Recently I came across the twitter feed of Erwin McManus, pastor of Mosaic Church in LA. He was lucky enough to attend the annual TED conference (Technology, Education, and Design) which I follow closely through their videos (Highly Recommended). TED is a conference of the best and brightest sharing the latest and greatest from their fields. This leads to many inspiring and challenging talks.

Erwin captures that excitement in the first of these two tweets. Which were given in succession to one another.

Sitting at TED So inspiring. So I thought I would invite you into my TED experience. Today has wonderfully reaffirmed my passion to awaken humanity. February 5

Then the following day this he posted this.

Phrase “evangelical pessimism” stood out at TED. Everyone understood what speaker meant. This is why we need to change our narrative… February 6

I’m not making any comment about Erwin, simply reaffirming his statement about ‘Evangelical Pessimism’. In an earlier post we touched on this subject. Again I want to ask what brings about this pessimism that is understood beyond the walls of the church, and maybe not recognized within its own walls (or even worse, promoted from within the walls).

Why does this observation matter?

It matters because if we hope to influence the culture around us, and be a tool for God to use to draw people into the church we need to understand those who live around us. So it does go beyond just understanding that  evangelical pessimism exists (and likely extends to christian groups beyond just evangelicalism since many Americans couldn’t tell you the difference).

Then, how do we go about addressing the idea of this pessimism. Should it exist? Erwin is quite explicit that we need to change our message. So if the message needs adjustment, what needs adjusting and into what? I’ll share my thoughts in the weeks to come.

Image: A view from above by whiteafrican

We wrote about the re-design failure of Tropicana last week and this week the older style packaging should be showing back up on the store shelves. This video is from CNN showing a discussion over the new brand image. There is a fruitful interview with Linda Kaplan Thaler of the Kaplan Thaler Group Ltd.

While your church doesn’t have the market penetration and exposure that a brand like Tropicana does (or the $35 Million to dump into a re branding strategy) it does raise one last question I believe could prove beneficial for the church.

At what point does the church (any church) change their approach of ministry or marketing due to the response of those around them? Would it take five complaints? fifty? hundreds?

(hat nod Visual Culture)

Hope - Obama by Steve Rhodes

Just about two weeks ago we wrote about the legal case around the image the iconic Obama hope poster was created from. It is an issue of what constitutes fair use, and what is copyright infringement.

This issue alone could cost a church millions of dollars if ignored. Thankfully fellow bloggers over at Church Marketing Sucks came out with a three part series on fair use, from a Copyright Lawyer Richard Byrd.

Check out each of the three parts:

• Part 1 – Defining Fair Use
• Part 2 – Understanding Intent
• Part 3 – Use of the material

Yesterday it was announced by Pepsi Company (the owners of Tropicana brand Orange Juice) that the new packaging/brand that they rolled out in January for Tropicana will be removed. Over the last two months Pepsi has undergone a very aggressive re branding campaign of many of their largest products (Pepsi brands, sierra mist, mountain dew).

Now in a statement released by Pepsi Co and an article in the NY Times Pepsi says they are rolling back the brand to the much more familiar orange with the straw in it. So what was the problem?

The most telling of the criticism in the Times piece was this:

“Do any of these package-design people actually shop for orange juice?” the writer of one e-mail message asked rhetorically. “Because I do, and the new cartons stink.”

It got me thinking about the marketing that the church does. Rewording their question for a church marketer becomes something like: “Do any of us in church marking actually spend time with people outside the church?”

Churches don’t have the budgets and numbers to work with like Pepsi company so it is important that we ask very pointed questions about our desired audience to reach. There also needs to be some interaction between the people creating those campaigns and the market that they are geared towards.

In some cases this will mean designing for Christians (in the case of a youth retreat or conference), and in others for non Christians with the promotion of a sermon series or other outreach. The failure of the Tropicana re branding can help us to remember, it’s about those we are targeting, not about us designing.

Tyler Wigg-Stevenson’s Argument

His four main points boil down into (in my summary):

1. The christian life is about Grace and Love not your personal goals, so we can’t sell you something to help you attain your goals.
2. Since consumerism is based on perpetuating discontentment and satisfaction from new purchases, marketing the church follows the same model. This doesn’t reflect the biblical push to find contentment in God alone (IE not needing anything but God for our contentment).
3. Brand Relativism (um, commonly known as Brand Affiliation or Brand Association) leads people to believe that something is better than something else when they are just cars, cities, and computers. The only difference is preference. Thus ‘spiritual shoppers’ think of Christianity as only one option among many.
4. Fragmentation/Niches that are the focus of marketing campaigns are the reason for the distention and lack of unity in the church. Because we market to individual groups in relevant ways (that likely don’t appeal to everyone) we are conforming to the pattern of the world.

His conclusion cutting it down, but never the less in his words.

