November 21, 2008

Marketing to the Last Generation

You've probably been to some church event with "next" in the title. Whether it's "the leadership filter for what's next in the church" or "the mega super definitive conference for the next-generation church bathroom." We like to (over)market as focused on the next generation.

But that's less than half the battle. Daily, we dialogue what an aging population means for social security, our own wallets and every aspect of life. Except church.

Well did you know Christianity Today has a blog called Building Adult Ministries? And they just ran an article entitled Is Your Church Senior Sensitive? taking a look at why churches overlook the older population and what they can do about it.

The “age wave” is rapidly approaching! Those churches that are not prepared will be swamped by the sheer numbers, diversity, and impact of these older adults. Of, if they are prepared, they will get out their surfboards and catch the ride of a lifetime!

Or, those seniors will like, totally stop coming! It won't be the ride of a lifetime, it will be a disgraceful disconnect between the older generation and the younger generation. Your church will have to walk the fine line of communicating vision so older people understand why you're doing what you're doing and younger attenders understand the importance of hearing from an older, wiser generation.

It's one of the big marketing problems on the church's horizon. What is your church doing about it?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:36 AM
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September 10, 2008

Planning Lessons From South Park

When someone from my team e-mailed me this South Park clip, I knew this would both incite and resonate with so many well-intentioned church leaders. The 37-second clip is a picture-perfect representation of how so many of us approach planning and strategy, especially when it comes to marketing and communication.

First: Let's make a cool video.
Second: ?
Third: God is glorified.

But wait, that second phase was skipped, which should really be the first phase. What is the purpose of the video, brochure, web site or special event? What are you going to do with it? How does it serve your purpose? What if you shouldn't be making a video at all? I would also argue that the third phase should be specific, actionable and measurable. "Profit" or "glorifying God" are not only a given, they're not any different from anybody else.

It's time we stop collecting underpants and instead figure out why we'd ever need to collect them in the first place.

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:13 AM
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May 20, 2008

Innovation of Ideas

I don't know about you, but oftentimes when I think of innovation, my mind immediately jumps to products or services. Things like the telephone, the assembly line, solar panels, airplanes and wireless Internet come to mind. Tangible innovations that have changed or are changing the way way we live. We can see them, touch them and use them.

The other kind of innovation--the intangible type that is more difficult to get our minds around--is ideas. Although equally as innovative, ideas are often forgotten when we talk about innovation. The theory of relativity, Newton's laws of motion, loving your neighbor, paying it forward and ending slavery are very innovative ideas and are definitely a part of changing the way we live.

Some recent brands have done a decent job at introducing innovative ideas. Consider Citibank's "Live Richly," Nike's "Just Do It" and Dove's "Real Beauty" campaigns. All ideas and concepts that have changed or are changing the way we live.

It's this innovation of ideas and not products where I think the church is best positioned to be catalysts of. Our track record has been full of ups and downs. Martin Luther and no more indulgences was a good thing. The Crusades, not so much.

What are you a part of innovating? How can the ideas within your community help change the way people are living and interacting with each other?

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:05 AM
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November 14, 2007

Lessons In Not Sucking: Building an Ideation Team

This is part five in a series on Lessons In Not Sucking. Today we discuss building ideation teams. I love working with teams that are passionate about the subject at hand. If you have things that work for you, please share them here with us!

1. Start with the problem(s), not the solution(s).
Whenever you gather a team together for times of ideation, don't bring solutions to the table, bring problems. This is difficult for us leaders sometimes because we think that the meetings will be more efficient if we just brainstorm already suggested solutions. Brainstorming the problems is where the real action happens. And the team will be that much closer because they landed somewhere together.

2. Listen for laughter. If it's not there, something is wrong.
When you're meeting as a team--especially in the context of ideation--there must be loads of laughter. If there's not, something is out of whack. Without laughter, no one will feel comfortable presenting crazy ideas. And it's with those crazy ideas that things start to take shape.

3. Let vision lead, not dollar signs.
I try never to start an ideation meeting telling people how much the budget is. It seems to always dampen the conversation when people feel that they have limits. I'd rather have an idea that costs a million dollars come up that inspires everyone, than a bunch of $100 ideas that are boring. This doesn't mean you keep the budget hidden, but be careful to bring it out at the right time.

