So how can it help you or your church? Here’s 3 ways (and hopefully 3 reasons) for you to develop a Social Media strategy for your church!

1. Measure their Contentment – Social media relies on community engagement (and content). That’s why there are comment forms (or status updates) on almost every one. Wouldn’t it be good to know what your congregation is talking about throughout the week? Or the takeaway message from your latest sermon? How about hearing testimonies of your audience before a sermon is delivered — and maybe even use them for an illustration! All of this can easily be done through Facebook, twitter, blogging or youtube.
2. Monitor other Churches – Now more than ever, you can check out the blogs, statuses or tweets of the church down the road and see what they’re doing or talking about. Or how about following the great leaders of our faith online! Imagine what you can glean from them and their experience. You may even start an online friendship with them. The Christian community is a large one — and social media helps you have a voice in it. Or at the least, an ear.
3. Save Money – Think about how restricting your bulletin (worship guide) is. It needs to be printed. It’s hand-delivered during a service. If someone isn’t there, they don’t get it. It’s limited in how much information can be in it. People are tired of getting a huge book — and most don’t read it. Instead, imagine an online ability to notify your congregational groups with the information they particularly need, and when they need it. And most of all it’s free. All you need to do is be consistent, be reliable, and then listen for feedback. It’s not perfect, but it saves time, money and drives people to your website. And what’s best… it allows your congregation to share the announcements and invitations to a wider community that you wouldn’t be able to. The joy of word-of-mouth!

Want to get started? It’s quite easy and straight-forward. You can find the ways to set all this up online. Or you can give me a call or email — I’d love to help you.

I remember in the mid ’90s when the advertising agency I worked for got “internet service”. It was through the phone lines (think slow!) and essentially we purchased a modem that allowed one of our computers to attach to this world wide web. I remember thinking “so, what can we do on it?”. E-mail was explained to us and then this foreign idea that people can advertise and give information on it. I was spell-bound.

The agency sent me away to learn how other agencies were developing “websites” using a programming language called HTML. WHAM! That’s where the internet lost me. It became something that “others” were going to have to do. My brother consistently taught me that “creatives” can’t operate in the programming world.

It wasn’t until much later, when I would work with programmers, that I realized I could design for the internet. But, like most designers of that era, we took our “print” mentality onto the web. We essentially used the internet to post a brochure online.

At the time, the best thing about the internet was the way we could break our pages into categories and then segment them for organizational purpose. Sound familiar?

By the late 90’s and early 2000’s, everyone realized that the internet was not going away, and they needed a website. It would save money and help in the distribution of knowledge. Churches jumped on the bandwagon about this time.

In 2004 or 2005, programmers who took all their secondary education training in online tools (ultimately the first generation of internet geeks), figured out the inherent difference between web and print.

• They could integrate video and movement with words.
• They could ask questions and get answers.
• They could “hear” from their audience, rather than just “speak” to them.

Web 2.0 was born.

But sadly, the Church is slow catching up. Many are barely holding on to Web 1.0. They still have brochures online rather than interactive, engaging websites. Pages are too dense with copy as the average surfer will only spend a few seconds on a page before moving on. They will also only click 3 times to find information before losing interest.

Church websites have to change! You’re working on a website that isn’t working and you know it!

How? Well, there are many tools available if you want to do it yourself. Wordpress delivers a great foundation so you can update your content. But be careful! It’s not all about the tool, make sure you take the time to simplify your content. And be aware of eye-tracking technology that shows where people look on a web page.

No one comes to your website to see the mechanism — but rather, they come for your content. Think interactive; forms, polls, video, online giving, etc. Have fun with it — look what others are doing successfully.

We do projects like these every day and we’d like to help you. Especially if you’re a church. We’re content specialist — and we work with virtually any budget. We just want your church to look great and attract (and keep) an audience seeking a relationship with God! If we can help you, let me know!

For a few years I’ve heard a lot of great things about Catalyst. This is their 10th year, so I figured I should attend to experience it for myself. It’s in Atlanta (Duluth) this coming week.

Their structure seems to be about the same as other church conferences, smaller sessions and several large sessions. The biggest thing setting Catalyst apart from the others is the size. They just announced it sold out — so almost 13,000 people will be coming from all over the world to participate.

