Ministry Marketing Coach


Relational Evangelism Road Trip Tip: Make Friends for Jesus Sake!

By chris | May 17, 2008

“Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men.” (2 Corinthians 5:11)

It is great to be in church. I look forward to being with my small group Bible study each week. I even look forward to seeing my friends in the lobby of our church. It is a great time for catching up with each other and exchanging updates from continuing conversations with brother and sisters in Christ.

But each Sunday in the crowd usually is another person standing off to the side. It is the person we do not know yet. We see them there, we want them to feel welcome, but the conversation and the news of the week, the ongoing conversation with friends at church seems to take up the bulk of our time—it is not that we don’t want to greet them, we just don’t know what to say. Small talk is so hard sometimes.

The unfortunate problem in most churches these days is that a majority of church members never greet the guests and new comers who come to our churches. Do you greet new people you see in church on a regular basis?

We have a lot of great opportunities to talk with our friends at church. I believe we should do even more than we usually do. We ought to call on each other more often during the week—why fellowship only one or two days per week?

But the urgency of the gospel requires us to leave our agenda and have an agenda for bringing people to Jesus. So we should make sure we keep the focus more on meeting the new people who come to church. Try to make Sunday the day you give more of your best efforts to meeting the guest who come to your church.

Be a good witness for Jesus. Decide to make friends for Jesus sake! Make it a point to get to know the new people who come to your church. Take the initiative to say “hello” to new people you see in your church. If you have a great conversation going with a friend from your Sunday School class, invite the new person to join in your conversation. Introduce them to others. Make it a point to get to know others, listen to them and remember their name. It is so simple anyone can do it.

Don’t worry people will be overwhelmed by too many people greeting them. The honest truth is we don’t have enough people greeting the new people in church. A majority of people who visit our churches are never greeted by anyone when they visit. Imagine how isolated that feels when you see others talking and having a good time all around you? All it takes is a smile and a warm greeting to make a person feel welcomed.

As you get to know people, help them network with the people they need to meet. If they are new in town, they may have a need for professional services (doctor, dentist, Realtor, etc). You can recommend people who can help them settle in. If they are not new, you may discover their interests or profession may be similar to someone else you know. Introduce them to people who have the same profession or interests who are also believers in Jesus. Make friends for Jesus!

Topics: Evangelism | No Comments »

Relational Evangelism Road Trip: Use Your Freedom of Speech to Speak up for Christianity

By chris | May 16, 2008

” So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.” (2 Corinthians 5: 16)

Christianity is very relevant for today, but there are people and organizations that are organized to minimize the influence of Christianity in your community. How organized are you to advocate your faith and values in the public square?

When I was in college there was a distinct minority of people who were actively engaged in trying to debunk the Christian faith. They were called “professors” (Romans 1:22).

At work, people can make you feel you are in the minority when you tell them you believe in the Bible and trust Jesus for salvation.

Media entities work hard to politicize the great moral issues of our day. These groups represent “gate keepers” who want to slow Christianity down. They work hard to appear they are in the majority, but they are not.

Don’t let people intimidate you into silence. We hear a lot of people making noise in the news about how badly they want to protect our First Amendment rights. We are not used to talking this way in church, but the First Amendment actually protects your right to share the gospel with people in the United States.

The First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Christian communications professor Dr Quentin Schultze teaches (in this book) that the First Amendment’s constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech, the press, and the right to assemble is really centered on the freedom of religion (and religious speech), not just the press as is often assumed these days, thus showing that in America religion and communication have long been linked in the United States.

Stand firm in your rights, people may try to imply you are not allowed to speak about faith in school, or in public venues. But they are wrong. Christian ideas belong in the public forum as much as any other ideas. You have as much right to the “free exercise” of your religion and “freedom of speech” as anyone else in America. Speak freely about Jesus!

I believe we need Christians being “salt and light” in their communities by speaking to the moral and spiritual issue of our day in the public square. You don’t need to be a great political speaker to make a difference, just tell people what the Bible teaches.

Go ahead and weigh-in with biblical truth on the important life issue topics at school, work and in public places. Make sure people know you are speaking to spiritual and moral issues. When you do, you will find people will be interested in the truth of the gospel. Be ready to answer questions people may have about Christianity.

Focus Groups Continue

If you are following my blog posts and/or my Facebook you know I am on a road trip doing research for a client about how Christians in various churches think about relational evangelism and a resource they are developing.

This evening I have a break here in Harrisburg, PA. I am leading a focus group for my client in the morning and then heading back to OKC in the afternoon ending the second leg of my three-legged trip. I will be back out to Stillwater OK, DFW and Orlando next week. For now I am looking forward to going home to Edmond to rest and see the family.

One of my favorite tools for learning about people is the focus group. A focus group is a group of 6-10 people who meet together for an hour (or two, no more than that please) to discuss a focused topic. There is an objective moderator who guides the conversation along the topic, without taking the lead or lecturing on the subject.

The conversation is recorded (audio or video) for summarizing, reporting and showing the sponsors of the research what participant said. I have used focus groups to test programming, try new products and get an insider’s perspective from people. Imagine a group of people in your town who don’t go to church talking in a focus group about why they don’t go. You will be surprised what they say, I promise! Focus groups are a quick and fun way to get useful research.

A few tips for designing a focus group.

Topics: Evangelism | No Comments »

Relational Evangelism Road Trip: Overcome Your Fears with Courage!

By chris | May 15, 2008

“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6b)

The road trip continues! Today I have been in Springfield, Illinois the home of honest Abe Lincoln. Taking Abe as an example of honesty, I have to be honest and say that talking about my faith with other people kinda scares me.

I know it is important to “….always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” (1 Peter 3:15) But sometimes I let the idea of talking about the gospel to people, even people I am close to, intimidate me.

Evangelism is a Priority
We all know that God loves the world so much He gave his Son (John 3:16). But have you spent much time thinking about the implications of that for your outreach? Think about it, God “so loved” the world, He gave his Son. You could say redeeming the people of the world is God’s top priority. If you are engaged in God’s most cherished task, wouldn’t it be natural to expect that God would back up anyone who takes evangelism seriously? Of course!

Someone once said, “stop trying to get God to bless what you are doing, instead join Him in what He is doing—it is already blessed”. Evangelism is one of God’s most blessed activities. Get close to God’s heartbeat, get a heart for evangelism. God is active and wants all men to be saved. You are not alone if you want to reach your friends, family or people at work. God wants to reach them too. He so loves them “so much, He gave his only Son”

Knowing this should give you confidence and boldness, but it won’t make you fearless. I have traveled all over the world working with missionaries, church planters, pastors and evangelists. I have never met anyone who was completely without fear of witnessing. Many of the greatest evangelists still get nervous when it comes to sharing their faith. Don’t worry if the thought of witnessing makes you nervous or afraid—you are not a spiritual weakling if you feel that way, you are normal.

