Your church marketing worked.

New people that have never been to your church before walk through the doors.  So what do you do?  

Do you accost them and demand they fill out the “visitor card” so you can stalk them or nag them like a telemarketer?  Do you have a committee that instantly has a dozen people “friend” them on Facebook out of the blue?  Do you ask them to stand-up in front of everyone during service and make them stand out literally like a sore thumb with the intention of making them feel “welcome”?

One tactic that is widespread is the first time visitor bag. . . A goodie bag filled with marketing collateral that probably hardly gets read, along with some tchotchke or knicknacks that are are usually branded with your church logo or carries a cross or a dove or an icon of the bible.

Here’s some ideas to keep this tactic fresh:

• Get Out of Offering Card
• Digital Media Download Card
• Chocolate Bar
• Shirt
• Sunglasses Visor Clip
• Coupons for services by church members (like babysitting)

What did you find in a first time gift big when you visited your currently minstry? Anything out of the ordinary”

We’re in the 11th hour before Christmas Eve services here at Liquid Church and our Church Online team is totally pumped about our first ever Christmas Virtual Choir that we’re pulling together.

What started as an interesting idea to allow our Church Online community to participate in our church-wide services, has become a great tool to talk about Christmas at church — and invite family and friends to one of the 6 services being held on Saturday at our campuses as well as 2 services for Church Online.

Since there is some novelty in a webcam- or “YouTube Christmas Choir” it has to potential to draw in some people that might be sitting on the fringes of the crowd.  I love that aspect of it.

So our video producer and media team has been rocking it all night since the deadline for submitting individual renditions of Silent Night over the web. . . And here’s a first peek at the Virtual Christmas Choir which will sing Silent Night:

Yes, we’ll have a traditional preached message and live worship band, etc that go along with a church service, but this one of the small ways we’re aiming to mix it up a bit… keeping the church experience fresh and inviting for those that walk in the door — some for the first time in a long time, others for the first time ever.

QUESTION: What is your church doing to mix it up this year at Christmas?

I’m excited to share a little project that I’m involved with at Liquid Church of New Jersey — through which we’re hopeing to bring a little joy to the world this Christmas Eve.

How — you ask?

How about by organizing the world’s first virtual Christmas choir made up of singers from around the world wide web.

Whether they’re soldiers in the Middle East, moms in Estonia or students in Phoenix, Arizona, the church will leverage technology to synchronize individual singers into a unified choir rendition of Silent Night.

The sermon message for Christmas eve will touch upon how the body of Christ can come together as one voice.  And so this project is a nice tie-in to the message while providing something fresh at Christmas.

The project actually arose from the fact that Liquid not only has over 2,000 people who attend our church services each week, but thousands more come to church online or download any of the hundreds of podcast files each month.  One question that we asked ourselves was: How do we increase interactivity and sharability at the same time?  Well, a guy named Eric Whitacre recently presented at TED about a virtual choir he assembled by harnessing the connectivity of the web.

And in a simliar way, we decided to ask our people at our campuses and across the web to help spread the Christmas cheer together this year with us by getting involved.

Singers are given access to sheet music, music tracks and a video-recorded conductor so that anyone can record and upload their contribution to YouTube. Liquid Church’s media team will then assemble a composite video production that integrates all of the individual videos into one large-scale synchronized video rendering for the Christmas Virtual Choir.

Participation in the Christmas Virtual Choir is open to everyone around the globe.  And it’s easy-peasy.  Here’s my own video submission for the Silent Night song:

The deadline for those who want to participate in the choir is December 15th. Instructions are available at http://www.lqd.ch/xmasvideo.

The Christmas Virtual Choir’s performance will occur at six live Christmas Eve services in New Jersey on December 24th held by Liquid Church as well as church online services that weekend.

For the 10th Anniversary of 9/11, Liquid Church commissioned a new song by songwriter/singer Dave Pettigrew. Its called “There Is Hope”

You can find the lyrics and free mp3 download form on the Liquid website here.

The song itself received great exposure, making its way to Sirius/XM Sattelite Radio and beyond. Some of the feedback the song received was amazing. It has touched a lot of hearts and helped in healing for many that have heard it to date.