Consumerism is here to stay. The habits described above—self-creation, discontent, relativism, fragmentation—will become more dominant, not less, in years to come. That’s the way of the globalized economy and ascendant transnational commercial interests. We cannot defeat our situation; we can only seek to live faithfully in it…

But problems begin when we define the church as a whole using a comparison that just describes one of its attributes: i.e., treating the church as a business with a brand to promote. And then, even though there are all sorts of ways the church isn’t like a business, we begin to employ all the tools of commercial enterprise as though we were paying the body of Christ some compliment by treating it like a Fortune 500 company, with a bottom line, investor returns, supply chain, CEOS, market share, and so on. If we treat the gospel like a commodity, can we fault nonbelievers for thinking that the cross is just another logo?

My Response

While I have loads to say about his 8 page article, I will be brief, if anyone wishes me to write more on any point please simply ask in the comments section.

1. We are selling something! We are asking, just as Jesus did, for people to spend everything they have to get their right relationship with Jesus back. You might not like this, but it is the reality of scripture. That everything includes finances, life direction, goals, personality, everything. This is why the rich young ruler walked away in tears, because the cost was to great.
2. Yes true, we are called to be satisfied by God alone. Yet when Paul preached on Mars Hill I don’t recall him demanding instant life change, instead used their culture to reach them where they are in a way that made contextual/cultural sense. Much like marking a church does today… Contentment in God is a result, not a selling point. Just as being a disciple of Jesus was the selling point, not martyrdom.
3. Christianity is only one of many options. It is one we believe to be true, and we believe God to not be diminished by our choice for or against him. If you want to reach someone who doesn’t believe that you have to speak their language…
4. Did you really equate the result of niche based marketing to the bloody violence that took place in Northern Ireland? Wow. Different people groups and niches have different spiritual/physical/emotional needs and will respond to different messages. We preach differently to parents than we do to kids. I counsel a single urban mother, differently from a suburban high school male, differently from an urban farmer in his 70s.

In general I feel like he has a lot of great theology to back up his points from what i can tell (without reading his newly released book). My problem is that he seems to have forgotten the contextual nature of Christianity and I get this feeling from the article that he believes there was some idyllic point at which it was done correctly. Yet in his last paragraph he admits that those who came to Christ during his ministry expected something wholly different, and now 2000 years later we are suppose to prepare the expectations of those coming to Christ than Christ himself did?

It just seems laced with retreatism to me, as though he would rather we abandon marketing and living in a consumerist culture (even though we hold the key to escape the endless loop of consumerism). His stated objections to our strategy of proclaiming the gospel to the world and interacting with the world (as Christ himself did) make me very concerned about his conclusions.

We must market, we must place positive images alongside the sexual/consumerist material that exists in our culture or we will continue to remain sidelined and irrelevant.

I was wondering where he studied marketing that he speaks so admittedly against it, because everything I found on him says he hasn’t. He also doesn’t lead a church that would need marketing. So kind of wondering why he felt he could write this book. Any insights on that?

Background on Wigg-Stevenson

For those interested what i could find online briefly: He’s a Baptist Pastor/Preacher thought not currently residing over a church. Got his M.Div at Yale Divinity School. Found this well done interview at Homiletics Online.

*Image From Flickr/WNPR – Connecticut Public Radio Taken By Catie Talarski

So how does it mean less work? As someone in ministry (or even working full time) the prospect of being able to trim time off of our list of to-dos is very exciting. So here is how you can post on your blog, and have that update your twitter account, and Facebook status for free. Follow these 3 simple steps.

The Three Steps

1. Install & Setup TwitMe on your blog
2. Activate the Twitter facebook application (here)
3. Blog and watch the magic happen!

First you need to install (or if you have an account here at insights for church, you only need to activate) the plug-in Twitme (Download it Here). What this plug-in does is post a tweet to your twitter account whenever you post something to your blog. It does more then that but that is the excited part for us here. All you need to do is supply your user name and password for it to work.

Next you activate the twitter Facebook application. With hundreds of millions of people on Facebook and some tens of millions joining each month this is a dynamic and quick way to update your status.

One more quick trick

Facebook has a feature that allows you to import your blog posts directly into Facebook into their ‘notes’ application by editing the import settings. All you need to do is paste in the URL to your feed (for word press users this is the address of your blog + ‘/feed/’ so the feed for us here is http://nineteen05.insightsforchurch.com/feed/).

Why do all this?

One of the biggest secrets to advertising is customer impressions. How many interactions does someone have with your brand/you. As a church leader this generally translates to this:

The more times someone hears from you during the week, the more your message and relevance increases for them, leading to more life change, and a greater commitment to Christ.

If it is as simple as taking 5 minutes to set something up, to maximize on what you are already doing. I say go for it!

Unsure of what that restaurant is? Its a McDonald’s in Tokyo (website) that is one of a small few design to introduce the Japanese to the Quarter Pounder. So often in marketing we hear about branding and image recognition being the important purpose of our brand. That is the reason companies spend so much money on television and magazine advertisements.

I love the minimal design, simply a red line around the black framed windows, one photo, and some nice brushed steel.