So how do you become a fearless witness? Maybe you don’t. Maybe you should not even try to not be afraid. Don’t spend time beating yourself up over fear of witnessing. Instead, set a goal to become a more courageous witness. What is a courageous witness? A person who, in spite of his/her fear, witnesses to other people. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is what you do even though you are afraid. Many people find when they face their fears courageously; they become less afraid and bolder.

Don’t worry about the jitters—God is backing you up! If you feel afraid, go ahead and share with others anyway. Have faith in God, He is on your side. Have courage!

Topics: Evangelism | No Comments »

Relational Evangelism Road Trip: Go on the Record as a Christian!

By chris | May 14, 2008

“I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God.” (Luke 12:8)

If you are going to be an effective witness, you can’t do it incognito. You have to be willing to be known of as a Christian if you are going to be a witness. Yes, I am well aware in certain cases missionaries have to serve covertly to protect the people to whom they carry the gospel from being killed…I am not talking about that. I understand there are some other situations where it isn’t appropriate to be too overt also.

But in most cases for relational evangelism, Christians need to come “out of the closet” more and let the people in their network know clearly they are believers.

At times I meet people who are unwilling to let people know they are Christians in public because people give them “that look”. They fear people will be looking down on them for their public faith stand. Sometimes people do more than just look at you funny, they treat Christians with prejudice after they find out you are a believer.

There are even some preachers I have met who are reluctant to come out of the closet with their faith up front in public. I have meet some who tell people when asked what they do, “I am in communications”, or “I am a life coach”, or music ministers who simply tell people, “I am a musician”. I am not against these approaches when they are used as a way to build bridges with people…but then, again, maybe they are not as needed as many people think.

We need ministry leaders who are unapologetically affiliated with God—don’t you think? When is the way you creatively present yourself a means to not run people off before you get to know them, and when are the times we avoid letting people know about our faith so as to avoid getting into the discussions about it?

I agree getting strange looks from people is not comfortable. And it is wrong the way some people treat Christians. No one likes to be looked down on by others. I have lived through being treated like a cult leader when I was serving in Spain as a missionary. I am not denying it hurts and I am not trying to be simplistic. I want to reflect on the benefits of coming out as a Christian as a relational witnessing strategy.

Think of this, if people give you “that look” it is because they have misconceived ideas about what a Christian is (or what a minister is) their meeting you brings up those thoughts. It may make you feel uncomfortable at first, but let the “look” people give you be your cue that this is your opportunity to help change their negative perceptions. You can turn their misunderstanding into your opportunity for telling the truth.

If you are mistreated or marginalized for your faith, consider it part of your spiritual heritage. Jesus said: “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” (John 15:18) and “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:11-12)

By not going on the record, you may be damaging your opportunity to be a witness later. Telling someone you are in “communications”, and then later admitting your communication really is preaching in a church, may make people feel you are being evasive or even deceptive.

Being incognito at work may keep people from taking you seriously when you do speak up. Who knows how many people might be wishing there was someone they could talk to about their faith questions. Many people who have “gone public” have found people coming to them later for advice or a question that led to an opportunity to share the gospel.

Don’t be overly concerned when you get “that look” from people you meet, be more concerned that through your positive public influence they give Jesus a second look.

Topics: Evangelism | 2 Comments »

Relational Evangelism Road Trip: Prayer Needed for Evangelism

By chris | May 13, 2008

“What is the nature of your business in Canada?” That was the question the customs agent asked me when I arrived here in Canada this AM. I didn’t fully explain it all to her. She didn’t exactly look thrilled to know I work with churches. From the look on her face, I got the feeling she’d rather I import the Ebola virus to Canada than my faith.

But the customs agent unwittingly asked a question with implications to evangelism. What is the nature of the evangelism “business?” Evangelism by nature is spiritual. You can’t have evangelism without the work of the Holy Spirit. You can’t have effective evangelism without prayer. Prayer changes the nature of everything you attempt in ministry.

You don’t have to be in Canada long (I have been here before) before you know this is not the Bible belt. I used to live in Western Europe and spent most of my ministry working with people from other countries and other faith backgrounds that are among the most hostile to Evangelicals and the gospel. So I am familiar with the drill when it comes to evangelism in tough places.

I talked earlier about the present concerns people have because the unchurched “love Jesus, but hate the church.” If there ever was a place like that it would be Canada. No doubt this is a tough placed to serve. But it is no tougher than any other place that is closed to the gospel. There are places that are more open than Canada, like Oklahoma, and places that are very much more closed, like Myanmar. It’s all relative. Picking up the harvest analogy, it’s all part of the cultivation of the gospel. Some places are more cultivated than others.

Evangelism is a Cultivating and Harvesting Task

Missionaries don’t ask themselves where the gospel would be a good match for wide public acceptance. Missionaries ask where are the places with the least access to the gospel, then they go there and serve, pouring their lives into the people there looking for ways to get them to appreciate the gospel. Cultivation again.

Evangelism is a spiritual affair. I imagine if you could take a survey that included Saul (before he became Paul the Apostle) he would have said he “loved God, but hated the church” too. I don’t think anyone hated the church more than him. Yet something spiritual happened and he became the greatest proponent of the gospel ever.

Some places are harvest fields and some places are places where missionaries must break new ground. All are part of the same process. As Paul himself said, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow” (1 Cor. 3:6 NIV).

The reason some places are harvest fields is because at some point in history someone went there and laid the ground work planted the seeds, others came behind and cultivated, etc. Harvest field used to be hard fields. Canada could easily become another one of the great harvest fields. “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)

We need to pray for each other no matter where we are in the harvest process. But remember especially to pray for the evangelists, church planters, pastors, and missionaries who serve in tough places. “And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should” (Colossians 4: 3-4)

It’s Not Always about Person X

I love missions and missionaries for their boldness to break into new networks of people. But I also love people who are relational evangelists in their own network. We hold the people up as examples who run out and find that “person X” out there who hasn’t heard the gospel.

Many times people think of evangelism as when you meet a total stranger and begin to tell them about Jesus, the person listens intently to a presentation of a gospel outline, and then makes a personal decision.

While people do become Christians this way, it is not the way a majority of people become Christians. Most people become Christians as the result of a witness that comes through a relationship they have with another Christian. Your greatest opportunity to share your faith with other people will likely come through your day-to-day contact with people you already know right now.

