And the list goes on and on for alternatives to “enjoy this season”.

Of course what it really mean is that you don’t believe in Halloween but want to celebrate it anyway. I hear the word alternative being used but an alternative of kids dressing up and getting candy by having kids dress up and come to your church for candy…not very “alternative.”

Who are we fooling? What kind of message are we sending?

If you don’t like Halloween, don’t celebrate it. You have a legitimate argument that could be made against it. Giving it a new name doesn’t change a thing and the only one you’re fooling is yourself.

Happy Holiday
How does it make you feel when someone says “Happy Holiday” during Christmas? Do they fool you? Do you realize they’re just being ignorant in their lame attempt to be “sensitive”? Does it just get under your skin? Do you even think of shopping somewhere else?

I wonder if people think the same way when we say “Fall Harvest” instead of Halloween?

Let’s talk about those costumes.
What about the criteria “no scary costumes, God honoring costumes, etc.”? I think it’s just silly. I’ve handed out the candy, I’ve seen the costumes and no one has ever come to the door that’s going to give anyone nightmares.

What message do you send when you put that criteria in place? You’re telling people they can come to your party – if they look and act like you. Why can’t we let people come into church as themselves? Aren’t “those people” the people you say you want to reach? Honestly, if a kid wants to come to church dressed up as dracula…knock yourself out, have some candy. And when they ask you “aren’t I scary” go ahead and be honest “Yes you are, but you know what? God still loves you.”

And let’s not forget, when you give the criteria “bible characters only” you open yourselves to demons, prostitutes, evil spirits – not to mention adam & eve. What about the Holy “Ghost” does that qualify? I’ve just always thought that was funny.

Political
I understand that a large reason for the renaming is that many people would be upset if you had a “Halloween” party in the house of God. No one likes angry letters. I get that. What if you used it as an opportunity for a conversation about reaching people, about being slow to judge and quick to have open arms.

If you think Halloween is evil don’t rename it, just skip it. But if you’re going to have a party, be the place to be. Knock it out of the park. Have the most fun, the best candy, the biggest games…make church the place to be on Halloween.

Use it as an opportunity, not a stumbling block.

If you have a group of pastors or creatives…or better yet pastors AND creatives. I’d really like to have this conversation with them. If you are a pastor or a creative, I’d also really like the opportunity to come and work with you and the team to bridge the gap of creatives and their leadership.

Escape from the Planet Mundane
I’m going to talk about church marketing, why it often sucks and what we can do about it. Of course much of that will apply to whatever type of ministry you’re in and will include:

• God created us to be creative
• Our role as storytellers
• Us+Them instead of Us vs. Them
• Habits of creativity
• Group activities to get the mind moving throughout the session.

Unchurched
We talk about reaching the lost…but guess what? They don’t know they’re lost, they probably don’t feel lost and they think we’re full of it. So how do we reach the unchurched. This presentation was the easiest and hardest to put together. Easiest because it really centers around 2 words:
WHAT
HOW
Hard because it’s not easy to change WHAT we are saying and HOW we are saying it. If you’ve heard my speak before you know I love the verse “The father gave me what to say and how to say it.” and I include it in just about every talk I give. But I’m taking a different spin on it this time and examining some of the religious junk that makes the church feel good and people feel unwanted. This is going to be extra great as I’m able to speak alongside Joe Sindorf, Jenni Catron and Matthew Turner…I expect this to be much more conversation than speech.

If you’re in the Nashville area let me know, I’d love to connect with you!

Of course it’s a branding tool. Your brand doesn’t have borders, it should touch everything, including your email address. Your brand is all about who you are.

For example, if you want more information about how we can help change the way your church communicates don’t email info@holycowcreative.org email moo@holycowcreative.org do you see how that one minor difference creates some personality? I thought about making it change@ which would have also fit, but I wanted to have some fun with it…so I went with moo.

How about you? If I want to get in touch with your church who do I email? info@yourchurch.com or is it something that introduces me to who you are? If your email address hasn’t met your brand, it’s time to introduce them.