(via @nedwright, Core77)

It seems like everyone and there mom is on Facebook these days. What started as a school project has become a global phenomena in a matter of years. While there still isn’t a clear picture as to how these social networks can help organizations meet their goal, it is clear that a presence can have a positive effect.

Having worked developing social networking sites beginning in 1999 I hope to shed some light on the subject by explaining the differences, and suggesting how to effectively use the services for your church or organization.   Please give feedback at the end as well.

What is the difference between Facebook and MySpace?

MySpace is often cited as the fore bearer to Facebook. While chronologically correct there are many differences between the two services. The most crucial to understand is the way they go about networking. MySpace has traditionally had a very broad sense of the word. Everyone was a part of a giant pool, and then you made friends within that pool. Facebook ignored the giant pool and instead made many localize pools based on proximity. Initially these networks were geared around universities and from here they added companies and metropolitan locations.

While it doesn’t sound like a big difference the sense of community was drastically different. For college students who were using MySpace they were in the same pool with the rest of the world, and now with Facebook they were in the same pool with their peers at school. It became instantly easier to locate friends online. In the early days as well official school email accounts were required to register with the site and this minimized the number of fake accounts created (this is no longer the case at all).

Instead of creating personal networks out of the Global pool like MySpace, Facebook letting users interact in pre-formed communities set them up to overtake MySpace as the social network king of the Internet.

Because of this takeover of popularity the bulk of this post will focus on Facebook, but the principles and concepts and apply to other social networking sites as well (MySpace included).

How to we leverage them for our Church?

As I mentioned in the introduction, everyone is trying to figure this out. It is important to understand the Facebook business model in a general sense: they sell information. Everyone who is on the site fills out a semi-detailed profile that Facebook analyzes against the whole and they can then identify trends. It is basically a global focus group. So we should not expect to make any money from our work in social networking.

We can build up our community, and this is the major reason to get involved in these social networking sites. Likely a church of 200 members I would expect to have between 80 and 130 members on Facebook (far less for MySpace). With so many members of a church already using a service like Facebook it makes sense to enter into that service with the intention of offering additional interactions with the church.

This is the crucial point to remember. Our social networking work should be focused on meaningful interactions with our members. These interactions change from network to network because each network has a different focus. Facebook has traditionally focused on wall posts (public messages between friends), notes (private messages between friends), photos sharing, and groups (essentially it is a profile for a group/organization very similar to a member profile with a wall, notes, and photos).

If you church doesn’t already have a Facebook group, I would encourage you to make one. It would only take 10 minutes for someone with an existing Facebook account. Most groups don’t do much activity-wise but are a way to self-identify with a group of people.

Small groups have also made dynamic use of groups by communicating with members through them, posting photos and video following events, and helping people remember names (at least I use it for the last part and I know there are more).

This Issue of Friends

Most social networking sites have some sort of friendship system integrated into there community system. This raises the question, who do we extend/accept friendship from? I would personally avoid going out and adding hundreds of friends within days of creating an account or group. However its important to note that as ministers we need to focus on inclusiveness and not exclusivity.

Being friends with someone on Facebook doesn’t mean you have to get coffee once a month, or even need to go out of your way to say ‘Hi’ to them more then you did before. Friendship on Facebook (and many other sites) is a way to signify some level of relationship.

If someone adds you as a friend (and you do know who they are in real life) I would encourage you to think twice before not confirming their request. While subtle, it is an indication to them that there is not a connection between the two of you. If this is a member of your church, or neighborhood it sends a message that you will minister to them, but not ever open up to them personally.

What to use for Content?

One thing I strongly cation against when posting anything to your profile, or elsewhere, to avoid the desire to post what you wish were true, or to exude the image you wish others had of you. Don’t write under hobbies ‘Memorizing the Whole Bible’ unless you are well on your way. If your favorite movie happens to be rated ‘R’ it is still your favorite movie (mine is Gladiator, then the LOTR trilogy).

The Internet has ushered in an age of unprecedented openness and authenticity if we are willing to embrace it. As ministers this can feel difficult because we often struggle with our image as leaders of the church. It is important to know that your members also struggle, and need to see that. While I might not make sense to list your favorite books or movies from the pulpit, it can be done easily online helping your member feel closer to you because of it.

Whatever content you post to any of the subjects we will discuss will either make your members feel stronger identity with you, or feel distant from you. The closer they can identify with you, the more opportunities you have given the Spirit to speak to them through you everywhere else.

How have your or your church used networks like Facebook or MySpace successfully?

Part of my daily reading includes a number of top design blogs which point their readers to portfolios of their peers on a regular basis. I have long loved art and design on the digital platform.

Check out I Am Always Hungry. The design is brilliant, and the work is very impressive. My only complaint is the clock on their site that reminded me I spent 35 minutes looking at everything they had posted.

If you have a few minutes check it out, beautiful.

30 Essential PDF Documents ever designer should download

You can never have enough references, resources, and samples to look to for help or inspiration.