March 10, 2010

Check out the Church Marketing Directory

Hey, hey! Check out the Church Marketing Directory, the latest project from our nonprofit parent, the Center for Church Communication.

The Directory is a list of tools, resources and companies that help the church communicate better. It's kind of a yellow pages of church marketing. You'll find technology blogs, freelance designers, marketing communities, church management software and more. It's a first step in our plan to replace the long-neglected Don't Suck List.

You can use the 'Suggest a Link' feature to add sites that are missing and help the Directory grow. Though do note that this is a list of resources that specifically cater to the church, not any resource that could help the church.

You can check out the full announcement over at CFCC for all the details, or just go dive into the Church Marketing Directory.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:35 AM
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February 25, 2010

Jobs and Freelance Gigs in the New Year

The New Year has brought plenty of jobs and freelance opportunities to the Job Lab and Freelance Lab. If you're in the market to help the church communicate and make some dough while you do it, you need to be sure to stop in over there. Here are just a few of the opening we've seen lately:

Job Lab

• Lifechurch.tv is searching for a Systems Engineer / Administrator.
  
• Are you a web ninja? Check out this posting from Gateway Church.

Freelance Lab

• NewDay Covenant has a marketing strategy, but they need some deliverables.
  

Editor's note: We had to remove this freelance posting. Still don't believe posting your opening in the Job Lab or Freelance Lab is the way to go? Here's what Sarah from NewDay Covenant Church had to say:

Yikes! We have received so many resumes in response to our job posting on the lab site that I'm a bit overwhelmed. I think it would be best to remove the listing...

Thanks so much for this WONDERFUL service. I would be even more lost without it.

If you're a church looking to fill an opening, head on over and post. It's free, and it gives you access to some of the highest-quality church communications professionals around. If you're looking for someone to do a project, the Freelance Lab is the place for you. If you're looking for a full-time employee, head over to the Job Lab.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 8:39 AM
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January 29, 2010

Church Marketing Sucks Redesign

If you're not keeping up with the Freelance Lab and Job Lab, you might have missed this note. Church Marketing Sucks and our parent organization, the Center for Church Communication, are redesigning.

But don't just believe me, look at our listing in the Freelance Lab.

And not just redesigning, but growing up. We'll be able to feature wider content and all-in-all provide you with more information to help your church communicate the gospel with clarity and passion.

We're excited about the new energy and opportunities that will come with our first refresh in four years.

If you're a designer or developer interested, this is a last call for proposals. Check out the listing and let us know what you're thinking.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 10:58 AM
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January 14, 2010

New CFCC Leadership

A few weeks back we hinted at a coming official announcement about the board of directors for the Center for Church Communication (our nonprofit parent). That announcement is here. It's kind of anti-climactic now, but it does mean we have an incredible team leading us forward in our mission to help the church matter.

The board members include Brad Abare, Dawn Nicole Baldwin, Phil Cooke, Drew Goodmanson, Scott McClellan, Kem Meyer and Kent Shaffer. We also have a new executive director and fearless leader, Cynthia Ware.

We're pretty excited and it means new projects are already underway. But it does sound like insider bureaucracy, so we'll now return you to your regularly scheduled blogging.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:41 AM
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January 12, 2010

Why Can't Christians Be Original?

Encouraging the church not to be a copycat is a popular topic around here. The subject landed a spot in our top 10 posts of 2009 and was your pick for third best advice we offered in 2009. Even today I came across a blog called Stuff Christian Culture Likes, which kind of reminds me of Stuff Christians Like (the book comes out April 1, no joke), which probably reminds you of Stuff White People Like (the book is available now). Let's give Stuff Christians Like founder Jonathan Acuff some credit though--he gives a quiet nod to Stuff White People Like in his very first post.

OK, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. There can be room to take inspiration and even do parody and make something new, creative and interesting. Sometimes the best jokes are simply references to more pop culture. But it gets old at some point, right? Let's not start Stuff Churches Like.

Whatever happened to originality? Our own Brad Abare talked with the Associated Press about "Jesus junk" recently:

"We think it's just dumb. It's not a true reflection of creativity." ...

Abare wishes that Christians paid more attention to the "Thou shall not steal" commandment. "The whole claim for Christians in general is that God is the source of all creativity. I think there's something to being original that will speak to people in a way that we don't have to copy."

Continue reading "Why Can't Christians Be Original?"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:37 AM
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January 4, 2010

The Top 10 Posts of 2009

In our look back at 2009 we've covered the most hotly debated posts, the top CFCC news, the best tweets and we're asking you for the best advice of 2009 (look for the poll results tomorrow). So today we finally come to the big one, the top 10 Church Marketing Sucks blog posts of 2009.

These top 10 posts were chosen by our staff based on editorial vigor, usefulness, non-suckiness, education, frustration and motivation. Clearly, it was a very scientific process that would be too complicated to explain here.

We give to you the Top 10 Church Marketing Sucks Blog Posts of 2009:

Honoroable Mention: Church Marketing Lab: Seeing Improvement
First and foremost we give an honorable mention to one of our roundup posts from the Church Marketing Lab. We can't claim much credit for what happens in the lab--that work is thanks to the many people who take part, including our great crew of moderators. Earlier this year we posted a series of lab entries that showed progress. An initial piece posted asking for help and then a draft posted later with some of the advice from lab members incorporated into the design. It's awesome to see improvement in progress.

10) I Am a Christian
We took on denominational "I Am/We are _____" marketing campaigns with the broader statement that we are, above all else, Christians. "An emphasis on our doctrinal differences only serves to divide us when we should instead find reasons to be united."

9) Ed Young: Cussing Pastor
We called out Fellowship Church's Ed Young when he called out pastors who swear. We weren't condoning profanity from the pulpit, but pointing out the double standard. Ed says swearing pastors are trying to be cool. As cool as a seven day sex challenge? "One person's cool is another person's relevant. One person's relevant is another person's reality. One person's reality is another person's damnation."

8) To Text or Not to Text?
Tim Schraeder is the director of communications for Park Community Church in Chicago, an incredible live blogger and an avid texter. On that last count he delivered a simple and basic guest blogger entry that lays out the pros and cons of text messaging for the church. It's practical, full of good advice and real examples. What more could you want?

Continue reading "The Top 10 Posts of 2009"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:37 PM
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December 31, 2009

Best @cmsucks Tweets of 2009

We started the official Church Marketing Sucks Twitter feed earlier this year and we've been having a lot of fun with it. And since 'best of the year' lists are so fun, let's double the fun with a best Twitter list! Um, let's get on with the list before this turns into a Doublemint commercial.

So with no further ado, the best @cmsucks tweets of 2009:

5) Lexus parked in 2 spaces w/ "APASTOR" license plate. That sends a message. @holycowcreative asks for your captions: http://ow.ly/ucxn

4) RT @stevenfurtick: There is no marketing dept. at Elevation Church. We're all the marketing dept. http://bit.ly/5Iwc9

3) Let's hope they're doing some good samaritan sort of work, but it's just bad marketing to park your church van here: http://is.gd/5braV

2) Speaking of bad church names, Chad Neal shared on FB about their rebranded youth group, "Ground Zero." Kicked off on Sept. 9, 2001. Doh!

And the number one tweet of 2009...

1) RAWRRRRRR. Breaking Church Marketing News: Popeasaurus is causing havoc in Chile. http://ow.ly/x7Xj

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:24 PM
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December 30, 2009

Top CFCC News of 2009

We’ve had a good year here at Church Marketing Sucks, along with our nonprofit parent the Center for Church Communication (CFCC). It’s a bit self-indulgent, but as we look back on 2009 we thought we’d recap the top CFCC news of the year.

5) Accolades
We scored two prestigious accolades in 2009 that quite honestly make us blush. First, Collide magazine named us best ministry blog. Then Church Relevance put out their list of top 100 church blogs and we landed in the 11th spot. Whoa. About all we can say is: Thanks.

4) Five Year Anniversary
In July we celebrated our five-year anniversary. In Internet terms that makes us a dinosaur. In human terms that makes us a kindergartner. You can decide which seems most appropriate.

3) Twitter
In August we finally hopped on the Twitter train. Since then we've pushed out over 400 updates to more than 1,700 people. Not enormous numbers for Twitter, but it's a start. Beyond the numbers, it's given us a new outlet for content and we're excited to see where it takes us. (What do you mean you're not following us?)

Continue reading "Top CFCC News of 2009"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:08 AM
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December 29, 2009

Most Hotly Debated Posts of 2009

With 2009 quickly coming to a close and everyone releasing their end-of-the-year and end-of-the-decade lists we thought we'd play along. So here is the first of several 'top of 2009' posts.

First we'll start with the most hotly-debated posts of 2009. We get a fair number of comments and some posts prompt a lot more response than others. Here are the most commented posts of 2009*:

5) Do You Need a Web Site? - 40 comments
Posted with only 20 days until the end of the year, this entry made an impressive end-of-the-year surge with 40 comments debating the necessity of a church web site.

4) Piper Wants You to Keep Preaching Pure - 46 comments
John Piper made a controversial statement that multimedia can be a distraction from truly powerful preaching. That's a recipe for debate.

3) Deadly Viper & Asian Stereotypes - 46 comments
Technically it's tied with the Piper post, but since this issue garnered comments across the web, we'll give it the third spot. Our discussion of the Deadly Viper controversy stirred up plenty of its own debate.

2) Pastor in a Box - 89 comments
Stuffing your pastor in a 6x6 box on top of the church roof for three days as an Easter stunt is bound to generate some discussion. It should come as no surprise that this issue also generated our most popular poll of the year.

And the number most hotly debated post of 2009 is...

1) Rick Warren & Spec Work - 133 comments
This should come as no surprise. A perfect storm of Rick Warren and a spec work contest generated 133 comments in less than two days. We had to shut down the comments as the discussion became less than civil, a first for Church Marketing Sucks.

*Another post would have landed at number three on this list with 56 comments, but we opted to scratch it from the running. Most of the comments concerned our editorial failure that we acknowledged and addressed by about the 30th comment. We're not trying to bury our shortcomings (hence this aside), but we'd rather focus attention on church marketing issues from the year rather than our editorial missteps.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:28 AM
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December 18, 2009

Get a Job for Christmas

What's the gift that keeps on giving? That's right, employment. As you look to start 2010 off right, we'd like to humbly suggest our Job Lab and Freelance Lab for you to investigate openings for you to help the church communicate more clearly. Here are just a few openings we've seen lately:

Freelance Projects

• One day only: The Foursquare Church is looking for help on a site redesign with a quick turnaround.
  
• New Life Church is looking for a logo design for their student ministry.

Full-time Jobs

• Temple Baptist Church is looking for a full-time creative web designer.
  
• There are two openings at The Summit Church—one for a web specialist and another for a video specialist.

Visit the Job Lab and Freelance Lab to check out all the opportunities that have been posted recently.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:12 AM
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November 18, 2009

Live Interview with Church Marketing Gurus

Tune in tomorrow, Nov. 19 at 1:00 p.m. ET (10:00 a.m. PT), as Conversant Life does a live interview with Phil Cooke and Brad Abare. They'll be talking church marketing and religious media and taking questions from the online audience.

Phil Cooke is a writer, media consultant and filmmaker. His company, Cooke Pictures, advises many of the largest non-profit and faith-based media organizations in the world. He also serves as a board member for the Center for Church Communication, our nonprofit parent.