Tony did a Q&A with him as part of the promo for Catalyst and to talk about Seth’s “new” Triibes.com. I put “new” in quotation marks because quite honestly, I’m a bit surprised at the lack of ingenuity from Seth on this one. He started with genius…create a barrier to entry causing everyone that should be there to want to be there. But…then he used a boxed solution (ning.com) for the platform so when I log in I see what I see on every other site. Eh. Hopefully he will surprise me…so far, other than the fact that he’s narrowed down who’s involved which is nice, I’m not overly excited.

Then wander on over to Seth’s blog for a great post about n00bs….but the n00bs part isn’t what caught my attention this did:

Great design is intuitive. Great design eliminates confusion. But not for everyone, not all the time. The words and interactions you use often have a sophistication that will confuse some portion of your audience.

It supports my ranting about design being about more than the prettiness (yep that’s a real word), it’s about communication. In fact I am no longer calling what we do church marketing…Holy Cow Creative is a strategic church communications + design studio. We will always take it in that order 1. Communications 2. Design.

If you haven’t registered, what are you waiting for? If you register by the end of the month you could win an iPod (which even if you already have, will make a lovely Christmas gift).

For those of you who attended last year and took part in the Church Marketing Lab LIVE workshop I’d love to get your thoughts on how to make it better this year. One thing I am going to do is mix people up, the biggest benefit comes from interacting and getting feedback from people who you’ve never met before.

For the sermon branding session I’m going to try to really push people, and I’d love to hear what you want to learn. My goal whenever I speak is to not just give a good speech or good looking presentation…I want to give you something to go home with that you can put into effect into the ministries you touch.

I also realize I’m talking to people who also live in the world of the church…so what do you want to make sure everyone knows?

This is a crowd I’m not used to…typically I’m speaking to pastors, marketing directors for a church…I think this group is going to be different. For one thing, they know there stuff…this is the designer’s design conference, they are at the top of their game.

So…if nothing else, be praying for me and most importantly that God will be glorified.

They set the tone of the experience that is to follow.

If the voice that answers the phone simply answered the phone so it would stop ringing instead of looking forward to helping you connect with someone at the church, what does that do for the conversation?

If the first person I meet when walking through your church doors simply hands me a bulletin and points to a chair, do you think I’m excited about what’s to follow?

The experience of church is about more than the sermon preached or the music sung. Don’t put someone at the door simple because you have to have someone there, consider the vital part they play. I want someone who remembers names, who is excited about the new series, who doesn’t know how not to smile. The person that answers your phone should be able to handle the fast pace, multi-tasking, sometimes frantic mode of the office. They also need to realize they aren’t just answering the phone, they are connecting hurting people to a path of healing.

This is your frontline, please handle them with care. Choose them wisely, support them, don’t drain them and one final note…Tell your office staff to shut up. They are privy to prayer request to pass them to a pastor, not to generate office gossip.

And yes, this is absolutely about church marketing.

It’s the size that gets many in trouble…more size, more content, right? Wrong. 7 words max.

Your biggest challenge is catching people’s attention. You need come up with something that is really different, off the wall, if you put up something unexpected you’ll have a big advantage over everything else that’s going on as I drive down the road with my iPod on, kids fighting and my mind on my destination.

Billboards are not informational. They are either directional (think hotels and restaurants) or in the case of churches they are a reminder medium. You are reminding them of who you are, reminding them of your brand and connecting them back to other materials you are using. This is not the place for all the details…give them one place to go for more information (website). I know it will feel like you need to put the times and address and all that information but if you do, no one will pay attention to it.

There most be support for your billboard. Other print materials, promotional items…a billboard can’t remind you of something you’ve never seen before. A great example is a campaign by Grand Rapids First. They handed out hundreds of bottles of water with a design we created “Be Refreshed”. Later that month when people drove by the large “Be Refreshed” billboard they were reminded not just of the campaign that was started that day, but also the great people they met that were handing out those bottles of water.

So here’s the formula: great image + logo + website + supporting materials = successful campaign

What do you think, do you have a different formula for billboard success?

Notice why Jesus spoke in parables: So that they that heard were able to understand it. Not just so that they could understand it…but that they were able to understand it.

Dig deep into this one…I’d love to hear any insight you gain from this scripture.