Continue reading "Lessons In Not Sucking: Building an Ideation Team"

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:35 AM
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June 27, 2006

Church Growth Series Wrap Up

I've wanted to talk about numbers and church growth for a long time, and this month we finally dove into it with this series. I said at the beginning that I don't know everything, and I stand by that claim. I'm learning as I go, so it's great to get feedback and responses. I also initially said that this was a touchy issue. And it is. But as we dialogue about it I hope we're learning something. I know I am.

Several people have said that I'm making strawman arguments, debating against something that isn't the real issue. And I probably have over-simplified things and missed some of the issues, especially in the beginning. That's the point of dialogue, so together we can get it right.

But I've noticed that when we (myself most definitely included) disagree we tend to assume the worst.

• If you're for church growth you must be only in favor of large churches, you focus on numbers alone, you forget God and you're a complete sell out.
• If you're against church growth, you must want tiny churches, you don't care about evangelism and you're petty and jealous.

Wrong on both counts, I hope. Sometimes we may not actually think this, but we give the impression with our words (I've certainly done this). And it definitely goes both ways.

Continue reading "Church Growth Series Wrap Up"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:27 PM
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June 24, 2006

Church Growth: God Makes it Grow

This is part nine in a continuing series, Is Church Growth the Highway to Hell?

One of the arguments I hear again and again against the whole idea of church growth is that it's synthetic. It's manufactured. It leaves God out of the equation and is a man-made process, and by definition doomed to failure (though said failure may not be visible in the number of people who show up on Sunday morning).

And I agree. Synthetic church growth sucks.

However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't optimize every possible angle to make sure your church does grow. God ultimately makes a plant grow, but a gardener would be foolish to deprive his plant of water, sun and soil for fear that he's manufacturing growth. The growth will happen if the conditions are right, so why not make what conditions we can right?

Continue reading "Church Growth: God Makes it Grow"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:40 AM
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June 15, 2006

Quantity is Job 1

This is part eight in a continuing series, Is Church Growth the Highway to Hell?

Quantity is Job 1. That's the title of one of my favorite albums from the now-defunct ska band Five Iron Frenzy. The 17-track EP included the rousing "These Are Not My Pants" rock opera, eight dizzying songs in eight different styles. Quantity is Job 1 also included the live show favorite, "When I Go Out," which clocks in at under 10 seconds.

I think this is one of the biggest complaints when we talk about church growth and numbers. Quantity somehow crushes quality, as if the two are mutually exclusive. They're not. This was Rick Warren's third myth about large churches. He argued that the two feed on one another. A quality church attracts quantity, and quantity in a church results in having more qualified people to contribute.

Despite its focus on quantity, Quantity is Job 1 is still one of my favorite albums. It exemplifies Fire Iron's goofiness, but also their depth with songs like "Dandelions." I liked the song so much I used it as the inscription for my novel.

Continue reading "Quantity is Job 1"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:54 AM
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June 14, 2006

Why Churches Should Care About Numbers

This is part seven in a continuing series, Is Church Growth the Highway to Hell?

Numbers are important because they are a sign of effectiveness (notice I said a sign, not the sign). If you don't know what your numbers are, how do you judge if anything is improving? How do you know where you're at? I don't know a single youth pastor who could get away with not counting heads on a trip because 'numbers aren't important.'

"Numbers (which represent people impacted by ministry) help us make better decisions." -Tony Morgan, author of Simply Strategic Growth

Numbers can prove the effectiveness or failure of outreach methods. They can show you that your worship services are filling up and you better start thinking about a solution. Numbers can tell you if people are only showing up on Sunday or if they're also digging deeper in small groups or other opportunities. Try telling the trustees that you're not going to keep track of receipts because numbers aren't important. Keeping track of numbers helps us keep on track.

Numbers Not the Only Thing
Of course numbers aren't the only thing. If we based decisions strictly on numbers we'd be just like the businesses that focuses only on the bottom-line and don't care about the souring public opinion, which will eventually hit the bottom-line—but then it will be too late.

Continue reading "Why Churches Should Care About Numbers"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:51 AM
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June 13, 2006

Numbers are People, Not Evil

This is part six in a continuing series, Is Church Growth the Highway to Hell?

"A church that has no interest at all in increasing its number of converts is, in essence, saying to the rest of the world, 'You can all go to hell.'" -Rick Warren in The Purpose-Driven Chruch (52)

I don't know of many churches that actually have no interest in bringing people to Jesus, so I'm not sure that's the real issue. It's often an argument that numbers become the priority to the exclusion of anything else, or that numbers are the sole justification for what works, or that numbers are all about comparing your church to other churches. While those pitfalls do exist, the bottom line for numbers is people.