But, sometimes it seems so hard to break the ice and talk about spiritual things with family, friends and people at work. How can you do it? Pray about it!

If you are willing to become more intentional with making sure the people around you know about Jesus, make a commitment to pray for “open doors” for talking to the people you know about Jesus. Think about the people you see regularly, make a prayer list with their names and pray for them regularly. Ask God to make opportunities for them to hear the gospel. Guess what will happen next…

We need more people talking up faith wherever they are!

Topics: Evangelism | 1 Comment »

Relational Evangelism Road Trip: We need more people to witness!

By chris | May 12, 2008

Today I am in Highland, California (ONT) talking to some leaders in a blended church about relational evangelism. I asked one of the leaders, “What is missing in evangelism today?” He said something that rang very true, “What’s missing in evangelism today is the gospel.” What a great quote!

How to Make Evangelism More Organic

That made me think about how some seem want to make evangelism so “organic” that they tend to downplay the more confrontational parts of the message—even neglecting the gospel all together in some ways. They take a “laissez faire” approach to conversion when it comes to relational evangelism. Just let it happen. To them, it’s not relational enough if the evangelist has an agenda to share the gospel.

I don’t agree with that approach, but I do see it has become the view of many. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for organic, but if we want to keep an agricultural motif when it comes to talking about evangelism, I think we would be better served if we follow the same agricultural analogy used in the Bible.

In the Bible the work of reaching people with the gospel is compared to farming and not as organic weeds growing unattended (incidentally, weeds, or tares, are a symbol of sin in the NT). Paul refers to the harvest analogy when he said “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow” (1 Cor. 3:6 NIV). Jesus referred to the same imagery when he said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” (Matt 9:37 NIV).

The Bible compares our evangelism to farming. Think about what a farmer does when he farms. No farmer can say, “I make corn” or “I make wheat” or whatever else he grows. At the most the farmer can only say, “I am a partner with God in an amazing process, which produces a harvest.” The fact is the farmer cannot produce a crop unless he relies on God. There’s nothing more “organic” than relying on God to move a process forward.

At the same time, the farmer’s reliance on God does not mean his part of the harvest process is completely passive. There are many things the farmer has to do, to do his part of the process. He has to till the soil, plant the seeds, cultivate the crop while it is growing and in the end he has to harvest the crop. There is plenty for the farmer to do. Even the most organic garden needs to be tended by a gardener. All this is true, but the farmer still has to rely on God if he is going to see a harvest.

In the same way, in Christian “organic” evangelism communication, the reliance on God is not a passive do-nothing approach. There are plenty of things God expects us to do if we are going to partner with Him in the harvest of souls.

Do We Over Complicate Evangelism?

Another quote from the church leaders I talked to today was,

“I think we over complicate evangelism today. We need to simplify our evangelism so that people sense how easy it really is to share the gospel. Also, we need to help people stop seeing evangelism as just trying to get people to come to church and get them to understand they can take the gospel with them everywhere they go. They need to see they are the ‘vehicle’ for carrying the gospel to their friends, not the church service.”

Another great message! One of the things I have noticed about evangelism training is it seems almost counter-productive to our stated goals of mobilizing more people for evangelistic outreach. We know we need to get more people in our churches talking up faith in Christ, but a lot of the evangelism training we do adds new issues to our problem of getting more people active by creating the impression with church members that talking about your faith is something that is hard to do unless you have a lot of skills.

Think about common evangelism training resources you have seen. Many of them require three months of memorization and practice within the context of the group training. When I was trained to share my faith, I had a three ring binder given to me by my group leader. Each week as I attended my training, I received a little more of my notebook, when I was “ready” for the next level. The system created in me the impression I was not ready for “prime time” evangelism until I had completed my training.

Before you jump on that traditional church and ridicule their approach, think about this. In the contemporary church movement it is just as possible to create the same impression that it is hard to reach people. When new churches use expensive technology and uber high quality production values in outreach, they may be sending the unintended message that you have to be a polished communication expert and marketing guru to really reach out.

[Side note: I wonder how many potential evangelists (and church planters) are out there now thinking about getting a tattoo and learning to micro-brew their own beer because they think that’s what it takes to reach people today? Just a thought….]

Keep it Stupid Simple!

In short, in relational evangelism, we need to simplify the education process and lower the learning curve for people so we can mobilize more people with the gospel.

In missions the mantra is, “make it reproducible.” That is, we need to help people reproduce the gospel in their lives and make it simple enough for them to know how to take it to their friends. Whatever we can do to remove barriers to getting the gospel to spread naturally through relationships and kinship networks we should do it.

As a missionary, I hope we can begin to use approaches that require less expertise and dependence on technology and make it something that flows more naturally in people’s everyday lives. We need to develop resources and plan evangelism training in our churches that help people get active sharing their faith.

But also, we need to focus on helping them see that people will be more receptive than they imagine. Jesus said, what is lacking is not receptive people but instead, workers in the harvest. We need to make ourselves more available to God as witnesses. You don’t have to be a minister or traveling evangelist to be a work in the harvest. You simply need to answer the call from the Lord of the Harvest. Anyone can be a witness for Jesus!

Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matthew 9:38)

Topics: Evangelism | 1 Comment »

Relational Evangelism Road Trip: Love God? Love the Church!

By chris | May 11, 2008

If you happen to have been on my Facebook, you’d know that I am back on the road on leg number two of my “Mother of all Road Trips” (this time it’s ONT, YYC, YYZ, SPI, BDL!) It seems appropriate I would set back out on Mother’s day, I guess. Don’t worry my wife understands I had to travel and she has known about this trip for a while. (Hence—the roses I got her yesterday!)

Anyway, I have a client who is exploring ways to help churches encourage relational evangelism by their members. They have developed a relational evangelism resource for small groups they want to test and improve before they roll out to “the masses”. I will be traveling to several locations talking to groups of believers who are reflecting on the topic of relational evangelism and trying out the new resource. (I’ll let you know when it’s available—might even be a free resource!)

Though I won’t be using all the information I am getting from my focus group discussions in the blog (no big secrets, most of it is so specific to the resource, you’d have to be familiar with it to appreciate the comments). My client did encourage me to feel free to reflect on the topic of relational evangelism myself as I travel. I suspect my conversations will spark several ideas about relational evangelism.

So stay tuned, during the next few days I will give a few thoughts on my blog about the subject and hopefully a little encouragement for us all to be more proactive in talking up faith in Christ to the people you know.

“They Love Jesus, but Hate the Church” Oh My! What Can We do About it?
Recently there has been a lot of hand wringing by people about the church’s “branding” problems. The way some talk, the church is on the brink of extinction because they just read a survey that says that many non-Christians (or as my friend Ginger says, “Prelievers”) turn up in surveys saying they don’t like us believers.