Next week (in my blog) I’ll let you know how it went and some of the lessons I learned. And I plan on learning a lot!

People go to conferences for many reasons. From my conversations with lots of Pastors and Ministry Leaders, people go for one of 4 reasons:

1. Fellowship. People coming to the conferences love to talk, eat and get together. God created us to be social beings and to join in local bodies called the Church. A conference is a great realization that we’re all interconnected into the larger Church! I’m looking forward to meeting fellow laborers in Atlanta.
2. Inspiration. There are always amazing speakers at these things. The cream of the crop. And often, I’ve read their books, so it’s fascinating to hear them talk about their writings and become inspired to doing greater things.
3. Replication. Often, attendees are frantically writing down ideas that happen at other church. They ask questions about the practical steps to achieve the amazing results in their own congregation. A word of caution though: Remember that every congregation is different! Don’t expect that everything will work exactly like you’ve heard. Look at your own “DNA” and see how you can personalize the steps. You should have your own vision, rather than ripping off someone else!
4. Fun. OK, I’ll be honest. I’m looking to have a good time. And I hope I run into others doing the same! I don’t have to speak or do anything at this one. Yeehaw! Be sure to email me (mark{at}pinpointcreative.com) and let me know you’re going to Catalyst too and perhaps we can meet.

I’m looking forward to being blessed, meeting and talking with lots, and coming home with a laptop full of ideas I can pass on to clients. Wish me a good time!

We’ve all been there (whether for vacation or business), you know you have to get ready to go on the trip and as the date arrives, you start to think of all the things you’ll need to pack. I’m a procrastinator when it comes to actually filling the suitcase. Usually just a couple of hours before I leave, I go through my closet and decide what would be the most appropriate things to take. This usually means that I throw a few extra items in that will coordinate with each other. And I end up over-packing.

Well, you’re getting ready to take yourself and your congregation to a destination. That’s your vision. And when it comes to packing your suitcase, you need to take the necessities. You have to take your “dreamlining” list and anything that is required to reach your dreams. Keep your audience in mind and consider what your church will look like once you’ve achieved your vision.

Imagine all your benefits. Be sure to pack your top 3 as we discussed in the Chapter.

Your filled suitcase is your “brand”. It’s every thing you need to promote your church.

But to make it simpler, we attach your brand to some visual items. We live in a visual society, and “the visual” is easier to remember. The right visual brand, will attract the audience you desire.

So you need:

• A Simple, yet Dynamic Logo. The definition of simple? An elementary school child should be able to draw your logo from memory. If they can’t, it’s too complex. Just look quickly at the top 5 companies of the Fortune 500 companies and you’ll see that their logos are pure simplicity. Be sure to do the same!
• A Color Suit. Like packing for a trip, it’s more effective if you have everything that coordinates in color. Imagine a men’s suit: The actual suit (the largest amount of color), the shirt (the medium amount of color) and the tie (the small amount of unexpected color). Once you decide on your Primary, Secondary and Tertiary color suit, use those colors every where (in the amounts you’ve chosen). Use your tertiary color only randomly; it adds some personality to the mix.
• Catchy, Simple Slogan. We call that your brand positioning. It’s a short (5 words or so) message that communicates (or can be assigned to) your key benefit. It needs to be memorable and evoke an emotional cord with your audience.

There are also two audiences for your Church to consider: internal (your current membership) and the external (your community, not yet committed to a local church).

Here’s the additional things that you may need (feel free to over-pack!):

Internal Communication Suit:

• Website: Simple, interactive, engaging, professional. With content that reflects your benefits in some way; or leave it out if it’s off point! Remember that the average person spends 10 seconds or less on a page and will rarely ever click more than 3 times in your site.
• Worship Guides: A lot of churches are getting creative with these. Keep them simple and point people to your website for the details.
• E-Blasts: Gather emails from your congregation and save time and money communicating to them in a branded professional way. Be consistent with message, content, design and timing! Be regular without filling their email box.

