:: Cre8vE [creative] chaos ::

What if Starbucks Marketed Like a Church?

This sums it all up. Please take time to watch this critically.

Think through things you do and say at your churches. Think about ways you communicate. Think about ways you market.

Think about how everything you do filters through the lens of a first-time visitor.

Church 2.0 Local Lab @ Park!

So, if you are within driving distance of Chicago, I have an excuse for you to come to Chicago for the day...this is a bit short notice, but if you are free Wednesday afternoon, come hang out with me and Greg Adkinson of Church Video Ideas and the Creative Synergy Podcast for the 2nd Church 2.0 Local Lab here in Chicago at Park... Wednesday, May, 21 from 12-3 PM.

Free food, free give-aways, meet Greg, as well as other "Church 2.0" contributors, Church leaders and ministry leaders.

Come share your story of what God is doing where you are. Meet new friends and find out more about the Church 2.0 project.

Sponsors for this event are SermonSpice, iStockphoto, Park Community Church and the Shema Movement.

To RSVP and to learn more about the event, check out the Facebook event page!

Our building is still under construction, but we're excited to host this event and to give you a sneak peek at Park's new ministry center!

Authenticity

I just read a great article in Fast Company about the appeal and risks of authenticity and it really got me thinking.

Authenticity is derived from the Greek word authentikos, which literally means “real.”

Check this out: “Consumers are gravitating toward brands that they sense are true and genuine. Hunger for the authentic is all around us. You can see it in the way that millions are drawn to mission-driven products…”

Ok, note some keywords here: True. Genuine. Authentic. Mission-driven.

Are those words people would use to describe the Church?

I think that one of the greatest challenges we’ll face in reaching this generation is the notion that the church isn’t real. That we are not relevant, that we are all about money and fame, power and politics. That we are all a bunch of hypocrites and fakes, disconnected from issues that really matter. Is that true? No. (Well, for most of us anyway). But still, it’s an idea people have fixed in their minds about the church and one that we need to wrestle with.

Which then begs the question: what does it look like to be authentic?

Authenticity constantly requires reinforcement, and that can come from a number of sources: craftsmanship, timeliness, and relevance. But it’s the brand’s values – the emotional connection it makes – that truly define realism.

Let’s sub the word church for the word brand. It’s our values – the emotional connection we make with people – that truly makes us authentic.

The article in FC suggested 4 primary strands that draw out emotional connection today:

1 – A sense of place - Authenticity comes from a place we can connect with.

I pray our churches can become places where people feel they can connect with. I don’t know if a flashy new building is the ticket, as much as a sense of place where people feel they are at home. After all, isn’t that what the church should be? A place where people feel welcomed and embraced – a place where they feel they belong.

Starbucks has sort of become the modern sanctuary for a lot of people. They’ve successfully become that “third place” away from home and work where people are connecting. They are obviously getting something that we aren’t.

What type of environment are we creating? Is it a place where people feel they can connect?

2 – A strong point of view - Authenticity emerges from people with a passion for what they do.

Of any group of people, those who are involved in the life of the local Church should be the most passionate people on the planet. Not just with an excitement about what God is doing, but a burning passion for what God is calling us to do: making disciples, Christ-followers.

It’s said of Jesus in John 2:17, “Passion for God’s House consumed Him…” that should be the same thing said about us.

Are we really truly passionate about what we do?

3 – Serving a larger purpose - If a brand can convincingly argue that its profit-making is only a by-product of a larger purpose, authenticity sets in.

Church and money. Two words that most people shudder in hearing in the same sentence. It’s a sore subject and a reason why many in our generation are so anti-church.

I read awhile back about how today the church is more resourced and more equipped than ever before to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ. We have limitless resources through today’s technology and we literally could see the entire world reached with the Gospel.

But here’s the deal: doing anything today requires money. If you want to go to Africa, you’ll need money. If you want to serve the poor and provide for their needs, you’ll need money.

I think if we, as the church, can do a better job at showing where the money people are giving is going – the lives that are being changed, needs that are being met, and hope that’s being restored – that you won’t have to ask people to give, they’ll just do it.

4 – Integrity - Authenticity comes to a brand that is what it says it is. It’s when the story the brand tells through its actions aligns with the story it tells through its communications.  Only then will the brand’s story be true.

This hits home for me as a Communications Director.  It’s easy to slip into the trap of over-promising and under-delivering. We say things like “come and experience real life…” or “a place where you belong…” and giving people this idea in their minds that is oftentimes sadly not the case when they come.

This is why I believe in the church world that Communications and First Impressions must work hand-in-hand. What we promise people they’ll experience or encounter when they come (friendly atmosphere, a place where you belong) and what they experience must be the same, otherwise we’ve, in essence, false advertised.

People read up on us. They surf our website. They listen to what people say. And then they usually show up on our doorstep. Are we really ready for them? And is what we are communicating truly reflective of what they will experience when they do come?

What are your thoughts?

Inspiring Time with Aspire!One

I just got out of a great meeting with Dawn Nicole Baldwin and Craig Terrill of AspireOne. They came to Riverside today to meet with some of our team to talk about branding and identity and it was definitely a fantastic time.

I first heard about Aspire One at the ministryCOM Conference in September. Dawn did a session at ministryCOM on branding and it totally challenged me to evaluate the message we, as a church, are communicating, internally and externally, and the value of the perceptions people have (both positive and negative) of our church.

Northwoods Community Church, a church here in Peoria, has used the help of AspireOne to focus their branding/identity, along with the creation of their new church website. After hearing all of the great feedback from my friend Kirt, I knew we needed to get them here to talk about how they could help Riverside.

It was definitely a great afternoon - and I know we were inspired by what they had to share with us and challenged to continue to pursue the vision God has given us with excellence and clarity.

It's so great to see people who are passionate about what they do because they see the Kingdom-potential in what they are doing.

Here is a great article from the Willow Creek Association on branding and AspireOne.

Getting Ready to Go Multi-Site

Well, we've just reserved space in our area newspaper to run two half-page ads promoting our new church campus which will hold its first official service this Sunday! On Friday we are running an ad in the entertainment section, right next to all of the movie showtimes (hence the movie ticket in the ad) and on Saturday it will be in the local section.

With some help from the Church Marketing Lab, I got some great feedback and came up with the final product that you see above.

This Sunday Riverside officially becomes 'one church with multiple locations' as we expand from our current location in downtown Peoria to reach more people in more locations.

Our new church campus, Riverside North Campus, will be meeting at the Rave Motion Pictures theater. We've rented out their party room for our Nursery, their largest theater for our main auditorium, and the theater right next to that to run our children's ministry.

This past Sunday we did a 'sneak preview service' for our staff and volunteers who will be helping and it went absolutely fantastic. There were a few things here and that we knew we needed to change, but overall, it went great and we are excited to see what this weekend will bring us.

Marketing for this has been pretty minimal. We have about 100 people from our church who have committed to helping launch this new campus, and we really felt that we wanted to depend on word-of-mouth to get the buzz going on about what we are doing. As we all know, people connect people to church, and we've made a small investment of these newspaper ads as well as running ads on the screen at the movie theater to get our image out there and (hopefully!) get people talking.

We are feverishly working on getting our new website up by the weekend... so, cross your fingers and pray with us!

Here is a link to a video that we made for our congregation a few months back explaining why we decided to go multi-site and briefly shows how we would do church in a movie theater.

We are very excited... and busy... but definitely looking forward to what God has in store.