Christian Web Resources

Target Marketing Magazine recently published a case study called Retaining the Flock. They take a look at the way one church is making their church more sticky--text messaging. Their pastor had this to say: We had a series that we called TEXT. It was a study of the Bible, a play on the word, obviously. What we wanted to do was to help our people get to interact more with scripture on a daily basis. So we tried to find an apparatus to communicate with them that was relevant, already ingrained ...

I received an e-mail the other day from someone—I'll call him Dave—who is struggling with the idea of using social media sites like Facebook for their church community. He was conflicted because on one hand he sees Facebook as a great way to communicate and dialogue with people who are a part of the church. On the other hand, he sees some organizations on Facebook with profanity on their "walls" and other user-generated clutter that seems to distort the intent of the group.Dave's assumpti...

85% of you know how fond we are of the Church Marketing Lab. (And another 15% of you are either first-time visitors or a little inattentive.) But we wanted to get a better feel for your thoughts about the Church Marketing Lab, so we decided to ask.A third of you think it's awesome and love it, and another 15% of you think it's great, but it needs a little help. So that's about half of you who really enjoy the Church Marketing Lab, even though you think it might need a little bit of work. If y...

Waterfront Church has a unique model of marketing themselves as a generous church. They are giving away 100% of what they receive in their offerings to local charities. ...members do the unthinkable after passing the plate on Sunday: They give it all away to charity. Rev. Jim Semradek, founder of the new Waterfront Community Church in Schaumburg, hopes the novel concept will draw people turned off by constant appeals for money and concerned about how it's spent ... few churches are taking as ...

Here are some of the stories from the past week that have caught our eye but not quite made it all the way to becoming posts, just in case you need a way to sharpen your skills and pass the time.Church is sorry. One church is making no secret of their shame with a campaign to say they're sorry for how they are perceived by many in their community. (Ed. note: That billboard is a broken window.)Real church marketing means life change. We're completely on board here. Cody Thomas shares (via conv...

You've probably been to some church event with "next" in the title. Whether it's "the leadership filter for what's next in the church" or "the mega super definitive conference for the next-generation church bathroom." We like to (over)market as focused on the next generation.But that's less than half the battle. Daily, we dialogue what an aging population means for social security, our own wallets and every aspect of life. Except church.Well did you know Christianity Today has a blog called B...

I see too many people in ministry, whether it's a pastor, media director or office assistant who would have a difficult time telling you why they do what they do. Sure, they could give you the right answer ... but they'd have a difficult time telling you the truth without admitting they're simply stuck.If you resonate with that at all ... consider doing what Mark is doing. Mark is doing what the world would call 'the wrong thing.' You see, he's living in Los Angeles but he's not there for fam...

"The greatest message deserves the greatest marketing."That's a quote that Mark Batterson repeats again and again, and he lives by it. But that's not all he has to say about marketing. He has three terms that represent ideas he really loves to drive home, and if you haven't been exposed to them, you should. So today, we have an exhaustive dictionary of Mark Batterson marketing terms, although the terms did not necessarily originate with him:Trojan horse (n.)Etymology: The idea appears to have...

Who should we hire? That's a problem churches run in to all the time as they grow. But how to hire isn't a question with an answer that's readily available. And hiring the right person can be a cornerstone of your marketing strategy.53% of you feel that it doesn't matter where your church gets someone from, it just needs to get the best possible person. You don't care if they're a lifetime church member or if they're from the county jail.28% of you are strong believers in hiring from within. ...

Tony Morgan, chief strategic officer at NewSpring Church in Anderson, S.C., co-author of the Simply Strategic Series, former pastor at Granger Community Church and author of the soon-to-be-released Killing Cockroaches (and we've interviewed Tony and linked to him on dozens of occasions), says that marketing is evil and your church should stop.So what is Tony talking about? Essentially, he says ministry trumps marketing. If we try to fix the church's problems with marketing, we're going to fai...