Continue reading "Numbers are People, Not Evil"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:00 AM
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June 12, 2006

It's Not Always Numerical Growth

This is part five in a continuing series, Is Church Growth the Highway to Hell?

I think numerical church growth can also be an idealized state, the place we want to be. It doesn't always happen. Or at least we don't think it's happening.

Look at persecuted communities or places where the church is barely established. Sometimes a body of believers is barely hanging on under continued onslaughts. In this sort of environment numerical growth can be difficult.

But I think we do still see growth—it just may be tiny or impossible to measure. If the church survives at all, it is because of growth. How many times has the church exploded after a period of persecution where it seemed impossible for the Gospel to take root? It looked and felt like failure. But growth eventually exploded out of an infertile land. Sometimes it takes time for the seeds of the church to grow.

Continue reading "It's Not Always Numerical Growth"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:30 AM
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June 9, 2006

Healing, Sick and Dying Churches

This is part four in a continuing series, Is Church Growth the Highway to Hell?

So if a church isn't growing, what's happening? Rick Warren says it's dying, that it's diseased. It's a bleak image, but one that seems fairly accurate.

However, organisms do get sick. It's fairly natural for churches to go through sick periods when they get off track and need to heal. As a result, growth may sputter.

Continue reading "Healing, Sick and Dying Churches"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:08 AM
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June 8, 2006

Perpetual Church Growth

This is part three in a continuing series, Is Church Growth the Highway to Hell?

The Out of Ur blog from Christianity Today has an interesting post about Jim Collins (author of Good to Great and Built to Last) and how to define the success of a church. Collins argues that while the intangibles are the goals of a non-profit like the church, you can often measure those through tangibles, like attendance and offerings. The Out of Ur blogger isn't so sure:

Perhaps there is truth to the growing or dying organism analogy. But something in me doesn’t want there to be. Somewhere inside of me wants to believe that attendance can be going down and God might still be blessing our community. I want to believe that giving can be decreasing but lives could still be changed.

Continue reading "Perpetual Church Growth"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:14 AM
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June 7, 2006

9 Church Growth Myths

This is part two in a continuing series, Is Church Growth the Highway to Hell?

There are a lot of knee-jerk reactions to church growth. Somehow wanting more people to come to my church makes me unspiritual. I don't get it.

A healthy church should be growing. Isn't that the point of church? But a few myths and misnomers get in the way. Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, addresses some of these myths in his book The Purpose-Driven Church:

Myth #1: The only thing that large churches care about is attendance.
"The truth is, you won't grow large if that is all you care about" (48)

Continue reading "9 Church Growth Myths"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 4:58 AM
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June 6, 2006

Is Church Growth the Highway to Hell?

Start talking about church growth and things can get ugly. Eyebrows raise. Tempers flare. Comments explode. Just ask any blogging pastor who has broached the subject. It's as if growing your church is taking the on-ramp to the highway to hell.

This is the first in a multi-part series on the supposed evils of church growth.

Churches Should Grow
The bottomline is that churches are supposed to grow.

"No matter what size you are, there should be growth happening." -Tony Morgan, author of Simply Strategic Growth, from the Simply Strategic Show, "Numbers are People Too".

"I don't think anyone who is intellectually honest can say that God isn't into the church growing." -Perry Noble, pastor of New Spring Church.

"Since the church is a living organism, it is natural for it to grow if it is healthy. ... If a church is not growing, it is dying." -Rick Warren in his book The Purpose-Driven Church (16).

Continue reading "Is Church Growth the Highway to Hell?"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:06 AM
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May 16, 2006

How Your Church Can Ignore Web 2.0

Part 8 in a series on What Web 2.0 Means for Your Church

Almost a month and a half ago we started talking about web 2.0 and what it could mean for your church. We've covered all sorts of interesting topics, including video, MySpace and the potential to ditch legacy software. Web 2.0 is technology worth talking about.

But not everyone is so excited. There are downsides to web 2.0 and those may be reason enough to keep your church off the bandwagon.