Now, the song has lived on beyond September and has broken into the Top 50 at IndieHeaven.com. Would you help the song reach more people by clicking a few clicks and vote up the song?

Here’s exactly how to do it:

Music is such a big part of people’s lives and it takes on meaning of its own for many of them. Seeing the journey that this one song has taken is been wonderful. This is just one of the innovative ways we are trying to reach more people outside the walls of the church, and it seems to be working.

Do you have a song that has been meaningful in your life? Would you share your story with a comment below?

In 10 days, we’ll arrive at the 10th Anniversary of 9/11. I don’t think many people have thought about it much yet. Here in NJ, we just got through a mini-earthquake, Hurricane Irene and still struggling without power or flooded main streets.

But it’s been 10 years. Yup 10. Many of us are still living like it happened just recently.

While the Gospel is not patriotic to our red white and blue stripes, there is a call to attend to the healing that is still going on. And it’s not just “our people” in the pews every week. This is one event, may I say especially in the northeast, if not NYC Tri-State Area, where 9/11 touched almost every family personally or via someone they know.

Most communities and churches are planning to do something on that date in this country. The question is just who are you trying to remember, and re-unite? This seems to be one of the rare opportunities where the church has the chance to be in a position of leadership within the public square — isn’t this when we can reveal the beacon of light on a hill that we have found in our faith?

Liquid Church is trying to embrace the widest definition of that word “community” and trying to reach out to anyone that wants to walk in the door that Sunday morning, planning six different memorial services for 9/11 in three NJ cities, geographically located in three different counties. The intention is to provide a meaningful way for people to gather and bring loved ones with them to hear a message that, perhaps, only the church can share: hope is something we have to hold onto, even in the darkest hours of our time together here.

I think many churches tend to limit themselves in thinking that by default, they don’t have a chance to the attract *everyone* in a given community to their programs and outreach events. But if we start with such a self-defeating posture, what chance do we really have for a really big win?

This doesn’t mean you have to hype it up and be all splashy in order to gain the the broadest reach, of course. Here’s one creative way that this might be expressed. . .

Since so much of our generation is almost surgically tied to our iPods, and iPhones, music has become a powerful and meaningful way of expression and common experience. American Idol has shown us a little bit of this.

One example of trying to reach outside the normal boundaries that church signals reach is a project that was hatched this past year. Here’s a video that was created to accompany a new song titled, “There is Hope” by Dave Pettigrew. (You can download it for yourself here.)

With music, it seems that there might be less friction for word of mouth to happen. In addition, the spread-factor takes an entirely different route as well. Here’s the song being shared right now:

As you can tell, this message of hope is also something that comes across well via songwriting medium. Hopefully it is one additional means to reach someone that may not normally be in proximity to or responsive to typical communications messaging from churches, but really needs to hear it. Do you see how in this one instance, trying to reach someone on their own terms and inviting them into the fold this way is at the same time — expanding the boundaries of what we might envision the total potential *community* we can engage with?

Is this the message that your church is prepared to send out during this time of need and gathering? If not, where are you going with your 9/11 Sunday message this year?

Hurricane Irene stole the stage this weekend as everyone and everything was mobilized on account of the incoming storm of the decade.

New York subways, mass transit, airports, etc have all been shut down. Even Redeemer Presbyterian Church cancelled Sunday services on the East Side and West Side.

Many, many churches cancelled services this weekend. The only services that were left untouched seemed to be the 160+ Internet Churches including Liquid Church Online and LifeChurch.tv. That’s where I personally plan to go to worship with others in community this weekend.

But Tim Keller’s congregation wasn’t left high and dry with this storm in town. Irene might be able to shut a lot of things down, but apparently not so for heralds of the text. . .

Redeemer church published their worship bulletin as well as a free mp3 download of Tim Keller’s sermon, LORD OF THE STORM.

If you are stranded, cooped up inside, or just able to take in a great sermon message, CLICK HERE to download the timely sermon message where Tim Keller preaches from the Book of Luke.

It’s Good Friday. And Sunday’s Coming.

Tim Keller put this weekend all in perspective: “Easter means that Christmas worked.”

Now that’s something to be happy about. 90 percent of people who celebrate Easter buy chocolate. You know those 90% of the people know there’s an upswing to all of this.

