February 22, 2010

Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity by Mark Batterson

The premise of Washington, D.C., pastor Mark Batterson's latest book is the greatest commandment found in Mark 12:30, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." He focuses on those four components of a person--heart, soul, mind and strength--to get at the very heart of Christianity. Essentially, Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity offers a full-person butt kicking.

Batterson explores how we need to use all four of these components in our journey to know God. If we lack in any area, we're not getting the full experience and we're missing out. That's where it becomes a full-body butt kicking, as we realize the areas where we're not reaching our potential. But Batterson is always encouraging, diving into each area with passion and curiosity, offering suggestions and insights into how to pursue God in each area.

Engaging the whole person is why this book matters for a church communication site. Too often our spirituality is simply about the heart or the soul. In doing so, we lose out on the imagination. Batterson argues that "the church ought to be the most creative place on the planet," (113) but instead "the greatest threat to the future of the church is a failure of our God-given imagination" (112). Dreaming and creating are two powerful acts of worship and important aspects of our journey with God. That's something a communicator can get behind.

Continue reading "Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity by Mark Batterson"

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October 21, 2009

Deadly Viper Character Assassins

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

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

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

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

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Posted by Michael Buckingham at 8:27 AM
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October 15, 2009

Donald Miller's Million Miles

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

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

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

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

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

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:45 AM
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September 28, 2009

Lord, Save Us From Your Followers

This weekend, my wife and I ventured out to the Portland screening of Lord, Save Us From Your Followers after some high praises from our own Brad Abare and friend of Church Marketing Sucks, Mark Horvath. Maybe I was afraid it'd be just another apology, maybe I was afraid it would just plain stink, or maybe I was scared of the web site's gratuitous use of Papyrus, but I wasn't so excited going in to it.

But the actual film put any of my worries to rest.

If you're not familiar with the movie, I'll give you a quick synopsis. A pastor from Portland puts on a white suit with tons of religious bumper stickers and magnetic fish, then he heads across the country interviewing people about their perception of Christianity and Christ.

Pastor Dan Merchant does his share of hilarious finger-pointing at mind-numbingly absurd efforts by the church. But even better, he tells the moving stories of churches that are healing wounds, loving the unlovable and truly making a difference.

It's the type of movie that will leave you reflecting on your own faith and positions and challenge you to make changes for the better. And not just that, it's the type of movie you can bring friends to who wouldn't normally step foot into a church. After wards, you'll probably have conversations you never thought were possible.

For me, the movie was both convicting and encouraging. I'd rate it as a must-see for anyone who is trying to live like Jesus or is involved in this little thing we call church marketing.

On Oct. 2 Lord, Save Us opens in five more cities.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:31 AM
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August 24, 2009

A Multi-Site Church Road Trip

by Danette Griffith, Guest Blogger

A Multi-Site Church Road Trip is for leaders in the church who read A Multi-Site Church Revolution and thought, "Wow, this could be us." This follow-up narrative answers the question, "Is this really what we should do?" It delves down into the major issues a multi-site church must consider. It was an easy, yet thought-provoking read, and it was fun to “travel” around to different multi-site churches.

The value of this book is that the three authors visited over 100 multi-site campuses to conduct interviews and organized surveys. What more do you want? The research is done. The authors themselves were not afraid to use the mistakes they had made in their churches as examples. In fact, the hidden treasure in this book in the short chapter, “Multi-Site Roadkill.” For some, learning what a multi-site church is not clarifies what it is.

Continue reading "A Multi-Site Church Road Trip"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:03 AM
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June 26, 2009

Hands-On Advice From Servolution

by Phil Prior, Guest Blogger

Having reviewed Dino Rizzo’s book Servolution, it’s clear that there are a number of lessons for church marketers that can be drawn from it’s pages. I just want to highlight four specifics.

1. Who would miss your church?

“A questions I am always asking myself is, If HPC closed down tomorrow, who would notice?”

While advertising, street signs and a full garage on a Sunday are great signs of success for a church, they aren’t necessarily indications of a great impact on your community. As Rizzo points out, a billboard may mean that your community knows the name of your church, but does it mean any more than that?

The ultimate test would be this: if your church closed, would anyone notice? Other than the regulars, who would shed a tear for a moment and then go somewhere else? Would the neighbors, local police, community leaders and schools even notice if you disappeared? Now think, what would change that--another advertisement or visiting the sick and staffing an after school club? That’s the point of Servolution, to be more than a building in a community but a church that exists in the whole of the community.

Continue reading "Hands-On Advice From Servolution"

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June 25, 2009

Servolution: Starting a Church Revolution Through Serving

by Phil Prior, Guest Blogger

Dino Rizzo’s Servolution does two things:

First, it tells the story of Healing Place Church (HPC) in Louisiana, and how in 1993, armed with a $400 check, Rizzo and his wife DeLynn started to serve the unwanted people of Baton Rouge. In the book he chronicles the worries and successes, the challenges and the celebrations in the life of a church community that grew from the vision of one couple to having multiple campuses and a range of ministries.