Brad Abare is an entrepreneur at heart and currently serves as the director of communications for the Foursquare Church. Oh yeah, he's also our founder.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:17 AM
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October 13, 2009

We're on Facebook

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

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

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:50 AM
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October 8, 2009

Values of the CFCC Community

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

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

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

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

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

Purpose of the CFCC Community

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

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

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

Continue reading "Purpose of the CFCC Community"

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:18 AM
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October 1, 2009

Thanks to Clover, faithHighway, Integrity Music and Wix

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

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

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

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:39 PM
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September 19, 2009

Follow-Up to the Rick Warren/Spec Work Debate

On Thursday evening we posted an entry trying to address the issue of spec work through the current example of Rick Warren’s book cover design contest. In less than 24 hours the post wracked up 133 comments and some heated debate.

Unfortunately, that debate turned ugly and we had to shut down the comments. We wanted to explain our decision to close the comments and clarify our original intent in addressing this issue.

Comments
We ultimately made the decision to close the comments because people on both sides of the issue couldn’t have a civil discussion. That’s something we’ve never had to do in over five years of Church Marketing Sucks blogging.

In the end, comments are not the best place for this kind of heated dialogue because we’re not confronted with the reality of the people involved. We talk differently when the debate happens face to face.

We still value comments and the way they can bring important voices to the table, give an opportunity to hear dissent, get a reality check (like we received last month) and share ideas. The openness of comments has always been critical to blogging and we hope to continue that. But the commenters themselves need to behave. That’s not too much to ask. (And for the record, we’re keeping the comments on this post closed as well so as not to reopen the closed debate.)

Why We Addressed Spec Work
We also wanted to clarify why we addressed this issue in the first place.

Continue reading "Follow-Up to the Rick Warren/Spec Work Debate"

Posted by Brad Abare at 3:09 PM

September 10, 2009

We're on Twitter

After much suggesting and prodding we've finally joined the Twitter party as an organization. You can follow us here: @cmsucks.

We're hoping to share short-form content that doesn't necessarily warrant a blog entry. Links, quotes, stats, tips and fun stuff like that. We've been giving it a try for about a month, so hopefully we've worked out the kinks.

Of course you probably already know that the Church Marketing Lab has been on Twitter since January. You can also find a list of Church Marketing Lab members on Twitter. And if you're really a geek you can follow our team on Twitter (though some of us are more active than others).

Let's keep the Twitter train rolling with a look at some of our past entries on the micro-blogging service:

• Twittering the Sermon
• Church Marketing Lab on Twitter
• It's Twitter Time For Your Church
• Twitter Passion Play
• Top Tweeting Church Leaders
• Twitter at Church
• What Would Jesus Twitter?
• Share the Gospel in 140 Characters or Less
• wethechurch.org and Your Church
• Twitter for Churches

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:14 AM
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July 29, 2009

Thanks, Sponsors!

We'd like to take a quick break from our regularly-scheduled spoon-fed church marketing knowledge to thank the companies who sponsor us at Church Marketing Sucks.

We're not simply acting as corporate shills here. We allow these organizations to sponsor us because we believe that what they're doing is helping churches communicate the gospel more clearly. So, a big thanks goes out to:

• Clover Sites provides simple, sharp web sites for churches who need flexibility but don't want to break the bank.
• Faith Highway creates quality web sites with an eye towards attracting first-time visitors.
• Integrity Music focuses on communicating the gospel through quality worship resources and musicians.
• Collision Media handles both web and print design that aims to be beautiful and practical.

Thanks guys, it's great to have you in the CFCC Ad Network!

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:09 AM
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July 22, 2009

Five-Year Anniversary

On July 22, 2004 the first Church Marketing Sucks post appeared. It's hard to believe we've been at this for five years. In Internet terms that makes us a dinosaur. In human terms that makes us a kindergartner.

Thank you for these five years. We're honored to be a part of the church marketing conversation and we can only hope and pray that above all else the gospel continues to go forward.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:27 AM
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July 20, 2009

Updates from the Job and Freelance Lab

You don't need me to let you know about any economic troubles. And as many folks haven't been hiring, things have been a bit more quiet around the Job Lab and Freelance Lab. But we have been seeing a bit of a spike lately, so we wanted to let you know about the newest opportunities.

If you're looking for a little work on the side, check out these opportunities:

• This church is looking for postcards and graphics for an upcoming sermon series.
  
• Wolf Lake Church is looking for someone to design a site for them.
  
• A Winston-Salem church plant needs a map created for them to use in various media.

Or maybe you're looking for something more full-time? Then check these jobs out:

• If you can produce video and audio, then the Portland Rescue Mission might be right for you.
• Journey Church is hiring a graphic artist in Norman, Okla.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:19 AM
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May 12, 2009

Advertising Age Explores Church Marketing

The fundamental principles of church marketing have been explored here exhaustively. But it's always good to keep getting back to the basics and exploring the building blocks of church marketing. A recent Advertising Age article does that, complete with marketing-terminology to get on the nerves of church jargon purists.

They cover the CNN article about changing religions that we recently discussed, the decline of brand loyalty, the United Methodist Church's Rethink Church campaign and a quote from our own Brad Abare.

So if you have 10 minutes to spare, visit the article for a quick church marketing challenge.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:10 AM
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March 4, 2009

Save Cash, Get a Freelancer

Like many churches, you're probably feeling the economic crunch. My own church has certainly contracted some, and I know lots of yours have as well. Our Job Lab has certainly seen a vacating of new positions. But there is a silver lining: there's never been a better time to freelance.

As an employer, you might turn to a freelancer for individual attention that doesn't carry the hefty price tag of benefits and salaries. Don't have room on your staff for a graphic designer, web developer, copywriter, marketing manager, social media director, programmer or something else? Then hire a freelancer.

A great place to start is our Freelance Lab. Post a project, and talk with some freelancers; we think you'll be happy with what you see. And if you are looking to hire full time, our Job Lab is the perfect place to be. There are tons of designers, developers and everyone else with their eye on those boards, and we think you'll find the right one for your job.

Both of these are 100% free offerings from us to you. Times are tough, and there's no need for your wallet to take a hit because you'd like to hire someone.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 12:19 PM
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January 30, 2009

CMS Voted Best Ministry Blog: Thanks

We don't do what we do for recognition... but that doesn't mean it doesn't feel great to get it every now and then.

So... I was thrilled, no amazed, no blown away when I opened up the latest issue of COLLIDE to see that we were voted best ministry blog, an honor made even greater with the other incredible blogs on the list.

Thank you all for not just the votes, but more importantly make Church Marketing Sucks everything that it is. It's because of you that, as COLLIDE put it, Church Marketing Sucks doesn't suck.

Posted by Michael Buckingham at 4:27 AM
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January 14, 2009

Brad Abare on Communication, Identity and the West Coast

Recently, our own Brad Abare was interviewed by the folks at Catalyst as they prepare for Catalyst West Coast. You can catch the entire interview at the Catablog:

• Part 1 - on the dynamic of church communication.
• Part 2 - on church identity crises.
• Part 3 - on ministry on the west coast.

They're quick interviews, and Brad always has great insights (at least we think so), so you won't regret checking them out.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:17 AM
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January 2, 2009

Marketing Jesus: CMS in CT

The January 2009 issue of Christianity Today features a cover story on church marketing, "Jesus is Not a Brand" by Tyler Wigg-Stevenson (author of Brand Jesus: Christianity in a Consumerist Age). The lengthy article mentions Church Marketing Sucks and even quotes our own Joshua Cody.

It sparks a great conversation in the continuing debate about church marketing, though it doesn't seem like our perspective was fairly represented. We'll be posting a two-part response next week. Until then, what do you think? Is church marketing a lost cause, doomed by the very medium? Or is more complicated than that, a difficult journey through a minefield to find church marketing that touches the soul without selling that soul?

Personally, I always find it ironic when anti-marketing proponents communicate their message in a way that relies on marketing.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:53 PM
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December 11, 2008

2nd Squidoo Charity Drive: Vote for CFCC

Back in October Squidoo did an $80,000 charity drive. They were giving away $2 per vote to nonprofit organizations, and we spread the word and raked in $800 to help churches not suck.

Now Squidoo is doing the Holiday Twitterdrive for Charity. This time around they're giving away $1 per vote up to $30,000--but it's limited to 21 different charities. And we're surprised and humbled to see that the Center for Church Communication, our nonprofit parent, is one of those 21 charities.

So visit the Holiday Twitterdrive for Charity and vote for the Center for Church Communication. The voting happens through Twitter, so if you don't have an account you'll need to sign up.

Vote for CFCC!

It's an easy way to raise money to help churches communicate better. Thanks for your support! (If you run a Squidoo lens did you know you can support to CFCC?)

Update: Turns out you can vote once per day! Awesome. Get out there and vote again.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:15 PM
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December 10, 2008

Q Conference Meetup & Discount

The Q conference is coming to Austin, Texas. And we've got your discount. The event is April 27-29, 2009 and you can save $150 over the current rate--if you register by December 31, 2008 using the code "CFCC09". Of course, you'd already know that if you checked out the CFCC site or were signed up for our e-mail newsletter.

This is not a bells and whistles hipster event with big names and games. It's a strategic gathering of thinkers and doers who want to see change and bring change. Our own Brad Abare participated in the last two Q gatherings (Atlanta and New York) and you can visit the Q site's archived talks to see if it's worthwhile.

Our Church Marketing Sucks leadership team--Brad Abare, Michael Buckingham, Josh Cody and myself--is planning to attend and we hope to host a special meetup for the Church Marketing Sucks folks. Drop us a line once you register and if you're interested in connecting. Once we know how many of us will be there we'll determine when and where we meet.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:51 AM
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December 3, 2008

Church Marketing Sucks at HOW, Save the Date

Many of you out there in the design world recognize the name HOW Design. For those of you that don't know the name, they focus on design, creativity and business, and they publish HOW Magazine, a premier design publication.

Others of you might even be so sharp to know that we began partnering with HOW Design last year in an effort to connect the CFCC community with other elite thinkers and designers. And only the most astute reader will remember (or even have experienced) that Michael Buckingham delivered a talk entitled "Design Evangelist" at last year's HOW conference.

And they invited him back.

That means June 24th-27th in Austin, Texas, you can hear Michael at the 2009 How Design Conference. He'll be discussing how we can be creative in a world of blah, why it matters that God is a creator and why Christians ought to be at the forefront of creativity and communication. You won't want to miss it.

If you can't make it to Austin, but you would still like to hear Michael speak, there are a couple more options for you:

• Church Solutions Conference...February 17-19, Phoenix. Michael will be looking at sermon branding.
  
• National Religious Broadcasters Convention...February 7-10, Nashville. Michael will be a part of two sessions, one on mediocrity and another on reaching the unchurched.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:49 AM
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December 1, 2008

Dear Collide, Thank You

Collide Magazine was kind enough to include us in the category of "Best Ministry Blog" for 2008 in their Reader's Choice Awards. We're flattered to be listed alongside folks like Church Relevance, Evotional and others. If you think we deserve a vote, we'd be thrilled if you make your voice heard. Of course, you can still vote for someone besides us.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 1:11 PM
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October 29, 2008

Getting Involved in Local Labs

At Church Marketing Sucks, we love Local Labs. You might have a couple questions:

What are they? They are groups of church communicators in a specific area who get together to sharpen one another's skills.
How can I get involved? Visit our growing list of Local Labs to find one near you (if we're missing your Local Lab, let us know).