External Communication Suit:

• Website: The same as above, just make sure that their’s enough content to woo a person from your community to your Church. Statistics say that they’re interested in your doctrine (what you believe), where you’re located (and how to get there) and who’s the Pastor.
• Direct Mail: Target a certain geographic area, buy a mailing list (or hand deliver) — then produce a useful direct mail piece. Put yourself in the community’s shoes and give them enough information to entice them to your location or website. Be professional, and promote your positioning. Only!
• Service Projects: The Church without doors. Get out into the community and serve. Be sure that everyone has the “message” about your Church ready to be given — either in word or printed.

So there you have it! It’s easier written than done though. That’s why our PinPoint team works with Churches. We love to help walk you through the process and provide the materials you need. We’d love to help you achieve all of this. Contact us today to get started with a free consultation! We help you Communicate. In Unison!

Proverbs 16:18 says that, “pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall.” Perhaps this biblical admonition should make step one obvious.

According to Jim Collins, when he analyzed the failing businesses in his study, they all started with Hubris bred by success. I believe that, like scripture says, Church demise starts with excessive pride too.

According to the book, “How the Mighty Fall”, the author, Mr. Collins, points to various types of hubris. I hadn’t thought that there’s different ways to be prideful, but as he points out, pride acts out in several ways. Often, if we think that hubris looks a certain way, we may overlook the fact that we (or your church leadership) are exhibiting this sin.

Success Entitlement that Leads to Arrogance. A Pastor who is wildly successful often starts becoming confident in his decisions. It then gets to a point that “Success” is deserved. Pastors start to act like they can change everything and anything — and never be concerned that they will fail. Changing service times, rearranging Sunday School classes or altering service structures. I’m sure there are lots more. Change is fine, but success isn’t guaranteed. When concerns or failure is discussed, a hubris leader will ignore the negative and expect success.

Neglect of the “Main Thing”. We’ve all seen the circus act where a person starts spinning a plate on a stick, then they start others, and even more. Eventually the person has to go back to the first plate and take care of it, or it’ll fall. Once there’s so many plates in the air, it becomes harder and harder to keep the “first plate” spinning. Pastoral leadership has to determine what their “main thing” is for their church (that helped create success in the first place) and make sure it’s getting the attention it deserves. Many Pastors don’t even know what their “key service” is — and they seek so many random things (expecting them to succeed) that everything eventually crashes.

“What” replaces “Why”. A congregation or leaders become so involved in the “what” of programming, that the programs take the place of the “why” of the program. Understanding and insight must always rule. But the arrogance of some Pastoral leadership forgets why the Church is having success and simply start more and more programs — and of course, expect success. Preaching that the congregation must be at services is different from teaching on the support of believers and encouraging on another.

Decline in Learning Orientation. Almost every successful leader that I know has an insatiable desire to learn more. They study and ask questions to everyone they run into. Even at the height of success, they continue to seek ways to get better from others and sample opinions of people in their audience. This is why deacon boards are in place — much like boards of directors — they offer insight. Once hubris taints the leader, they start to feel like they have all the answers, so often you hear the leader “telling” instead of “asking”.

Discounting the Role of God. Jim Collins calls it luck, but as a believer, I invalidate luck. God is in control of every situation, and when good things happen, it’s because of God. Period. I believe that the Proverbs 16:18 warning indicates a fall because, we as leaders, start to feel that it’s our rules, policies, programs, intelligence that leads to success — and God doesn’t enter the picture at all. I’m not discounting all those important things, but they aren’t “key” to success. God is.

If you’re like me, once I read these in the Collin’s book, I prayed that I certainly hope that pride isn’t in my life. “Lord, please wash it from any of my thoughts and actions”.

But for those Churches that don’t pull back from this Step, they are destined for the next. We’ll review that next week — I post these Sunday evening.

What are your thoughts about pride? Hubris? What are some examples you’ve seen in Churches?

On the other hand, I continue to hear about exciting Ministries that are succeeding, improving and growing.

I’m often questioned, “Why do some Churches succeed and others fail”?

First, I don’t have all the answers. Second, I find it hard to say that I’m an expert on this topic, however, I’m an active observer of the church and I want it to succeed. So, I set out to start examining some of the stories and started to consider why disaster is looming over some local bodies of believers. Then as a summer vacation book, I started to read, “How the Mighty Fall” by Jim Collins.

