April 1, 2008

One Prayer

LifeChurch.tv announced yesterday a bold idea to bring churches together this summer around a series called One Prayer. It's a call to churches around the world to rally around a common experience. The premise, says founding pastor Craig Groeschel, is that, "If God would answer one prayer for the church at large, what would you pray?"

Aside from the spiritual implications, the genius of the idea is the invitation to any and all churches to be a part of creating the content. Craig shares specific instructions for how pastors can participate.

I love how LifeChurch.tv continues to enfranchise, energize and encourage churches to unify!

Posted by Brad Abare at 9:06 AM
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March 28, 2006

The UCC Ejector Pew Commercial

The United Church of Christ, known for their headline grabbing commercial that was rejected by the networks, is back with a new ejector pew commercial. This time around a traditional American family looks horrified at the non-traditional church goers--single mother, gay couple, Hispanic or Middle-Eastern--and each one is literally ejected. The tagline is "God doesn't reject people, neither do we."

This time around it's part of a $1.5 million campaign that extends well beyond TV. They're planning a word of mouth campaign that includes airing the commercial on more than a dozen cable networks (once again, the major broadcast networks rejected the ad), as well as tapping into web sites, e-mails, podcasts, local church events and even merchandising. The commercial is available online at two UCC sites (the God is Still Speaking campaign site and a new Rejection Hurts site where people can share stories of being alienated by organized religion. There are also plans to add the commercial to viral video sites like You Tube.

"We've forgotten that the No. 1 way people come to faith is by one person inviting another person," said Ron Buford, the director for the campaign at the United Church of Christ in Cleveland.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:14 PM
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March 20, 2006

Ad Mission

Speaking of things that happened back in February, we missed a story about a collective of Wisconsin churches that pooled their resources and bought local Super Bowl ads. It's part of Ad Mission, a non-profit group using mass media to present the gospel.

The strategy is to point people to a single web site, Ticket to Hope, where people can get their spiritual questions answered and take that first step. They also link to another site connecting people with sponsoring churches in southeastern Wisconsin.

The Super Bowl ads, which aired four times in southeastern Wisconsin on game day, cost $50,000 and are only part of a broader, $200,000 campaign that includes billboards, print and radio ads and more.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:59 AM
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January 16, 2006

The Emergent Church on Nightline

ABC's Nightline took a look at the emergent church recently during their "Faith Matters" series, visiting several churches in my own backyard. One of those churches, Bluer, has the entire segment online. I'm never eager to debate the whole emergent thing, but a couple comments in the segment jumped out for their marketing implications:

"I look at us as an R&D department, of people who are trying to innovate and experiment, make a lot of mistakes I'm sure, but hopefully we'll discover some things that can serve the church at large." -Brian McLaren, author and pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church (see our interview with McLaren)

"We originally, as a ministry to young adults, we did that, we did everything except shoot Jesus out of a cannon in order to be hip and cool, but after a while we just decided that you know what, why don't we just be ourselves?" -John Musick, pastor of Bluer

Nightline noted that Bluer was one of the first churches to pioneer podcasting their sermons. Whatever you think of the emergent church, I hope we can at least learn a few things from what they're doing.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:47 PM
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January 9, 2006

Reimaging the Southern Baptist Convention

Last week during bowl games the Southern Baptist Convention aired commercials attempting to polish their image. The ads focused on the relief work of the Southern Baptist Convention's Cooperative Program, highlighting programs fighting AIDS, helping rehabilitate prisoners and feeding Katrina victims. While Southern Baptists are often better known for what they're against, these ads try to portray what the Southern Baptists are for.

Continue reading "Reimaging the Southern Baptist Convention"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:22 AM
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September 20, 2005

An Atheist Marketing Jesus

There's an interesting story in The Australian about the Jesus: All About Life marketing campaign we covered last month. Apparently one of the guys behind the campaign is Angus Kinnaird, a self-described "non-believing humanist."

"I've had lots of clients wanting to update their image," says the Melbourne strategy director of FutureBrand. "But I don't think I've ever come across one that has quite as many problems as the church."

Ouch. Yet so true. The article goes on to talk about the details of the campaign, including some specific numbers: 250,000 postcards, 140 TV ads, 200 radio spots, 30 billboards, 7 newspaper ads; so far 1,500 have requested the Jesus: All About Life booklet and 8,500 have visited the web site.