To talk a bit more about Local Labs, we asked Lisa Bauer to join us. She is the director of marketing and communications at First Christian Church in Springfield, Ohio, and she is passionate about connecting communicators locally. Here's what she had to say about Local Labs:

CMS: Thanks for taking the time to join us, Lisa. I guess the first topic should be a bit about how you are involved in connecting communicators in local groups.

Lisa: I am currently leading a group called the Miami Valley Ministry Communicators (MVMC). We're in southwest Ohio and meet on a bi-monthly basis to support, connect and boost each other in our quest to bring others to know and love Christ. My primary role in the group is to bring in local professionals to speak on a variety of relevant topics, coordinate the host church for each meeting, and align communications with our network and local media groups.

As our group continues to grow, we will begin to form more structured leadership roles and "give the ministry away" to those who are willing to play a key role in its development.

Continue reading "Getting Involved in Local Labs"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 10:39 AM
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October 27, 2008

Welcome to the Ad Network!

We're very happy to welcome three new members to the CFCC Ad Network. If you keep your eye on the right sidebar on our family of sites, you'll see them come up to greet you, but here's a little more about them:

• Parachute Band are five Kiwis with guitars who would love the opportunity to lead you in worship.
• Clover provides simple, sharp web sites for churches who need flexibility but don't want to break the bank.
• SkyCMS is a simple and robust content management system for either template-based or custom church site designs.

They join Unifyer, Faith Highway and Fellowship Technologies in our Ad Network.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:21 AM
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October 6, 2008

Times Tough? Get a Job.

The economy is down, but people still need a-savin'. And how will they hear without a church communications specialist (Romans 10:14, my translation)? That's where we come in. In case you don't keep up with the Job Lab and Freelance Lab, here are some of the openings you've missed. And there are more than this in the two labs, so head in there to see who is hiring.

From the Job Lab:

• Fremont Community Church needs a Graphics and Publications Artist.
  
• Calvary Bible Church is looking for a Communications Specialist.
  
• Cross Timbers Community Church is in the market for a Video Producer.

More jobs...

From the Freelance Lab:

• Redesign a new web site for The Honor Academy.
  
• Develop a logo brand for a mission ministry at First Christian Church.
  
• Create a logo for Shiloh Church.

More freelance projects...

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:51 AM
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October 1, 2008

Vote for CFCC & We Get $2 Per Vote

Squidoo is doing an $80,000 charity drive. For every vote for a nonprofit they'll give that organization $2 (up to $40,000 total). And you can vote for the Center for Church Communication (our nonprofit parent)!

Vote for CFCC!
(you have to scroll down to find us, but we're there)

Only the first 40,000 votes count for the cash, and they're already up to 6,000 votes, so please vote right now and support CFCC. Thanks!

Update: There are now more than 47,000 votes, which means they're past the cut off point for donations. CFCC ended up with .9%, which is about 424 votes. I don't know how many of those votes came after the cut off point, but it's probably safe to say we can expect a donation of around $800 from Squidoo. So a big thanks for your help!

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:24 AM
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September 23, 2008

You Know You're in Church Communications If...

Admit it, if you're reading this site, you have a little indention in your head from all the times you've smashed it against your desk in frustration. You're sick and tired of being sick and tired. And sometimes you think church marketing is fantastic compared to how much working in church communications sucks.

Well, we've got the resource for you. It all started as something to share at MinistryCOM. The ideas (and lots more) came from a thread in the Church Marketing Lab. Add in a little editing and the sharp design of Michael Buckingham and you've got a beautiful .pdf of the top 20 ways to know if you're in church communications. It was first presented at MinistryCOM 2008, and now it's here for our readers to download:

You Know You're in Church Communications If... (PDF, 176 KB, 6 pages)

Posted by Joshua Cody at 5:16 AM
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September 2, 2008

Job Lab and Freelance Lab Roundup

We've seen tons of new jobs and projects in the Job Lab and Freelance Lab since last time we updated you. So if you're in the job market, even though things are a little slow right now, here's a small slice of the big opportunities available in the Job Lab and Freelance Lab:

• The BOSS Group needs a director of web communications.
• Be a communications designer at Mt. Bethel UMC.
• WAY-FM is looking for a web programmer.
• First Wesleyan Church is searching for a children's ministry logo.
• Create a logo for an urban ministry with hip hop worship.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:52 AM
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August 4, 2008

Alltop and the Church

For those of you who haven't used Alltop, now there's a reason to check it out--they’ve added a church section.

Alltop is an categorically organized aggregate of the greatest information sources from across the web. And one of the founders is Guy Kawasaki. The church section includes sources such as The Digital Sanctuary, LifeChurch and, oh yeah, Church Marketing Sucks.

As Alltop says ... that means we're one of the cool kids.

Posted by Michael Buckingham at 8:34 AM
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August 3, 2008

Design Site NOTCOT.org on Church Marketing Sucks

The design inspiration site NOTCOT.org recently featured Church Marketing Sucks. NOTCOT.org is basically a collection of eye-candy for "your visual filtration of ideas + aesthetics + amusements."

We're glad we can be so amusing. Thanks for including us and welcome to the new folks from NOTCOT.org.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 3:02 PM
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July 29, 2008

Top Tweeting Church Leaders

Today the Catalyst blog shares a list of Top Tweeters & Church Leaders. So if you're on Twitter and want to see what church leaders are saying, check out the list. Be sure to check the comments for even more folks.

Oh, and I suppose it's worth mentioning that our very own Brad Abare made the list.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:30 AM
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July 22, 2008

Church Marketing Sucks Turns 4

Four years ago today the first post appeared on Church Marketing Sucks. It's been a wild ride trying to frustrate, educate and motivate churches to communicate the greatest story ever told. Thanks for joining us on that ride, whether you've been with us since the beginning or you've come along more recently.

And in four years we've been pretty busy ...

• Center for Church Communication - Our non-profit parent has helped us spread our wings and do more than just blog (including everything below).
• Church Marketing Lab - Our little community on Flickr has grown to well over 2,000 people eager to give feedback and help improve church communications.
• Events Lab - Listing the latest and greatest church marketing events.
• Job Lab/Freelance lab - Helping churches find creative professionals and creative professionals find churches to help.
• Local Lab - Connecting local church communicators to share ideas, encouragement and horror stories.
• CFCC Advertising Network - A chance for you to reach the community of church communicators and for us to pay the bills.
• Heart & Soul Series - For our two-year anniversary we put together a little series explaining our heart and soul.

Continue reading "Church Marketing Sucks Turns 4"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 11:36 AM
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July 18, 2008

Well Hello, Integrity Music!

If you're checking us out via RSS, we don't want you to miss out on the newest member of the CFCC Ad Network, Integrity Music and Canadian worship leader Joel Auge's new album, On The Blue.

We're glad to have you and your not sucking, Integrity Music. You're in good company with our other Ad Network members:

• Splat Print
• FellowshipOne
• faithHighway

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:40 AM
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July 10, 2008

Job Lab and Freelance Lab Roundup

We've been having great success in the Job Lab and Freelance Lab lately. Take Kyle Baker of Skillful Productions. It's success stories like his that make these labs worthwhile:

I had been looking for a video collaborator for about 2 months, asking friends, then friends of friends, then friends of friends if they knew anyone. It was going nowhere. I posted my listing on the Freelance Lab at 11:00 pm on a Sunday night and went to bed. I woke up with 3 responses in my inbox. I was completely blown away by the quality of the portfolios. After only 2 days I had more than enough responses and was able to make my decision.

Kyle didn't have the budget or an assurance that the project would move forward at his church, but he did add this:

... If I actually had capital and a surefire eager market, it would have been a no-brainer to go with these guys, I needed a video professional to work with me on a scripture-based product and your network was pretty much the only way to canvas the country.

So if you're a freelancer, and you're looking for some more work, why not help with ...

• Logo design for Senior High ministry at Lincoln Hills Christian Church.
  
• Logo Design at Living Way Church.
  
• Branding for Everland Christian Ministries.

Or if you're looking for full-time work, how about becoming a ...

• Art Director at Group Publishing.
  
• Video Director at Chandler Christian Church.
  
• Creative Arts Assistant at Schweitzer United Methodist Church.
  
• Graphic Designer - Print Media at Fellowship of The Woodlands.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 8:00 AM
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June 5, 2008

Job Lab and Freelance Lab: Get Hired This Summer

What better opportunity than the summer to check out the Job Lab and Freelance Lab? You can just tell your current boss you're going on vacation, pack up, and never come back. OK, not really, and we don't endorse that. But churches have posted some great opportunities, and if you're in the market, here's a little of what we've seen:

If you're looking for a project to keep you busy...

• Alive 08 is coming. Help with a logo, site and ad.
• Help build a youth web site for Community Christian Fellowship.
• Timber Lakes Baptist Church is looking for a new logo.

Or if you're hoping for a full-time switch...

• If you're the all-around type, check out this ad for a director of communications.
• RT Media Group is looking for a web developer.
• An art director is in demand at Second Presbyterian Church.

Make sure to head over to the Job Lab or Freelance Lab, because there's more to be found there.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:38 AM
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May 19, 2008

Last Call for Don't Suck List 2.0

We're just putting a last call out there for anyone who might want to help with our revision of the Don't Suck List. We've had some great interest and volunteers so far, but we want to make sure everyone gets a chance to be a part of rebirthing one of our best resources.

There's a few different things we need from you in order to make this much-needed project a reality. Here's how you can help:

• Designing and programming
• Volunteering to help plan and steer the project
• Feed us ideas about the Don't Suck List

For the total rundown of what we need, check out Brad's original post, Our Don't Suck List Still Sucks.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 12:44 PM
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May 15, 2008

CFCC Ad Network Grows

We take a lot of pride in the CFCC Ad Network. Not just anyone can throw up an ad in the CFCC network for whatever they want so long as they fork up the cash. They have to add value to your time here. That said, we just recently added two new advertisers, and we'd like you to meet them.

Splat Print is where full color never meets full price. They'll print anything from catalogs to business cards to door hangers, so be sure to check them out when your designs are done.

Faith Highway covers TV commercials, web sites, print media, production and graphics. And right now they're offering free direct mail services or free hosting and streaming until 2009.

There's still room in our advertising network, and we have lots more info for you if you need it.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:36 PM
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May 14, 2008

HOW Design Conference: Design Evangelist

I'm really honored and looking forward to speaking at the HOW Design Conference next week. For those of you who will be there, I thought I'd give you a sneak peak at the CFCC session and for those of you not going, maybe it'll give you a reason to attend.

We'll start by looking at the landscape of church marketing, some of our mis-turns, some of the embarrassing excuses and some of the highlights of church marketing. I'll start off with one of the funniest, if misguided, church signs I've seen and offer something the corporate world could actually learn from the church marketing world.

Continue reading "HOW Design Conference: Design Evangelist"

Posted by Michael Buckingham at 11:34 AM
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May 9, 2008

Our Don't Suck List Still Sucks

For those counting--you know who you are--it's been 31 months since our last update about the infamous Don't Suck list. Lots of people have made suggestions publicly on this site, through e-mail and countless conversations offline. I think we've finally blurred the lines enough so that people can't tell the difference between the despicableness of the list itself or of our inaction to actually do something about it. There is no excuse.