Perhaps the 10% that ain’t buying no chocolate need to hear a specific message that is imprinted in my mind every year when Good Friday comes around. . .

Tony Campolo’s famous “It’s Friday” sermon is a classic, and it just makes you wanna shout in response, doesn’t it?

This weekend, I’m excited about being on the top floor of 7 World Trade Center.

It has a spectacular view in a totally green building — the first to go up amongst the WTC buildings.  When you are there, you can see up, out and down all around you when you are peering out the ceiling to floor windows.

But the view that I’m more excited about is regarding the discussions and activity that’s going to be going on at Redeemer‘s Entrepreneurship Initiative 2011 Forum conference — carving out a collaborative vision for what gospel entrepreneurship looks like on a practical basis.

It is always refreshing and at the same time challenging to hear  Tim Keller share his theological vantage point and then interact with others marketplace practitioners about how we are to go about faith and work integration.

I’ve been asked to help lead a session on social media for non-profits and for-profit organizations on Saturday — so glad that Guy Richards of Abiah will be my co-pilot so that we can both share case examples of social media in action.

I’m looking forward to reviewing with the group some of my own approaches to digital engagement across the web — including the Five C’s for Social Media Success framework I’ve been developing through my client work over the last couple of years.

If there’s enough interest, I’m willing to walk through the presentation again online via a webinar. Just drop a comment here if you’d be interested in hearing what I have to share.

QR codes are those 2D square black and white bar codes that are popping up in different places.  First they were used in manufacturing and UPS started using them for tracking of packages before they were embraced by the retail & marketing community.

Now you’ll find them on posters, brochures, and stickers. . . These days, they are popping up in printed materials of various church communications.  You probably have seen one — since over 50% of the population supposedly has seen or knows what a QR code is at this point.

The big question is are we at the tipping point yet for QR code adoption? Or is this just a passing fad?

Are the ones using QR codes right now trying to force geeky hipness into daily routines while there is still some notable friction in using them?

Well, according to a couple of recent studies, it isn’t so clear.  Here’s two specific data points that might make you think again about QR codes:

Less than 1/3 of people have actually scanned in a QR code.  28%.  Yup, that’s it.  That’s not a huge percentage of people.

And if you look at the actual usage patterns of people who do scan QR codes, the data is not in favor of this hip tech trend amongst communicators to use it.  After all the native cell phone camera applications don’t recognize QR codes yet.  You have to proactively download a QR code reader, launch it and then scan the code.  This can take a couple of minutes and in all that time, you have no idea what you’ll find once the QR code is decoded by your app.  Is it a promo code?  A website?  A call to action?  Just another big fat advertisement?

The other practical downside is that you have to remember — while QR codes are small, they are usually placed in what is typically considered valuable real estate on the actual marketing collateral piece.  Is it worth utilizing such precious space for something that most people who see it won’t actually use?

That said, it really depends on the audience whether or not it is useful.  In a way, the church community is one place where adoption could be successful if you are intentional about both promotion of QR codes as well as what is delivered to the audience once it is scanned.   Because the church assembles on a regular basis, and there’s recurring publications (like the bulletin!) that are published, QR codes do lend itself to this type of environment where once you expose and train people to use it once, the chances of long-term adoption are high.

Paul Steinbrueck over at OurChurch.com suggestions 10 different ways for ministries to integrate QR codes into their communications practices.  One of my favorites from the list is #3 – where you use QR codes to link to media offerings that delve deeper into the subject of the sermon, or offer sermon notes or recordings for on-demand playback.  The other one worth considering is integrating them into event invitations so that they are easily passed along and the landing page has details, maps, directions for the event you are promoting.

QUESTION: Have you EVER scanned a QR code?  When was the last time you actually spotted one?

In this time of crisis for the people of Japan, due to the March 2011 8.9 scale earthquake, tsunami, fear of a nuclear meltdown event and more, prayers are being offered up for the country.

But as Japan continues to be one of the most “Christ-less” countries today, Tim Keller points out that Christian brothers and sisters around the world might see a greater need beyond the physical and natural destruction that has happened in Japan just this week.

