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October 17, 2009

Even God uses PR and marketing professionals.

Posted by Grendel's Mother under God, marketing
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Church marketing? It may seem weird to think of a church conducting marketing but it makes sense. After all, God wants us to spread the good news and to do that it helps to invite people to come hear about it at church. I attend Fairfax Community Church and their creative department does a really nice job on not only their direct marketing pieces but also the set designs, videos, and all the other creative elements that can be seen in and around the building.

But some churches are too small to be able to print shiny brochures or even mail letters. They sometimes rely only on the marquee outside their building (and maybe some word-of-mouth viral marketing mixed in with some help from the Holy Spirit). Lately I’ve seen some pretty funny messages on some of these marquees. It just goes to show you that God will you use your gifts with whatever tools you have at your disposal. The first rule of marketing is to get people’s attention and these are some signs that got mine. (I wonder if the pastors’ sermon deliveries are as good.)

America needs a faith lift.
God answers knee mail.
Tomorrow’s forecast—God reigns and the Son shines.

Now, I know this isn’t relevant to church marketing but it relates to signage so I’m going to fit this in. The people at Wal-Mart could learn a lesson from this post about writing smart signs. Seriously, who is the genius who posted these two signs together? Communication is key. And so is the Word. Want to come to church with me next weekend?

No parking but turn off your engines while parked. Huh?

September 26, 2009

Rocky Raccoon, checked into his room…

Posted by Grendel's Mother under God, travel, unemployment
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Every time I think of a Gideon’s Bible I think of that song Rocky Raccoon. I’m up late right now and can’t sleep. That’s really nothing new these days, except I’m staying at a hotel and trying to get over a bad cold. I miss having my pets around and I hate the noise that comes with staying in a hotel, but there can be some upsides. I treated myself to some in-room dining. The cold kept me from venturing out and frankly it’s nice to make a phone call and a few minutes later have a nice meal appear at your door. Okay, that’s just like ordering pizza or Chinese food, I know, but it feels different. Better. And I’m also really enjoying the mirror on the closet door. I don’t normally like looking in the mirror, but this one is two mirrors with a divider down the center where the door folds. When I stand in front of the center of this mirror/door, half of my body disappears. I’m thin again. Wow, I look great.

Okay, bored with that and still not sleeping. I’ve had a really tough time lately with the whole unemployment thing plus some other stuff that has basically added up to some serious frustrations and me being a not-so-nice person. The reason I’m boring you with that complaint will become evident with the remainder of the story, so hold on and keep reading. I thought a few months ago I was doing pretty well with the “waiting on God” thing and being patient as His plan took place. Lately I’ve had some serious arguments (one-sided of course) with Him about his lack of haste. In any case, I have always enjoyed God’s sense of humor and the fun ways he likes to inject himself into my life. Like dropping hints and reminders to me through various means. This latest one was interesting and it made me think of a neat experiment we could all take part in.

So back to the sleeplessness in the hotel room. How to calm down and drift off? TV, done. Mirror image thing, done. Bath, done. Read through some passages of the Bible placed by the Gideons in the drawer next to the bed? Yup, good idea. It may help me calm down and sleep and I’ll earn brownie points with God so maybe he’ll get a move on with the job thing and the other stuff that’s pissing me off. As I looked for some uplifting passages I noticed a page that was dog-eared. And when I looked over that page, I started wondering about the visitor to this room that dog-eared that page. Looking more closely, I saw a pencil mark noting a specific passage. Hmmmmm. This started my imagination going. Who was it? What was this person going through that made them pick up the Gideon’s Bible in the night stand and circle this passage? Someone struggling with their marriage? Someone struggling with doing something right or wrong? (Remember, I was in a hotel room suffering from sleep deprivation late at night.) Was it someone who was going to give a speech at a seminar and needed inspiration? I skimmed some more and found more dog-eared pages with more passages circled. And what was funny was that these passages were perfect reminders for me. Thanks God. I know you did this. Good one. Here were two of the passages that the traveler left for me.

Psalm 27:14
Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

Mathew 19:26
But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, with men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Here is an idea I’d like to put out to all you dear readers. Next time you’re in a hotel room, look through the Gideon’s Bible in the night stand and see if some pages are dog-eared and some passages are marked. And maybe make some of your own to give hope to the next weary traveler. At the very least you may inspire their imagination about who stayed in that room and what was happening in their life when they marked those passages…something to dream about. Good night.

September 3, 2009

The only thing I know is that I know nothing.

Posted by Grendel's Mother under God, unemployment
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That statement was made by the famous philosopher, Socrates. I believe that we need deep thinkers in this world. They keep us entertained if nothing else. And the other day as I watched a video on BNET of philosopher Alain de Botton, I was very entertained. He’s an interesting speaker and was talking about anxiety over work and life, job snobbery, fears of being an underachiever, and social inequalities. He discusses the concept of meritocracy and some alternative ways of thinking. You can watch the video at the bottom of this post.

What made me write about Alain (I’m going to use his first name because it has a nice ring to it) and his video segment was the fact that he declares himself to be secular and yet on several occasions references the Bible and Christian concepts and admits that those teachings have value. As a Christian, it’s a challenge to hear people seemingly believe in or have the desire to follow Christ’s teachings but then say they aren’t “religious” or they are “secular” or an “atheist” or even stereotype Christians and insult them as a group.

In the video, Alain quotes St. Augustine who said, “It’s a sin to judge any man by his post. Only God can put everyone in their place and He’ll do that on the Day of Judgment.” Alain says it’s an insane idea to secular people like him. And yet he believes there is value in that idea. Don’t judge people, hmmmmm.

He goes on to discuss a certain characteristic about modern society and why it causes us anxiety. He says, “Modern society has nothing at its center that is non human. We tend to worship ourselves. Most other societies have something else they worship.” So Alain, isn’t it possible to believe that without God in our lives, we are empty? We try to fill voids with things instead of Jesus? It sounds kind of like that to me.

I keep seeing videos of and articles written by really smart people who say they are not followers of Christ (and in fact refer to themselves as atheists, secular, not religious, etc.), and yet they support Christian concepts that are taught in the Bible. I hope they someday let themselves be open to God because they certainly are seeing his point of view. And it’s precisely this that we need to show the world. Not the crazy people who just spout out the “don’ts” in life, but the people who see the beauty, the intelligence, and the wonder of God which is LOVE, patience, grace, and everything good. Can we get the media behind that?

So those are my deep thoughts for the day. What’s on your mind?