Continue reading "An Atheist Marketing Jesus"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:43 PM
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August 11, 2005

Australia's "Jesus: All About Life" Campaign

A new $250,000 marketing campaign is trying to promote Jesus to Australians. The "Jesus: All About Life" campaign has raised money from various churches and ministries and will run TV, radio and newspaper ads, as well as billboards, starting in the city of Adelaide.

The goal of the campaign is to promote the promise of Jesus offering abundant life (John 10:10). Though the news article doesn't report it, a big part of the campaign seems to be outreach events aimed at showing the abundant life Jesus offers (and how it's not just stale church services).

We've talked about the idea of using one campaign to promote the wider Church before. It's cool to see it happening, though it will be interesting to see how effective it is. The Advertiser article quoted a marketing expert who chided the 'one size fits all' approach and instead suggested identifying specific groups and developing a targeted campaign. The TV commercials at least try to target different age groups (singles, families, seniors), but the message is the same.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:45 AM
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June 9, 2005

Real Time Church Reports

Driving into work yesterday, I was listening to the local news on the radio. As does happen every day during the top of the hour news broadcast, there were a few airtime seconds alloted to a sports update. Quick facts about significant games or other related tidbits is typical during this segment. Because I am not a big sports fanatic, a lot of the information is greek to me, but I still listen because the person reporting the sports news is always, without fail, more interesting than the Michael Jackson "live" report just moments before.

Then the thought hit me: What would happen if every Monday morning there was a quick report on the radio about the weekend church wrap up? Highlights from churches around the area of people's lives being changed, kids doing better in school, teenagers no longer victims of poor decisions, marriages that are finding hope, and single moms who found a place to belong?

This idea is more of a rhetorical pondering than an executable action (or maybe not?). The real question for pastors is what would this report look like if there was such a thing? How would your weekend service wrap-up be reported? Would it change every week? What would be measured? Who would they talk to for sound bytes?

Is what happens in your church on a Sunday worth being talked about on Monday?

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:32 AM
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January 18, 2005

Rolling Stone Rejects Bible Ad

by Andy Havens, Guest Blogger

The largest publisher of Bible's in America, Zondervan, is rolling out a new and more modern translation of the Bible, Today's New International Version. But, according to a story in yesterday's USA Today, although the language has been updated, apparently the message itself isn't hip enough for the music industry magazine Rollilng Stone, which rejected an ad for the new publication.

Continue reading "Rolling Stone Rejects Bible Ad"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 10:49 AM
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December 22, 2004

Competing with the NFL

When it comes to competing with the mass media, the church tends to lose. On Christmas Eve this year the Minnesota Vikings will face the Green Bay Packers in a 2:00 p.m. game, prompting conflicts with 4:00 p.m. Christmas Eve church services.

All the excitement is understandable, but I’m surprised no one has come up with a workable solution. How about rescheduling your church service so families can catch the game? How about throwing a party to watch the game and having a Christmas Eve service either before or after?

Why is it we have to whine about the NFL being so rude to fans? Why can’t we make the best of it and hope next time the NFL is a little more considerate?

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 11:29 AM
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December 2, 2004

Church Ad Rejected by Networks

Inflammatory headlines are reporting that the major TV networks have rejected a homosexual church commercial. And those headlines are blowing it way out of proportion. The 30-second commercial promotes the United Church of Christ and features bouncers deciding who can and cannot enter a church. They reject several people, including two men who could be a couple.

The tagline explains: "Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we."

The networks defended themselves by saying it went against long-standing policy not to accept ads that deal with public controversy, some taking issue with the gay couple, others complaining about the implications that other religions aren't welcoming. The ad will be airing on a number of other networks and can be seen online.

Continue reading "Church Ad Rejected by Networks"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:55 AM
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August 18, 2004

After these Messages... from God

Mainstream denominations are turning to TV commercials to bring people back to church. The United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, Presbyterians and Episcopalians are all exploring TV advertising, often partnering with local congregations.

The results are already promising: The United Methodist Church is reporting a 7 percent increase in attendance in its five test markets.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 2:02 PM
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