Check out this short video as Dr. Keller mentions some of the factors one may not immediately think about regarding bringing the Church to the country of Japan:

He makes a great case for the strategic influence of Tokyo, but also points out the spiritual need in Tokyo and the country. 

Here is another video from a church planting group (Mustard Seed) that helps further paint the picture of that neediness Keller speaks about:

One of the biggest concepts we’ve covered already is that social media is here to stay.  The Church cannot ignore this growing part of any given individual’s daily routine.  Your people are using social networks to manage and grow their relationships right now.

The question then becomes, how do you integrate social media technologies and frameworks into the social fabric of the church or ministry?  Is it too early to try and adapt or integrate the social web into how we do church?

The answer is a clear no, it’s not too early.  In fact, the time is ripe to seriously embrace social media into the relationship and communications flow of your community.  And there are a bunch of options available that are ministry specific so that you don’t have to cobble together your own solution if you don’t want to.

Here’s one example: the Table Project. It’s a non-profit ministry group that is producing a robust, customizable social networking platform specific to churches. Take a look at this overview that covers the philosophy/approach to TableProject:

This video above leaves you wanting for a peek at the actual nitty gritty of the TableProject experience for users, right?

Here’s just one example of how the TableProject is utilizing mainstream social web assets so that users don’t have to adopt another entirely new social networking platform.  Your community members already know how to use these features, they’re comfortable with them, and by taking this approach, TableProject aims squarely at the problem of  adoption and usage uptake for any new system.

One of the strengths of this entry into the social networking platforms for churches market is how it integrates 3rd party sites and content. For example, you’ll find fluid use of Facebook, Twitter, blog RSS feeds, and other web apps.

Here’s another video covering some of the basic features inside the platform:

It’s not open source, but it’s free (for now). It’s certainly an interesting platform to consider for most ministries.

The question to ask would be just how customizable is it — especially for larger 1000+ person communities that usually need more tailoring to their communities’ needs in managing groups, sub-groups, etc.

QUESTION: Are you encouraged or discouraged after seeing potential solutions like TableProject?

My friend Joe just hit me up with an interesting factoid and corresponding question.

Now the answer to the question really depends on the posture of your ministry, in my humble opinion. . .

But first, the factoid, and then the question:

Did you know if one spends $100 on small business, that local community gets $68 back?

That factoid makes a compelling argument to spend your money in the local mom and pop shops around town.

So, here’s the big question for our church and ministry leaders:

If one gives to the church $100, how much would go back to your local community? (Feel free to define “local community” as it applies to the church)

What a challenge to ministry leaders to think in this kind of ROI context!  Some of the tough questions that serve as a reality check immediately pop into my mind:

• What type of impact are you having within the local community?
• Are you actually engaged with more than just your regular attenders and members?
• Have you reached out to your civic leaders?  Schools?  Community-wide events?
• What percentage of your ministry budget is directed toward your building? Or your staff?  Now, how much is spent on local outreach?  Are you at the right balance?
• While you might be proud of your missionary support activities, how are you doing with the mission field in your zip code?

What IF you could claim a noteworthy ROI for the church?  What would it do in terms of getting people notice your ministry and how you are going about loving your neighbors?

It is encouraging when I see ministries recognizing that communications is a function that really needs some dedicated attention from a staffing point of view.

Crossroads Community Church in Vancouver, Washington right now is looking for a Communications Manager to help engage with both their internal and external audiences.

I first heard of this position from Jason Ritchie, the worship pastor over at Crossroads — and it was refreshing to see that they are looking for someone that will be hands on regarding the communications flow through all their publications including email, web, and social media outlets.

But just because this ministry is of a pretty good size doesn’t mean your ministry can’t also focus on video, web, and graphics on an appropriately relevant scale. One of the biggest issues with organizations serving communities is the amount and type of communications that is made available in a timely manner. If you pay attention to clear and appropriate levels of communication with your people it will go a long way to build up a supporter base that are willing to commit and even sacrifice on behalf of the vision of the ministry.

Having a staff member who’s sole responsibility is to coordinate, create and disseminate messaging in creative ways is an imperative that is lost on many churches today. I hope you can see the need for such a team member within your own ministry.

By the way, if you or someone you know might be appropriate for this opportunity, take a look at this JOB POSTING LINK on Crossroads’ website.