I have decided to pull a Ty Pennington (no, I don't plan a drunken arrest) and make this my special project. The bulk of the work will begin in June with a goal to have something launched later this year. Although I will personally take the lead on this project, it will definitely be in the same collaborative spirit we've all been a part of here in the CFCC community.

Here's the plan:

1. There are two layers to this project. The first is a directory of sorts that is more comprehensive. It will be a pre-screened list of go-to people and companies for helping churches communicate. The second layer will be a regularly published "Don't Suck" list that is chosen entirely based on the opinion of the panel behind it. It will be more editorialized which means many will like it and many will hate it. Consider this your warning.

2. There is a post on the CFCC Freelance Lab looking for a web designer/programmer to help build this stuff. If you fit the description, please respond el pronto.

3. If you want to volunteer and be a part of planning/steering this, you can email me: brad [at] cfcclabs dot org. Please put "Don't Suck Volunteer" in the subject line including a brief description for why you want to be a part. If you email me to volunteer it means you will make time to respond to a survey or two and possibly make yourself available for some conference calls, among other related tasks.

4. If you have specific comments that you want to put out there and make sure we're considering, you can also email me: brad [at] cfcclabs dot org. Please put "Don't Suck Comments" in the subject line.

Thanks for your patience and for helping us build this thing right. The Don't Suck list is nearly always in our top ten most most frequented links, and it's one of the most practical things we as the CFCC community can do to help churches beyond what we're already doing through this blog and the labs.

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:54 AM
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May 5, 2008

Job Lab and Freelance Lab Roundup

We've seen some good action in our Freelance Lab and Job Lab since our announcement that they're free forever. If you haven't been checking them out, here are some opportunities for you.

Design a worship folder and banner for Concordia Lutheran Church.

Create a wedding booklet for First Baptist Fort Lauderdale.

Or, if you're looking for more full-time work...
The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina is looking for a webmaster and a graphic designer.

Remember, if you're looking to fill a communication-related project or job opening, our Freelance Lab and Job Lab are now completely free.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 2:05 PM
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April 30, 2008

Flickr Goes Video, So Does the Church Marketing Lab

If you haven't heard, Flickr added video capabilities to their photo-sharing site. And if you didn't know, the Church Marketing Lab runs on Flickr. What does that mean to you?

Well it means that while you could always submit graphics and photos to the Church Marketing Lab for review and discussion, now you can submit your church's videos as well. Got a series bumper? A skit? Something else?

hsojeel, a Church Marketing Lab member, explains it a little more deeply.

Keep in mind that video is only for pro users, which is a $25/year upgrade from the free Flickr service.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 11:08 AM
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April 18, 2008

Local Labs: How it Worked for Tulsa

I'm sure some of you have heard the buzz surrounding Local Labs, and you're even considering getting involved, but it's a little intimidating. What will they do there? Will I be singled out? What if they hate me? Well, have no fear. Kent Shaffer is to the rescue, telling us a little bit about the Tulsa Local Lab:

The first Tulsa Church Communications lab went pretty well. Six people showed up. Four people were staff at churches, and two worked for design and marketing firms. There were graphic designers, web developers, marketers and IT professionals.

Prior to the meeting, we set up a Facebook Page. It helped us get to know each other a little better.

Continue reading "Local Labs: How it Worked for Tulsa"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 10:06 AM
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April 16, 2008

Job Lab and Freelance Lab: Now 100% More Free

If you haven't been keeping your eyes on the Job Lab and Freelance Lab lately, you might not have noticed a little change in our language. You used to see text that told you postings were free for a limited time while we worked out the kinks. Now, you'll see this:

Post a job: It's free!

That's right, we're now out of beta and into full-speed ahead, and the Job Lab and Freelance Lab are staying free.

So if you have a job opening (designer, marketer, communication pastor, etc.) or need a one-time project done (new logo, new site, rebranding, etc.), then visit our Job Lab or Freelance Lab to post your opening.

Or if you're looking for some work, here's just a small bit of what we've seen recently:

• Jr. Graphic/Web Designer at Westgate Chapel
  
• Web Designer at Hill Country Bible Church NW
  
• Project Manager, Media & Events at The Foursquare Church
  
• Graphic Artist at Christ's Church of the Valley
  
• Create a survey or a web site for Wyalusing Presbyterian Church

Big thanks to Ekklesia 360 for making these sites happen.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 1:47 PM
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March 26, 2008

Boston or Bust! (Our HOW Winner is ... )

A special congratulations goes out to Vincent Scatliffe of Decatur, Ga. for his victorious effort in our special Win a Free Trip to HOW contest! Of the first 30 respondents to our call, he was the winner of a random drawing for a full conference pass. On May 18th, he'll be headed to Boston for the HOW Design Conference, and on May 21st, he'll be back to share all his new wisdom with his family, church and CFCC friends.

We do, however, have a special consolation prize if you didn't get drawn for the free pass. Until Friday, you can still get up to $120 off by using the code "CFCC8." Still a pretty sweet deal if you ask us. So head over and register to join Vincent, Michael and the gang at the conference in May!

Godspeed Vincent, don't forget to tell us how things went!

Posted by Joshua Cody at 5:37 AM
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March 19, 2008

Still Time To Win HOW Ticket

If you haven't entered to win the ticket to the HOW Design Conference this May 18-21, you still have a chance you're out of luck--the drawing is now closed. We're going to announce the winner on Tuesday, March 25.

While you're over on the CFCC site, you can also see the announcement of who will be leading the CFCC session at HOW in May.

The deadline for early-bird registration is March 28 and you can save up to $120 if you register before then.

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:03 AM
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March 14, 2008

HOW Church Marketing Sucks

How does church marketing suck? Well, we count the ways on this blog nearly every day. But one way church marketing can suck a little less is by learning from the communications professionals behind How magazine (who included us in an article back in December) and the How Design Conference. The Center for Church Communication--our nonprofit parent--is partnering with HOW.

So what does that mean for you?

• A special CFCC workshop at the upcoming HOW Design Conference in Boston from May 18-21.
• You can save up to $120 on your HOW registration.
• A chance to win a free full-conference pass to the HOW Design Conference.

Check out the CFCC site for more details.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:09 PM
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March 13, 2008

Job Lab Roundup

The Job Lab and Freelance Lab are still going strong in 2008. It's been two months since January; remember that time you resolved to find a new job? Well, don't miss out on some great opportunities we've been seeing.

From the Job Lab ...

• Church by the Glades is searching for a motionographer
  
• Are you a graphic designer? Brookside Church needs you.
  
• There's an opening for a pastor of marketing and communication at Valley Christian Center.

And if you're a freelancer looking for opportunities, or if you're looking to outsource a job, don't miss out on our Freelance Lab. It's a great place to go to have a site built, get some print design done or find a writer.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 10:43 AM
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March 6, 2008

Church Marketing Goes Local

If you're signed up for our monthly e-mail newsletter then you probably already heard the news: We've gone local. The Center for Church Communication (our nonprofit parent) has just launched the Local Labs.

What are the Local Labs? They're local meet ups for church communicators--a chance to connect, share ideas and maybe even commiserate (you're not the only one who has to put up with Comic Sans). They're being organized locally by folks like you. Check out the Local Labs page to learn more, including how to join a group or start your own.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:26 PM
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January 7, 2008

Church Marketing New Year's Resolution

New Year's resolutions never work. Let's face it, you'll probably be too busy to get organized. And somehow chocolate will be the downfall of your diet. So maybe you could join us in a little bit better New Year's resolution this year: Make us change our title.

Church Marketing No Longer Sucks isn't quite as catchy, but it'd be a lot more encouraging. We'd even settle for Church Marketing Kinda Sucks.

Here are some ideas for how you can help church marketing no longer suck in 2008 ...

Continue reading "Church Marketing New Year's Resolution"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:42 AM
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November 30, 2007

Lessons In Not Sucking Wrap-Up

I just finished up the series on "Lessons In Not Sucking." In case you missed it, here is a handy little linked index of each of the topics:

• Communication: Online
• Communication: In Print
• Common Communication Mistakes
• Cheap Marketing Ideas for Church Planters
• Building an Ideation Team
• Know Your Audience
• Working With Volunteers
• Working With Firms & Freelancers
• 9 Must-Read Books

Enjoy!

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:56 AM
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October 29, 2007

Interviews with Bloggers

Apparently press coverage comes in spurts. Last week we were in How magazine, this week Church Marketing Sucks is featured in a series of blogger interviews from Issue Dynamics. You can read the full interview with, um, me, right here.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:11 PM
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October 26, 2007

CMS in How Magazine

If you're flipping through the December 2007 issue of How magazine you might see something familiar--this site. There's a screenshot of Church Marketing Sucks on page 104 in an article about Christian design and marketing. The story includes a few quotes with our own Brad Abare, as well as a few other players who are helping churches and Christian organizations communicate better.

My favorite quote (aside from Brad's, of course), is Rene DeHaan-Canetti, executive director of Nooma:

"You can't separate the design from the content. If it's not consistent, it's detrimental. From the color palette to every single word in our films, we make sure that it's a reflection of our choices."

Bam. Marketing happens and marketing matters.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:39 AM
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October 18, 2007

Church Marketing Sucks Turns 1,000!

It might seem like just a few months ago that CMS turned three. Well, now, we're turning a thousand. That's right, you're officially reading our 1,000th post. We thought of different things we should do to celebrate--a fireworks display, a six-million dollar church marketing grant, the world's largest dance party.

Eventually, we decided to relax and reflect, letting you guys look over our top posts in the past three-plus years. We had some help from the likes of commenters, Google and our own memories, but we think you'll appreciate our final list. Some are sentimental picks, some are controversial picks, but all are pure church marketing goodness.

Without any further ado, here's the 10 shiniest, fanciest, and best posts from the last three years. Actually, they're just our favorites--selected by us.

Continue reading "Church Marketing Sucks Turns 1,000!"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 10:08 AM
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Your Church Marketing Transformation

This week we celebrate our 1000th post, and we wanted to stick to what we're most passionate about--your church marketing. We get tons of e-mails and questions asking about the possibility of getting a fabled CMS t-shirt. Our store is closed, but we came up with a way for you to pick one up.

We want to know how your church marketing used to suck, but now it doesn't. What happened? Who changed? How did it start? How is the world different now? Let us know what's been going on at your church. There are some simple guidelines for the submissions:

Continue reading "Your Church Marketing Transformation"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 9:32 AM
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October 17, 2007

Job and Freelance Lab Roundup

If you read us often, you'll know that we love our Job Lab and Freelance Lab. Now as more and more success stories come in, and more and more openings come up, we're as excited as ever. So this is to keep you in the know. Need a quick project so you can have some Christmas cash? Tired of unemployment? We've got your quick fix.

From the Job Lab...

Continue reading "Job and Freelance Lab Roundup"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:46 AM
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October 2, 2007

Don't Be Afraid to Advertise

The Delmarva Daily Times recently discussed church marketing and included our very own Brad Abare. You should check it out.

The article discusses religious leaders choosing "new" ways to advertise. And by new, they particularly focus on billboards. They go into the differences in advertising between Christians, Jews and Muslims, and they even mention the naked pastor. Their main discussion, however, is the increased spending and emphasis on advertising.

