Archive for March, 2007
As anyone who has been following this blog knows we have not had any budget for marketing LifePoint. We haven’t really had any money to budget ;). Our Grand Opening service is Easter Sunday, only 9 days away. Up until now we have relied solely on word of mouth which has done pretty well. Around 150 first time guests have graced our services among our 3 preview services. I am no expert but that seems pretty good for about 12 active people. We want to try and get as many people as possible to our first official service and are trying to come up with inexpensive ways to get the word out. Here are a few thoughts that we have had and or tried. Let us know if you think they are good or bad ideas and why. Also include some of your own ideas that might help the marketing challenged like ourselves.
The MySpace Blitz – We have done this one for our preview services and seems to have created a little traffic. Basically I create a graphic to advertise our coming service or series with a link to our website and I leave it as a comment to everyone on our friends list and in a bulletin. I also offer the code so that other can paste the ad on their page or comment their friends with it.
Windshield Flyers – I’m not sure how I feel about this one. I have to really like what’s on the flyer to not get annoyed that it was on my windshield. That makes me hesitate on this one a bit. We simply print up a hopefully compelling flyer and go to a bunch of places where there are a lot of cars parked and leave them under the windshield. A simple concept but is it effective?
Ghetto Billboards – I call it this because it is a cheap alternative to the Satan Hates Life campaign that lifechurch.tv is doing. We obviously can’t afford billboard space but we can afford a couple sheets of corrugated plastic, stencils and some spray paint. The idea is to create a website at a very interesting domain name that will at least cause curiosity. The domain name should be something relevant to the culture of our area and at least open discussion on some issue where people really live. We put this domain on something similar to yard sale sign all over the city in higher traffic areas. Once people go to the website they will find some hopefully good information about the subject and an invitation to our church.
These are a few of our ideas. Critique and suggest away. We really want you comments on this.
I started this little series right before my little blogging break so I thought I would finish it up over the next few posts so here we go. You can watch the video I am referencing here. It’s video # 3.
- Be encouraged in the beginning. You are teaching God’s Word for good reasons. You may not always hit it out of the park in the beginning but you will find your stride.
- Never give up! Everyone goes through the phase of crappy concepts.
- Regardless of how bad you think a message went, your listeners can still be touched by God through you. Never forget that element.
- One way to battle crappy concepts is do a lot of work. Get every idea you can on the table. If for every 20 ideas you get only one amazing series then brainstorm 240 ideas and you have one great year. The more you put out there, the more you have to work with.
- When you communicate, do it in a way that people actually can understand. Talk the way people talk and not the way you think preachers should sound.
- Make sure you get to the point and get there quickly. You can weave such a detailed story that by the end no one knows what you are talking about.
Some speakers speak because they like the sound of their own voice and some bloggers blog because they love the look of their own prose. I hate the sound of my own voice and I am a terrible writer so I speak and blog for neither of those reasons. The reason I blog is so that I can share what God is doing in my life, the life of the church and the world. Another reason I blog is because I want to see what others think but as of late we have not had that many comments. This seriously impairs at least part of the reason I blog so please feel free to comment and I promise I will respond. I even give you permission to disagree with me, just be nice about it.
I look forward to all of your future comments. This post is going to seem a little silly if no one starts commenting so please save me the embarrassment.
I wanted to mention something I have been thinking about since I got the notification of Jared’s gift that I mentioned earlier. What an amazing act of faithful generosity it was. Now you might ask, isn’t it a natural thing for a Christian to give? The answer is…no more than anyone else. We are extremely selfish from birth so that would lead me to believe that it is in fact a fairly unnatural thing to do. So why do many Christians give? I would say mostly because it is expected of them in church culture, and so it should, but what happens when we give outside of the expectations? What happens when we become “Risky Givers”? Have you ever given more than you could afford, to something you couldn’t control, to something that didn’t affect you directly?
Here is what I can tell you about Jared. The only thing he knows about me and LifePoint is what he reads here on this blog and our church website. The only words we have exchanged have been on this blog. He personally stands to gain nothing whether LifePoint succeeds or fails. I can read his blog and find out what he says but I received his gift and therefore now know what he believes. Jared is a “Risky Giver”. The greater the risk the greater the possible return.