Statistics show that the masses like Jesus, but hate Christians. Researchers tell us non-un-pre-believers…err…or whatever….think we are too judgmental, that we have a conservative agenda, we are anti-gay, and we want to convert everyone to our way of thinking. Sometimes we even–gasp—vote according to our values! The idea some seem to be suggesting is we work on our image and project a more positive impression toward the people who don’t like us.

The problem with those things people don’t like about us is that we (Evangelicals) really are most of those things! We shouldn’t be judgmental towards others of course—we are only sinners saved by grace–but we should not give up all of our convictions about morals, the Bible, and evangelism just to make people like us more. Last time I checked, it was still an Evangelical agenda item to convert people to Christ. I don’t know about you but I plan on voting according to my beliefs (something that is really hard to do) this year.

The idea that unbelievers “love Jesus but hate the church” is not new. If you just ran into that quote, or some version of it, like “love God—hate his fans” it may sound like a shocking revelation, but it is not novel. And it is not new that people would think Christians are a bad influence on society, or that they are far too political either.

The Romans Hated the Early Church, but Could Have Easily Been Down with JC!

If you could go back in time and interview Christians in the first century, early believers would tell you people thought they were atheistic cannibals who were trying to undermine the Roman Empire. They spread all kinds of wild rumors about the Christians and set out to destroy them! Maybe you have heard about Christians being killed in the coliseums? Unchurched people really hated the church then!

If given the chance, Roman would have easily “Loved Jesus as they hated the church.” They would have happily added Jesus to their list of gods they worshiped. They would have added him to their pantheon without a second thought. And if allowed to interpret Jesus’ words how they wanted to (without influence by believers), they would likely have even loved what they thought (or wanted to think) were his teachings!

I am glad the early church took a stand for the faith and didn’t compromise with popular Roman culture, aren’t you? I am glad they engaged in civil disobedience toward a government bent on removing the influence of their faith in society. In my opinion it was good they rejected homosexuality even though it was accepted by Roman culture. And it was to our benefit that, even though they were despised and rejected by the popular culture, they took it as a badge of honor as though they were partaking in some small measure of Christ’s sufferings—rather than as an embarrassing blemish on their social standing!

So when people tell you what a dire situation Christianity is in because unbelievers hate us—just take it with a grain of salt. You can bet the market research will be forgotten long before the church is! And though pop culture and society would like to take Jesus as their own and toss the church aside and cast us as a bunch of ignorant hayseed hicks—we know the church is the Bride of Christ!

Do You Love the Church? You know, the Uncool One You Think the World Hates? Jesus Said You are Supposed to!

People have been saying the unchurched “love God, hate the church” since I was a kid back in the 60’s. What does this mean? It means people hate what they think the church is. But do they really know the church? Do they hate what the church really is…or what they think the church is?

Usually what the typical negative unchurched person thinks about the church is an uniformed prejudice that needs to be challenged by a friendly Christian witness.

If you ask unchurched people what they think the church should be you are likely to get answers like: The church ought to have people who love and welcome all kinds of people. The church should care for needy people. The church should care for the sick. The church should show love and compassion for people in other parts of the world with AIDS and respond to crisis and famines. The church should help in education. The church should care for the environment, etc.

The church should do all these things! But the church does do all these things! Though she should do even more that she does, the church has a lot more going on than many seem to realize. If you are unaware the church is doing all these things—maybe you should spend less time in Starbucks and more time in ministry.

The problem is the people who do these things are (to their public relations detriment) people who act like Jesus and are actually too humble to want people think too highly of them.

The day the church is known of as the undisputed leader for doing all these things by popular culture, is the day the world starts “loving God, but hating the church” for being a bunch of self-righteous do-gooders who don’t know how people really live.

Look, this is a rigged game! We can’t win by playing up to the world. We need to embrace who we are as a church and love each other so much people won’t be able to deny that God is among us!

If you “love God and Hate the church” as a Christian I worry for you! Jesus said we are supposed to show the world the truth, not by consuming the same brands as the world, or by impressing them with our social work, or with our over-branded self-help seminar sermons–but by the quality of our love for each other.

One thing is certain, Jesus loves God the Father and He loves the church!

“I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17: 14-21 NIV)

A few things I take away from this:

Topics: Evangelism | 6 Comments »

Seven Stages of Product/Program Development in Evangelical Parachurch Organizations

By chris | May 10, 2008

Here’s a tongue-in-cheek look at how Evangelical Parachurch groups create new programs and products for their constituents. See if you have seen the same things going on–in organizations other than the one where you serve, of course.

Seven Stages of Product/Program Development in Evangelical Parachurch Organizations

1. Ideation Stage: Someone, usually an executive, reads a book or attends a cool conference that “gives them an idea” for a way to save the Parachurch organization. The idea has actually been in vogue in the secular business world for some time and is usually in the last legs of the product/idea life cycle. In “Diffusion of Innovations” talk, it is in the “Laggards Adoption Phase.” Meaning, it’s old hat in the business world already.

2. Mandate Stage: If the executive is high enough in the food chain of the organization, he can choose to spend the money to develop a product without a second thought. If he is not high enough, he has to convince 2-3 directors to agree to spend the money for a new product/program. The project is often handed off by the executive to a subordinate of his who acts as the developer who will handle the project. The developer will have none of the authority to make the project succeed, yet will be held accountable for all of the failures. This even though the developer has to let enough hands in the organization change the idea so that all vestiges of the best of the “original” idea can be removed, thus leaving only the shell of the idea and the worst elements of it remaining.

3. Development Stage: Since it takes a long time to decide to do anything in Evangelical Parachurch organizations, the slow process for budget and sign-off takes up valuable time that could be used to make the project/program better. Even though things are moving slowly, the deadline for the project launch is not changed. The program developer, therefore, is given an unrealistic time frame and far too small of a budget for pulling off the greatest product/program ever in the history of the Parachurch organization. The crunch leaves little (usually zero) time for research, pilot testing, and evaluation of the new product/program. Even though the time allotted and money dedicated to the product are limited, the expectations are still very high for the new product because the executive plans on gloating about his brilliance in “creating” the idea in the following year.

4. Buy-in Stage: The finished product is rolled out in a meeting or conference (sometimes people are flown in for the roll-out) to constituents of the Parachurch organization who see the new product they had no idea was being developed for the first time. Even though the product is already finished (printed and stored in a warehouse, or already underway with lots of money already committed) people who will be expected to use/purchase the product/program are still asked to provide “input” and “creative thinking” for how to improve the product “idea”. But the comments they make will have no relevance to production since the product/program is already developed. The objective of the meetings is to create the illusion of involvement to the constituents who will be expected to use/purchase the product/program in the Promotion Stage.