Secondly, Rizzo shares the strategies and resources that have made the ministry of HPC so fruitful. The book concludes with suggestions of things you could do to get your own ‘servolution’ started and a list of connections that HPC have made during the course of serving such a wide range of people.

Continue reading "Servolution: Starting a Church Revolution Through Serving"

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June 5, 2009

Less Clutter, Less Noise: Beyond Bulletins, Brochures and Bake Sales

By Tammy Burns, guest blogger

As soon as I read the title, I knew that this was a book I needed to read. Kem Meyer, communication director at Granger Community Church, gives practical and simple strategies for communicating clearly in her first book--Less Clutter. Less Noise.

This easy-to-read book is written in small, topical “chunks,” which makes it easy to scan for specific topics or to read in a few short sittings. Kem’s writing style is very conversational, and her book is full of real-life stories and examples that you and your church can actually put into practice!

Less Clutter, Less Noise is all about taking a second look at the things we communicate and seeing what message we are really sending out.

Continue reading "Less Clutter, Less Noise: Beyond Bulletins, Brochures and Bake Sales"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 6:58 AM
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May 28, 2009

Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us

by Phil Prior, Guest Blogger

Maybe Tribes is the book that all of us involved in church marketing have been looking for, the book that acknowledges that we are trying to do more than just find people to keep the pews warm or the collection plates full. We want everyone to know about us, but more than that, we want everyone to know God.

Widely acclaimed marketing guru Seth Godin has written a manifesto for those people who are born to do more than influence. Tribes is a book for anyone who just has to lead.

According to Godin, tribes form around leaders, and the tribes that he’s most interested in are those that are on the move--those groups of people who are playing a part, forming a movement, going somewhere with purpose and desire to create change.

You could be the guy who has been put in charge of the woefully underfunded church web site that needs a major redesign if anyone is going to look at it again. Or you could be the girl who works with the youth group who is tolerated rather than loved, but you know that there’s a brilliant group just waiting to bust out and take your community by storm. Well, this book is for you. “Leadership is a choice,” Godin writes. “It’s the choice to not do nothing. Lean in, back off, but don’t do nothing.”

Continue reading "Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us"

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April 15, 2009

Flickering Pixels: How Technology Shapes Your Faith by Shane Hipps

How's this for fitting? I read Flickering Pixels: How Technology Shapes Your Faith by Shane Hipps on a plane to Ethiopia when I'd be all but disconnected from the technology I love so much for 10 days.

The main premise of Flickering Pixels is that technology has a profound impact on how we think, feel, react and, well, everything. The take away isn't so much that technology is bad, but that we need to be aware of how it shapes us.

In some ways Flickering Pixels reads like a love letter to Marshall McLuhan. If you're not familiar with McLuhan, he coined the phrase "The medium is the message," and pushed other ideas about the importance of the medium in communication. That's the primary purpose here, as Hipps translates McLuhan's ideas to our deeply connected technological age.

Continue reading "Flickering Pixels: How Technology Shapes Your Faith by Shane Hipps"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:50 AM
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February 27, 2009

The Last TV Evangelist

A year ago I reviewed Branding Faith: Why Some Churches and Nonprofits Impact Culture and Others Don't, by Phil Cooke. It's a great book, especially for church leadership that is unfamiliar with marketing and branding.

Phil's latest book is another mouthful: The Last TV Evangelist: Why the Next Generation Couldn't Care Less About Religious Media and Why It Matters. It's not exactly the follow-up to Branding Faith I had expected or asked him to write, but what do I know.

I told Phil that The Last TV Evangelist could either cost him his career in ministry media or catapult him to cult status. The book is a pull-no-punches piece about ten years overdue. If Phil's livelihood had not depended on the very industry he's critiquing, I'm sure it would have been out sooner.

Continue reading "The Last TV Evangelist"

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:41 AM
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January 13, 2009

Mad Church Disease: Burnout Among Church Staffers

A long time ago in a post far, far away we interviewed author and Church Marketing Sucks guest blogger Anne Jackson about her church burnout project, Mad Church Disease. At the time (July 2007) it was just a web site to start the conversation and begin writing a book. Now that book is available: Mad Church Disease: Overcoming the Burnout Epidemic (well, it'll be out February 1--close enough).

This book is for church staffers and volunteers who are at the end of their rope or might be there soon. Paradoxically, churches can be wonderful places to have your life transformed, but terrible places to work. Something about doing ministry professionally makes people think it's OK to sacrifice your family, your free time, your health or even your soul.

Continue reading "Mad Church Disease: Burnout Among Church Staffers"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:52 AM
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January 2, 2009

Reimagining Church: Pursuing the Dream of Organic Christianity

by Jeff Goins, Guest Blogger

Reimagining Church is Frank Viola’s reconstructive sequel to the challenging, deconstructive critique of modern church practices, Pagan Christianity (co-authored with George Barna).

The basic synopsis of the book is built around the arguments presented in Pagan Christianity. Theoretically, the two books should be read together, but frankly, if you missed the prequel, you can still jump into the sequel and not get lost.

