evangelism"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:45 PM
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October 31, 2005

Pumpkin Giving, Not Smashing

With Halloween upon us I can't imagine a more timely marketing example than a youth group giving (not smashing) pumpkins. I love that it's a timely gift, but more than another freebie, I love that it's the complete opposite of what people expect from teens.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 2:55 PM
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October 27, 2005

Theology on Tap

More than a few times we've heard about outreach efforts involving strong drink, and they make me both wince and smile. I wince because I grew up in a church that considered proximity to alcohol a sin, and despite the fact that I don't agree I still have the response. And I smile because I've moved beyond that thinking and I can appreciate the gutsiness and the fresh thinking, at the same time realizing how sad it is that sharing a pint is considered edgy.

So I find a post like this one that imagines a bartender Jesus and comes up with potential names for a drinking group rather clever, but in a sad kind of way. Like most sin, Christians have no idea how to deal with drunkenness. Jesus may have turned water into wine, but only Christians can turn alcohol into animosity.

There's a balance to be found between legalism and abusing grace, and I wish churches would seek that balance. When that happens I think you can have cool stuff like a Theology on Tap group or a way to help rather than shun drinkers, like what happens with Alcoholics Anonymous. I've asked it before, but why can't the church led the way in restoring responsibility to alcohol?

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:38 PM
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October 3, 2005

Sunday School Celebrates 225 Years

Reviewing one of the calendars from an organization I work for, I noticed that yesterday was the 225th celebration of Sunday School (first Sunday of every October). A quick Google search found little marking the occasion, although I did find a link from the Pennsylvania State Sunday School Association. Apparently, this organization is urging churches to celebrate. Who their urges are going to I am not sure.

I did jump over to the History Channel's site to search through their encyclopedias. An article from Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia says that British religious leader Robert Raikes established the first Sunday school in 1780, "as a means of furnishing both secular and religious education to children whose employment in the factories prevented them from attending the secular schools."

Is the lack of celebration an indication of our seemingly increasing distance from this foundational element of the modern Church? Is this not still an effective outreach method for churches who want to make disciples?

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:22 AM
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September 6, 2005

Why Working Together Works

by Jennifer Laycock, Guest Blogger

What's the great thing about a well thought-out outreach? The way that it can take on a life of its own and go from impacting hundreds to impacting thousands. What's the great thing about not hogging all the glory for yourself? The glory goes to God.

The Old Way
That's what my home church, The Vineyard Church of Columbus learned last week when it gave up its own successful "Single Parents Fair" outreach in favor of joining up with other churches to sponsor a mega-outreach.

My husband and I had worked the event in the past, which included the distribution of free school supplies, games and crafts and even motorcycle rides for the kids and free oil changes, free car washes, free hair cuts, free legal advice, financial counseling and more for the adults. A free BBQ lunch was provided for everyone. Turn-out was always fantastic and it was a great way to introduce the community to the outwardly focused message of the church.

The New Way
But this year, when the church was approached by the team behind Jammin' Against the Darkness to co-sponsor the local version of the event with the First Church of God, they jumped at the opportunity.

Continue reading "Why Working Together Works"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 6:39 AM
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August 25, 2005

Multiple Church Services

Question: When should churches add another service?

Answer: When the pews are full.

Wrong.

At least according to Tim Stevens and Tony Morgan of Granger Community Church in Granger, Ind. In their Rev magazine article (adapted from their book Simply Strategic Growth) they argue for a number of ideas for drawing crowds to your church (which I've already summarized), and one of them is adding multiple services regardless of how full your church is.

Let's take a look at why...

Continue reading "Multiple Church Services"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 4:16 PM
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August 22, 2005

Church Ice Cream Truck

Thanks to the USA Today tip, we heard about New Life Christian Church in Centreville, Va. and their ice cream truck. They spent $10,000 on an ice cream truck and have been driving around their community handing out free ice cream all summer long. Now there's a way to get attention.

They have a blog chronicling the experience, though it hasn't been updated in a while. But the blog does give an idea of the response:

Of course, most people were shocked that the ice cream was free. One lady was so blown away by free ice cream her only response was, "I gotta start coming to a church that gives out free ice cream."