Last time, I shared a video of the digital nativity story.

It has garnered a lot of press around the world because of its timely and smart execution.

Kudos to the Portual-based team that produced it.

Now, others are jumping on the bandwagon after all the buzz that’s been going around (that’s the power of social media, right?).

I present to you this time . . . A Facebook Christmas story. . .

While there are critics who’s knee-jerk reactions will be to shout out how shallow and trendy these versions are — I wonder if you really quizzed people, especially younger ones, about the actual storyline — would they be able to tell the story better before they saw these videos or afterwards?

I would be willing to bet that since this video is so contextualized to the Facebook generation, a good portion of the group would be able to reconstruct the basics of the storyline in much better fashion than through the accumulated exposure to all the Christmas plays at church over the year as they were growing up.

Take a look for yourself at this video:

QUESTION: Does this video tell the story well enough?

Well, the other posts in this series touched upon how your ministry should view the social web as an extension of your social community and also seeing that social media is not just a passing fad at this point.

Today, I’ll share three factors of the social web that makes it compelling to use for church communications, especially for outreach into the communities around you.

At the foundation of today’s discussion is basically whether you want to remain nameless without any familiarity or trust. Do you want to be some anonymous entity stuck in a corner of your community or do you want to be a dynamic community participant that befriends people so you can invite them into relationships — with you and / or your ministry?

Here we go:

1) Better visibility – Managing your online presence across the social web gives you a position of infinitely better visibility to those that are in your community.  These days, the Googlopoly has invaded our life, not just our computers.  People don’t let their fingers to the walking anymore, they  travel the world of mouth.   In fact, with any serious effort, you’ll personally gain a lot more “friends” that can now know you exist than ever before.

2) Increased familiarity – This benefit does not require exteme lifestreaming, but it can be found from intentional utilization of the social media networks out there. If you are wiling to take on some simple proactive strategies, the social web allows you to converse with a much wider range of people about a much diverse range of topics than you probably would in your normal offline routine around town.  As people begin to regularly have a view into your daily activities (regular as well as those seat of the pants last minute activities), thoughts /reactions to various happenings around town, and your overall posture regarding both -  things that excite you and things that really really really matter to you, your local online social network becomes increasingly familiar with you, your personality / humor as well as your general willingness to engage.

3) Trust - This can only be achieved over time with authentic exchanges pointing the way to a God-honoring relationship built on trust. If you are consistent, outward facing, and responsive to people’s questions, needs, and just plain ol’ calls for social engagement, it is a start to quickly establishing trust with other individuals in your social networks. This last factor category cannot be overstated enough in terms of effects.

Visibility, Familiarity, and Trust. These are the ingredients of any evangelistic outreach efforts whether you are online or offline.

Do you see how utilizing the social web successfully is not that different?  You really should leave a comment below.

Recently, I’ve been getting into more discussions with people regarding the question – should churches be using social media? If so, why and how?

There are plenty of reasons why we should look at the social web and see ways that the church should be evaluating and embracing it as just another extension of the offline social web that is the basis for our church communities.  I posted a video here of a recent talk that walked through the super high level basics of why the church should be social media positive.

Further in the conversation, the question arises whether social media is here to stay or just another fad.  I ask, was faxing or texting a fad?  Because they both were viewed the same way at the very beginning, but both in their own contexts are heavily relied upon for communicating these days.

Social media seems to be everywhere. There’s an important distinction here. Talking about social media might be a fad. But social media itself as a communications medium or approach, is probably something different. . .

Here’s a video from the Socialnomics author Erik Qualman that has made the rounds (based off an original version of socialnomics that went viral a long time ago in internet time) that presents that case regarding social media and diagnosing it as a fad. . .

AFTER WATCHING THE VIDEO ABOVE, WHAT DO YOU THINK?  ANYTHING SURPRISE YOU? Please leave a comment here to encourage or challenge others about churches embracing the social web!

It is amazing how divisive the topic of using social media in the church setting can be these days.

It’s being treated like a completely wild animal on the loose by some.  Some pastors’ take is to ban all social media and prohibit church staff and lay leaders from using Facebook and other social media — people in this camp position it as Satan’s work.