Continue reading "How Your Church Can Ignore Web 2.0"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:18 PM
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April 13, 2006

How Your Church Can Use Squidoo

Part 5 in a continuing series on What Web 2.0 Means for Your Church

So what's Squidoo? It's another player in the exploding world of web 2.0 sites, though it has marketing guru Seth Godin as CEO. Check out recent features from the New York Times and CNN.

The basic idea is that computer-generated search isn't good enough. Squidoo gives self-proclaimed experts (which Squidoo calls lensmasters) the chance to build a single web page (which Squidoo calls lenses) telling people whatever it is they need to know. So you've got the personal knowledge of experts instead of the shotgun approach of Google.

Continue reading "How Your Church Can Use Squidoo"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:47 AM
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April 7, 2006

How Your Church Can Use Video

Part 4 in a continuing series on What Web 2.0 Means for Your Church

Online video is the latest tech fad. There are TV shows for sale from Apple, you can buy downloadable movies, you can watch old school TV reruns (PC only). Thanks to broadband, video is exploding online. It's also becoming incredibly viral, like the recent Lazy Sunday and Microsoft's iPod packaging clips.

But video meets web 2.0 when users submit the content. Sites like You Tube, Google Video and Vimeo are essentially Flickr for videos. Sometimes they're short and shaky clips and sometimes professionally cut and soundtracked mini-movies. Web videos are even making a splash on real TV, like VH1's Web Junk 20, Bravo's Outrageous and Contagious: Viral Videos and The Net with Carson Daly in development by NBC and USA.

Video and the Church
So here's that question again: What does all this have to do with the church?

Continue reading "How Your Church Can Use Video"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:49 AM
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April 6, 2006

How Your Church Can Use MySpace

Part 3 in a continuing series on What Web 2.0 Means for Your Church

Let's just open that can of worms called MySpace. If you haven't heard about MySpace, you've surely heard about the MySpace backlash. MySpace is one of many of social networking sites like Facebook, Friendster, Orkut and dozens of others, though MySpace has the distinction of being bought by Rupert Murdoch for $580 million, attracting over 50 million people (many of whom are teens), and being the target of an ugly media backlash over concerns about safety. The safety concerns are justified (just do a Google News search on MySpace), but they're also overblown and uninformed.

What's It All About?
The draw of MySpace is that it's a virtual hangout, complete with easy networking, content creation and interaction. You can blog, post photos, play music, start discussions, post events, chat, add friends to your network and then comment on just about everything. While it has loads of web 2.0 attributes, it's also not design savvy and it's borderline bloated. But that doesn't seem to matter.

What About the Church?
For the church MySpace represents yet another danger or an opportunity, depending on your outlook.

Continue reading "How Your Church Can Use MySpace"

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

How Your Church Can Use Flickr

Part 2 in a continuing series on What Web 2.0 Means for Your Church

Let's start with the photo-sharing site Flickr. It's the media darling that began as an online game until the creators realized they had made a cool—and profitable—photo site. Fast forward and Yahoo! snatches them up for an undisclosed sum (i.e., millions).

We'll focus on Flickr since they're the most well known, but the idea applies to any photo-sharing site. The basics are pretty simple. You post photos. You share them with your friends. Add comments and tags and notes and all sorts of fun tools to categorize, view and enjoy your photos. Suddenly you have the family photo album digitized and put online so anyone can add a new page. Pair that with the proliferation of digital cameras and you've got yourself a winner.

Continue reading "How Your Church Can Use Flickr"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:23 AM
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April 4, 2006

What Web 2.0 Means for Your Church

Web 2.0 is the latest rage. It's on the cover of Newsweek and everyone is speculating if it's the revenge of the dot com boom.

This is the beginning of an multi-part series on web. 2.0 and what it could mean for the church.

What is Web 2.0?
It depends on who you talk to, if it's a doe-eyed techie or a jaded marketer or a way-too-early adopter. For my purposes, web 2.0 refers to the kinds of sites that build on community or offer a service. Rather than simply offering static information, web 2.0 sites offer interaction.

Continue reading "What Web 2.0 Means for Your Church"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:20 AM
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March 29, 2006

Churches that Don't Grow

Great post by Mark Wilson at Revitalize Your Church:

• Percentage of McDonald's franchises that did not sell a hamburger last year: 0%
• Percentage of Ace Hardware stores that did not sell a hammer last year: 0%
• Percentage of Salvation Army outlets that did not help a needy person last year: 0%
• Percentage of state universities that did not educate a student last year: 0%
• Percentage of airlines that did not fly a plane last year: 0%
• Percentage of WalMarts that did not sell merchandise last year: 0%

• Percentage of Methodist Churches that did not receive a member by profession of faith last year: 43%

Now I know this may cause a knee jerk reaction... Christ isn't a product, the church is a holy place not a supermarket, etc. I get that. But maybe, just maybe, it's time the church take its "business" as seriously as any other organization does.