Many of you have read his book, “Good to Great” and have gleaned many great (no pun intended) teachings of why companies have succeeded. Not to reiterate the entire book, but to summarize in an overly simplified fashion, “Good to Great” (G2G) examines and compares companies that have had meteoric success to see if there is a pattern. Then Jim reveals the statistics that led to patterns. And from the book, one can march their organization through similar steps and therefore become “great” too!

Because I’m a branding student, I often have taken my knowledge of secular Marketing Communications and adapted it for the Church. It’s not a perfect fit, but I believe the Church organization needs to follow basic business principles or it risks failure.

And “How the Mighty Fall” (HTMF) is all about failure.

In an opposite approach to his G2G book, Jim examines why companies fail. And he expertly researches and compares companies that were once great and have nose-dived into failure. From watching how similar companies in the same categories rose above “external problems” (the same ones that could be blamed for the failures of others), he purports 5 steps that are similar in all the failed companies.

Like G2G, I believe that HTMF has tons of information for the Church and why I think Churches suffer sometimes to failure. The good news is, as the book states, that a company (and I believe, Church) can recover from all the sequential steps except for the 5th. And even then, with the living organism called the Local Church, God can even bring it back from the 5th possibly.

Ready to learn? Are you ready to change if you find yourself in one of these steps? Every Sunday for the next 5 weeks, I’ll be posting each of the steps, one at a time, and tying them to the Church. My thanks and credit to the wisdom and research of Jim Collins.

We’re always glad when clients ask us to put on our creative caps! But, even more importantly, we like when they know that there are limits (sin). If there’s one thing that makes a church newsworthy, it’s sin. We shouldn’t ever attempt to TRY to get in the newspaper for that reason. Obviously!

In order to get something noticed, it has to be in one of a few categories:

• Weird – way out of the ordinary
• Funny – unexpected; but brings a smile or a chuckle
• Innovative – so creative that it stimulates discussion
• Newsworthy – water cooler discussion worthy

For this particular church, we decided to incorporate all of these. We created a small National Enquirer looking flier that “twisted” the news from this local church. It contained “in-your-face” pictures and outlandish headlines.

The first thing that people did when opening their mail was to scratch their heads about this flier and to start to smile with the oddities that it contained. Visitor attendance increased for several weeks after they did the mail drop. It worked.

Another church asked us to help develop the World’s Largest Easter Egg Hunt.

Not an easy task. There’s a reason that everyone isn’t in the Guiness Book.

Thanks to a cooperative partnership, Hershey donated 250,000 chocolate easter eggs that needed to be hidden. The church wasn’t large enough, nor the church property. We looked at the local community park and determined that it too wasn’t large enough.

BTW, it would take almost 6 acres of land if you (on average) hid an Easter egg every square foot.

After a call to the city about this anticipated event, they closed down the whole downtown city core so we could hide the eggs. They even threw in a meeting place in front of the city hall to start the event (which included the gospel message). Almost 10,000 kids participated!

Another church asked us to create a break-through message. Because the average member was in the 20-30 age demographic and the music/message was quite edgy, we brainstormed and developed the positioning: “Not your Grandparent’s Church”. Then the church plastered billboards, posters and brochures all around town. Within the month, the church had doubled in size.

Another Church wanted to do a Sunday School emphasis. They didn’t want the “usual”, they wanted a break-through direct mail piece. Their Superintendent of Sunday School only had one concern. And it’s a concern I often hear from churches. They didn’t want their Sunday School program to be seen as babysitting.

After the Executive Pastor and I had a discussion, we decided to do just that!

We created a direct mail postcard that invited the community to drop their kids off so they could have their Sunday mornings free of children.

It was a success.

The kids took a flier home each week explaining the moral principles that they were learning at the church. Within a few weeks, parents were coming to the church to find out more. They wanted to get the encouragement and messages that the kids were getting.

I could go on and on.

So, what are you considering that would be weird, different thinking for a “regular” church. Again, stop short of sin! Comment below about some outlandish ideas you’ve tried (and whether they’ve been a success or not) or something you’re considering! We need to be “salt” to our communities — and that means we must stand out!

I like Twitter more than Facebook.

I’ve learned so much from it! Just interacting with the website has taught me a lot — but also, I’m learning so much from the people I’m following.

I was talking to a Pastor recently who was inquiring about why he should join the twittering and here’s what I told him. Simple things I believe that Pastors will learn — even in a few months. For these reasons, Twitter (a free subscription) is worth a lot of money!