But what happens when social media becomes more than a fad?  But a new mode of communication like the telephone, or fax, or email, or . . .is it proper to ban it altogether vs. find some other creative approaches to address the concerns at hand?

I’m guessing the fundamental position on social media in the church is largely determined by how one perceives how and where the social web fits into the picture today and in the future.

Here’s one take that makes the bare bones basic appeal for the church to use social media.   On one hand, I’m surprised that such arguments have to be articulated out loud.  On the other hand, I guess the web 2.0 world has evolved so fast relative to other emergent technological innovations in communication that it can’t be addressed enough.

Check out this short video segment of a presentation on social media any why the church should embrace it. . .

SO IS SOCIAL MEDIA EVIL?  SHOULD THE CHURCH EMBRACE IT OR SHY AWAY FROM IT?

Halloween is over.

Thanksgiving — the largest, most visible, forgotten holiday is right around the corner.

That means, the commercialized CHRISTmas is basically here.

We’ve heard of reports that the Christmas retail season has already begun as a general secular movement as early as August now.  We’re devoting almost 1/2 hour entire calendar year around this civil holiday at the end of the year.

It is hard to find any other parallels like a date of December 25th having such an impact as far away as July or August 25th.  Not even birthdays in such a ME-centric culture are thought of this way.

Today, I received an email promoting a Free Amazon MP3 Album Download of The Veggie Tales Christmas Album for Kids:

In one sense, this is spot-on theologically: Giving away a free gift in order to celebrate another absolutely and completely free gift.

But one another sense, it is kind of a twisted manifestation when the religious circles are buying into what is being done with the timing and celebration of the civil religion around Christmas.

Is there a difference between marketing of *a* church and marketing *using* the church?

I think there is a difference, but I’m interested in what your thoughts may be on this question of the commercialization of Christmas.

My hope is that you refrain from sweeping rants as you leave a comment below. Your thoughts?

Urbanization is a trend that isn’t going away anytime soon and the Church needs to take notice.

That’s the Cliff’s Notes version of some discussions being held at the super-event, Lausanne Movement gathering in South Africa this month.

At the conference, Dr. Tim Keller drew upon Genesis 1 and how we are made in the image of God to illustrate why the Church needs to focus upon the cities of the world:

“In these cities you have more image of God per square inch than anywhere else in the world…So God makes the numbers argument.”

Dr. Keller’s position on Urban Mission & Contextualization is quite sophisticated, given that it is a vision that has been 20 years in the making at Redeemer as well as through Redeemer City to City‘s church planting center.  Keller of course has all the while been working to mobilize a movement within NYC right in his own backyard.

Here’s Dr. Keller’s most recent 18-minute talk on the topic:

p.s. Tim Keller’s latest book is being released Nov 2nd. Grab your copy of Generous Justice.

QUESTION: Given this perspective on the mandate for urban mission, how can suburban & rural churches + laity contribute to this cause from where they stand?

On the last day of September, ministry leaders and church planters gathered together in New York City to discuss and encourage each other about what’s happening in The City…

If you pause the visit the Movement Day website, you’ll find some tangible reasons why they they came together.

• The 40 largest US metro regions are home to 170 million people — this is more than 50% of the total 2000 census population. And New York City is a unique home alone by itself — the 21.5 million people in the NYC metro area represent 1 out of every 300 people on the planet!

• In our large cities we face daunting spiritual and social challenges. These include vast unreached populations, profound poverty, and an emerging youth population struggling to surpass the 50% graduation rate.

• The critical belief is that it takes a movement of God’s Spirit and God’s People to transform a city. It takes collaborative leadership to initiate a Gospel Movement.

Dr. Timothy Keller of Redeemer Church gave one of the keynote talks.  He titled it, “It Takes A Movement To Change A City.”  It is a great talk, much of it is at the heart of Redeemer City to City‘s approach to church planting.

Listen to Keller detail his vision for a urban leadership and urban movements:

Do you agree with this vision for urban gospel movements? Is this strategic or is it leaving behind a huge segment of the population? Leave your reaction in a comment below!

Most churches believe they have open doors that just scream “welcome!” and may actually see some success in getting 1st time visitors.