Posted by Michael Buckingham at 1:12 PM
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February 23, 2006

DaVinci Code Marketing

The DaVinci Code hits theaters May 19 and the movie marketing machine is rolling full steam ahead. Including an effort to rope in Christians and keep them from crashing the box office hopes. The DaVinci Dialogue is Sony's attempt to give voice to Christians who may see the movie as complete fiction, but would rather take the opportunity to engage in dialogue and educate people than just sit on the sidelines. Those Christians include George Barna, Chuck Colson, Craig Detweiler and others.

While many are still on the fence about whether or not churches should do marketing, it's pretty clear where Hollywood stands on marketing to churches. It's time for churches to wake up and take an active part in the conversation with society.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:14 AM
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February 10, 2006

10 Things You Should Know About People

Kem Meyer, a sometimes guest blogger here and communications director at Granger Community Church in South Bend, Ind., recently shared a list of lessons she'd learned about how to better communicate. In the process she learned a lesson herself in how not to communicate such a list.

10 Things You Should Know About People If You Want Them To Hear What You're Saying...

Continue reading "10 Things You Should Know About People"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 3:53 PM
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January 19, 2006

Lessons from a German Movie Theater

This past Christmas my wife and I spent nearly two weeks in Germany, traveling the country visiting friends, seeing the sights, and getting up close and personal with events from history that have changed the world (Luther's 95 Thesis, the Berlin Wall and Hitler, to name a few.).

Because the weather was chillier than a politician without a personality, we tried to temper our touring with alternative indoor amusement.

Say hello to the German movie theater.

Continue reading "Lessons from a German Movie Theater"

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:10 AM
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January 6, 2006

Marketing Mistakes Churches Should Avoid

We've been sitting on this one for a couple months, but content can age like a fine wine, right? Anyway, check out Marketing Mistakes Churches Should Avoid from Pastors.com:

1. Thinking marketing is worldly. (I love this line: "True, [markteing] is a business discipline--but that doesn’t make it evil.")
2. Not targeting an audience.
3. Not learning needs of the people you want to reach.
4. Not connecting your ministry communication to the people's needs.
5. Not matching media channels to the target audience.
6. Not having a communication plan.
7. Not following up on your communication.

If your church can avoid these common mistakes you're well on your way to some non-sucky marketing.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:36 PM
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December 7, 2005

Closed for Christmas

There's a little media frenzy today over the fact that several mega-churches are choosing to close their doors on Christmas day. You can take your pick of sources over at Google News, or the CT Weblog has a nice overview.

The arguments go back and forth, but it basically looks like this:

Pro: When Christmas falls on a Sunday very few people come, so rather than mobilize all our volunteers for a minimal turn out, we're choosing to focus our efforts on other extra services, like a Christmas Eve service.

Con: What?! Canceling church?! Because of Christmas?! It's proof that mega-churches are evil! Run for the hills...

Continue reading "Closed for Christmas"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:09 PM
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Fear, Threats, and Paranoid Opportunity

The latest issue of Business 2.0 extracts "golden rules" from business big shots. One such example is from Andy Grove, former chairman and CEO for Intel. He quipped that only the paranoid survive. A self-proclaimed chief "paranoid" officer, Grove is a big believer in Murphy's Law--if it can go wrong, it will. This translates into an advantage for Grove, as he uses his paranoia to predict and predicate the impending future looming around the corner.

I started thinking about current industries that are grappling with their uncertain futures. Often the paranoia comes from the threat of new industries that can topple established paradigms. Think 1980s deregulation, when the tel-com industry meant the end of Big Bell.

I am surprised at how many industries seem to be missing the real threat. It's as if they are sidetracked or focused on the wrong fear or fears. Consider:

Continue reading "Fear, Threats, and Paranoid Opportunity"

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:22 AM
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December 1, 2005

More Lessons for the Church from U2

I admit it: I'm a U2 freak (I have an entire category for U2 on my personal blog). Which means I like to write about the world's biggest rock band. Especially when it comes to what we can learn from them. I covered a lot of this material before, but the New York Times has a few more.