As a marketer for a para-church organization, there were some interesting points to glean. Of course, this isn’t a book on marketing, but it does call into question whether or not our definition of “the church” is accurate. So, I wondered to myself, as I read it, if I had unnecessarily been investing time into marketing an institution that really wasn’t supposed to be an institution.

Viola explores biblical ecclesiology from a narrative-based perspective of Scripture, admitting his own limitations and influences. He challenges the reader to imagine a church that only follows the New Testament model for fellowship and community and to dispose of practices that don’t comply with the examples given by the apostles and early Christians. The church, he argues rather simply, is primarily an organism, not an organization.

Continue reading "Reimagining Church: Pursuing the Dream of Organic Christianity"

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December 3, 2008

The Fine Line

Next month Zondervan is releasing The Fine Line by Kary Oberbrunner. This 30-something budding author tackles the subject of Christ and culture in way that is not unfamiliar, yet definitely through a different vantage point. Oberbrunner is a middle-America pastor that begins his book at the roller-skating rink in middle school. References to Michael W. Smith would soon follow.

Having also grown up in the Midwest, I can appreciate Oberbrunner’s experience and conclusions. However, having lived the last third of my life on the West Coast, the tone and tenor of The Fine Line may be a little too regionalized for some people.

The book is all about the fine line between being in the world and being of the world. “One thing is certain: there’s a fine line between in and of. In my life I’ve tried to avoid this tension; I’ve pretended this fine line doesn’t exist. But pretending doesn’t make the tension go away. It only makes us go away--one more irrelevant Christian.”

Borrowing from Abraham Lincoln’s address to Republican colleagues during his run for an Illinois Senate seat in 1858, Oberbrunner distills three questions we must ask ourselves in the midst of the divided camps we are living among.

Where are we?
What should we do?
How do we do it?

In 1858, the U.S. was divided down the middle on the issue of slavery. Today, suggests Oberrunner, we’re split down the middle with culture Conformists on one side and culture Separatists on the other. Kary lays out a plan for how we should be neither, and instead pursue the path of culture "Transformists."

Continue reading "The Fine Line"

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:53 AM
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September 18, 2008

Sticky Church, Close the Back Door

Earlier this summer, our friends at the Leadership Network sent us a pre-galley of Larry Osborne's latest book, Sticky Church. It comes out next month and you're going to want to get your hands on this one.

First things first, yes, Larry Osborne is a mega-church multi-site pastor. He started over 20 years ago with 128 people at North Coast Church in San Diego and today they're hovering around 7,000. But before you judge this guy as just another mega-pastor with some revolutionary model you can play along with at home, give this conversation a consideration.

The premise of Sticky Church is that we have "become so focused on reaching people that we've forgotten the importance of keeping people." If ever there was a need for this perspective within CFCC/CMS circles, this books brings it. Says Osborne, "Churches need to be stickier" and "stickier churches are healthier churches."

Continue reading "Sticky Church, Close the Back Door"

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:44 AM
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September 12, 2008

Spend Less, Reach More

In Spend Less, Reach More: A Pastor's Guide to Reaching the Most People for the Least Amount of Money, David Jones takes a rare look at marketing and its costs. Plenty of books out there deal with marketing on a philosophical level or even offer somewhat practical solutions. Those are nothing compared to the details you'll get in Spend Less, Reach More.

After a run-down of marketing strategy and philosophy, David gets right to the meat. "If I have [X] people and [Y] dollars, where should I put my marketing money?"

He hits all the aspects of a marketing budget--search engine optimization, bulletins, radio commercials, television commercials and more. In 80 pages, Spend Less, Reach More minimizes fluff and gives you a primer of all you needed to know about marketing and how to set your own budget. It's a great read for anyone involved in setting your church's agenda for marketing.

Continue reading "Spend Less, Reach More"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 8:03 AM
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May 27, 2008

Graphic Design and Religion: A Call for Renewal

"Religions must begin to see graphic design not as an expensive luxury or an unnecessary frivolity but as a steward of goodwill. Of course, design with no strategic context or no immediate relevance may be experienced as superfluous or meaningless. But when the best plans are laid and the task at hand involves communicating, graphic design is the medium through which the resulting messages will likely take root."

I'm going to admit something; I'm not a big fan of Christian non-fiction. So when I heard I was getting a copy of Graphic Design and Religion, I wasn't that excited. Then it came in the mail. I opened the box, and it was two pounds of pure beauty. I flipped through the pages, and I couldn't wait to dive in. When I finally got the chance, I wasn't disappointed.

Author Daniel Kantor takes you from the illumination artwork of the 14th century to the modern-day world of graphic artists. His insight is magnificent, showcasing his design work with religious organizations without ever trumpeting his own knowledge or prowess. He touches everything from branding, desktop publishing and everything in between en route to arguing for the importance of the graphic designer in contemporary religion. And every page of text is accompanied by examples of great work in the theater of graphic design for religions organizations.

Continue reading "Graphic Design and Religion: A Call for Renewal"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 1:40 PM
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April 15, 2008

Pagan Christianity

George Barna and Frank Viola are getting a lot of heat for Pagan Christianity: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices. Although I think that's fairly inevitable when you use that title; probably even what they were aiming for. Tons of reviewers have lit up the blogosphere with their opinions on the book, spoof videos have been born and Frank Viola has answered questions and objections on his own site.