1. Economy of Words. All the jokes that can be said for this point would minimize the impact that Twitter will have. So I’ll abstain. Twitter limits you to 140 characters for each post. The one thing I don’t like about Facebook is people go on and on (and on) about something that takes too much time to read and could have been said quite succinctly. When you have a limit, it forces you to be brief and it hones the ability to say things quickly and effectively. Now, all of us, including Pastors need this ability! We’re far too wordy in this culture. Twitter has single-handedly taken the blog genre and created a micro-blog genre. It allows you to enter into blogging without a lot of commitment — and say something in a short fashion!
2. People Want to Follow you. Many times I’ve heard the axiom — if you are leading, take the time to turn around occassionally and see if people are following. If not, you’re only out for a walk. I figured that I would try Twitter and no one would be interested in hearing from/about me. I would be one of the accounts with no followers (9% have none; 35% have fewer than 10). But I came discovered that if you write regularly, fill in your description, and tell people about the fact you Twitter — PEOPLE WILL FOLLOW YOU! Amazing, eh?! It took almost 3 months to get 100 people to follow me. Now in the last week I’ve had over 50 new followers. Are they people I know? Absolutely not. Which is cool that I have an impact outside of my regular groups. As a Pastor, you can have people in your church follow you AND also expand your territory to a much wider audience.
3. The ability to Edit. As a creative writer, I often need to edit. For the advertising business, it’s important to get a script under 30 seconds or the words to fit a certain space. Twitter has allowed me to get really good at aiming for the 140 characters and using every one. Granted, there’s times that I want to say so much more, but I am forced to edit to the space. As a Pastor you have a limit on what you can say in the time that is allotted you for a sermon. I’m sure you want to say more, but you have to have the ability to pick the best points and edit the information down to something that is still grasped, yet within the time frame. Twitter will help you!
4. What Topics are Current. I use TweetDeck on my computer to view tweets throughout the day. On this simple program, you can create a column and can see what is tweeted about right now (it’s called TwitScoop). The larger the point size of the word in the list, the more the discussion worldwide. The other day I was showing this function to a client and “Maddon” was huge along with other smaller words. I went to Google and searched for “Maddon”, and sure enough 4 minutes previous, John Maddon had just retired. Can you imagine how this could help you with relevant sermons? You can instant see the common words of 6-10 million people who twitter all over the world. Or you can enter specific words into the search function, and instantly read the tweets of people who are talking about that topic. Talk about research!

Now, there are lots of other reasons to use Twitter, and I’ve written about them in the past, but hopefully you’ll join and try it, based on these 4! Please be sure to follow me: markmac1023. I’ll look for you there!

This integrated process is called Design Build.

To view this process from afar, it seems perfect. Pastor Rickie Rush and his members are so excited to see the building take shape and they anxiously await their first service in the new building. They’ll stream into the entrances and will instantly be taken-aback by the huge aquarium that you either walk by or THROUGH in order to get into the 4200 seat auditorium. Once in their seats, they’ll feel surrounded by God’s Spirit as 3 gigantic screens and a state-of-the-art audio-video-lighting system ignites emotion and excitement.

All this for the purpose of winning the lost to Christ.

But when you think about the entire process, it’s baffling to think that a $34 Million building can be produced. There are so many complexities that need to be supervised.

I walked though the building a few times. Once with the contracting supervisor, then the lead architect, and finally with the Pastor. Each person pointed out interesting details:

• The entrance for the scuba divers to enter the aquariums (to feed the fish and clean the tanks).
• The cabling infrastructure to organize the miles of wires that circulate throughout the hidden areas of the church.
• The recesses in the walls where the members can bring the “things” that they’ve left behind to follow Jesus.
• The area for the multitude of ushers and volunteers to go and assemble and relax.
• The many extra woman’s bathrooms to accommodate a usual bottleneck.
• The runway area around the ENTIRE worship center for the Pastor to “roam” and teach.
• …on and on I could go.

The cost-effective manner that this building was done honors God and Stewardship. It’s also less stressful and allows for engaging the church into the process. It’s called Design Build. I highly endorse it!

