Jesus Hates Papyrus » sermon

The WHY of Holy Cow!

Michael Buckingham — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:15:39 +0000

Please go watch this post at Church Marketing Sucks. This is a big reason I know we need to do what we do. Yes, much of our work is seen on Sunday morning but the focus doesn’t stop on Sunday.

Take sermon branding and print design as two examples:

Sermon branding is all about Sunday morning. Right? Well yes, but not really. Sermon branding is powerful not simply because it makes for a great service but so that it is communicated in a way that sticks.

“But isn’t print material all about getting seats in the butt?” Well, sometimes but it doesn’t stop there…at least it better not. Church isn’t about butts in the seats, but we have to have butts in the seats to teach, recharge, minister, etc. Then the Church can go do what we are designed to do.

So that’s some of the WHY of Holy Cow! Creative. Know anyone we can help?

Taking Care of Dad (free sermon branding)

Michael Buckingham — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:38:40 +0000

One of the great things about the Church Marketing Lab are when different ideas collide to bring in a huge idea…I love big ideas.

Father’s Day seems to be a tough service for many churches, all the one hit wonders are. How do you make a big bang with one service, no momentum, etc.

Here’s an idea:

Taking Care of Dad

The message isn’t so much to Dad, but more to Mom and the kids about Dad and about the need to support the family leader, etc. There’s a lot of pressure being a dad, and we’re often wired to not let it show…mom and the kids would do well to take care of dad sometimes as he so often is taking care of you. Think of it this way, if Dad spends his time providing for his family’s wants and needs who is taking care of his?

The big idea: Setup a bunch of lazyboys and select dads to sit in the chairs for the service, fully equipped with pop and chips (yep there will be crumbs, that’s why the vacuum was created).

Thought I’d pass it along. In fact, for the first church to commit to doing this all the way we’ll do the sermon branding for free.

Something different for Santa

Michael Buckingham — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:10:13 +0000

We just sent our first files out last week to the printer for one of the Christmas programs we are working on. We currently have 5 different Christmas projects left. The story is beautiful…but it’s the same story, so how do you keep it fresh? Is it possible to bring originality and relevance in church marketing during Christmas?

The challenge is trying to step out of my understanding of Christmas, remembering that for many it’s about family, vacation and Christmas presents. How do you tell the story of a selfless life during such a, sometimes, selfish time?

What if you forgot the Christmas story? What if you didn’t give your standard Christmas message of good tidings, etc. etc. What if you setup a new series, give them something that causes them to want to come back. Or what if you didn’t talk about Jesus? What if you talked about Joseph?

Is there are better way to keep the tradition of Christmas and introducing a hook that will bring them back?