5. Promotion Stage: The product is promoted and touted as the best product ever in various highly glossy and wordy brochures and websites no one will actually read. The official embroidered logo shirt is made and all members of the team associated with the product are given a logo shirt. Sometimes dinners are provided to leaders where the product is shown and people talk amongst themselves about anything else but the product or the problem it was meant to solve. On occasion a news release is sent to announce the product to local or national Parachurch organizational media, but it is not required since “only old people read those” anyway.

6. Awareness/Demand Stage: When the product has reached this stage (usually about 3 years after the product is rolled-out) one of two things can happen. (1) If the product was developed by a local or state organization, groups in other states will knock-off the product. (2) If a national Parachurch entity develops the product/program, the product is discontinued at the height of awareness/demand.

7. Limbo Stage: Usually the cycle above is repeated when the executive reads another book, attends another conference, or is just tired of looking at the product’s logo. (A new product is “Mandated” without evaluation of the effectiveness of previous products/programs even if the old programs/products were designed to meet the exact same product/program “need.”) However, if the Parachurch executive doesn’t read another book, or is in the throes of writing one himself, the product enters the Limbo Phase where it is stalled so that the product adds another year or two to the three year cycle, thus extending the Awareness/Demand Stage in “limbo.” However, by the 4th-5th year, regardless of the success of a product/program or if a replacement product has been developed, the product/program will be discontinued, (or left unsupported by staff) so as to discourage popularity and widespread use of the product/program.

Topics: News and "Bloggy" Stuff | 1 Comment »

When People Think of Your Church What Do They Think?

By chris | May 9, 2008

Making an effort to understand how people perceive what you are saying when you communicate with them seems like a “no brainer”. But surprisingly, few ministries have a clear concept of how they are perceived by the people they hope to reach. They also have not taken time to outline how they wish to be perceived by the people they want to reach.

Don’t believe me? Ask the members of your church staff/team to independently write down on a slip of paper 10 words that describe your church. Also, ask them to write down 10 words that would describe what they feel people who don’t attend your church would think about the church. Not only will the list be different between what the staff thinks and what they think the community thinks, chances are high, no two staff members will have the same opinions for either list.

If you took this exercise outside the walls of your church and got a few people in the community to make a list, you might have a real awakening. This shows how random we can be in Christian communication. We rarely intentionally think about what others are thinking, yet we are always trying to change their perceptions. Go figure!

In secular marketing, you can bet marketing teams are on the same page about their products. And when tested, the marketplace is generally on the same page as well. This doesn’t happen by accident. Positioning takes careful planning and concise communication. How do they do it? First, these marketers have researched how customers perceive their products. Secondly, they have meticulously worked to get all their marketing to portray particular messages and product values. Thirdly, they have a keen understanding of who their competition is in the market.

You don’t have to adopt the secular positioning tactics of marketers to benefit from positioning in your ministry. If your ministry team would simply make more effort to understand what the unchurched in your community think and spend quality time talking about what values and messages your ministry wants to represent in your town, you would be miles ahead in improving your communication. If you knew more about what unchurched people were doing with their time and energy, you would also tap into a ton of new ministry ideas for your church.

Understanding the Competition

Positioning is a valuable tool for taking your message into a competitive environment. On the mission field, if you are going to get your ideas across, you know you need to understand your competition as best as you can. That’s why missionaries spend so much time learning about the people they want to reach before they launch out with outreach campaigns. They know they need to connect with people at the heart level if they are going to bring them to an awareness of Christ.

Competition is not the church down the street it is about competing with everything else that is competing for the attention of the people you want to reach. Most of the unfortunate things that happen in church marketing come from people who leverage communication to put their church in a better light in contrast to another church.

My personal take is if you have to put down other churches and cast them as being boring, irrelevant or greedy, you are doing more of a disservice to the Kingdom of Heaven. Sure you may connect with a few people by using these positioning tactics, but you will also help turn off many more to going to church in general.

The better use of positioning is to go up against all kinds of boring, irrelevant, or greedy experiences–not to call out another congregation (or type of church) and position your church openly against them. Just outshine them all with interesting, relevant and humble ministry.

If you are trying to reach the unchurched, then other churches are not your competition anyway! Find out what it taking up people’s time and attention and find a way to meet the needs of the people you want to reach.

Positioning a Message in the Bible?

The Apostle Paul was a consummate communicator. He had the ability to speak to people right where they were without ever compromising his message. You can also see he had a firm grasp on what is competition was when he preached to the crowds. In one case in Athens, Paul spoke to the people in that city in a way that penetrated their prejudices toward him and gave him a perfect platform for communicating the gospel. Paul used positioning to make his message more effective.

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.” (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. (Acts 17:16-23)

No doubt about it, Paul knew who he was addressing and he understood the competition he was up against. In the Synagogue it was the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, an internal audience. In the marketplace a whole other set of communication circumstances. You had the Epicureans, the Stoics plus all the leaders in the Areopagus.

Paul also understood that to get the people’s attention he needed to speak to their needs. You could say the needs of the Athenians affected the communication approach of Paul. Though Paul was greatly disturbed by the idolatry he saw in Athens, he didn’t not make his feelings about idolatry the starting point for his communications.

Instead Paul spoke to them based on their perceptions and needs. He even affirmed them a bit when he said they were “religious” people. He spoke to them as people who might be interested in learning a bit more about the “Unknown God”

Getting on the Grid

I like to imagine Paul heading into the communication encounter with positioning in mind. We don’t know how he planned his communication. I feel sure he didn’t have a grid like the one I am using. But imagine the four possibilities based on this positioning grid (see also Perceptual Mapping). Marketing positioning is actually based on grids like the one below that seek to illustrate the marketer’s understanding of their marketplace and evaluate their options based on the perceived values and attributes of their product in light of their competition. If Paul were doing a positioning study today, his grid might look like this.

positioning-graphic.gif

“I proclaim to you a new unknown idea”

Paul could have biblically preached the message of salvation through faith in Christ as a completely new idea. He would have had a great sermon, but he might not have connected with his audience. The Bible says “All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas” Paul would have a lot more competition from other people who wanted to talk about their ideas” If Paul had used this approach, they might have told him, “Yeah, take a number Buddy, that’s all we do all day!”