Brad has this to say in the article:

"The advertising shift might worry graying members of the church, but the change is essential for the church to stay relevant ... I think we've messed it up in the church over the last couple thousand years. Look, you've got the greatest story ever told and if you hide it, sit on it and just go to church every weekend, you're not doing enough ... Advertise by design, not default. Don't just go along hoping people will get it. Get intentional--that's the challenge."

Read the full article here.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:35 AM
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September 8, 2007

Internet Ministry Conference... You Going?

Last week I mentioned that I will be in Nashville on September 13-14 for MinistryCOM 2007. The week following, on September 19-22, I will be at the Internet Ministry Conference presented by Gospel Communications in Grand Rapids, Mich. It looks like they have a pretty sweet line-up of speakers, so I'm looking forward to learning with everybody. And with registration being closed out already for the event, if you didn't sign-up, you'll have to wait for next year.

As always, if you'll be in Grand Rapids later this month, be sure to say hello!

Posted by Brad Abare at 3:48 PM
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August 30, 2007

MinistryCOM 2007... You Going?

There are only a handful of days until the 2007 MinistryCOM event begins in Nashville. In addition to a bunch of other really cool church communication pros, yours truly has been invited to help temper the tantrums. You gotta have at least one person that "sucks" in the line-up to level the playing field.

If you haven't registered, I hear there are still some spots open. I got an e-mail from Kem Meyer (Granger Comm Guru and Friday afternoon keynote) the other day. She said she was ready with her most brilliant message she's ever delivered in the world, so I'm looking forward to her closing the conference out. I had that same slot last year and the only thing going through your mind is you hope you're not saying something that's already been said, and you hope people aren't thinking they wish they would have booked their flight out early because the last session is a bore.

Actually, Kem was a little more revealing in her e-mail. She doesn't have a clue what she's going to say.

I guess I can't grovel too much, I'm still figuring that out too...

Hope to see you there!

Posted by Brad Abare at 3:55 PM
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August 1, 2007

Job Lab & Freelance Lab Roundup

This week our poll covers the Job Lab and Freelance Lab. Make sure to weigh in on the right side of your computer screen, and check below for the latest listings in the new labs:

Lifechurch.tv is looking for a PHP developer.

There's an opening for a communications director at West End Community Church.

Mariners Church is looking for an outreach graphic designer.

Help Sugar Creek Baptist Church build a website theme.

And that's just a shadow of what's going on in the labs. So make sure you head to the Job Lab and Freelance Labs and check it out!

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:28 AM
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July 16, 2007

Job Lab & Freelance Lab Roundup

Our Job Lab and Freelance Lab are still going strong, and we wanted to make sure all you churches and communicators are effectively connecting, so here's a reminder and a little tip to what's been going on in our newest Labs:

• CJF Ministries is looking for an assistant editor.
• Word of Life Fellowship, Inc needs a creative art specialist.
• Ginger Creek Community Church is searching for a communications intern.
• Williamsburg Community Chapel hopes to find a webmaster.
• Summit Heights Church is hoping for help building a homepage.

Do you fit the bill? Do you have a friend who could do the job? Help us help the church, and get connected! Click on over to our Job Lab and Freelance Lab to see just what's going on.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 12:47 PM
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New to the CFCC Ad Network

This month, we are pleased to welcome three new additions to the CFCC Ad Network:

The Internet Ministry Conference
Training to improve your online ministry.

Outreach Cinema
Engage your community with feature films!

Power2Show Media Player
Use Power2Show to announce activities/events.

We're grateful for the support of these advertisers and the CFCC community.

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:21 AM
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June 21, 2007

Ask a Kevin

If you've been around Church Marketing Sucks for a while you probably know the name Kevin D. Hendricks. He's our chief blogger and the labs director for our nonprofit parent, the Center for Church Communication.

Lately, however, there haven't been as many original posts from Kevin as he spends more time fixing my mistakes, juggling behind-the-scenes projects and dating his wife (I made that up, but I hope he can find the time). In a previous post, he called out creative thinkers and asked, "Where's the Church's 'Ask A Ninja?'" Well, I don't know where it is, or if it is, but I thought it might be time to present an interview with our chief blogger, Ask a Kevin.

Continue reading "Ask a Kevin"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:16 AM
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May 25, 2007

Job and Freelance Lab Roundup

Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Ready for a change in the day-to-day? Well we're here to help. Our Job Lab and Freelance Project Lab are still going strong, and here's a little bit of what's been going on this week:

Living Word Church needs some help designing a new logo.

An opening has come up for a web developer at WorshipHouse Media

Continue reading "Job and Freelance Lab Roundup"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 8:00 AM
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May 11, 2007

Job and Freelance Labs: In The Beginning...

In the beginning, there were jobs. And projects. And they were free. You surely heard about the launch of our Job Lab and Freelance Lab, but maybe you haven't been so bold as to venture over and check them out. For those timid visitors, here are some samplings of what we've seen in the short life of the new labs:

High Desert Church in Victorville, Calif. is looking for a communications director.

There's an opening for a webmaster at Eagle Brook Church in Minnesota.

Continue reading "Job and Freelance Labs: In The Beginning..."

Posted by Joshua Cody at 11:59 AM
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May 7, 2007

Job Lab & Freelance Lab Now Open

Churches looking to fill marketing and communications positions or find help with short-term projects have a new place to go. Our non-profit parent, the Center for Church Communication, has just launched new job posting and freelance project sites, the Job Lab and Freelance Lab. Churches in need of marketing help can list job openings and post their needs for freelance projects.

For a limited time all listings are free while we work out the kinks, so head on over and post your job or freelance project today.

And of course this means all the creative professionals out there eager to help the church have a new place to go as well. If you're looking for a job helping churches communicate--check out the Job Lab for the latest listings and details for how to apply. If you do freelance work and want to help church marketing not suck, check the latest listings in the Freelance Lab and contact the churches directly. Both sites have RSS feeds so you can easily track what's new.

We're excited to see the latest CFCC offering roll out and offer another way to help the church matter. And the sites do work. One of our early listings had four responses in the first four days--before we really had a chance to get the word out.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:04 PM
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April 23, 2007

Meet Joshua Cody, CFCC Intern

You may have noticed the name "Joshua Cody" showing up on a ton of entries lately. Just who is this guy? Glad you asked. He's our intern and has been stepping up in a major way to keep us moving towards our goal of helping the church matter.

Unfortunately he's on the opposite side of the country, so his ability to make donut runs is limited. But he makes up for it with plenty of ideas and hard work. Check out our Q&A with Joshua over at the CFCC blog and get to know our intern.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:10 AM
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March 27, 2007

Church Marketing Lab LIVE!

Just received some exciting news from the folks at MinistryCOM, I will be hosting the first ever Church Marketing Lab LIVE! at the conference in Nashville, Tenn. Sept. 13-14. It's a chance to put some flesh on the Church Marketing Lab.

Church Marketing Lab LIVE! is an interactive forum/workshop that allows attendees to bring in current and past marketing communications for critique and comment by both a panel of some of the Church Marketing Lab's brightest and encourage a group discussion with the purpose of bettering the communication piece. Church Marketing Lab LIVE! will give attendees something to implement immediately upon returning from MinistryCOM.

I'm hoping this will be a great time of extending the lab into face to face conversation and dig a bit deeper into some of your marketing communications. As we've not done this with the lab before, I'd love to get your input and thoughts on the event.

Posted by Michael Buckingham at 6:45 PM
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March 22, 2007

Squidoo Likes Us!

Squidoo thinks we deserve to be on its user-ranked Lens of the Year list. For the moment the Church Marketing Sucks lens is sitting at #16, between Tea Junkie and Make Your Own Fairy Wings.

For those of you unsure of how Squidoo works, check it out on Wikipedia. Essentially, you create a lens that gives people a view into, well, whatever you want. For us, it's Church Marketing Sucks (and innovative churches). For others, its fairy wings. We've also covered how you can use Squidoo for your church and you can also support CMS with Squidoo.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 8:40 AM
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February 14, 2007

Stopping the Comment Spam

We've instituted a new measure to fight comment spam. When you post a comment you'll be asked to type a word to verify that you're a real person commenting and not some spambot. We know it's a hassle, but we needed to find a better solution to cut down on our maintenance and keep junk off the site.

We're still perfecting the system, so currently the comment preview feature isn't working. Hopefully we'll have it firing on all cylinders soon.

Thanks for your patience.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 11:48 AM
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January 29, 2007

National New Church Conference

In April I will be tag-teaming with the one and only Mark Batterson for a pre-conference session at the National New Church Conference in Orlando, Fla. The pre-conference track is about creative communications in the church.

In addition, I will be tag-teaming a workshop on Tuesday with creative guru Drew Goodmanson tentatively titled "Get the Word Out! What Every Church Planter Needs to Know About Communication."

If you're a church planter, I'd encourage you to get to Orlando April 23-26, 2007. The conference is loaded with great topics and communicators who want to help. If you know of church planters who should be there, send them the details and a little cash to help cover their way!

You can register here.

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:22 AM
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January 18, 2007

NRB's Reach 2007 Conference

Our very own Brad Abare will be speaking at the NRB's 2007 Reach Conference next month in Orlando, Fla. The conference is February 17-19 and Brad will be headlining the "The Aren't Getting It" workshop, hosted by Brad Hill on Sunday:

Sometimes the greatest hurdle to true online ministry isn't budget--it's simple buy-in from senior leadership. Having no web presence (or a bad one) can do more harm than you might realize. Designed for the people who "get it," this session will help you formulate the most compelling arguments possible for digital ministry in your church/organization.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:00 AM
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January 16, 2007

Top 59 Smartest Organizations Online

Our non-profit parent, the Center for Church Communication, was just named one of the Top 59 Smartest Organizations Online. You can read more about it at the CFCC blog.

Whoa. We're on the same list with organizations like Oxfam and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. And the Ferrets Unlimited Ferret Shelter.

You can also vote for your favorite smartest organization online, and we're currently ranked 10th! Of course it's not a popularity contest, as Seth Godin reminds us, but we feel pretty popular. And smart ("I am so smart, I am so smart, s-m-r-t--I mean s-m-a-r-t!")

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 3:13 PM
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January 15, 2007

Top 5 Must-Read Blogs for Fundraisers

It seems we're one of the top five must-read blogs for fundraisers. Jeff Brooks, author of the Donor Power Blog and creative director at the ad agency Merkle/Domain, offered up the top five blogs in an interview with Fundraising Success magazine.

So we've got that going for us. (link via Knightopia)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:26 AM
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January 11, 2007

Outreach's Top 20 Web Sites for Church Communicators

In my haste to dump some links on you yesterday I forgot one: Top 20 Web Sites for Church Communicators. It's a web exclusive from Outreach magazine written by, oh yeah, me. If you read this blog regularly you probably know about many of these sites (like, ahem, #20), but you might find a couple gems you didn't know about. Enjoy.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:58 AM
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December 20, 2006

Top 10 Most Commented Entries of 2006

It's the end of the year and time for lists galore. So we present the top 10 most commented entries of 2006.

Of course we're ignoring the old Peer Review entries before we launched the Church Marketing Lab. We're also only looking at entries composed in 2006, even though some of our older entries remain popular and still rack up the comments. It's also worth pointing out that landing on this list has nothing to do with the quality of the entry or the topic, it has more to do with the comment fury the entry prompted, for whatever reason. And of course all comment numbers were current at press time.

So with no further disclaimers, let's get this list started...