What kind of giver are you?
We all love to hear the stories of the insurmountable struggle and the few who place their faith in God and watched as that struggle was removed by the very hand of God. I like witnessing those stories even more and I even have a few of my own. There is a different story though. It’s a story where God shows up in the most unlikely of places and does something simple. It is this type of story that I have experienced more times than I can count. Let me explain.
April is our official launch for LifePoint. During this process we have had no financial backers. Almost all of the funds have come from our launch team. This was fine during the past three months when all we had was one service of expenses per month plus a few other monthly expenses. April changes everything. Our rent pretty much quadruples as well as a few other Sunday morning service expenses. We are in no way able to handle the expenses of this church and I love it. God has given us a mission and so we press on. At this point we have determined that we need $1,700.00 in three weeks or we might not be able to launch has planned. It is also important to note that we have had nothing but open doors through this whole process. Our relationship with the theatre management, the excitement of people that we talk to about the new church and various other events have made it clear that we were headed in the right direction. If only we didn’t have to pay the whole month’s rent all at once. We could probably make it work.
Two weeks ago the Director of Operations of all UEC movie theaters calls us out of the blue and says that if it would be more convenient we can simply pay weekly. Wait! Did he just say… Didn’t I just say… How did he… And another door flies open. Then just yesterday Jared White made a substantial contribution to our launch and someone else made a pledge to give a nice chunk tomorrow. When it’s all said and done, by the end of the day tomorrow, we are only $105.00 short of our goal. And I am pretty sure that is coming by the 1st as well. God just widened the door some more.
Things that I am learning through this experience…
- Faith that pays rent is just as awesome as faith that moves mountains.
- God not only opens doors, He builds them where they were not previously found.
- Just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it’s wrong and just because it’s easy doesn’t mean it’s right.
- It’s not about what you have; it’s about how you use it.
- I should have set the goal higher.
I have posted a lot today and we have had a lot more traffic than usual, although I’m not sure why. I’ve noticed that a lot of our readers have bookmarked us and keep coming back on a regular basis. Although I appreciate the visits it might save you time if you simply subscribe to this blog with the reader of your choosing. If you would rather not that’s fine just thought I would share a little time saver with you. I explained the whole process in greater detail in a previous post.
Everyday on my way to and from work I pass a church with a sign that states, “What in the world are you doing for Heaven’s sake?” I don’t know that I care much for it as a church sign but I love it as a blog post title.
Today, on my way home from work that question kind of jumped right out at me. What and for whom we are doing the things we are doing should determine the vigor that we put into that work. In fact it is by that vigor that we can evaluate what is truly important to us and others. The Gospel of Matthew says it best.
Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. - Matthew 12:33 ESV
Today I have been challenged to bear more fruit. Sometimes we can look at what we are doing and think that we sacrifice so much. Many times though we are still only giving what we can and not what we ought. Sometimes what is possible and expected holds us back from doing what God actually wants us to do.
What are you doing simply because you can or it is expected and what might happen if you broke free from those restraints and did the crazy and maybe even difficult thing God really wants you to do? After all, it’s for Heaven’s sake.
Jared White, our most frequent commenter, was kind enough to point out that the “chip in” button that I mentioned in my previous post was not working. If you were one of the people who tried to use it but could not get it to work it is now up and running again. Apparently in my absent mindedness I set it for the wrong date thus rendering it inoperable. It has been corrected, although I had to start a new campaign to get it fixed, so please feel free to contribute as the Lord leads.
Thanks again, Jared.
In my week and a half off from all things blogging a bunch of different things happened or are about to happen so I thought I would share my random thoughts.
XBOX – In light of Kevin’s new Xbox 360 I have inherited his old plain Jane Xbox. This is pretty cool since I love Halo 2 but don’t get to play it nearly enough. Now I can play it anytime that…my wife lets me. I play on Xbox Live so if any of you would like to look me up and play a game or two with me my gamertag is Pastor of Pain. Leave me a message of who you are otherwise I might ignore you as the 12 year old who wants to be my friend because I was on their team when we pown’d those other guys. I am an Xbox Live snob. I add people to my friends list because I like playing with them not because I won with them. I’ll be looking for you.