“I proclaim to you an old known idea”

If the Apostle had wished, he could have leveraged his great insights into Greek philosophy in a dynamic sermon. In several places in the New Testament we see Paul knew about Greek philosophers, in fact in his presentation to the Greeks in Athens, he even quotes one of them. I have no doubt Paul could have taken on the Epicureans and Stoics in a philosophical debate and would have never compromised the message of salvation. But the Athenians were more engaged with new ideas. If Paul had taken this approach, he might have seemed like an old-fashioned person trying to hearken back to the good old days. He may also have lost the possible connection with the younger crowd who were not interested in philosophy at all. If Paul had tried this approach they might have told him, “Yawn, been there, done that!”

“I proclaim what you are now talking about the newest ideas”

Paul could have tried to set himself up as the most relevant of all the speakers. I believe had Paul wanted he could have really shown all the people his considerable skills while talking about the latest and greatest ideas. He would have given them some real meaning for the first time in their lives. I think Paul’s choice not to go this route is one many (not all) churches need to make. All the attempts to be seen as relevant has made far too many churches go chasing after the latest fad. Some churches don’t know what to preach until they see the fall television schedules in TV Guide. The Athenians didn’t perceive Paul as an insider to the latest trends. In fact, in the Greek they called him a “Hick” in so many words. If Paul had tried this approach, they might have told him, “You? The Babbler, yeah right!”

“What you are worship as something unknown, I am going to proclaim to you!”

As you consider all the options, you see that Paul could have preached biblically from any position, but he may not have been as effective with each approach given the audience he was speaking to. Paul also understood the competition for ideas, he understood his audience and he captured them by surprise with a speech about the old idea everyone seems to have overlooked. Athenians used the ‘unknown god’ as a placeholder for any new or inconceived of gods. Like saying, “God what’s his name”. When Paul spoke of him, they may have thought he was just being clever at first. But he had a deeper message, when he used this approach people paid attention and said, “You are bringing strange things to our ears and we want to know more!”

You can use positioning in your ministry too. Here are a few helps

Positioning is a valuable tool for all kinds of communication. As you become more aware of how to use it, your ministry communications will improve as you take dead aim at the misconceptions and barriers to reaching people at the heart level. Here are a few ways to get started

Topics: Positioning | No Comments »

Bonsai Church Growth

By chris | May 5, 2008

Here’s an ethical consideration that needs to be thought about when planning outreach in your community. Be careful when you are planning your church’s communication that you are not using your marketing ability and budget to compete with other churches.

Some churches have the mistaken impression they are growing because they think they are very evangelistic, but when their membership statistics are studied, it becomes clear they really are growing through transfer of memberships from other churches. This is “market share” growth. That is, growth in the church’s share of people in their community who already were going to church somewhere else, now attending their church. To the people in the growing church, the ride of rapid growth feels great, but I see a couple of negative effects on the Kingdom of Heaven.

First, in these churches, the huge crowds make the church members feel like their church is bursting at the seams with evangelistic growth. But the reality is far from it. New programs, new people and new facilities notwithstanding, rapid new growth through transfer memberships (or merger with other churches) could have the negative effect of making your church less evangelistic by leaving your church members with the feeling that the work of reaching the community is being done without them needing to reach out to others with the good news. This is the main reason larger evangelical churches do not reach unreached people as well as smaller churches.

A second negative effect of rapidly reaching people who already go to church through marketing outreach is the fact that huge churches receive more money from their offerings from already tithing members who transfer to the congregation. Their media budgets and media staff size grow in proportion to their new dimensions. They then usually use those resources to their church’s market share advantage, when they ought to use them for the advancement of gospel in general.

If you are one of those churches with a big media budget, be careful not to use your marketing ability (or larger budget) to compete with other churches. Sure, you may have the ability to be the “800 Pound Gorilla” in your community, but that doesn’t justify any outreach that is targeting people who are already part of a church fellowship. Resist the urge to become the “Wal-Mart” of the community that puts the “Mom and Pop” sized churches under. We are members of one another in God’s church.

“But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other”. (1 Corinthians 12:24-25 NIV)

Some ministry leaders seem only to show interest in the activities and ministries that help their church grow. Consider how your church might play a role in helping smaller churches grow or enlarge the Kingdom by starting new ones. Not every new ministry your church starts needs to be an extension or another venue of your ministry. I am not against multi-site churches, but I do think infatuation with the multi-site strategy may lead some people to choose multi-site, when they really ought to consider church planting.

Be Careful Not to Use Marketing Savvy to Develop a Bonsai Church

Churches that grow mainly through membership transfers may not realize it, but they are turning the community of Christians and the Kingdom of Heaven in their town into a bonsai church. If you have ever seen a bonsai tree you may know how they are cultivated. They are kept in a limited container and systematically trimmed at the roots. A bonsai tree looks like a full grown large tree, only in miniature form. In bonsai cultivation the focus really is on the Gardner’s skill more than on the plant itself. People gasp, “Man, how did he do that?”
In order to cultivate a bonsai tree, you need a dedicated Gardner who is skilled in the trimming of the plant to keep it from growing. If left alone, the bonsai plant would grow to its full and normal size. Since growing bonsai trees is hard work, a Gardner would only be willing to plant as many trees as he could manage.

Do bonsai churches exist? Yes, in my opinion the American church is a bonsai church in many respects. Some of our dedicated “Gardners” try to contain growth in the containers of their mega-churches, and unwittingly are trimming the roots of church growth in their community. These leaders are not usually very interested in church planting, instead the want growth they can manage under their ministry leadership. Missiologist tell us America is the only place on the planet where the church is not growing.

To grow the kingdom bigger, think smaller. Little churches may look ineffective to the leaders of larger churches. They don’t have all the flash and splash. They don’t have the large staff. But there are more of them and given the chance would do a better job of reaching the community and growing more naturally than any single church Gardner could ever cultivate in a mega-church. We need more little churches!

Here’s church growth formula you can count on:

LOTS OF LITTLE CHURCHES = KINGDOM GROWTH

Little churches may not look like growing propositions, but they are. Actually, in most cases, the smaller churches are better at reaching people than the larger ones. Leave them alone! They almost always have a lower number of people per capita for each person who comes to Christ than the larger churches. If all the churches became Wal-Mart in size, or part of a multi-site church, it would spell disaster for the Kingdom of Heaven.

Are mega-churches wrong? No, I don’t think Jesus put a cap on how big a church should grow. But we don’t need any more mega-churches that mainly grow through transfer growth.

Lord, help us to not be a part of making a cute little American bonsai church!

Topics: Uncategorized, Vision and Mission | 5 Comments »

Is it Busyness As Usual at Your Church?