1) The Church & Money: Plasma TV or Feed the Poor? - 39 comments

Continue reading "Top 10 Most Commented Entries of 2006"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 2:29 PM
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December 13, 2006

Advertise on CMS

You may have noticed the big new graphic on the right. That's right, we're now accepting advertising on Church Marketing Sucks and the Center for Church Communication. It's part of the CFCC Advertising Network. Check out the announcement over at the CFCC blog and consider advertising on CMS.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:46 AM
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December 5, 2006

CMS Store is Closed / Shirts Poll

We hope you got your CMS T-shirts if you wanted them because the Church Marketing Sucks store is now officially closed. Thanks to everyone who ordered a shirt or two (or three) and helped support this blog and the wider effort of the Center for Church Communication. We sold just over 100 T-shirts, which isn't too shabby for only having them available for two weeks.

Now that we've taken the orders we'll print a limited run of the shirts and ship them out by December 13 at the latest, arriving in time for Christmas.

It's been a good learning process for us, and hopefully we'll be able to offer shirts and other products again in the future. Thanks for your support!

And now for the results. Last week we asked which shirt design was your favorite. 'That's How We've Always Done It!' won by a landslide, taking 42% of the vote. Definitely your favorite, based on the poll and because it was the most popular shirt ordered. Our motto shirt was next bearing the 'Frustrate. Educate. Motivate.' slogan with 17%. The three remaining shirts tied with 11% each, which is interesting considering the 'Christianese' outsold both the other two shirts by a wide margin. And 7% just weren't impressed with our designs. Sorry, maybe next time.

This week we're asking what kind of special marketing you're doing for Christmas.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:45 AM
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December 4, 2006

Last Day to Order CMS T-Shirts

This is it. Today is your last day to order Church Marketing Sucks T-shirts. After today the store will close and you'll be out of luck.

So scrape your pennies together, call your pastor, bug your friends and order a shirt. Or two. Remember you can get two shirts for $32 and save some cash. Wouldn't your grandma look fetching in her very own Church Marketing Sucks T-shirt?

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:15 AM
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November 27, 2006

CMS on Creative Synergy Podcast

If we haven't mentioned the new Creative Synergy Podcast before, it's worth checking out. Hosted by Greg Atkinson and Anthony Coppedge, they cover all kinds of creative issues for the church, from volunteers to communications to technology. Previous shows have included interviews with Kem Meyer from Granger Community Church, Mark Batterson from National Community Church, and--oh yeah--Brad Abare.

Check out the latest episode for an interview with our own Brad Abare and some background on Church Marketing Sucks and our non-profit parent, the Center for Church Communication.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:04 AM
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November 22, 2006

CMS T-Shirts FAQs

When we announced the new CMS T-shirts late last week, the e-mails started coming in about questions you never really know people have until they ask. So below are the frequently asked questions, and you can also join the discussion at the Church Marketing Lab about the shirts.

Are the shirts sweatshop free?
Yes. The material is made in Honduras and the shirts are produced here in the United States (California).

Why are the shirts so expensive?
We're producing a limited run so the cost per shirt is higher than if we were printing a big run. The idea is also to help support a good cause (the Center for Church Communication). You can always make a tax-deductible donation if you prefer to help the cause without buying a shirt.

Continue reading "CMS T-Shirts FAQs"

Posted by Brad Abare at 11:19 AM
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November 21, 2006

CMS T-Shirts Now Available in Small

We've responded to your demands and added small sizes to the Church Marketing Sucks store. Now you can support CMS, look ridiculously good and not drown in your T-shirt.

Remember that the shirts will only be available until December 4, so order now.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:35 AM
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November 16, 2006

The T-shirts Have Arrived

Church Marketing Sucks T-shirts are now available.

We've been hinting, dreaming and hoping, and now we finally have some Church Marketing Sucks swag. Visit the new Church Marketing Sucks Store and take your pick of five new shirts. We're only taking orders until December 4, so act now. We'll ship shirts on or before December 13 so you can have them in time for Christmas. And all the proceeds support the Center for Church Communication and help keep this blog blogging.

Thanks for your support!

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 4:32 PM
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September 6, 2006

Free T-shirts

While I usually work more hours on Church Marketing Sucks then I'm compensated for (one of the things you can learn from the 'heart and soul' series--OK, I'll stop flogging it), one of the perks has been the free T-shirts.

It started with now 17% less judgmental from a church called the Annex in Canada, which has to draw more quizzical looks than any other shirt I've worn.

And now it's continued with my free eBible.com T-shirt, which they sent our way after we did some early coverage of the web 2.0 Bible tool.

I say keep the free T-shirts coming!* Blogging may not put food on the table, but it can put a shirt on my back.

*Disclaimer: But don't think that just by sending me a free T-shirt I'm going to blog about you. I like free stuff, but I'm not some topless sellout waiting for a mutually beneficial solution.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:19 AM
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We're Pioneers: Final 'Heart & Soul' Post

Yesterday we posted the final entry in our 'heart and soul' series over at the Center for Church Communication blog. Guest blogger Kem Meyer stepped up to give her thoughts on Church Marketing Sucks, and she says we're pioneers. Thanks Kem. Though we can't claim too much of the credit.

If you haven't been following the 'heart and soul' series (and we know that's something like 80% of you) we hope you'll check it out. We've got big dreams for helping the church not suck and if you support that vision we hope you'll check out our series and support us in whatever way you can. And if that's not you, well, maybe you can at least enjoy a good chuckle at some of our more ludicrious stories.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:37 AM
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August 31, 2006

Reality Sets In

We've been doing a 'heart and soul' series over at the Center for Church Communication blog (in case you haven't caught on yet), and today Brad Abare talks about some of the practical realities of running a non-profit.

We've got big dreams. That's no secret. And so far this community--with the grace of God--has accomplished a lot. It's amazing. But to keep it going, we do need help.

Brad covers some of the basic ways you can help--time, treasure and talent. He also mentions one method we're going to explore for bringing in some cash: advertising (gulp). It takes a certain amount of time, effort and money to keep this thing going. That's the reality. We hope you'll check out Brad's thoughts and help in any way you can.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:36 AM
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August 28, 2006

DJ Chuang on CMS

The 'heart and soul' series marches on. This week we have special guest blogger DJ Chuang, stepping in to offer his perspective on Church Marketing Sucks: Communicating Any and Every Which Way Possible.

Thanks DJ!

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 11:26 AM
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August 22, 2006

Dreaming Big Dreams

The 'heart and soul' series continues this week over at the Center for Church Communication blog with Brad Abare sharing our dreams and big ideas for the future of CFCC.

I don't know about you, but this is where it gets really fun for me. I love thinking big, I love dreaming big, and even better--I love it when those ideas have a shot at becoming reality. I'd be tempted to think this is all just talk, but after seeing the reality of past dreams--like this blog still going strong after two years or the incredible activity in the Church Marketing Lab--you can call me a dreamer.

So let's go dream the big dreams together.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:03 AM
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August 14, 2006

How Far We've Come

We're in the midst of our 'heart and soul' series over at the Center for Church Communication, exploring our vision and dreams for how we can help the church matter.

This week we take a look at how we've helped so far, exploring the accomplishments of CFCC and Church Marketing Sucks. It's time to brag just a little.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:43 AM
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August 7, 2006

Mark Batterson on CMS

Our 'heart and soul' series continues this week on the Center for Church Communication blog with a special guest entry by Mark Batterson: A Tribute to Church Marketing Sucks.

It's almost enough to make you teary eyed. Thanks Mark!

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:53 AM
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August 3, 2006

CFCC at MinistryCom

If you're going to MinstryCom in Phoenix Sept. 7-8, we'd like to meet you! Well, not me, because I'm probably not going (travel expenses and my duties as a dad make it a hard trip to swing, though I would still like to meet you), but Brad will be there.

We're having the first ever CFCC Get Together during lunch on Friday at MinstryCom. It's an informal affair (it's so informal it wasn't our idea, though we're happy to run with it) and a chance to meet fellow CMSers and Church Marketing Lab folks (you can thank them for the idea). Be there or be vicarious.

Get more details >>

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:06 PM
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July 31, 2006

CFCC and CMS History

We're in the midst of a 'heart and soul' series over at the Center for Church Communication, exploring where we've been and where we're going. This week Brad goes back to beginning, giving the history of both Church Marketing Sucks and the Center for Church Communication and how they came to be.

Check out our history >>

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:54 AM
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July 24, 2006

Why We Do What We Do

I tend to get nostalgic around important dates and since Church Marketing Sucks just turned two we thought it would be a good time to share what's on our hearts. Over on the Center for Church Communication blog we're starting a heart and soul series. It's going to cover where we've been and where we're going, what our dreams are and how we hope to get there. We hope you'll join us on that journey and help us get there.

This week I start things off by talking about why we do what we do.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 11:06 AM
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Happy Birthday CMS!

This past weekend Church Marketing Sucks turned two years old. To celebrate we've given the site a little sprucing (sorry, no T-shirts... yet). You'll notice the design has some minor tweaks (which we're still tweaking--let us know if things look broken), though nothing drastic. If you're a die-hard RSS reader you might want to pop in for an actual visit and see what you think.

Among the changes, we've put our mission and tagline front and center. And you've got to love seeing the vacuum people right up top (you can also see them on your site). We're also giving props to our non-profit parent, the Center for Church Communication (CFCC), and ways you can support CFCC and Church Marketing Sucks.

It's hard to believe we've been doing this for two years. Thanks for making CMS what it is.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:22 AM
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July 5, 2006

Support CMS with Squidoo

You can now support our non-profit parent, the Center for Church Communication (and by extension Church Marketing Sucks) through the web 2.0 site Squidoo.

The site lets you earn income on products sold and ads and either pocket the cash or donate it to your favorite non-profit. We're now on that list of charities, so if you have a Squidoo lens or are thinking of starting one, consider donating some or all of your earnings to help churches matter.

You can also check out our lens and our earlier post on how your church can use Squidoo.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:58 AM
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June 28, 2006

We're Looking for a Few Good Interns

Well, one intern actually, but we'll take all the help we can get.

In addition, the Center for Church Communication, our non-profit parent, is also looking for graphic design, tech and coordinator volunteers. Check out the new CFCC volunteer listings if you'd like to help out.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 4:24 PM
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June 16, 2006

Welcome to Church Marketing Sucks

We've seen quite an influx in traffic the past week or so as we've explored church growth with our series Is Church Growth the Highway to Hell? So I thought it might help newcomers (and remind old timers) to give an overview of Church Marketing Sucks.

• Launched in 2004, Church Marketing Sucks is a part of the non-profit Center for Church Communication. They're our more respectable parent organization that allows us to branch out and do more.
• Our goal is to frustrate, educate and motivate the church to communicate, with uncompromising clarity, the truth of Jesus Christ.
• You can read more about our mission or check out the links in the left sidebar under "read this first" for a good introduction.
• We encourage you to sign up for one of our e-mail newsletters and if you're the RSS type we hope you'll subscribe.
• The Center for Church Communication offers a few more resources in addition to this blog, including the Church Marketing Lab, a church marketing review group where you can share your work and offer feedback to others, the Events Lab, a public calendar of church marketing and communications related conferences, and more.
• If you want to support the work we're doing, there are a number of ways you can help, including:
  • Donate cash.
  • Spread the word and tell your friends.
  • Make Amazon.com purchases through our links (we get a small referral fee).
  • Become a guest blogger.
  • Volunteer to help out (Our 'Ways I Can Help' e-mail list is one way we get the word out about needs—and we plan to mention a slew of upcoming needs soon).
  • And most importantly, pray. We don't know everything, so we could use all the help we can get.