EASTER – It’s only 11 days away and I am so excited! This is our official launch and the start of our regular weekly services. What this means to me is the opportunity to build momentum. I have only preached 3 times in the last 3 months. I don’t know why I have just figured this out but preaching is something that you get into a rhythm with. I am so excited about getting back into the rhythm. Our Easter series is going to be great and I look forward to see what God is going to do with families in the Cleveland, TN area.
TAXES – It is a little known fact that Angela and I are not rich nor do we take in the income of a well off family. We get by mind you and are completely pleased with God’s provision for our lives but none the less we don’t have a lot of extra to go around. I did out taxes a few weeks ago and the results made me sick. No, I’m not getting a lot less than I was hoping; I’m paying a lot more than I have. Apparently, without my knowledge there was a filing error with some W-4’s which caused a lot fewer taxes to be taken out than should have been. This little blunder has amounted in taxes owed in the range of $670.00. I wasn’t sure where we were going to dig up that extra money. It turns out that some very close friends of mine were getting a very respectable tax refund. I am sure they would not want me to make a big deal about it on this blog so I won’t mention their names but they paid our entire tax amount owed. I haven’t even begun to express my gratitude for their willingness to give so generously when God told them to but I hope this is a good start. Your friendship, not your money, means the world to me. Thank you, Kevin & Jessa…oops.
BASKETBALL – Last night we played a mean game of twenty-one and the old Lee University basketball court. In the middle of our game about 15 to 20 guys accumulated and started trying to take over the whole court. They kept saying how rude we were because we would give them the whole court. Their reasoning was that since they were a big group they had the right to take over. We stood our ground and finished our game but it got me thinking. This was the same time that I was notified of my news found cult leader status. In the early stages of a church launch there always seems to be more critics than cheerleaders. They assume since their voices are many that they are right. They either try to bully you or discourage you out of the game. But here is one thing I know to be a fact, you never score once you stop taking shots.
$$$ – We need $1,700.00 to get into our April launch month. Doesn’t seem like a lot but when you are just a hand full of people and many of you have tapped yourselves it seems like a fairly big mountain. So far $700.00 has come in through various sources locally and $245.00 has come in online. That leaves only $755.00 to come in the next 4 days. That’s really only $188.75 a day, which is only the price of one tall latte a week for the next year. Could you give up one latte a week to see God change lives? Even if you wanted to pitch in a little less you can do so by clicking the “chip in” button in the right sidebar of this blog. By giving you’ll not only feel good, you’ll help launch a church. That’s not bad.
My secret is out. I thought it would take a year or at least few months after we started meeting regularly. We haven’t even launched yet. Young? Sure. Destined to fail? Seems fair. Bit off more than I can chew? Absolutely. I expected that it would happen eventually but I had no idea that it could start so soon.
The church has been accused of being a cult. I guess since the church hasn’t officially launched yet that I have been accused of being a cult leader. I find this slightly amusing since I tend to go opposite the flow of the stereotypical cult leader. I’m not very charismatic. I don’t claim to have any new revelation, unless the gospel is new. I don’t in any way try to isolate our launch team. In fact I encourage them to hang out with people who are not connected to us. I ask for input from critical thinkers. I am sure there are other examples but that would be a waste of my time.
If you are going to attempt something big for God you had better prepare yourself for a whole lot of accusations. Now you may ask, how do you know if you should take some accusations seriously. Here two simple rules.
- Did they come to you directly?
If not, then dwell on it no longer. If they are not willing to confront you personally then they are simply gossiping and you shouldn’t waste your time on outside gossips. The truth of the matter is that most gossips haven’t taken the time to get the whole story and therefore are speaking out of ignorance.
- Do they love Christ, the church and you?
Why would you ever take criticism from someone who does not meet the above three is beyond me. There is not much more to say about that.
I don’t think my accuser reads this blog but in the long shot that they may let me just say that I am saddened by the lies that you are spreading. I also want to thank you. You have accelerated me to the next level of the church launch. At pre-launch I am only supposed to be told how unreachable my goals are and how failure is inevitable. Your accusations weren’t supposed to come for another year or two. I guess that means big things are ahead.