Here are some business lessons the NYT pulled from U2, with some extra application for the church:

Meet the Consumers Where They Live
In the old days U2 had the fanzine Propaganda, but in 2000 they launched a massive web site with subscriber features. The point is to meet the audience where they're at, whether that's mailings, online communication, or whatever works for your audience. For the church that means we need to reach people where they're at. If your community is online, you better be online.

Continue reading "More Lessons for the Church from U2"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:51 AM
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August 3, 2005

The Church That I See

Brian Houston started a church in 1983 and one day sat down and imagined the church he'd love to pastor. That church is Hillsong, the largest independent church in Australia:

Before our church had any influence really, I sat down one day and imagined the church that I would love to pastor. So I called it The Church That I See. And in that I describe the church, I talk about its worship, I talk about its mission, I talk about its people. And I would have to say that at that time, our church didn’t look like that, but I read it now, and it sounds like I've just sat down, and in some ways, described what, what the church has become. Which to me is quite an amazing thing.

I think that my sole purpose in wanting the church to be influential, is I believe in the message and I believe in the church. And you sit back and you watch a church in a country just declining, and if we do nothing, I mean it'll eventually decline into oblivion. And I just believe that we do have answers and that we can help people, and I want to make sure that the church is strong and positioned to do exactly what it's called to do.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:13 AM
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June 21, 2005

It Takes People to Make People

In business, most are familiar with the adage that it takes money to make money. If I'm going to build a million widgets and sell them for a profit, then I need x number of dollars to build the widgets before I can expect a profit. Without the appropriate—often substantial—upfront investment, turning a profit becomes more difficult. For example, if I know the widgets will sell for $5.00 each, my profit will be directly impacted by the amount it takes to produce them. I know I can keep the costs low if I produce more, but I can't produce more unless I have the significant upfront investment in the first place.

I spend a lot of time with church leaders who are starting new things and are frustrated with the turnout. Whether it be a church plant or re-start, new youth ministry or college group, it takes people to make people.

I am convinced that the potential for critical mass is directly related to the initial turnout. If you have 30 people at your opening service, don't expect 300 anytime soon. Because crowds beget crowds, put the laws of exponential growth to work for you. This most likely means you have to work that much harder before your first gathering, but it most certainly means your work is working for you in subsequent services.

Continue reading "It Takes People to Make People"

Posted by Brad Abare at 9:36 AM
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April 27, 2005

Does Your Church Dream?

Irving Bible Church in Irving, Texas has a dream:

We dream of a church where people are free to attempt great things for God; where people have nothing to prove and therefore nothing to lose; where creativity and innovation are honored, not feared; where all kinds of people serve God in all kinds of ways.

It's part of a web site introducing visitors to their church, starting with their dreams, moving into some basics of faith and finishing with basics about visiting their church.

I like the idea (though the pop up window format is annoying), especially the emphasis on the church's dreams. Too often I think the church simply doesn't dream. We do what's adequate and move on. We never dream big, think large, or imagine that just maybe God does want to do something incredible. Businesses dream and it takes them pretty far. Shouldn't we—the people of God, who have reason to expect dreams to become reality—be dreaming? (link via Jason Reynolds, the Web Ministry Coordinator at Stonebriar Community Church)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:09 AM
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April 15, 2005

Creative Tension

Ed Young of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas writes about creative tension for Leadership Journal. He focuses on three areas:

1) Exellence vs. Expense

"In today's technology-crazed world, it's tempting to keep buying the hottest equipment. But does that purchase serve a higher purpose, helping reach people more effectively, or is it just a cool toy for your team to play with? You don't have to buy high-end gear to be cutting edge. Yes, you may have to spend some money for technology. But you can be creative without being a large, wealthy church."

2) Spontaneity vs. Structure

"In order to connect with people, we've got to find the sweet spot that incorporates passion, personality, and performance. Plan what you want to say, how you are going to say it, and where you want to lead your audience. But then be flexible enough to make changes if it's not working."

3) Consistency vs. Change

"We've made clear at Fellowship that things will constantly change. It's what I call being consistently inconsistent. The message will not change, but how we communicate it will, so we can reach a variety of people in a variety of ways. Every time you talk about the vision of your church, which should be often, reinforce this idea of change."

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:25 AM
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