Christian Church Search

If you visited here before you will find that we have referred to Church Marketing Sucks. You may not like the name (I didn’t choose it) but some of the information is useful. It’s useful for my own ministry and I hope it gives you food for thought. Spending time on a good logo and tagline isn’t a bad idea. In fact it can be really important. However the article suggests that what your ministry stands for take on a an added “complete” aspect in your ministry. I hope you find the article useful. A portion is available here.

Brands Are Bigger Than Logos

by Scott Magdalein, Guest Blogger

If you read Church Marketing Sucks often, then you’ll see the word “brand” come up here and there. It’s used as a noun, meaning the collection of your logo, letterhead, visual identity, design guide, etc. It’s also used as a verb, as in the action of standardizing all those things mentioned above.

Here’s another point-of-view: If traditional marketing is dead (not yet, but almost), then you’re going to have to move beyond the traditional view of branding, which tells you to get a good logo and plaster it everywhere. Your brand needs to become more built-in, natural and part of everything you say, do and think — not just everything you publish.

Most church staff are always on the look out for good material, help and resources to make their communications even better. Here are several from Church Marketing Sucks. It provides information, examples and suggestions from many different people who are currently working on projects. It just might be worth a visit for you.

Church Marketing Lab: Welcome Displays, Bulletins and More

As the Church Marketing Lab nears 2,000 members, we want to remind you that anyone can take part. Whether you’re a designer, a person with a question or someone with an opinion, it’s the perfect place for you. And if you prefer the non-cyber world, check out the Local Labs. Here’s a taste of what’s been going on in our Church Marketing Lab this week.

Our own The Christian Forum is meant to open a door of communication for events, ministry events and other discussion. However, we haven’t really pushed it. So here is one of the entries and we hope you will also go to the forum and join for free and be a part of the discussion. Remember the ministry openings and events is strictly for churches related to the Restoration Movement.

Open dates available for 2008 Faith Promise Program speaking engagements.

Missions Work:

21 years at Mountain Mission School, Grundy, Va., served as teacher, athletic director, principal, Vice President for Academic Affairs and public relations. Have spoken for dozens of Faith Promise programs around the country both as a missionary and minister. I currently serve as Senior Minister of Christ’s Church, Ocala, FL.

Education:

Ed.S. Curriculum & Instruction, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia
M.S. English, Radford University, Radford, Virginia
B.A. English, University of Virginia Wise, Virginia
B.S. Sacred Literature, Kentucky Christian University, Grayson, Kentucky

Contact Info:

Jim Thompson
jim@ccomc.org
352-598-9202

 Now and then you find something you didn’t know existed and then find that it’s interesting. The thoughts from Phil Vischer on church communication and it’s relationship with the gospel message is interesting. He is both a visionary and big dreamer. Something our churches would benefit more from. Perhaps you might find the following from Church Marketing Sucks interesting for some ideas to begin having bigger dreams for your ministry… dreams the Lord may give you to extend beyond the box.

Churches as a Media Platform

Veggie Tales founder Phil Vischer has been blogging about his big dreams for his new company, Jellyfish (if you’re not familiar with Vischer’s departure from Big Idea, you should read his book, Me, Myself & Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables). So far he’s blogged about two problems:

• “Problem #1 – we need to raise a generation of Christians who know what it means to live out the Gospel.”
• “Problem #2 – Christian kids media is dying for lack of a platform.”

He’s gone on to talk about a platform to address these problems, which he called the “world’s smallest TV network.” God speed, Phil.

But I’ve got another idea: Why can’t the church be the platform?

Church Marketing Sucks (forgive the name… it’s not mine) often has interesting articles and insight into Church Marketing and related issues. Here is one that might interest your ministry.

Best Practices for Internet Ministry: Part 1

For the past year I have been conducting a research project on what makes a successful Internet ministry (see the specifics here). The goal of the research is to understand how churches and other ministries are implementing their web presence and then to use the results to develop a framework for successful Internet ministry.

I have spent many hours interviewing church web ministry leaders to better understand the various decisions they have made and processes they have used. Over the past couple of months, as many of you may know, I have surveyed over 240 ministries (which includes 88 churches) to try to get some deeper insights into their web implementations….

The details are very sketch and for good reason as the case is pending. With so many people attending it really doesn’t surprise me that this came up. As usual the article appears to make the church out to be the at fault but if you read the article the man leaves a lot of questions that he doesn’t answer. I don’t expect this to go far.

 A Louisville man has filed a lawsuit against Southeast Christian Church, the Louisville Metro Police Department and an off-duty officer who was working security for the church last year, claiming the officer used excessive force while removing the man from church property.

It is the second lawsuit in the past six months filed against Southeast alleging assault by off-duty officers working security for the church.

In August, a Louisville couple filed a lawsuit against Southeast and two corrections officers who direct traffic for the church, claiming the officers “assaulted and battered” the pair during a stop after a church service. That case is pending in federal court.

The latest lawsuit, filed by Martin Buckminster, claims he had an appointment to see a marriage counselor at Southeast on Feb. 12, 2007, when an off-duty Louisville Metro Police officer was alerted and asked him to leave the church and “never set foot” on the property again.

Buckminster, who filed the lawsuit in Jefferson Circuit Court, claims the officer grabbed him and led him to the parking lot. When Buckminster asked to see the officer’s identification, the officer cursed him and slammed Buckminster against a patrol car, striking him with his knee, according to the suit.

The lawsuit claims the Louisville Metro Police Department did not properly train the officer.