Now, I'm as big a fan of the local church as the next guy, if not a bigger fan. But I'm 100% all right with the house church movement and with progressive church models. I think megachurches and modern churches have some great things going for them, but I also think that they have some glaring holes. All that is a total disclaimer of where I stand going into Pagan Christianity.

Continue reading "Pagan Christianity"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:56 AM
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April 3, 2008

Branding Faith

Over the last several weeks I've been working my way through Phil Cooke's latest book, Branding Faith: Why Some Churches and Nonprofits Impact Culture and Others Don't. I've known Phil virtually for several years and have collaborated on some small projects with him in the past through my role at Foursquare. Having never met in person, you can imagine our surprise last month when not only did we find ourselves sharing a flight to Dallas, but we were seated right next to each other. Crazy!

Branding Faith is a must-read for church leadership that is unfamiliar with marketing and branding. Last time I checked that covered just about every pastor on the planet so you might as well order your copy today. It's a perfect companion to Richard Reising's Church Marketing 101 so go ahead and add them both to your Amazon cart or give them as a gift to your pastor.

If you don't know Phil or if you've never heard him speak, you gotta know up front that he is a call-it-like-it-is kinda guy. In Phil's words, he "was born with a very sensitive B.S. button." I am naturally drawn to people like this although they do tend to get on my nerves sometimes. Phil both drew me in and got on my nerves a little.

Continue reading "Branding Faith"

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:22 PM
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January 24, 2008

Shopping for God: Denominations and Megas

This is the fourth and final part in a series from the book by James B. Twitchell titled Shopping for God: How Christianity Went From In Your Heart To In Your Face.

In his chapter titled "Holy Franchise: Marketing Religion in a Scramble Economy," Twitchell reminds us that the mainstream denominations are in "deep trouble." He says the "majors forgot how to sell."

Just as we no longer keep the same job for a lifetime, or live in the same house as long as we used to, we also no longer are stuck in the same church we grew up in. Back in the day, "church denomination was a social marker."

"In the first part of the twentieth century, you could often 'buy' a family pew. It was yours. Your name sometimes was engraved on a little plaque. Plus, the further up front your pew, the more prestigious your social status."

In the end, says Twitchell, "consumers maintain the need for the product, but lose the bond to the brand." And when that bond to the brand is lost, the product usually ends up in generic packaging. And it's this "repackaging of spiritualism [that] is at the heart of many megachurches." "The megas are the triumph of the generic."

Continue reading "Shopping for God: Denominations and Megas"

Posted by Brad Abare at 3:56 PM
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January 21, 2008

Shopping for God: Great Awakenings?

This is part three in a series from the book by James B. Twitchell titled Shopping for God: How Christianity Went From In Your Heart To In Your Face.

Twitchell suggests that modern church marketing really began to take off when Mel Stewart, an Assemblies of God minister, created the J. M. Stewart Corporation, the nation's largest manufacture of church signage. More than just a roadside nameplate, these signs, with their changeable letters, "would spell out something to give the tastes, the personality, the pizzazz of the place. In so doing, [Mel Stewart] would change forever what is called in church parlance 'the last hundred feet.'"

Church signage, suggests Twitchell, would open up the fascinating subject of "how churches position themselves, how do they separate themselves from one another, and how do they break through the clutter."

Supply and Demand
Twitchell goes on to argue that while "religious consumption" has remained pretty consistent from a historical perspective, it's the delivery of it that has been "incredibly innovative." "Often what excites the market is not increased demand but shifts in supply, innovations in packaging, new lingo, new sound system, new payment schedules, new pastorprenuers. New signage."

Continue reading "Shopping for God: Great Awakenings?"

Posted by Brad Abare at 11:38 AM
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January 17, 2008

Shopping For God: The Spiritual Marketplace

This is part two in a series from the book by James B. Twitchell titled Shopping for God: How Christianity Went From In Your Heart To In Your Face.

Twitchell starts the book with a nice summary of what it's all about. "Essentially, this book is about how religious sensation is currently being manufactured, branded, packaged, shipped out, and consumed." He takes the first chapter and gives a sweeping overview of the "Spiritual Marketplace." His observations are viewed entirely with a consumer mentality as he looks at movies, television, radio, Internet and books. Twitchell wants his readers to see how our crave for spirituality is being met with product experiences that we purchase. Just as Madison Avenue says we drink the advertising not the beer, so Twitchell says that what we buy is the story. The product is thrown in for free.

Continue reading "Shopping For God: The Spiritual Marketplace"

Posted by Brad Abare at 4:37 PM
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January 16, 2008

Shopping for God: The Book

Over the Christmas break I took a couple of days and read James B. Twitchell's latest book, Shopping for God: How Christianity Went From In Your Heart To In Your Face. A professor of English and advertising at the University of Florida, James is the author of several other gems including Lead Us Into Temptation: The Triumph of American Materialism and Living It Up: America's Love Affair with Luxury. The titles of his books are a good indicator of the lens Twitchell views life through. In Shopping for God, he is no less insistent on suggesting that too much of life is all about too much. "Everything in this culture goes to market," says Twitchell, "why should religion be any different?"