By chris | April 30, 2008

What “busyness” are you in? Oops— I guess that should be “business!” But the problem is, for many churches, what they are doing looks more like busyness than serious business. Ever look at that word “business”? It looks like “busy” but means something more targeted and directed. Many businesses struggle in their marketing because the company doesn’t have a niche, or focus. Many churches struggle in their marketing because what they are trying to do is too broad.

Can your ministry benefit from narrowing your focus?

Many ministries have a good general sense of the work they are trying to accomplish, but they don’t have specific spiritual tasks they are trying to accomplish beyond the generalities. They are busy in their busyness, but unclear what they are trying to do—they don’t know their business.

Not that they are heretical, everything they do is very biblical. You can’t point to their individual ministries and find fault. But why, with all the biblical activities, don’t they make the stated impact they say they want to make? The reason is they lack focus. You simply cannot be all things to all people! The lack of focus will dilute your effectiveness.

Wait a minute, didn’t the Apostle Paul say in 1 Corinthians 9:22: “I am all things to all men?”

Yes, Paul did say that, but notice what he really is saying (in context) is he is not all things to all men “all at the same time”, he is one thing to the Jews, quite another single thing to the Greeks, to the weak one way, etc. Paul had a clear sense of focus in all his ministries. This is a passage where Paul is explaining his ability to focus:

Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. (1 Corinthians 9:19-22)

Paul was making the case for why he is able to do so much in the Kingdom; because of his principle of focus. Paul knew better than to try to do it all. He had the ability to focus his ministry in such a way as to increase his effectiveness.

Earlier I asked you to consider what you would do if you had unlimited resources to reach people. Now let’s turn that over and try the reverse, what would you do if you only had 60% of the resources you have now? What would you eliminate? What would you still be doing?

Asking this question will help you see where your priorities really are. You find out what are your core ministries right off the bat! Maybe you should focus on the 60% of things you would do, instead of trying to increase the things you are doing and dilute your ability to do your core ministries well. Could 40% of what you are presently doing really be just busyness?

Many ministries would be enhanced by doing less, not more. In my work with church planters and missionaries, I have seen the entrepreneur fires glowing in the eyes of ministers, who want to build it all, and build it all now! They have no clearly stated mission, or if they do, they don’t use their mission statements to drive what they do. They just keep driving forward hard and as fast as possible. They build ministries, but don’t know why they are doing it.

Here are a few sad stories you I have seen as a coach:

• The huge Vacation Bible School with no follow-up ministry to parents.
• The church with the amazing gymnasium and zero plans for using it to reach the community.
• The missionary with the million dollar mobile water drilling machine designed to make water wells in rural villages that sits idle because the weight of the truck would break any bridge in the country it tried to cross.
• The church advertisement in the newspaper with no contact information in it that would help an interested person visit the church.
• The same church with no greeters, no information desk, no informational brochure or any recognition of guest from the church.
• A mission group with 10,000 responses to an offer of the New Testament in the language of an eastern people group, and no idea what to do next with the 10k names and addresses from respondents.
• A mission church with a coffee shop and internet café ministry that is well attended by locals and no idea how to bridge the people that are coming to the gospel.
• A church in a big dollar rebuild of their preschool wing without a single clue how many preschoolers live in the vicinity of their church.
• A church with a library and media center, that doesn’t know what to do with it at all.
• A mission with a popular radio program and no way to measure their impact on lostness
• A church with a sermon series targeted at postmodern unbelievers based on the pastor’s reading of the latest Hip-Christian author, not on responsiveness to actual people’s needs in the community.
• A email newsletter ministry with 160,000 subscribers and no idea who are their subscribers
• Programs started for children and mothers adopted by a church that don’t get more than money from the congregation
• A traditional church with all age groups of people trying to emulate a popular “flagship” church that doesn’t reach older age groups.

Often ministries get started and are maintained because someone had an idea to try something, not because someone identified a need in the community. Or ministries get started, but no thought has been given to how the ministry supports or fits into the plans for the rest of the church. When the programs fill with people, nobody asks, “Is this something that helps us accomplish our mission?”

If you are trying to be all things to all men all at the same time– you end up being nothing to nobody. How do you know what you are doing is leading to that vision God has given your ministry? I wonder how many foundations, institutions, and organizations exist that really serve no purpose–are not directed at accomplishing anything in particular. God only knows if what you are doing is what He wants you to do—ask Him!

So stop all the activity planning and do a little missionary work. Ask yourself “why?”

• Why are you doing what you are doing?
• How does what you do fit into your mission?
• Is this the best way to accomplish the task?
• Do you have a mission statement?
• Does the mission statement drive what you are doing?
• Should you update your mission?
• What makes this church unique?
• Why are you located in the place you are located?
• Who lives outside the doors of the church?
• What is driving your decision-making and prioritizing?

Does this all sound like so much marketing/business world talk?
Don’t take it from me, read on and see what Paul said about it:

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.”(1 Corinthians 9:24-26)

Ask “What business are you in? Not what can you do to keep busy!” Vision is about where you are going, what you are going to become. Mission is about what you are going to do now that moves you closer to the vision. Make sure whatever you plan to do fit well with the mission you need to accomplish now.

Having and communicating a clear vision is attractive to unchurched people and leads your members to want to do more outreach. If you have a clear direction, you will find the growth takes care of itself.

Marketing cannot help a church accomplish a mission if the church hasn’t the foggiest idea what they are trying to accomplish.

Here are a few questions to help you determine what the church needs from you as a marketing coach.

1. How would you describe the church’s ministry?
2. What are the key strengths of your church’s ministry?
3. What are the weaknesses or challenges of your church’s ministry?
4. Where would you like to see your church’s ministry in the next 6 months?
5. What obstacles might be getting in the way of achieving these results?
6. What might be getting in the way of getting more prospects for the church’s ministry?
7. What things are you most passionate about and how are these reflected in your church’s ministry?
8. What strategies are you using right now?
9. What is the most successful aspect of your church’s ministry? What is the least successful aspect of your church’s ministry?
10. Do you have a specific strategy for following up with all prospects? If so, what is it?
11. Do you have a marketing calendar?

Topics: Tips Right Now | 3 Comments »

A Few More Thoughts about Facebook for Pastors

By chris | April 26, 2008

The Facebook for Pastors e-book phenomenon marches on! I wanted to thank all the people who have downloaded the free e-book and sent their comments and encouragement to me on Facebook and email! Not to mention the ones who’ve added me to their Facebook friends list!

Thanks also for all the blog posts, links, and comments from people! The last three days have seen more than 2,000 downloads from my site–but people tell me they have passed the e-book on to many more people. Some have made 20-30 printed copies and gave them to staff and others they know! Who knows how many copies there are floating around in cyberspace and in the brick-and-mortar world? Awesome! Thanks!