Thanks for being a part of the conversation.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:38 AM
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June 12, 2006

The Events Lab

The Center for Church Communication, our non-profit parent organization, just launched a new resource: The Events Lab.

It's a Google-powered public calendar listing church marketing and communications related events. This week alone there are four events happening across the country in Miami, Phoenix, Philadelphia and Chicago.

You can subscribe via RSS or iCal and keep track of the events yourself. And there are always events that could be added, so if you know of one that should be included (remember, marketing or communications related), let us know.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:12 PM
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May 10, 2006

Lens of the Day

Yesterday our Church Marketing Sucks lens on Squidoo was picked as the Lens of the Day. Not too shabby.

If you're checking us out for the first time, welcome aboard. The lens covers a lot of the basics, but feel free to check out our 'read this first' entries to the upper-left, our about section for more on our mission and who's behind this thing, and our new support section for details on how you can get involved.

You can also learn more about how your church can use Squidoo lenses.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:09 AM
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May 6, 2006

No Shame in Church Marketing

Yet another article on mega-churches, this one covering their Easter plans from the April 14 Everett, Wash. Daily Herald (yeah, we're a little behind). But it also has some comments from our founder and Buzz Conference-speakin' Brad Abare:

There's no shame in selling what people are looking for, said Brad Abare, president of the Los Angeles-based Center for Church Communication.

"There's not a single day when McDonald's doesn't sell a hamburger, the thing they're supposed to be doing," he said. "But there are many days when churches don't see members or new visitors come into their church or people come to Jesus.

"The premise of churches is we have the greatest story ever told. Churches realize they have to learn how to tell the story better."

Though you've got to love this comment from John Vaughan of Church Growth Today: "When you believe in God, you don't dream small dreams."

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 3:14 PM
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April 27, 2006

Technology Forum at the Foursquare Convention

If you haven't seen our own Brad Abare blogging much around here lately, this is why--in addition to speaking at next week's Buzz Conference, Brad will also be at a technology forum at the upcoming Foursquare Convention, also in Washington, D.C., from May 29-June 1.

The tech forum, "Harnessing Technology for Ministry," will cover both existing and emerging technologies for use in the church today and tomorrow. Potential ministry applications for blogs, social-networking, wikis, instant-messaging, podcasting, video streaming, digitial libraries and more will be covered.

And we should confirm the rumors that, yes, Brad will also be appearing at this year's MinistryCOM conference in Phoenix this September. But more on that later.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:26 AM
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April 13, 2006

Save $40 on the Buzz Conference

They say you can't have buzz without repetition. So here we go.

The Buzz Conference is coming to Washington, D.C., in less than a month, featuring the controversial Mark Batterson (OK, so he wasn't controversial until our interview with him racked up 20 comments in five days) and our own Brad Abare.

And we've got a deal for you. The regular registration is $139, but CMS readers can get in for only $99. E-mail Buzz Coordinator Juliet Main for the discount.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:38 AM
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April 12, 2006

100 Members in the Church Marketing Lab

We just added our 100th member to the Church Marketing Lab. Congratulations Bob Erdman of Capistrano Valley Church (which has its own [fledgling] Flickr group--looks like someone's been listening). As the 100th member of the Church Marketing Lab you win... our congratulations. Go Bob!

Thanks to everyone who has taken part in the Church Marketing Lab and shared their work, and especially to those who have shared their feedback. It doesn't work without feedback, so thanks for digging in and helping make church marketing that doesn't suck.

That's why we do what we do, so thanks for your support.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:07 PM
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April 11, 2006

Be the First to Know: CMS E-mail Newsletters

If you want to be in the know, sign up for our e-mail newsletters. That's where you can hear things first:

• Last week we told our e-mail subscribers about our plans to accept donations the day before we announced it on the site.
• Our new guest blogger policy went to our e-mail newsletter days before we talked about it on the blog.
• We told our e-mail newsletter subscribers about the new Church Marketing Lab a full three weeks before we made it public on the blog.
• We even mentioned some of these coming changes way back in our February e-mail newsletter.

So the bottom line? If you want to be in on what's happening with Church Marketing Sucks and our non-profit parent the Center for Church Communciation, sign up for our e-mail newsletters.

Continue reading "Be the First to Know: CMS E-mail Newsletters"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:11 AM
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April 5, 2006

Support Church Marketing Sucks

Ever since we started we've been trying to help the church communicate the gospel. It's no easy task. We need your help.

There are three big ways you can help us out:

1. Get involved.
2. Donate.
3. Pray.

The first and the last aren't anything new. We've been asking you to get involved since the very beginning. And prayer goes without saying. Except that we're saying it.

But that middle one—that's new. It's also a delicate subject for us. It's easy for people to get nervous when money comes up, especially when the church is involved. So we're going to shoot straight and just lay it out.

The Center for Church Communication, the non-profit parent of CMS, is now accepting online donations. We hope you'll consider a donation to help churches communicate better.

Continue reading "Support Church Marketing Sucks"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:48 AM
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March 30, 2006

The Church Marketing Lab

It's time for better church marketing. Want to help?

Step into the lab and help churches improve their marketing and communications by taking part in our new Flickr group, the Church Marketing Lab. It's a photo-sharing group independent of this blog where anyone can share their work and give feedback to others.

If it sounds a lot like the peer reviews we used to post on a weekly basis, it should. The peer reviews were time intensive to organize and post and we were hoping for a better solution. We managed 24 peer reviews in six months, but in the single month we've been testing the Church Marketing Lab, we had 60 photos posted by 40 people.

And that's the idea. It's the power of the people. Put it to work for your church.

Continue reading "The Church Marketing Lab"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 3:28 PM
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March 28, 2006

Want to Write For Us?

Join our team and become a guest blogger. We're looking for people who can contribute to the conversation, beyond comments to the actual entries we comment about.

We've made it a lot easier to write for us. We're not looking for a commitment, we're just looking for good ideas and good writing. Submit one entry or a dozen, whatever works for you.

Our pay sucks, but what do you expect? Help us out and become a guest blogger today.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:05 PM
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March 13, 2006

CMS Mentioned in Advertising Age

If you're a subscriber to Advertising Age magazine, flip to page 24 of the Feb. 20, 2006 issue and Ken Wheaton's Adages column for a brief mention of your favorite church marketing blog with the word "sucks" in the title. The article is available online for a fee, though you'll have to decide if we're worth it. (probably not)

Here's a taste:

Church Marketing Sucks seems a smart and marketing-savvy site. Which shouldn't be a surprise. CMS was founded in 2004 by Brad Abare, president of Los Angeles cause-marketing agency Personality. "I gathered my staff and a few strategic partners together to brainstorm some future company 'stuff.' Because many of us are involved in our local churches--and we are all in marketing--one of the ideas that came up was to start a conversation that could be a place for churches to come and learn."

The yeoman's work of keeping that conversation going has fallen to freelance writer Kevin Hendricks.

The bold text was theirs, which means our names were in bold text on the same page as other bold names like Spike Lee, Tiger Woods, David Bowie, Dan Wieden, David Kennedy and more. How's that for an ego trip? To keep things deflated I'm reminding myself that Hitler, Stalin and Mao were also in bold on the same page.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:14 AM
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February 27, 2006

How Churches Use Technology

Last week I spoke with Jesse Noyes from the Boston Herald about how churches use technology for his article, "Lord Works in High Tech Ways," which basically explores how churches are using emerging technology like blogs and podcasts.

Church Marketing Sucks and our parent Center for Church Communication get a mention, though I didn't say anything smart enough to get quoted. I thought my comment about podcasting enabling pastors to take sermons beyond Sunday was pretty good, though I guess it wasn't incredibly inspired.

Someone definitely smarter than me made a good point about how Christians have always taken advantage of technology:

But since the advent of radio, conservative evangelicals have been the first to embrace the marketing clout technology provides, said Nancy Ammerman, a sociology of religion professor at Boston University. "There is something about the impulse to convert... that has long made evangelicals use whatever tools are available to them,"

I'm no historian, but I think even long before radio you'll find Christians using the latest technology, whether it's the printing press or improved navigation methods to reach people. Web sites are the new visitor packets. Blogs are the new newsletters. Podcasts are the new radio.

Continue reading "How Churches Use Technology"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:21 AM
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February 15, 2006

Comment Filtering Issues

To the 64 people with co.uk addresses who have tried to post comments since January 7 and been turned away, we apologize. You should be able to comment now.

Spam filtering is a far from perfect science. Sometimes spam gets through and sometimes good comments are blocked, despite our best efforts. That's what happened here: a string was added to our blacklist that inadvertently blocked all co.uk urls.

I can assure you that hackers were not involved.

This kind of thing has happened before and I'm sure it will happen again (oh the joys of fighting spam yet allowing open dialogue), so please drop us a line if you're unable to post a comment and we can sort it out.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:29 AM
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February 8, 2006

Support CMS Through Amazon

Being a non-profit implies a certain lack of cash. Church Marketing Sucks has never been and never will be about getting rich, but we do still have bills to pay.

An easy way you can help us out without costing a dime is by clicking on our links before making purchases through Amazon.com. We get a small referral fee when you click on our links and then buy anything at Amazon.com. Marketing books, Bibles, CDs—even iPods. It's a small cut, but every little bit counts.

OK, so it may cost more than a dime. But it's money you were going to spend anyway, and it doesn't cost extra to help us out. Check out our reviews category for loads of church marketing-related books (as if you don't have any other books on your must-buy list).

Thanks for your support.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 3:16 PM
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February 2, 2006

Congrats to Kevin Hendricks

As you've probably read by now, our very own Kevin Hendricks and his wife Abby had their first baby earlier this week. Madeleine Alexis Hendricks is already learning about what it means to suck. Wouldn't it be great if when she grows up and participates in church for the first time, the marketing that perhaps got her there didn't suck? I can dream can't I?

Kevin, enjoy your new baby! And just because your family grew by 33 percent this week, don't take too much time off, OK?

Posted by Brad Abare at 5:36 PM
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Having a Baby

A week ago we posted our poll results about how to celebrate the birth of our chief blogger's first child, and it seems the least favorite answer, no blogging for a week, will be the one we go with.

Madeleine Alexis Hendricks was born on January 31, so expect things to be slow around here. If you want more details, check Kevin's blog or his Flickr page for pics.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 4:52 PM
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January 9, 2006

PixelZion Podcast

Our very own Kevin Hendricks (hey, that's me!) was interviewed on the PixelZion podcast this weekend. Kevin and PixelZion host Jesse Haynes talk about the history of Church Marketing Sucks, what may be coming in the near future, whether or not marketing is evil, and a fun little story about spelling "Christmas" wrong (hence the need to proofread everyting twice).

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:09 AM
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December 9, 2005

CMS Interview at Godbit

Our very own Kevin D. Hendricks (wait, that's me!) was interviewed over at the church tech site Godbit. Hear me give the same old talk on marketing as well as a little history on Church Marketing Sucks.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:05 AM
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December 1, 2005

CMS Goes Non-Profit

We're happy to announce that Church Marketing Sucks is now a non-profit. It's not much of a change since we've never made a profit, but now it's official. We're now a part of the non-profit Center for Church Communication, which is kind of an umbrella organization with the goal of helping the church matter.