But then, over time, not many people actually return for another visit.  Where did they go?

Ministry leaders are often left wondering why people don’t come back to their worship services another time.   Rationalization often leads to assumptions that since a church gets visitors, they must have succeeded in creating a friendly, inviting environment for new comers.  And this sometimes leads to lack of ownership of this important detail of converting first time visitors into repeat visitors.

Of course, it is easy to think those first timers just got busy the next weekend.  Or they assume most visitors aren’t serious about faith, so it’s understandable that they wouldn’t check out a church two weeks in a row.  Or a host of other excuses ministries can come up with on behalf of the absent returnee.

Truth be told, 1st time visitors don’t come back for a real tangible reason — their decision is now based on the reality they just experienced in person.

The hard part isn’t getting someone to come your church when they don’t know much about it.  It is only after they’ve experienced your church community in person — when all your ministry efforts are really felt — for them to consider retuning a second time.

Rick Ezell, pastor of a church in SC, believes there are actually 5 critical reasons why 2nd time visitors are a myth in many churches.  He says:

• Visitors make up their minds regarding your church in the first 10 minutes.
• Most church members are not friendly.
• Church guests are highly consumer-oriented.
• The church is in the hospitality business but don’t realize it.
• You only have one chance to make a good first impression.

So then, what can churches do in order to get more 1st time visitors to turn into 2nd time visitors?

Here are 12 practical tips for getting the ball rolling with your ministry to start thinking about this in a serious way:

Today, we hear from guest blogger Pastor Ryan of Central Baptist Church in Ohio. He chimes in on how we all have a choice in building assets or liabilities for the Church.

Recently, the big news was about the church in Florida who was going to burn a Quran on 9/11 in protest of Islam.  This absurd situation is drawing negative attention even from military leaders and our Secretary of State.

I look at these situations involving two local churches and I can’t help but wonder what their real motivation is in acting this way.  Because they certainly aren’t acting like the church as Jesus intended.

It’s a shame that these churches are making the news because they are being a liability to their communities. Dictionary.com defines “liability” as something disadvantageous (2nd definition).  Certainly, the actions of these churches are disadvantageous to their communities.  All they are doing is angering people and forcing people to choose sides in an argument.  The situations might even be bringing some Christians to sinful attitudes and actions.  These churches are becoming known for actions that incite anger, instead of actions that incite love.

I firmly believe that we will be able to see more people come to salvation in Jesus if our communities view out churches as an asset, not a liability.  ”Asset” is defined as “a useful and desirable thing or quality” (Dictionary.com, definition #1).  What if your community saw your church as a useful and desirable thing instead of something disadvantageous?  I think it would open more doors to be the ambassadors of Christ we are called to be in Scripture (2 Cor. 5:20).

A church is an asset when it becomes a leader in flood relief efforts in its community.

A church is an asset when it works to provide physical needs for its neighbors.

A church can be an asset in any way that will help serve practical needs.  My church had an opportunity to create and manage a “Baby Comfort Area” at one of our town’s largest events: the Marion Popcorn Festival.  This area was simply a place for parents to change diapers while they’re at the festival.  We cleaned up after them and gave them a little gift bag with information about who were and a little bottle of hand sanitizer.

As the festival planning committee met and discussed the plan, they came back to us, saying “We can’t believe you’re willing to do this for us.”  And many, many people kept saying “thank you” while we were at the festival.  And it was a simple, practical act of service.

That’s what it means to be an asset. And I’m glad my church could be seen as an asset to the community.

Churches: please be an asset to your community, not a liability, and represent Christ well!

QUESTION: How are you leading your church to get involved in your community?

“M&M’s Make Friends.”

Everyone pretty much knows it, right?  They’ve been around forever.

The thing is that all this while, we’ve become accustomed to thinking about them in the same way, even as the options have flourished to 25 different colors.

I bet if you closed you eyes and someone asks you to think of M&M chocolate candies, you’ll envision the good ol’ brown bags that is a staple of Halloween treats block after block after block. . .

Asked how much you’d expect to spend on an M&M’s purchase and you’ll also probably think about picking one up at the register of the grocery or convenience store — something between 50 cents to a buck or two at the register, right?  How much can the large bag of M&M’s really cost?  $2 bucks at the most for sure.