Continue reading "Shopping for God: The Book"

Posted by Brad Abare at 1:59 PM
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November 29, 2007

Lessons In Not Sucking: 9 Must-Read Books

This is part nine in a series on Lessons In Not Sucking. Today I give you nine books that are must-read when it comes to not sucking. I admit, it is not a definitive guide, but you try narrowing down a list of nine. If you have your favorites--or if you disagree with mine--feel free to tell us in the comments.

1. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
2. Church Marketing 101 by Richard Reising
   Read the CMS review.
3. Purple Cow by Seth Godin
4. Mind Your X's and Y's by Lisa Johnson
   You can read my review over on Personality's site.
5. A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink
   Read the CMS review.
6. Getting Real by 37signals
   We've mentioned this book here and here.
7. The Long Tail by Chris Anderson
   Read the CMS review.
8. Good To Great by Jim Collins
   Read the CMS review.
9. Thinking for a Living by Joey Reiman
   You can read my review over on Personality's site.

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:39 AM
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August 6, 2007

The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More

Wired editor Chris Anderson champions the concept of the long tail in The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More--basically the digital age has ushered in a new economy of incredible choice. Shelf space is no longer limited to the top 1,000 titles, but the top million can easily be sold at a profit. And while individual items at the end of the tail may not make much, the entire tail itself can rival the ultra-popular items at the head of the curve.

This blog is a good example of the long tail. Church marketing is a small market that barely supports its own magazines and books. But the low costs of a blog make it possible to reach that market, discover its potential and ease distribution, making it easier for magazines, books and whatever else to make it. (I'm speaking, of course, of our blog and the many others out there that cover church marketing--I'm not trying to say we defined the marketplace or anything like that)

So what does this have to do with church marketing? Good question.

Continue reading "The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:46 PM
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June 26, 2007

Now, Discover Your Strengths: Using Your Strengths in a Faults-Oriented World

About six months ago, I started a book with the intention of reviewing it here. Today, I finish that journey. That's not, however, a shot at the quality of the book.

In Now, Discover Your Strengths, Marcus Buckingham enumerates his theory that it's better to spend energy maximizing your strengths than to spend energy trying to fix your weaknesses.

The Good:
The theory in and of itself is brilliant. Many of you have probably heard his example that a child comes home with his report card. He has an A in English, a B in math, an A in social studies, and a D in science. What do his parents do? They chastise or make efforts to work on his science grade.

Continue reading "Now, Discover Your Strengths: Using Your Strengths in a Faults-Oriented World"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:59 AM
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June 12, 2007

The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)

Marketing guru Seth Godin offers a little book (seriously, it's only 76 pages) that tells you when to quit. The Dip is all about quitting what doesn't work and sticking to what does.

The idea is that if you're only mediocre at something and not getting better, spend your time on something you're the best at. Stick to it, and you can outlast the folks who won't stick to it. Thus you've ridden out the dip of the mediocre and you can be the best.

It's an idea we've talked about before of doing what works for your church (though we disagree on it). And that's about it--it's a short book, so it's a short review.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:49 AM
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May 30, 2007

The Blogging Church: Sharing the Story of Your Church Through Blogs

Brian Bailey and Terry Storch have put together a book that's near and dear to our hearts. It lays out the why and the how of church blogging. We're big fans of blogging, in case you couldn't tell (I've been at it personally since 1998). It's a natural tool for a community-based organization like the church, and its tendency for open, honest communication makes it a valuable antidote to the misconception of churches as weird, unfriendly, judgmental, hypocritical, corrupt or whatever negative adjective you've heard.

If you're looking for a new way to communicate about your church--whether you're a pastor, staff member or lay person (OK, it doesn't directly address lay people, but lay people like me can recommend it)--The Blogging Church is for you. It includes helpful interviews with pro bloggers like Robert Scoble (author of another book on blogging), Kathy Sierra and Guy Kawasaki, as well as church bloggers like Mark Batterson, Perry Noble, Craig Groeschel, Mark Driscoll and Tony Morgan--oh yeah, and us. We should probably say up front that we're interviewed in the book (page 75, in case you're wondering) and mentioned a few times as an example.

Continue reading "The Blogging Church: Sharing the Story of Your Church Through Blogs"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:03 AM
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March 16, 2007

Design Matters: Creating Powerful Imagery for Worship

by Greg Atkinson, Guest Blogger

For anyone involved in the world of church design, marketing and branding (whether new or a seasoned pro), I'd like to recommend a book for you to check out called Design Matters: Creating Powerful Imagery for Worship by Len Wilson and Jason Moore of Midnight Oil Productions. In my class at MinistryCOM last year, I talked about "leading up" and being proactive to pass on good reads to your pastors so they can better appreciate what you do. This book is well written resource for designers, but also great for a pastor to more fully understand and appreciate design, designers and the work that goes into what you do.