This won't change what we do on the site and the helpful content you know and [hopefully] love, but it will change how we do business on the back end and the kinds of things we can do.

So welcome to the non-profit Church Marketing Sucks. Same great taste, but now it's tax-deductible.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:40 AM
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November 18, 2005

CMS @ YS: Check Out Our Booth

Church Marketing Sucks is at the Youth Specialties National Youth Worker Convention in Nashville this weekend. Stop by the booth if you're there. Not that we'll be there—or anybody for that matter—but you can be there.

Pick up some CMS cards and wonder at the oddity of an unmanned booth. It's kind of like an unmanned spaceship, only a lot cheaper.

Yes, it is a little odd. But we like it that way. Long story short we inherited a booth and made the most of it.

Apparently lots of youth workers are blogging the convention, and I'm hoping at least one will post a picture of themselves hanging out in the unmanned Church Marketing Sucks booth.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:30 PM
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November 7, 2005

Blogging Church Interviews CMS

If you check out this week's Blogging Church Podcast you can hear the voice of Church Marketing Sucks. Terry Storch interviewed Brad Abare and I as we talked blogs and church marketing in general. We had a good conversation and this means there's a small chance we could end up in a book. Assuming we said something quotable.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:38 AM
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October 20, 2005

Church Marketing Quotes

Check out the Austin American-Statesman for yours truly. Brad and I were quoted in an article about church marketing, though we definitely didn't have the best quotes.

Mac Richard of Lake Hills Church in Austin, Texas had a nice one:

"The world calls it marketing. The Bible calls it evangelism."

The Rev. Larry Hollon, CEO of communications for the Nashville, Tenn.-based United Methodist Church:

"This is not a matter of choosing to do communications or to do ministry. It is including communications in the ministry of the church as it is right to do."

And Scott Evans, the founder and president of Outreach:

"Ten to 15 years ago, churches were asking, 'Should we be doing it?' Now they're realizing that they have to do it."

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:45 AM
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October 17, 2005

Our Don't Suck List Sucks

We've come to the conclusion that our 'Don't Suck' list actually sucks. The goal was to list companies, organizations and resources that could help your church not suck. In reality that's not as easy as it sounds.

So the 'Don't Suck' list is taking a break. We'll keep the old one around, but instead of keeping it up to date we're going to focus on coming up with a new list. One that's better, faster, stronger.

Continue reading "Our Don't Suck List Sucks"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:34 PM
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September 22, 2005

Event Guest Blogging from Kem Meyer

Say hello to Kem Meyer, the Communications Director at Granger Community Church, who has graciously stepped in with some event blogging from last week's MinistryCOM church marketing conference in Houston. She presented a few workshops at the conference and was happy to share some of what she learned from the event. Hopefully we can rope her into doing some more guest blogging in the future.

If it seems like we've been introducing guest bloggers left and right, well, that's because we have. We can't do everything around here, and we wouldn't want to—there are a lot of smart folks out there who know more than we do. And we're happy to get them on board.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:26 PM
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September 21, 2005

New Guest Blogger Alex Seidel

You can wish a warm welcome to the newest guest blogger here at Church Marketing Sucks, Alex Seidel. He's the Director of Communications for Timberlake Christian Fellowship in Redmond, Wash. (and yes, they are working on a new web site). Alex will be contributing thoughts, wisdom and tips on technology and the church.

Check out Alex's bio for more or read his first entry, Making the Most of Technology for Churches.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:51 AM
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August 26, 2005

Props from Relevant Magazine

The Sept/Oct 2005 issue of Relevant magazine just showed up in the mail, and while flipping through it I was surprised to see something familiar on page 67: Church Marketing Sucks. Pop culture columnist Jason Boyett (author of Pocket Guide to the Apocalypse) gives us some props in his column.

Welcome to all the Relevant readers—thanks for stopping by. Some good places to start include What is Marketing? and Why We Use 'Sucks'. If you like what you see, you can help spread the word or you can directly help churches do better marketing by giving your thoughts and ideas in our peer reviews.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:26 PM
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August 18, 2005

New Guest Blogger Jennifer Laycock

Say hello to Jennifer Laycock, the newest guest blogger for Church Marketing Sucks. Jennifer is a search engine expert who consults for companies on search engine markteing. She'll be sharing her wisdom and experience on search, marketing and the church.

Check out Jennifer's bio for more or read her first entry, The First Vagabonds Church of God.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:26 PM
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August 16, 2005

The Church Marketing Sucks E-mail Newsletter

You may have noticed the e-mail newsletter sign-up in our lefthand sidebar, which is a new feature that came with our recent redesign. We offer a few different lists for things like events or helping out with Church Marketing Sucks, as well as a main News & Updates list. Though if you've already signed up you may have noticed that we haven't sent anything yet. We're still trying to figure out what should be in our main e-mail newsletter, and that's where you come in.

Tell us what you think should be in our e-mail newsletter.

Continue reading "The Church Marketing Sucks E-mail Newsletter"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:40 AM
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August 9, 2005

Church Marketing Sucks Banners

Spread the word about Church Marketing Sucks with our lovely assortment of banners and linking graphics. Get 'em while they last!

We've got sizes to fit any web page and styles to fit any taste, including a few conveniently void of that pesky 'sucks' word. And bonus points for anyone who uses our massive vertical towers.

It's just one of the ways you can help spread the word. (which we very much appreciate)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:13 AM
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August 3, 2005

Leadership Journal: Church Marketing Hoovers

If you check out the summer 2005 issue of Leadership Journal you'll stumble across a little blurb about your favorite vacuum-themed web site. The piece, titled Church Marketing Hoovers, gives a nice little overview of Church Marketing Sucks.

Welcome to anyone checking us out thanks to Leadership Journal. A good place to start exploring the site would be our "read this first" entries on the top of our left sidebar, which cover some basic philosophic ground about where we stand. From there, dive into the categories for the topic that most interests you. Thanks for stopping by.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 4:16 AM
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July 22, 2005

Church Marketing Sucks Celebrates One Year Online

Happy Birthday! Today is the one-year anniversary of Church Marketing Sucks. You may have noticed a redesign as part of the festivities. We also sent out a press release chronicling our accomplishments in the past year.

It's been a crazy year and we're amazed at the response. Thank you for checking out the site, joining the conversation and spreading the word. We hope you enjoy the new look and the added features. And most of all, we hope God continues to work through churches as they tell the greatest story ever told.

Continue reading "Church Marketing Sucks Celebrates One Year Online"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:06 AM
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July 21, 2005

Ministry in Motion Interview

Seems like we forgot to mention an interview with our very own Kevin D. Hendricks (hey, that's me!) that appeared in the e-zine Ministry in Motion back in May. I cover some of the basics of Church Marketing Sucks, including why we started and tips for churches.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 11:36 AM
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May 4, 2005

Ministries Today Article

We recently wrote an article for Ministries Today on church marketing that appeared in the May/June issue. Turn to page 32 for the article, "Marketing Your Church Without Diluting Your Message" (unfortunately the whole article is not online, so you'll have to find a print copy).

The piece covers the basics of church marketing and includes a few helpful sidebars: "8 Ideas Worth Borrowing," "7 Ways to Market Without Money" and a list of church marketing companies. Of course if you read the blog you've seen much of this before.

Welcome to anyone who followed the ChurchMarketingStinks.com link that appeared in the magazine (check out 'Sucks? Stinks? What?' for an explanation).

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:26 AM
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March 31, 2005

The Door Interview

John Carney interviewed us for the Wittenburg Door a few months back and the interview is now on their site as an "online extra." Check it out.

You can see some pretty pics of Brad and I, including a shot of me post-youth group passion play (youth group passion play, not Mel Gibson passion play).

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:29 AM
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March 29, 2005

Comments Away!

We've changed the comment system so TypeKey authentication is no longer required. We hope this will generate more conversation without unleashing the floodgates of spam.

Older comments will be moderated, though TypeKey authentication will let you bypass that.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:18 PM
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What's Working For You?

Terry Storch asked us to write an entry for the 'What's Working For You' series on his blog (which features lots of folks smarter than us sharing practical wisdom). Our entry, about what's working in the world of church marketing, posted today.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:14 AM
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March 1, 2005

Church Marketing Sucks Provides Alternative Address

Today we sent our second press release announcing an alternate address, ChurchMarketingStinks.com. It's an effort to serve Christian publications that have a policy against printing controversial language (you can also read our more in-depth rationale for using 'sucks'). The release is going out to nearly 300 news and media contacts all around the country.

So far we've had a great response to Church Marketing Sucks and we appreciate your feedback and enthusiasm. Thanks!

Continue reading "Church Marketing Sucks Provides Alternative Address"

Posted by Brad Abare at 10:21 AM
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Why We Use ‘Sucks’

Some people take issue with our use of the word ‘sucks’, and we understand their concerns. Growing up, some on our team weren’t even allowed to use the word, and our moms still don’t like it.

Looking to the Bible, we don’t find a list of ‘naughty’ words to stay away from. In Ephesians 4:29, Paul admonishes us to watch the way we talk. This doesn’t refer to specific words, but to the character of what we say. Looking through the book of Job and the book of Psalms, there are some pretty choice words used by men of God. In Job 3:8, Job says “May those who are good at cursing curse that day” (MSG). There’s plenty of precedence when it comes to being authentic in our emotions and feelings—that includes the words we use.

Which is exactly what we’re doing with the name Church Marketing Sucks.

We’re being authentic. We’re being real. We’re doing the same thing we’re asking the church to do when it comes to communicating and marketing who they are.

Continue reading "Why We Use ‘Sucks’"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:12 AM
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February 15, 2005

Resources For Not Sucking

We've added a list of free resources to our Don't Suck page to help you on the path towards better church marketing. If you know of a resource we missed, feel free to drop us a note in the comments.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:33 AM
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December 2, 2004

Interview With PRWeek.com

Keith O'Brien covers faith-based public relations in an article on PRWeek.com, which includes some good comments from Mark DeMoss, the big PR man in the Christian market. The article also includes some responses from our very own Brad Abare and a mention of Church Marketing Sucks.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:05 AM
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November 29, 2004

Our Very First Press Release

Today we sent our first press release to nearly 300 news and media contacts all around the country. We appreciate the many people who have linked to us and spread the word about this little conversation. But we're also eager to take this conversation to a wider audience. So here we go.

Continue reading "Our Very First Press Release"

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:46 AM
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November 18, 2004

Spread the Word in the Real World

Church Marketing Sucks has always been a conversation and we encourage you to spread that conversation far and wide. To prompt that in the real world, we've got stacks and stacks of business card-sized Church Marketing Sucks promo cards. They fit in your pocket, they're fancy and cool, and they give the basic rationale behind the site.

Want some? Send us an e-mail with your name, shipping address (U.S. only) and how many you want, and we'll send you a stack. We hope you'll use them to tell friends about the conversation and encourage them to check out the site.

Thanks for your support.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:45 AM
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November 16, 2004

Guest Blogger Andy Havens Joins the Conversation

We'd like to welcome marketing guru Andy Havens to the Church Marketing Sucks conversation. Andy will be joining us as guest blogger, sharing his thoughts and insights culled from 15 years of experience in professional marketing.

You can read more about Andy in his bio or check out his first entry, What is Marketing?, which argues that marketing goes much deeper than mere advertising.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:29 AM
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