Do you ever watch those stories on the news about weird or tragic events or stories about crazy people causing a lot of chaos and wonder if you’ll ever be caught in the middle of one? I lead a pretty unassuming kind of life so I feel like I’m usually standing on the outside looking in at those events.

Well today as I hopped onboard the DC Metro train I thought I’d look around to find out what people left on the floor and seats and see if that would make a good story. (Last week I saw a stocking and some other random items and started getting curious.) But as luck would have it I was inspired not by the discarded items of my fellow commuters but by a crazy woman.

Now don’t get me wrong, I can’t stand it when people get on the train (or plane, bus, etc.) and play their music so loud that I can hear it. In fact just last month I was about to reach over and ask a gentleman to turn down his iPod until I heard that he was listening to that song, Land Down Under. The song choice was so not what I expected that I just laughed and tapped my toes. But I digress.

The guy who got on the train today was playing something (the people around me said it wasn’t music it was noise) loudly and the whole car could hear it. As much as I didn’t like that I also didn’t appreciate the lady sitting next to me who screamed over the aisle to tell him to “Turn that s*&t down.” A moment later we were subjected to listening to her yell at him again. I’m certain he did not hear or see her. When she told him that he had 60 seconds before she would stop the train, I proceeded to get into my tackle position. You see, I was on my way to an interview and there was no way I was going to let her stop me from getting there on time.

I’m not sure she heard me when I told her, “You’re not going to stop this train.” But the guys next to me heard me and I could tell they were going to support their new favorite quarterback if the situation arose. Thank goodness the offending iPod blaster got off at the next stop because I was starting to envision the evening’s news clip. “Desperate Job Seeker Tackles Crazy Cursing Woman on Metro.” She must not have been from around here because everyone knows you don’t mess with DC commuter traffic. Anyway, next time I’ll get the scoop on those stockings.

I’m sitting here trying to find something interesting to write about and have come up short. I thought about writing down the things my dog thinks about during the day but that post would be about three words in length.

So after experiencing several cold and rainy days, I decided to debut the poll option on this blog. I don’t get a lot of comments on my blog but maybe you kind folks would consider partaking in the poll. I can’t track you down and won’t use your personal information for anything (because I don’t have it and wouldn’t want it). So don’t worry about any privacy issues. Your opinion counts—and you can do it nice and quiet like. Come on! Play!

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?

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