This year, not so easy.

Let me back up a bit for those that haven’t attended the HOW Conference before (and it’s still not too late to make it this year.) I really like a conference that takes the time to put things together that bring people together and HOW does it right. They put on a big bash the last night of the conference, food, music and yes…costumes.

That’s where you come in. This year’s theme: Keep Austin Weird

And I’m stumped. To start with, I didn’t know Austin was weird and I’m the “church guy” so what does weird look like? I’d really love to connect it call together (austin + weird + church – and a bonus to bring in Holy Cow)…but I’m at a bit of a loss.

Nothing is off limits so let’s here the craziest ideas you can come up with and let’s make everyone talk about how fun/cool/crazy that church guy was!

Ready, Set….GO!

Next month I will be speaking at the HOW Design and Creativity Conference in Austin, TX. This is the premiere conference for designers, creative directors, and communicators attracting people from around the world to learn and connect with others. This is a very different type of conference for me as it’s not ministry leaders, pastors, etc. these folks are the best of the best in the fields of design and creativity. I remember sharing an elevator with one of the attendees who was a major player at the Disney Channel. Talk about serving a HUGE God, these are doors that man could never open on their own, I absolutely know that it is God’s favor that has given me this opportunity.

In case you haven’t heard, this year I will be talking about vomit and ninjas…that’s all I’m going to tell you for now but I do hope you’ll consider joining me in Austin in June. (if you sign up and give me credit I’ll probably end up with some goodies to give away)

I’ll get a bit of a rest for traveling until September when I kick off a number of exciting conferences:

September: ministryCOM
October: Cultivate + Story (read more about this here)
October: The Anabaptist Communicators Conference (complete with Amish farms)
November: Dirt

I’ll talk more about all these as we get closer.

PLEASE if you are going to be at any of these, or in the area, I want to connect with you. The best part of all these conferences really aren’t the presentations, the best part are the people.

•     I thought I was the only one who must’ve saw it
•     It’s important, because the message is important
•     Greatest truth and it’s being told with mediocrity
•     Meanwhile Hollywood etc are telling the story of unimportant things and doing it well
  

CHRIST WAS THE EXAMPLE

• Asked why you tell stories like that
• So they understand the message
• Parable vs. People
• Church used to be the art meca
• It didn’t just not scare us but we were drawn to it
• Reformation came in and the walls of religion went up

CLIPART
is all that’s left now

• Same person who answer the phone are creating marketing because it doesn’t really matter to them
• And it has gotten in the way
• Religion and the church became more important than the message
• We forgot that we were there to communicate the gospel
• We were focused so much on ourselves that we forget to care about the people listening
• Result: Average attendance 89 people
  

What does the bible say:
WHAT TO SAY HOW TO SAY IT

• Preaching is important but it’s not all there is just simple not enough
• Church marketing is all about the HOW
  

SUCKS

• We are starting to see a shift in the church
• The key for church marketing not to suck doesn’t start with the creative
• It’s starts with the people

THEY JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND

• The difficult part in breaking through in church marketing is that they don’t understand
• It is our job to hold their hand and walk them through it
• They aren’t trying to be difficult they’re just stuck
  

1.  Happy where they are at
   
   • We need to earn permission to ask them to move
   • Must see and experience first
2.  Acting out of Fear
   
   • Some people hate what I do
   • They are fearful of something
   • Must find out the source of fear Then adjust accordingly
3. Not Stuck, Cemented
   
   • Just can’t see outside their wall
   • One size does not fit all
     
   • Sometimes the path to excellence starts somewhere else
     

Remember when dealing with stuck people: No one dreams as life as it is

Three words that will disarm and begin to adjust the tone and atmosphere

WHAT IF WE

• Most meetings start with ‘we must’ ‘what we have to do is’…
• Sets up a me vs. you atmosphere
• This starts with question
• Ends with we

IDEA

• Remember everything in place started as a great idea
• Hymnals > Screen
• Something > Hymnals

CAUTION

As much as three words can bridge the gap so can your approach

1. When your gift causes a relational rift = it’s not the gift but the gifted
2. Loyalty publicly = Leverage Privately
3. Your job is to support organization and leadership
4. Don’t confuse your insight with moral imperative
5. Don’t avoid feedback if you ever want to be truly great
   
   • look at churchmarketinglab.com as an example
     

These things all shift things from Me vs. You to Us with a vision.

WHEN THAT HAPPENS WE BECOME

a hero to the late thinker
a rebel to the world of clip art
a fresh breath to an old ministry
a catalyst from dated to relevant
a link from the few to the many

At the end of the day, you didn’t just get someone to buy a product, you took down a roadblock between them and God.

Get into the conversation:

church marketing sucks
church marketing lab
Leave A Message. Especially if you were there, I’d love to hear your comments.

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.