Continue reading "Design Matters: Creating Powerful Imagery for Worship"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 7:40 AM
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November 3, 2006

Look Mom, I’m Chasing Lions

I just finished reading one of the most refreshing books I've read in awhile. It was also one of the easiest books I've read lately. These two reasons alone should make you want to grab a copy of Mark Batterson's new gem, In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day.

Using 2 Samuel 23:20-21 as a backdrop, Batterson tells the story of an obscure guy named Benaiah, and the time he chased a lion into a pit on a snowy day. The book is so easy and exhilarating to read, I’m keeping this review brief. By the time you're done reading this you could be on page 30.

Continue reading "Look Mom, I’m Chasing Lions"

Posted by Brad Abare at 8:38 PM
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August 30, 2006

Good to Great

Can a good company become a great company? And if so, how? That's the premise of Jim Collins' Good to Great, and he answers that question with five years worth of research. He looked at companies that were doing good for a while (at least 15 years) and then something changed and they did great for a while (at least 15 more years). He rigorously studied those companies and distilled a few common lessons that can be applied to any organization.

And if it all sounds a little too business oriented, then you should check out the mini-sequel, Good to Great and the Social Sectors. The lesson there is that all the same lessons apply to non-profits (including churches) because they are lessons in how to be great, not lessons in how to do business.

Continue reading "Good to Great"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:05 PM
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July 8, 2006

On Earth As It Is In Advertising

Sam Van Eman reminds us why so many people agree that church marketing sucks in his book On Earth As It Is In Advertising: Moving from Commercial Hype to Gospel Hope. Namely that advertising specifically and marketing in general have so often been used to twist and distort reality and pull us farther away from the Gospel. Of course on this site we make the claim that what sucks is bad marketing, which is what Van Eman describes, but that there is room and much need for authentic marketing. Van Eman is a little more ambiguous on that point.

Most of the book is spent convincing the reader that advertising is all about promoting what the author calls the Sim Gospel. It's essentially a cheap, watered down, distorted version of the true Gospel. It's the feeling that we need a new car and new clothes and whatever else they're hocking to make us complete. It's the consumer mindset gone overboard.

And to a point Van Eman is right. We are assaulted with so many messages and sales pitches that we need to step back and filter out the messages. But he doesn't take the application far enough or deep enough.

Continue reading "On Earth As It Is In Advertising"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:23 AM
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June 13, 2006

The Purpose-Driven Church

I've had The Purpose-Driven Church sitting on my shelf for almost two years. It's one of those books that you should eventually read for a site like this, but I never had the motivation. I mean, it's Rick Warren. It's a bestseller. It's the forerunner to an even bigger bestseller. I could just see myself groaning at the lowest common denominator approach.

But that's a rather pessimistic view, so I decided I better read the book. After all, despite the critics, Saddleback has to be doing something right. What I found is some interesting Saddleback history:

• They've met in 79 different facilities in the first 15 years.
• Their massive size didn't come by leaching from other churches. 80% of their members came to Christ and were baptized at Saddleback. (Admittedly the book was written in 1995, so who knows how that number has changed)
• They used a lot of advertising at first, but now with thousands of members and word of mouth, advertising is unnecessary.

Rick Warren has some interesting ideas and approaches, and while it's not perfect, it's worth taking a look at.

Continue reading "The Purpose-Driven Church"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:41 PM
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June 5, 2006

Stories of Emergence

You've probably heard about the emergent church movement. It's a collective of ideas that loosely fall under the postmodern label and draw nods or scowls, depending on the crowd (Brian McLaren? nod. Chuck Colson? Scowl.) Stories of Emergence is a collection of first-person accounts of exploring postmodernism and new ways of doing church.

Whether or not you jump on the emergent train and no matter how you feel about postmodernism, this book offers ideas and perspectives worth considering.

I love hearing church stories. I like hearing about how church works and the different ways it happens. Sometimes church doesn't work, but grace pervades. That's what Stories of Emergence offers.

Continue reading "Stories of Emergence"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:08 AM
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May 29, 2006

Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith

"The thought of the word church and the word marketing in the same sentence makes me sick."

That's from page 99 of Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith. So you can see why I had to finally read the book. Of course the last time we talked about Rob Bell and Velvet Elvis we got 26 heated comments, mostly either attacking or defending Rob Bell and his church. Let's be a little more civil this time around, eh?

Rob Bell founded Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Mich. while in his 20s and the church exploded, bringing in over 1,000 people the first day. All of that without any "marketing" as Bell would say, because it makes him sick. But we'll get to the marketing. Bell also teaches in the Nooma series of short films that can be used in church services or small groups. You could also describe Bell with that hard to define, catch-all emergent label—so you can take that however you like.

Continue reading "Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:07 AM
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May 22, 2006

The Multi-Site Church Revolution

The brick and mortar church building on the corner is not a concept you'll find in the Bible—and the concept's days may be numbered. Or at least no longer ubiquitous. The physical church building has more than a few limitations, including interior space, room for exterior expansion, financial burdens, and the backwards idea of church as a physical building instead of a spiritual community.