In addition to the ice cream, they're giving out fliers advertising an upcoming movie night, which is a nice, non-churchy way for people to experience the church. It also sounds like they're filming part of the experience (though the best lesson from that story is that the person answering the phone at church knew what was going on).

Free ice cream—now there's an idea that doesn't suck.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:11 AM
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August 15, 2005

Ministry as Marketing

One complaint we often hear about marketing is that churches should just do something instead. Actions speak louder than words. If we get out in the community and do what we're supposed to be doing, people will take notice. And that's absolutely right. World Magazine covers a Florida church that's doing just that.

First Baptist Church of Leesburg, Fla. has put its focus on ministries, to the point that instead of building a larger sanctuary, they built a ministry village.

Ministry is an awesome way to reach your community. But when people say let's do ministry, not marketing—they're fooling themselves. Just because it doesn't involve a flier doesn't mean it's not marketing. Marketing is the bigger picture—it's everything you communicate. It's mailers and men's groups. Stop making marketing a dirty word.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:38 AM
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July 6, 2005

Vacation Bible School

I think Vacation Bible School has to be one of the more interesting events churches do. In some circles it's a no-brainer, an event that happens every year as if it were part of the church calendar. The idea itself is little more than 100 years old, though recently VBS has become more and more complicated, especially as publishers develop thematic curriculum.

But no matter the curriculum or format or the outlandishness of the theme, how can VBS best be used to bring people to God? After all, that's the goal. It happens when kids come and hear about God, it happens when parents learn more about faith, and it happens when families start coming to church.

Continue reading "Vacation Bible School"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:18 AM
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June 27, 2005

Cleaning Toilets for Jesus

When 10 people in matching blue T-shirts show up at a local shopping center, armed with brooms, towels and squeegees, and volunteer to wash windows and clean bathrooms, well, they're bound to attract attention.

They're part of the Kindness Team at the Vineyard Church of Richmond, Va. In addition to free cleaning at local businesses, they've also passed out donuts at Virginia Commonwealth University, brought watermelon, cantaloupe and cucumbers to homeless people on hot days, and stood outside a theater buying tickets for moviegoers.

The church spends $400 to $500 per month on the ministry, and in addition to the free services or goods, they also pass out cards that explain who they are and include a map to the church.

But the point of the Vineyard ministries, [pastor Ken] Peters says, isn't so much "trying to attract new members to our church, but to break down some of the existing views of church that people have, that the church just wants something from you."

(link via CT's weblog)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:33 AM
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National HIV Testing Day

Today is National HIV Testing Day, a day designed to encourage voluntary HIV testing and counseling. St. Timothy Community Church in Gary, Ind. decided to get involved and hosted a free HIV screening at their church.

"This testing is a necessary experience that all people should participate in," said the Rev. Robert Lowery, pastor at St. Timothy. "In times like this, we all have to think outside the box and create empowerment when it comes to the health of our people."

After some Christians responded to HIV in the 1980s by characterizing it as 'God's vengeance on homosexuals,' it's encouraging to see churches getting personally involved in fighting HIV/AIDS. While this has little to do with marketing and would hopefully be motivated by much more than marketing, it's a perfect example that actions speak louder than words. What your church does speaks so much louder than any sermon, mission statement or postcard.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:18 AM
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June 23, 2005

Affinity Churches for Bikers & Cowboys

Gary Davis rides his Harley Davidson to church. Don Martin might not ride a horse to church, but he just as well with his Western-style shirt, cowboy hat and boots.

Both are pastors in affinity churches (it's an AP story and thus all over the web), congregations designed to reach specific interest groups. Davis founded Church in the Wind, a biker church in Denver, after being told he couldn't wear his biker outfit in a traditional church. Martin founded Happy Trails Cowboy Church in Taylorsville, N.C. They meet on Monday nights in arenas where rodeos are held (read more about cowboy churches).

The Southern Baptist Convention is leading the way with affinity churches, setting up 1,781 last year alone. And there's something for everyone: golf churches, bluegrass churches, Gen X churches—though the biker and cowboy congregations seem to be the most popular.

Continue reading "Affinity Churches for Bikers & Cowboys"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:16 AM
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May 25, 2005

Pastor Says Quran Should Be Flushed

The Rev. Creighton Lovelace of Danieltown Baptist Church in Forest City, N.C. says the Muslim Quran should be flushed. And a sign in front of the church broadcasts that message to the entire community.