Barron is one of the lead companies in the National Association of Church Design Builders (NACDB) and utilizes this integrated procedure seamlessly to assist the church.

Here’s a condensed version of the process as demonstrated on this amazing project:

• Charette: a unique design brainstorming process that hears the desires of the Pastoral Team and members.
• Architectural Design: the people who actually brainstorm with you design to your budget because they have direct access to the estimation teams on the “construction” side. This solves so many issues!
• Engineering: their engineer teams work together as a support for the overall design and build. They know the entire project and work as a team to make sure the master plan can be fulfilled with municipality codes.
• Guaranteed Maximum Price: this is so crucial! Because everyone is working together, no one points fingers at another process to blame them for an “unknown.” Now that’s refreshing!

All design builders don’t work EXACTLY the same way, but the process is available in your area too. Just contact the NACDB and they can point you to the closest builder in your area that specializes in this process AND loves the church.

While you’re there, you can find other companies (like us!) who love the House of Worship building process AND God’s people!

Living near the halfway point between our former Canadian home and the winter warmth of Florida allows us to enjoy many visitors stopping by. “It’s a great place to stop on our trip south” we often hear. Or “it’s so convenient!” is the other often-quoted benefit.

This week, we’ve had my wife’s sister and brother-in-law visiting with their 3 and 1 year-old. Now, we have a 13 and 15 year old; but having the youngsters with us is a reminder of what we’ve quickly forgotten. Crying, giggling, diapers, the prep time to leave, toys on the floor, etc.

Visitors make life unpredictable and enjoyable all at the same time. Even in a church.

Why do people visit your church? I certainly hope you HAVE visitors!

I’ve visited a lot of churches. As a special speaker, a soloist and just visiting to experience the church. Sometimes it’s a good experience and other times it’s awkward to say the least.

It’s up to you to ensure that a Visitor has an experience that will generate another visit.

Here’s 6 ways to ensure that.

• Know who they are: All churches need to have a mechanism to find out who the visitors are when they come. And try to find out how they heard about you. This helps you to determine where to spend addition communications resources and where to cut back. Our Pastor (when I was growing up in a small church) used to ask from the pulpit. For most churches, that’s not done any more.
• Find out why they chose to come: Everyone attends for a reason. If you don’t know why they are “trying your church out”, then you won’t know the expectations that exist.
• Discover if they’ll be back: There are some travellers who chose your church to attend one time, and then there are those who just moved to the neighborhood and need a place to worship. Some might think that the first group isn’t important, however, if you have a regular amount of them, perhaps you could start a ministry for business visitors (or vacationers) or maybe provide a meal to minister to them.

This week has been a great week with family. Because we knew that they wanted to relax and enjoy some down time (the purpose of their visit), it helped us plan their experience.

We also took the time to look through the house for areas that little fingers could get into. And we made sure that we reinforced that we wanted their return. It’s always great to have people stopping in. Just try to look through THEIR eyes.

So what about your church? Here are the 3 additional fundamental things you MUST do in order to create a successful visitor ministry:

• Welcome, Signage and First Impressions: Make sure that someone (or group) is in charge of making your visitors feeling welcome. And remember that (like the Five Love Languages), there are different ways to make your guests welcome. Like giving them a gift, telling them how special they are, granting a warm handshake, spending some quality time with them or perhaps offering to do something for them. Also, make sure proper signage is in place to find critical areas (nursery, bathrooms, worship center, classes, etc). And make sure you walk-through your church (looking through THEIR eyes) to identify what their first impressions are — look for stains, broken things and old things that need renewing.
• Connections and Followup: Once your visitors feel welcome and you’ve determined that they have the potential to return, start thinking about ways to involve them in your ministry. The more of your membership they meet (and learn their names) or tasks that involve them, the better the chance of return. Be creative in the way you find out their contact info; then make sure you contact them within a few days. Be honest, tell them you want them to come back. If they happen to be honest with you and tell you they aren’t interested, ask them why! They just might be one of the first people to tell you the truth about your church.
• Plan for Attracting More Visitors: Once you know “who” and “why”, then look for other visitors in that category. Pursue them, or risk declining attendance.

Remember, visitors add to your church. Literally! Christ said to “Go and tell” – visitors make it easier for you since they have come to you. Make sure you share the love of Christ with them.