But guess what, the average purchase is NO WHERE NEAR THAT at this grocery store I was in recently.  But WHY? you ask?  Here’s why. . .

Someone obviously had a light bulb moment over at M&M HQ and decided to radically change the proposition to the customer.

Instead of basically having no choice of what will fall into your hands — and only a few at a time out of a small opaque bag, what if customers could see everything available?  What if the customer wasn’t limited to pre-set amounts to consume?

When the customer’s experience with the product is radically reinvented — with transparency and with a full-spectrum view…as well as being invited to engage directly with the final product, the end result is more is actually consumed!

Instead of thinking about it as a $0.89-for-2-ounces product, it is now a $8.99-per-pound-product!

The interesting thing is that the actual core product has not changed one bit.  Just the way it is presented and dispensed is — and the customer is more engaged in the processes as well!

The Church can learn something from this example of reinventing presentation.  So often we assume there is only one way to think about or approach the long standing traditions of our religion.  But if you take the time to turn somethings on their head, you might be surprised at how differently it will be received.

QUESTION: ARE THERE PARTS OF YOUR CHURCH OR MINISTRY THAT CAN BE REPRESENTED IN A RADICAL WAY?

Today I spent some time at a local airport that mainly serves small private planes.

There’s a flight school that gives instruction in a hanger right there off the runway. New pilots are commissioned after going through training that teaches the basics and live in-the-air lessons.

As I head out to a weekend retreat this week, I share some of the reflections about the spiritual highs that we may experience after an amazing Christian conference, church retreat or even after hearing a famous preacher’s sermonic mastery in the pulpit.

But there’s one crticial lesson of flying high that pilots are taught in flight school which God’s people may benefit from regarding their own personal faith journey. Check out this short video where I share my thoughts. . .

QUESTION: WHAT SPIRITUAL HABITS DO YOU FOLLOW TO ENSURE YOU STAY ON COURSE IN YOUR FAITH?

For many churches, the calendar is driven by the academic year because the ministry has many families with kids involved.  And if that’s the case, we’re right at the point where you’ll be rewind the clock and “start over” with your ministry programming this fall.

Aside from the Sunday School and youth ministries, the other parts of the church might also be preparing for a new small group season or new lay leadership team installations, or new . . .

It might all be “new” but at the same time, it can quickly become “old” and repetitive…just the same old thing over and over again year in and year out!

I don’t know about you, but when this happens it can quickly lead to paralysis and lifeless leadership on my own part.

But what can you do about it? Well, just sitting there and playing along isn’t going to solve anything!

Here’s some tips — eye-opening ways of approaching your “job” as a pastor or ministry leader to help “unstick” what’s “stuck” for you right now:

• Change the WHAT: That’s right, change what you’re working on.  Look to exchange responsibilities, either whole or parts of specific projects /programs you have taken on in the past.  If your team has the bandwidth you might want to lighten your load a bit this upcoming season to give you more margin — for renewal.  Or sometimes the opposite can have a pleasant effect; taking on new projects that you aren’t on your current roster of duties can help spark entrepreneurial zeal that can spill over to the rest of your work.

• Change the WHO: Churches are built upon relationships, and mixing up your “regular” stable of relationships can bring new conversations and ideas that refresh and renew.  Inviting new lay members to join and support your team can insert a change in quality of interactions for you.  Or have you been mentoring enough?  Why not carve out some time to invest in a peer or younger member of your circle of people?

• Change the WHERE & WHEN: Environmental factors play a huge role in how your perceive things.  When and where you do your work matters! Examine your routine and see if you can relocate where you do somethings regularly.  For example, where do you hold your phone calls?  Find non-time-sensitive activities and try intentionally scheduling them in a different part of the day or week.

• Change the WHY: Most of the time, we lump everything in our job together and make one big feelings judgment for or against it.  Have you ever been stuck in a rut where you just dread going to work in the morning, but after you get there, you might find parts of your day filled with purpose and energy?  If you carefully analyze what parts of your job you are doing because you have to, and others where you enjoy doing them, it is easier to re-approach your work with a healthier attitude.

QUESTION: WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU FIND YOURSELF STUCK IN A MINISTRY RUT?