Hearts and Hands International

The e-book is dedicated to the kids of Hearts and Hands International (HHII) an organization that helps kids around the world by assisting with programs and volunteer teams that help the needs of children at risk.

Imagine if just everyone who downloaded from the site made a $10 donation to Hearts and Hands International we would have already raised $20,000 to help orphans around the globe! Food for thought…and prayer.

Speaking of HHII, see this great video on YouTube you can see an example from China showing where your $10 donation to Hearts and Hands will be put to work. This is a news report from Chinese media in China in Chinese, but even if you don’t speak Chinese you will enjoy it!

Watch the video so can get to know Hearts and Hands founder Ken Surritte a little better if you watch this from about 1:21 into the video, you’ll see Ken speaking in English, interacting with kids, the media, and nationals in China and get an idea about his work and passion for helping children.

>> Incidentally, I was an English pastor in a Chinese church, and all I can say in Chinese is “Let’s pray!”, “Let’s Eat!” and “Let’s Go Home!” Not much, but pretty handy phrases in church though! Not bragging, but I can say those three things in Mandarin, Cantonese, French, and Spanish! Hey–I get hungry at church, and after I eat, I am ready to go home for a nap!

Keep the Church 2.0 Conversation Going!

Back to Facebook for Pastors, I think the conversation is just starting about Facebook in ministry and more people will add to the ideas put forth in the e-book. (BTW: Pray for me I have another free e-book rolling about in my head. I like giving away free e-books!) Other leaders will no doubt have more insights as the conversation about “Church 2.0” continues.

In fact, Greg Atkinson (who wrote the foreword in my e-book) is working on just that, he is hosting forums around the country to talk about Church 2.0 as he works on his traditionally published book “Church 2.0.” If Greg is in a city near you, consider joining the conversation. And plan to buy his book!

Facebook for Pastors Blog Post Starter Kit:

Also, here are a couple posts that added a little more information to the conversation about Facebook for Pastors: It’s Official Facebook is for Pastors and Why “You All” Should Be on Facebook.

Neil Cox from Indy Christian has been an encourager and mentor to people who use the Internet in ministry for as long as I can remember using the Internet (since 1996 for me). He had some thoughts on Facebook after he read the preview manuscript I sent him.

The ideas below are from an email he sent to me, I asked if I could post them here because I think they are worth thinking about. He sent them to me in random bullets, I think they stand on their own as idea starters. Perhaps you might get an idea or two for blogging about the ministry potential of Facebook. Come on bloggers talk it out!

Topics: Uncategorized, Facebook for Pastors | No Comments »

Download the “Facebook for Pastors” Free E-book!

By chris | April 22, 2008

The Facebook for Pastors E-book is now ready for download! Get it while it’s hot!

Thanks to Rick Presley for his extra mile attitude and encouragement in shaping and tweaking the manuscript. David Gagné the design coach at MinistryMarketingCoach.com is always there to make me look good with the graphics in the e-book.

Thanks also go to the helpful suggestions and networking done on behalf of this project to my new Facebook friend Cynthia Ware. Greg Atkinson wrote an excellent foreward. I look forward to the release of his new book! Aaron Lee helped compile the testimonies from the Facebook for Pastors group.

Thanks to all the people from the group who have sent ideas, comments,wall posts, and their stories of how they use Facebook in ministry. Neil Cox has been a faithful encourager to all people who use the internet in ministry including me. Most of all thanks for all you do, Ken Surritte, for the children at risk all around the world. This book is dedicated to your kids!
fb4pastors.jpg
“Facebook for Pastors”

How to build relationships and connect with people using the most popular social network on the Internet. This 31 page e-book will help Pastors and other ministry leaders make the most of this great networking tool.

Get the e-book here free

http://ministrymarketingcoach.com/free-e-books/

Topics: Facebook for Pastors | 9 Comments »

Do Your Homework When You Use Media

By chris | April 17, 2008

Most of us have grown up using media. We have watched television, listened to radio, surfed the internet, read magazines, received tons of junk mail and blocked even more spam. We have read countless newspapers, seen thousands of billboards, seen high pressure news conferences, and experienced the promotions designed by the finest minds in advertising history. We know what advertising is all about—we have seen Samantha on Bewitched pull an advertising slogan out of her twitching nose more than once.
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Hey, advertising is easy–it’s not rocket science! (Say that out loud!) . I mean, I watched so much television as a kid–for years I thought I was one of the Brady Bunch children. I even avoided playing ball in the house or wearing Tiki statue necklaces because I saw how my Brady friends were affected by these activities. I secretly have always wanted to eat pork and beans from a flashlight like Bobby and Cindy did when they went to the Grand Canon!

I’ll bet I saw nearly every commercial ever produced when I was a latch-key kid growing up. Hey, I know not to fool Mother Nature , I know what happens when a meatball is too spicy and I know there is an ancient Chinese secret to clean laundry. No matter how many times you have seen popular media jump the shark or seen advertising you still don’t have the information you need to make media effective. Your expertise in media consumption doesn’t make you an expert in media strategy. We are tempted to think we are media savvy to our own demise. That’s why it’s important to do your homework and plan your use of media carefully. Stay tuned for how…

Topics: Tips Right Now | No Comments »

Media Does Not Automate Response in Outreach

By chris | April 15, 2008

While coaching a missionary to Western Europe a few years ago, I had a coaching conversation that went like this:

The missionary showed me a catalog with gospel tracts in various languages. “Do you think these tracts would be good for the refugees I will be serving? They are three cents each. I was wondering if they are a good deal.”

I looked at the catalog and then told the missionary, “I am sorry, I can’t tell you if they are good or not. I need more information about the people you will give them to. For example, I need to know if they know how to read. It may be that you hand these out to people who can’t understand them. Also, I would want to know what the tracts say. They are not translated in this catalog. It could be that even though the refugees can read, the message might not relate to them at all”

The missionary looked at me stunned, “Yeah, but they are only three cents!”

It was as if the missionary felt the media should be effective just because it existed. Not everything you find in a catalog, at the bookstore, or available from one of the “flagship” churches is a good thing. And despite the low price, the tracts could be a waste of money. It only makes sense to understand more about the refugees, learn more about what their needs are, and find or develop media and messages that speak to where they are emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. Merely throwing around slips of paper in someone’s mother tongue is not evangelism.

Turning that illustration back on us, most churches that are ineffective in ministry have the same mentality as the missionary. They look to marketing promotion to bail out bad strategy.

Topics: Missions | 1 Comment »

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