You Can Know God

Sex Sells

We continue to get calls from pastors and other Christians complaining about our postcard.  That's one reason I know we're reaching people...Christians are getting mad. :) 

One reason we chose the image that we chose for the front of the poscard is very practical.  It costs quite a bit of money to design, print and mail out 20,000 mailers.  Why would I want to send out something that doesn't get noticed?  The point of advertising is to get people to read the information and attend the service.  Most mailers that churches send out are a complete waste of money...a waste of God's money.  They go right in the trash and don't peak any interest at all.  It's because they say something churchy or have a picture of flowers or something on there.  If we're going to send something out, we want it to be noticed.  We want people to talk about it.   Lots and lots of thought went into our decision.  We could have used a "less offensive" image as many suggested, but to what point?  To offend less people.  To make some Christians who already go to church less mad at us?

YourGreatSexLife.com

In March at Oak Leaf, we're doing a series on sex. I've had this series on the books for the last five months or so, and I think it will be a defining series for us.  Before moving to Cartersville to help start Oak Leaf, I worked as a youth pastor.  I've seen tons of kids lives and tons of families messed up by this issue. I taught on sex then, and we're going to teach on it now. I don't think we need to let the Internet and Cosmo Girl be the source of information on this subject.  Victoria's Secret and Paris Hilton are not the sex experts.  It's a God thing.

We say we are a real church for real people, that means we talk about real issues.  You might say, that we don't believe in faking it. :)  We want to talk about things that people care about it.  Not to mention, the Bible also has a lot to say about the subject.  There's a whole book in the Bible that deals with it.  So we're going to take a Biblical, creative, informative and intelligent look at a popular subject. 

We also want to use this series as another tool to invite people to Oak Leaf.  We're doing a mail out with some feet hanging out of bed and a teaser website.  I don't want to waste money on a postcard that will be thrown away...I want our promotion to stand out.  So we chose this image, which some may think is controversial. Our goal is to get people to read the postcard, visit the website and come to church.  A person that may not attend because we're doing a series on Jonah (though I think our series on Jonah has been great) might come to hear what we have to say about sex.

If you're a part of Oak Leaf, we'll arm you with invite cards that you can hand out or set out.  I'm even putting the website in huge letters on the back of my car.  But hands down, personal invitations are the most effective outreach tool.  We want to do everything we can to get people to OLC, because we believe the message of Jesus is a message that will change a person's life.  Check out the series website, and feel free to forward the link to those you know.

For those in the blog world that may not agree with these methods, that's cool.  You do what God has called you to do to reach people.  A lot of people talk about sex and a lot of people have sex, and the Bible teaches about sex, so I think we're heading in the right direction.  I'm very certain of our very clear mission.  We're going to be faithful to that call of God.  To do otherwise would be disobedient and irresponsible. 

Signs for Your Church

Every church markets.  It's just that some do it well, and some do it poorly.  You may not spend one penny on advertising...well, you're still advertising.  I ran across this sign in a Flicker group.  What time is the service? Is private prayer something that I can do by myself or is it with someone?  Do I need an appointment?  Do I visit someone that prays for me? I may not be a marketing genius, but this sign raises more questions than it answers. The church would probably be better off with no sign at all. Wouldn't "Communion:  7 PM Daily" just be simpler and better? 

I drove by a real estate billboard today that had a lady's face, website, phone number, e-mail address and a couple of slogans.  It was a poor design job, and I know she's probably paying about $2,000 a month for it based on the location.  People can't read all that stuff, much less remember it.  Are they going to write down a phone number at 45 miles per hour?

A sign or a billboard should just have one simple piece of information.  A website address.  Or just the name of your business so people can look it up.  A sign that tries to communicate everything, ends up communicating nothing, or worse, just confuses people.

My advice for postcards, handouts, billboards, invite cards: less is more.  Just direct people to where they can clearly get more information if they want it. 

A Sex Series: How Far is Too Far

In March, we're doing a sex series.  And we're sending out a direct mail with a picture of some feet hanging out of the bed.  It may not be an original idea (lots of other churches have done something similar).  It's sure to spark a little controversy, and generate interest.  The intention of the card is not to offend, but to get unchurched people to come visit our service.  I understand that reaching the unchurched is sometimes messy. 

First, let's be practical and honest. The point of a postcard is to capture the attention of people.  In this case, we're trying to get lost people to come to church.  I imagine that it will be churched people from traditional backgrounds will be the ones who are offended.  But I think it's a waste of our money to send out a postcard that doesn't get noticed. 

Many will say that the church shouldn't talk about sex (more on that in another post).  Some will say that the image we're using is provocative.  I agree that there are lines, and it's possible to go too far.  I don't think our postcard does that.  I think it's right at the line.  I think it would cause an unchurched person to read the back of our card, visit our website, then visit our church.  From the start, we haven't tried to steal people from other churches.  If other Christians and deacons don't agree with our methods, that's cool...they already go to church.  We're not marketing to them.