Enter the multi-site revolution, which threatens to redefine how we think about church and church buildings. The Multi-Site Church Revolution: Being One Church... In Many Locations by Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon and Warren Bird lays out the vision for multi-site churches and the practical reality of how to make them happen.

Continue reading "The Multi-Site Church Revolution"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:52 AM
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May 16, 2006

A Whole New Mind

by Mike Atkinson, Guest Blogger

If you're reading CMS, you're proving your interest in how your church can impact your community--and probably also how culture is impacting your church.

With that in mind, I highly recommend reading a book that made waves across the business, sociological, and Internet spheres last year. A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age by Daniel Pink (that's the hardcover, the paperback has a new subtitle, Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, and some new material). No other business book has had a more intense impact on me since Good to Great.

I found out about this book from one of the tech blogs I read. When I looked into it, I saw high praise for it from the likes of Tom Peters and Seth Godin and immediately went to Amazon and picked it up. It's also received rave reviews since its release.

So, you may ask, "Mike, why are you recommending this book here at CMS, since it looks like just another business book?"

Glad you asked.

It is more than a business book. It unveils a significant shift happening in business--and society as a whole--that will affect you and your ministry in the near future. I bet it already has.

Continue reading "A Whole New Mind"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 5:48 PM
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May 12, 2006

Hug Your Customers by Jack Mitchell

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

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

Continue reading "Hug Your Customers by Jack Mitchell"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:00 AM
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February 25, 2006

Naked Conversations

When Robert Scoble and Shel Israel sat down to write a book on blogging, they started with a blog. They posted chapters of the book online as they wrote them in order to get feedback and refine their work. They had a continuing conversation with the blogosphere about the blogosphere, and the results are a pretty well rounded book on blogging, Naked Conversations: How blogs are Changing the way Businesses Talk with Customers.

'Well rounded' meaning they cover lots of different perspectives on blogging and have lots of real world examples. They're basically in love with blogging. It's not until page 133 when they say something negative about blogging, and then it's three pages of talking about how mobsters, FBI agents and Enron executives probably shouldn't blog. You think?

But their basic premise that in today's Web 2.0, content-by-the-people world, marketing has to be an authentic conversation and blogs are the best way to do that is right on. And this is where the church needs to pay attention. A spiritual journey is all about conversations, so what better marketing tool could the church turn to then one that promotes conversation?

Continue reading "Naked Conversations"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:25 AM
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January 27, 2006

Church Marketing 101

OK, let's get it out of the way:

Worst. Title. Ever.

But we'll forgive Richard Reising for calling his book Church Marketing 101: Preparing Your Church for Greater Growth, because despite the name, it is doing foundational work. The book covers the basics of marketing and why churches should care. It's the handbook many of us will want to give as gifts to less-than-eager pastors.

Reising, the founder and president of church marketing firm Artistry Marketing, lays a good foundation. Let's take a look at some of the lessons:

Continue reading "Church Marketing 101"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:31 PM
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The Big Moo

So what's the big fuss with The Big Moo? It's the marketing strategy of being remarkable. Come up with something so great that it does the work for you. The book is edited by marketing guru Seth Godin, so it's in the cast of similar books like Purple Cow, though this one is written by 33 different business experts.

As a cool aside, those experts did something remarkable of their own. All the royalties for the book go to charity, so nobody's getting rich. But more than that, none of the chapters are credited, so nobody's getting a big head. The writing style is consistent chapter to chapter, to the point that you'd never guess a different person wrote each chapter (with a few exceptions: no editor can hide Tom Peters' signature style).

So what's in it for the church? Being remarkable. We have a remarkable message, but that doesn't mean it always comes across as remarkable. This book offers some outside the box methods to present the message of the church in more remarkable terms.

Continue reading "The Big Moo"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:32 PM
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January 12, 2006

Simply Strategic Growth

Tim Stevens and Tony Morgan are on staff at Granger Community Church in Granger, Ind. Neither of them are nationally known, top 10 writers or speakers (yet)—they're just two guys who work at a church and have learned what works and what doesn't. It's simple, it's strategic and it will help your church grow.

Simply Strategic Growth: Attracting a Crowd to Your Church is comprised of 99 short chapters (2-3 pages) each focused on one simple idea. That means it's a breeze to read through, is packed with ideas, and is very approachable for the ADD crowd (and with the proliferation of blogs and short content I think we're all joining that club).

Continue reading "Simply Strategic Growth"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:33 AM
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March 29, 2005

Blue Like Jazz: Inadvertent Lessons for Church Marketing

I read Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz this week and a few things stuck out at me. It's not a marketing book, but it does have a perspective that can teach us a few things about marketing. The most important is how we as the church should be loving people.

Miller has two examples that really spell this out:

1) What's Not Working
Miller spends a chapter talking about what he doesn't like about church and why he loves his current church.

