But why let him learn all alone? I thought it might be useful to share the journey with you.

The first step is getting to know them. If you’ve heard me talk about logos at all you know that I don’t think a logo needs to just look good, it needs to begin telling the story and showing the personality of the church. This starts with a questionnaire that the church fills out. Some of the questions are typical “what is the story of your church” other’s are a bit more abstract “if the church were being made into a movie, who will play the leading role”…all to dig into the church’s DNA.

Sandi filled theirs out and Ty translated their answers:

All of your core values: unity, outreach, bible based, authenticity, belonging, generosity, grace oriented, maximum impact, family, and christ likeness….are all traits that a “perfect” family wants; to be real, for everyone to feel equal and for the community to see them as so. I feel that the main to point is to be a family, to be of one accord, and really be that hand in a community.

The next step is putting together a mood board which will put this into pictures. Stay tuned.

McCain
Know who you are you…and be that person.

While it seems that people are trying to cover their butts by pointing fingers there is one main reason McCain lost this election: identity. He didn’t know who he was. He started with “experience” but then moved to “change”. Bad move. You have to know who you are and what your story is before you can ever expect anyone else to. He tried out “maverick” in the end and while that might have worked awhile ago…it just wasn’t believable.

When a hip new church rolls into town down the street, resist the urge to adjust. That is not the time to try and cater to the hip crowd. Steady as she goes. If you’re hip, be hip. If you’re more yourself in jeans wear jeans…if you feel better in a suit, wear a suit. Not only do you need to be who you are because that’s who you are…it also produces stability within the church atmosphere.

Obama
Set an expectation that you know you can meet, or exceed.

Obama’s biggest challenge is filling the shoes he made for himself. The nation, and even world, is excited to see the change that he held onto so tightly…if he comes to the table with same old politics it’s going to be a big fail. If on the other hand he reaches across the aisle, looks out for the people and meets those expectations big win.

You can do the same by creating consistency in your communications. Don’t call us up and want to a great mailing campaign and then meet those people who respond with a mediocre guest packet, bulletin, etc. You only get one chance for that first impression. Be consistent and start from the ground up. Prepare for greatness and then tell people how great the experience is. Here’s another one that to me seems obvious but I see it to often. Don’t put pictures showing diversity if your church isn’t diverse. Putting a picture of a black man on your brochure does not make you diverse. What it does do is disappoint that family that shows up thinking you’re the church they’ve been looking for.

Okay…you’re turn what other lessons can we apply to the church from this campaign?

Why? And so what?

How did he pull this off? Sure he has charisma, he’s a brilliant speaker, but it’s more than all that. We’ve seen that before. Obama has a story to tell. He has personality…and it’s all his own. He’s found his story and he’s telling it well.

If your a pastor, a leader or simply want to bring change you need to do the same.

Pastors, learn from Obama. You can be a brilliant speaker, you can have charisma…but when you find your story, bring your personality into the mix you’ll reach a new level of preaching and leading. Don’t try to be Stanley, or Warren, or Bell…be you and be it well. Rehashing the same old techniques simply isn’t working any more, it’s time that pastors rise up and take notice. It’s time you find out who you are and help people once again believe and take part in the church.

In the city I live we once had a great restaurant downtown that was known for great food and the perfect setting. They were always the most expensive and always full.

Then a new bar opened across the street. In all its brand new glory it attracted a crowd and began to pull some of the business from across the street…they were now full all evening.

In response, the restaurant changed itself and turned itself into a bar. It’s now lucky to have 4 tables full.

They couldn’t get past someone else’s success and figured it meant they were unsuccessful when in fact people most likely had some dinner, maybe a glass of wine and went across the street for some music and dancing.

It is so easy pastors, churches, all of us to look at the what’s been hot for the last 5 minutes and panic. All of a sudden we have to be just like them…we’ve lost the concept of originality.

In the church we copy sermon series, preaching styles, marketing campaigns…you name it, and we wonder why we didn’t have the same blockbuster as the originating church. They’ve lost there personality.

We need to celebrate our uniqueness while celebrating other’s success.

We don’t need another them, we need you to be you.

That’s why we start every branding and logo project with a somewhat long questionnaire that doesn’t just ask the normal questions, but digs into the personality and story of the church. Often I will have a church tell me they want to reach families, or college students, or increase diversity…but the bottom line is you will be a church for families not when you decide to be, but simply when you are one.

You see, we can develop a campaign that attracts (fill in the blank) but unless you are ready for them, genuinely understand them and serve their specific needs it will simply become an exercise. It is not enough to set the expectations you must, at the very least, fulfill the expectations and to really be recognized blow their mind.

Do you need to dig deeper? Let’s talk.