It's all in response to a Newsweek story that falsely accused the U.S. military of desecrating the Quran. Newsweek later retracted the story, but not before at least 15 people died in riots sparked by the article.

"I cannot change my position just because it may offend someone else," Lovelace said. "Our position is that we stand on the Bible—God's word—and that any other book that teaches a way to God that is not scripture is false. It is wrong. It is not correct,"

Oh boy. I think it's possible, and probably even beneficial, to stand up for Biblical truth without offending people. Certainly there are times when that may not be possible, but just because you disagree with someone doesn't mean you need to slap them in the face. Especially if you're actually hoping to share the Gospel with them, which we're all called to do. (link via Mike Atkinson)

Update: Mike Atkinson comes through with the story in the first place, and now with the update. Lovelace has apologized for saying the Quran should be flushed.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:54 AM
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May 23, 2005

Jesus Talks to Me Every Sunday Morning

Every Sunday morning here in Los Angeles, Jesus Christ gets behind a microphone. He takes calls and answers questions about his divinity, humanity and everything in between. More often than not, callers are looking more for spiritual comfort in the midst of life's pain than answers to theological ponderings.

The genius of this show is that it truly does position itself to be Jesus Christ doing a radio appearance on a Sunday morning. "Good morning southern California, this is the day I have made..." The Jesus Christ Show has been broadcasting for a couple years, and runs on one of the top Arbitron rated talk stations in the country—not a "Christian" station. (I am surprised it has not caught on quicker in syndication.)

Continue reading "Jesus Talks to Me Every Sunday Morning"

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:26 AM
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April 29, 2005

Free U2 Ticket Update

A while back we talked about a church in Arizona that was giving away free U2 tickets as part of an Easter promotion. The dust has finally settled and we have an update on how it went:

• 844 people signed up for the contest.
• 81% of those people currently attend church.
• 72% had heard of the church already.
• 42 people visited the church thanks to the contest (projected).

They're calling the promotion a "large success," which some may debate, but there's plenty you can learn from them, especially the fact that they did a post-promotion analysis. They also learned a key lesson:

"Marketing is not a set it and forget it activity, it’s a constant creative process which requires that you persistently get in front of people and tell them your good news."

(you can read the full PDF report, with participant feedback, online)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:18 AM
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April 26, 2005

You're Invited: Bringing People to Church

In yesterday's post about seeker-sensitive churches in Ohio, pastor Lee Powell of CedarCreek made the comment that despite all the advertising they do (he compared it to buying weekly tire ads for Sears), 80% of first time visitors come because they were personally invited.

That's huge. And frankly, that's why the church has been around for 2000 years.

Shawn Wood, the Creative Communications Pastor (what did Brad say about pastors?) at Seacoast, a multi-site church in South Carolina, e-mailed us recently to say that his church relies primarily on people inviting other people—to the extent that they've almost given up on mass mailings.

So if personal invitations are the way to go, how can churches best encourage invites?

Continue reading "You're Invited: Bringing People to Church"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:14 AM
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February 28, 2005

Church Offers Free U2 Tickets

You could win tickets to a sold-out U2 concert from a church. Christ’s Church of the Valley in Peoria, Ariz. is giving away the free tickets on their web site. Hopeful U2 fans in the Phoenix area (or looking for a road trip on April 15) can enter online and return daily to increase their chances of winning.

The promotion doesn’t require visiting the church, though they are hoping to promote their Easter service, which is more of a family fun day, including an outdoor service, free food, and a carnival with inflatable games, face paint and more.

In addition to promoting their Easter service, the church is also offering a link to a list of commonly asked questions about Christianity, in hopes of sharing the Gospel with curious U2 fans.

With all the spirituality infusing U2 and their music (see Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2), as well as their world’s biggest rock band status, this seems like a smart promotion. They’re tapping into the word of mouth power of a world famous icon, yet it’s limited to a local level. It’s also a low-risk outreach—it’s easy to tell friends about and there’s no catch forcing someone to attend a church service in order to win.

Though a little skepticism is necessary. Contests aren't always marketing homeruns, suffering from potentially diluting the brand, upsetting the losers, and not paying off. Successful contests often let everybody win at least something and give away whatever the company is selling (so as not to distract from the company's brand), though the latter is more difficult for the church.