Offending for no reason is stupid and unwise.  Offending people isn't a fruit of the spirit.  But peaking interest in something for a purpose is smart.  We're not out to offend people on purpose; we're trying to invite everyone to Oak Leaf Church.  We believe that if people will visit on Sunday, they will meet some great people, and hear about a great God.  They will connect in a small group, and begin to grow in their faith.  We believe that people will meet Jesus.  And it starts with getting people through our front door...the Sunday services.

Honestly, the front of the postcard makes me a little uncomfortable. I was brought up in a pretty traditional church background.  But here's the bottom line.  I'm willing to be a little uncomfortable in order to reach people.  I'm willing to sacrifice my own comfort in order to see people come to know Christ and turn their lives over to Him.  And that's the question I would ask everyone who may not see eye to eye with a particular method:  Are you willing to be uncomfortable for the cause of Christ?  I'm going to stand on a stage in front of a theater full of people, and talk about a pretty tough subject....TWICE.   It's going to make me uncomfortable.  But it's not about my comfort, is it?

Some people say, "We'll do anything to get lost people to come to church."  That's dumb.  There are some things that are off limits...some places we should not go.  We don't have a green light to sin in order to reach people.  But if it's not sin, and if it will reach people and get people to hear about the grace of God, and the Holy Spirit gives the go ahead, then you go for it.

We're not going to let fear drive what we say or how we say it?  I'm not going to back down from an issue because it's hard to discuss, or controversial, or taboo.  I'm not going to let what others think determine the content of what we teach.  We teach the Bible.  And the Bible has a lot to say about sex, marriage, relationships, and love.  If we can get people to come hear what God says, then they are going to be encouraged and challenged.

The postcard and even the series might be controversial for Cartersville.  But Jesus was controversial.  He mixed things up and talked about things that people didn't expect.  He didn't spout out the party line.  People were offended at his message.  Wherever Jesus went, controversy and discussion followed Him.  If a postcard can get people talking about church, and get people to come to church, then that's a good thing.  I know that when they come, they are going to hear a Biblical message.

Do I Have Your Attention?

Seth Godin has an exceptionally great post today....

John Dodds points us to: Underwhelmed by It All - Los Angeles Times.  Nathaniel Johnson, a 17-year-old senior at Claremont High School who took part in the survey, spoke for the 62% of boys in his age group who like to multi-task. He's a big fan of what the computer allows him to do: "You can open five or six programs simultaneously: work on a project, type a report, watch YouTube, check e-mail and watch a movie."

If you're busy marketing like you've got my attention, you've already made a huge mistake.

I think the same is true for church.  If you're just doing church or delivering a message thinking that everybody in the audience already cares, that's a big mistake.  People are not beating down the doors looking for a great church.  People may be seeking something, but they are not automatically seeking God.  You can't assume that they care what you say just becaues you are a pastor.

Oak Leaf Signs

A couple people have asked me about the signs we put up for Oak Leaf.  We got 100 one sided, two color yard signs from these guys (for about $3 each) and put them around town before our first preview service.  Then we picked them up and put them back out last weekend.  It was a pretty inexpensive way to spread the word and generate some buzz.   They are not as effective now because of the political signs, but I think it was a good thing.  And hey, I've noticed a couple other churches putting out signs now, so when you're getting copied, I guess that's a good thing! :)  Here are a couple of my thoughts on the signs for you pastors and planters.

1.  We were not trying to communicate information, simply go for recognition.  When someone invites them, or they get a doorhanger or a mailout or a balloon, we want something to jog their memory.
2.  We want people to see the red leaf.
3.  People can't drive past a sign and write down a phone number, so we only give a web address.
4.  We're obviously trying to play up the movie theater angle, since that's the one thing that automatically makes us difference from every other church in town.
5.  It's best to put them out and take them up.  We also moved them around town a bit.  If you leave it in the same place, people quit paying attention.  You'll get more bang for your buck this way.
6.  A lot of people in Cartersville have seen the signs and told me.  We had people that came to our first preview service as the result of these signs.  I think it was a good  investment.

Fresh Ideas

Here's some great thoughts from a great website.

So why does the church constantly imitate what's already been done?

You've seen the Christianized versions of every corporate logo, changing Subway to God's Way. As lame as it is, it's one thing on a hokey Christian T-shirt. It's an entirely different thing as a church's official marketing.

I've seen so many churches borrowing from the mainstream world, tweaking logos or commercials to promote their own sermon series. How lame is that? Is parody the highest form of flattery? Are people somehow more interested because it not so subtlety reminds them of the Gap? Or is the idea to make them think it is Coca-Cola so they pay closer attention until the deceit dawns on them and they chuckle to themselves about such creative imitation? Or are people so distracted that the only chance to get their attention is to play off the success of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition?

Would the church of God please rise up and be original? We've been blessed with creativity, so let's use it to come up with something that can stand on its own, rather than make sorrowful copies of corporate imagery.