Here are the things I didn't like about the churches I went to. First: I felt like people were trying to sell me Jesus. I was a salesman for a while, and we were taught that you are supposed to point out all the benefits of a product when you are selling it. That is how I felt about some of the preachers I heard speak. They were always pointing out the benefits of Christian faith. That rubbed me wrong. It's not that there aren't benefits, there are, but did they have to talk about spirituality like it's a vacuum cleaner. I never felt like Jesus was a product. I wanted Him to be a person. Not only that, but they were always pointing out how great the specific church was. The bulletin read like a brochure for Amway. They were always saying how life-changing some conference was going to be. Life-changing? What does that mean? It sounded very suspicious. I wish they would just tell it to me straight rather than trying to sell me on everything. I felt like I got bombarded with commercials all week and then went to church and got even more. (page 131)

He goes on to talk about churches that tow a political party line and the ever-present war metaphor that lets us forget about loving people. The important thing here is that the Christian message is about love. If people aren't getting that in our churches, if they're distracted by our language or our politics, then something's not working.

Continue reading "Blue Like Jazz: Inadvertent Lessons for Church Marketing"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:26 PM
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March 23, 2005

Blog by Hugh Hewitt

Conservative author, radio show host and one of the top 20 bloggers, Hugh Hewitt, talks about the information shaping power of the blogosphere in his new book, Blog. It tries to give the definitive overview of blogs, charting their history, influence, and revolutionary nature. It’s insightful and interesting enough for the veteran blogger, but also approachable enough for a newbie.

So what does it have to do with church marketing? If you’re not up on blogging, you should be. Hewitt spends a chapter comparing the Protestant Reformation and the invention of movable type to the advent of blogs. These things are big.

It’s a quick, 155-page must read for pastors (don’t bother with the 70 pages of appendices).

Continue reading "Blog by Hugh Hewitt"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:50 AM
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February 23, 2005

The Relevant Church

The twentysomethings hipster publisher Relevant brings us The Relevant Church, a look at 15 different churches across the country that are definitely not the parish next door. Written by a leader from each congrgation, these are churches that don't like to be called churches. They meet in bars and coffee shops and spin records and ride skateboards. They're interested in being the church, not going to church.

While the book has little to do with marketing, you can get plenty of good ideas about what church could be, as well as a reminder of the importance of authenticity in everything a church does.

Continue reading "The Relevant Church"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:19 AM
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October 15, 2004

A Generous Orthodoxy

Christianity today is incredibly fragmented, with Baptists and Lutherans and Presbyterians and Methodists and Pentecostals and Catholics and every other group. Some are liberal, some are conservative, and we just can't get along.

But as eras change people are crossing boundaries and adding all sorts of adjectives. I could call myself a Baptist Episcopalian, which just sounds ludicrous, but the reality is that I've found elements of both denominations that I appreciate.

That's a generous orthodoxy, one that's willing to look at all the competing ideas and give them love and respect, not just scorn because we disagree. That's the idea in a nutshell, but it has far reaching implications when we consider evangelism, missions, church, even how we relate to other religions. It's not simply a wishy-washy relativism, but a philosophy that's able to differentiate between love and approval (as any good parent knows how to do).

Brian McLaren's A Generous Orthodoxy says very little directly about marketing, but in general it has a lot of implications for how the church communicates. In our interview, McLaren commented on the brand of Christianity and how it's perceived. Are we presenting an image of Christianity as judgmental, dogmatic and intolerant? Or do we present a Christianity that's loving, forgiving and peaceful?

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 2:50 PM
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September 23, 2004

Making Sense of Church

Spencer Burke, creator of the TheOoze.com, wrote Making Sense of Church, a book that dives into a lot of the post-modern/emergent conversations about the church.

While the book is more of a conversation about God, community and culture, there's a few things we can learn that are applicable to the church marketing conversation.

Continue reading "Making Sense of Church"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 2:36 PM
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August 19, 2004

Church: Why Bother?

Philip Yancey asks the question we're all wondering in his booklet Church: Why Bother? My Personal Pilgrimage. The first chapter starts with this quote from J.F. Powers' Wheat That Springeth Green that summarizes the whole conundrum of the church:

"This is a big old ship, Bill. She creaks, she rocks, she rolls, and at times she makes you want to throw up. But she gets where she's going. Always has, always will, until the end of time. With or without you."

Having grown up in a racist, fundamentalist church in the Deep South, Yancey has every reason to abandon the church. But he's found that the Christian faith can only be lived in community. "Perhaps for this reason, I have never given up on church. At a deep level I sense that church contains something I desperately need." (23)

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Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:58 PM
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August 3, 2004

Emergent Church Marketing Sucks, Too!

Reimagining Spiritual Formation isn't exactly a title that makes you sit up and pay attention. But the subtitle should get you: "A week in the life of an experimental church." This book explores a week at Solomon's Porch, an emergent church in Minneapolis, through the eyes of Pastor Doug Pagitt and several members of the community. While Pagitt isn’t trying to add to the church marketing discussion, there's plenty to chew on.

"We join with the many people, professional and lay, who have suggested in writings, conversations, prayers, and pleadings that the Christian Church has not lived up to its potential or calling in the post-industrialized world, but that it could." (page 23)

Continue reading "Emergent Church Marketing Sucks, Too!"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 4:08 PM
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