We'll have to wait and see. As for me? I know I could go for some free U2 tickets—too bad Phoenix is 1,800 miles away.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:00 PM
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February 15, 2005

10 Easter Outreach Ideas

Rev magazine offers 10 Easter Outreach Ideas.

I especially like their introduction which hints at the idea that many churches will be doing Easter outreaches and we don't need to compete with one another. If the church down the street is doing an Easter egg hunt, do something different that will draw a different crowd. After all, the goal of outreach is to bring people to the Church, not just your church.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:38 AM
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February 8, 2005

Easter Outreach

Breakthrough Media offers a few resources and tools for evangelizing this Easter:

• Why Easter Outreach No Longer Works
• 18 Factors That Can Really Impact Easter
• The Most Overlooked Church Growth Factor

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:30 PM
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February 4, 2005

Homeless Man, Here's A Home

Danny Westneat of The Seattle Times wrote an article earlier this week about "tent city," a traveling collection of up to 30 homeless men who plant themselves in church parking lots at night. Problems arise often is suburban areas when some cities just don't want them there.

This reminds me of something Robert D. Lupton said in his book Theirs is the Kingdom:

Preserve and maintain. Conserve and protect. They are the words of an ethic that has served us well. Over time these values have subtly filtered into our theology. It is increasingly difficult to separate the values of capitalism from the values of the kingdom. Stewardship has become confused with insurance coverage, with certificates of deposit, and protective coverings for our stained glass. It is an offering, a tithe dropped into a plate to be used on ourselves and our buildings. Somewhere on the way to becoming rich we picked up the idea that preserving our property is preferable to expending it for the people. Why should it be so difficult to decide which is wiser: to open the church for the homeless to rest or to install an electronic alarm system to preserve its beauty?

How does your church utilize its resources (limited though they may be) to maximize their potential? Churches that focus more on utility than frugality understand good marketing. This ain't about preserving, it's about serving. I can connect with that.

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:20 PM
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February 2, 2005

Missions=Marketing

"The church exists for mission, and … a church that is only inward looking is not truly the church." -Samuel Escobar, The New Global Mission (via CT)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:13 AM
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November 9, 2004

Moving Furniture

"On Religion" columnist Terry Mattingly covers a baptizing bus tour put on by the Southern Baptists in an attempt to rack up one million baptisms between June 2005 and June 2006. While the Southern Baptist denomination has grown as other denominations shrink, the baptism numbers have essentially plateaud since the 1950s while the population has exploded.

In Southern Baptist congregations only 40 percent of adults baptized are true converts—the rest have come from other churches.

"What that means is that we're not reaching the pagan pool," says Southern Baptist Convention president Rev. Bobby Welch. "We're just rearranging the furniture inside the church."

Ultimately, church marketing isn't about seats in pews or money in the offering plate. It's about helping the church communicate effectively with a world at large, to reach new hearts with the good news.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:52 AM
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September 9, 2004

Poaching from Another Flock

A Charlotte Observer columnist wonders why churches get excited about church growth based on recruiting members from other churches instead of attracting people who've never gone to church. (free registration required; link via CT's Weblog)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 3:31 PM
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August 9, 2004

Virtual Church

Now you can attend church in your underwear, thanks to Church of Fools, what is quite possibly the world's first web-based, 3D church. You can pray, kneel, chat and worship in the three-dimensional church environment as a character of your own choosing, somewhat like the video game The Sims. The virtual church was set up as a three-month experiment that ended on Sunday, though creators hope it will continue.

"On Religion" columnist Terry Mattingly covered Tony Campolo's guest sermon at Church of Fools, and plans to tackle the question of whether or not an online church is a real church in his next column.

Continue reading "Virtual Church"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 3:03 PM
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July 23, 2004

George Barna and the Fat Man

In a recent interview with church research guru George Barna, staff writer for Pentecostal Evangel, Isaac Olivarez, asks a handful of boring questions that probably engaged the senses of Barna as much as rice cakes in front of a fat man. Thankfully, a few of Barna’s answers went beyond the interview questions. If for a minute we think the future of the church is a prayer or prophecy away from where we want it, we must understand that the culture of today is the foundation for the church of tomorrow. Scared?

Continue reading "George Barna and the Fat Man"

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:30 AM
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