How To Successfully Brand Your Church

Branding and marketing is a difficult practice for many local churches, Christian non-profits, and even individual ministries to really grasp. Some churches have a logo that shows they haven't thought about their brand for about 45 years. On the other side of the coin, some youth pastors are so concerned about their youth ministry's logo and corresponding t-shirts that they really need to close their free trial of Adobe Creative Suite and step away from the MacBook Pro.

But branding and marketing aren't really about logos, websites, signage, or even advertising. Branding is communicating who you really are (or perhaps more accurately, who you're striving to be). Due to the dishonest nature of much of the marketing in our culture, some leaders bristle at the thought of deliberately branding and marketing their church or ministry. In reality, every church markets in that they communicate to people (both those who are part of there church and those who are not) something about themselves. The trick is to do this in a way that communicates what your church is "about" (or again, what you are striving to be "about").

Since I'm no expert on branding and marketing, I'm grateful that Jesus actually addressed the issue of how leaders can successfully brand their local church (or youth ministry).

Surprised? I figured you might be. But he did.

Jesus actually let us know 2,000 years ago what brand his followers was to use that would let people know that his disciples were serious about following him. He may not have provided it to us in the form of a logo, but he was abundantly clear about it nonetheless:

Video of the Week: John Piper, Matt Chandler, and David Platt on Social Justice and Young Evangelicals

Really, really interesting conversation among John Piper, Matt Chandler, and David Platt on social justice and younger evangelical Christians. Definitely worth ten minutes of your time, especially since teenagers (to me, at least) seem geared towards projects and movements that involve social justice.

Some questions to think about as you watch the video:

• Do you agree that social justice needs to be tied to personal evangelism?
• How can we help teenagers "be where they are" and serve, love, and share about Jesus where God has planted them?
• What role do you think social justice issues ought to play in youth ministry teaching and programming?

Social Justice and Young Evangelicals: Encouragements and Concerns from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

What's in Your Youth Ministry? Part 1: Jesus

It's just about September, which means that your fall youth ministry calendar is about to kick into high gear. For youth ministries, September is a new year of sorts, and it's a great time to evaluate your youth ministry. Over the next week, I'll be asking an important question: What's in your youth ministry? Each post will cover something that really needs to be a big part of your youth ministry. Today, we'll talk about...Jesus.

I know what you're thinking: Isn't that a given? Well, you'd hope so. But in reality, it's not a given. In ten years of youth ministry, I've discovered that it's hauntingly easy to have all the trappings of what "looks" to be a thriving youth ministry, but forget to make much of Jesus. Occasionally, I'll pull up a message I delivered to teenagers years ago, and be totally embarrassed at the fact that Jesus doesn't seem to make an appearance. I may have done the word studies well, had a captivating introduction, and even engaged a variety of learning styles, but there have been too many times when I forgot to point to Jesus. I wasn't intentionally leaving him out; I guess I just assumed every teenager knew they needed to know Jesus, so I didn't bring him up.

Keeping Jesus front and center in your youth ministry takes constant attention and effort. If you just assume that he's always there because you're a church, and you teach out of the Bible, and there's really cool cross art in your youth room, then he's really not front and center every week. Below are a few ways to make sure that Jesus isn't marginalized in your youth ministry. But first, I need to make a caveat:

In this three-part series, you won't find a post specifically dedicated to the Bible. Why? The main reason is this: you cannot separate Jesus and the Bible. The whole of the Bible speaks of and points to Jesus and his redemptive work. And what we know of Jesus comes from the Bible. I love the Bible, and I work to foster a love of God's Word in my children and in the teenagers I work with. I write Bible study curriculum for youth workers on the side. So yes, I know it's important. But I think there's a very real danger in Evangelicalism of teaching from the Bible without really saying much of Jesus--as I've said above, I've done it myself too many times. When we do that, we are simply teaching information rather than proclaiming the redemptive work of Jesus. But that's another post for another time.

Now that we've got that down, here's how to make much of Jesus in your youth ministry.

Make much of Jesus in your life. I'm not talking about just having devotional times or personal retreats to refresh yourself. If you have not let Jesus completely take over your life, then there's a good chance you haven't let him completely take over your youth ministry. This isn't a call to be perfect; it's a call to be Christ's, and to be his alone. One thing I did not count on when I became a pastor was the temptation to leave Jesus at the office. But I have learned that if I compartmentalize my life, there's a chance that I will lead a youth ministry that's compartmentalized as well.

A Very Dangerous Question

If you're like me, you like questions. And ministry leaders should be great at asking questions. When we stop asking questions--or if we stop letting others ask questions--then we and the ministries and churches we lead will become stagnant. However, there is one question that is very, very dangerous. Chances are, someone has recently asked you this questions in one form or another in the past month. On the surface, it's an innocent enough question. In fact, it's usually asked by someone in your church or ministry who has a great heart. However, this question has the ability to quietly but systematically swallow up your impact as an organization.

So, what's the question I'm talking about? Here it is: "Why don't we...?"

Yep, that's it. I bet I can guess what you're thinking. Benjer, what in the world is wrong with that question? It's harmless. It's cute. It's not even a complete sentence--you left part of it out!

Sure, it seems harmless enough, but let me show you why it's so dangerous by using an example. Imagine you're getting ready to plan your summer calendar, and someone asks you, "Why don't we take our high school students on a trip to Kenya to serve impoverished orphans next summer?" In all likelihood, the person who poses this question to you has a big heart for orphans in Kenya. This person probably even believes that such a trip is the best thing for the high schoolers in your church to do next summer. But unless this is a huge Holy Spirit moment, you probably already can come up with several legitimate answers to this person's question--reasons why you shouldn't take your high schoolers to Kenya next summer. We already have a trip in the planning stages. It would be too expensive for all but a few of our high school students. I don't think your group is ready for such a trip. Of course, the person who really wants your high school students to go to Kenya next summer will have an answer to each of your objections. And if you run out of additional objections, you just might find yourself planning a short-term mission trip to Kenya, even though you don't think it's what God is leading your high school students to do.

Cussing, Making Out, and Teenagers Who Don't Know Jesus

Last week, one of our leaders let me know that she had heard from a parent that the behavior of some teenagers in our during our large group time had made their kids--and the parent--feel a bit uncomfortable. Most of the reported behavior had to do with foul language in our student café and talking during the message, although one issue had to do with the fact that two teenagers--who are dating--had gotten a little too friendly with each other during youth group. (Side note: I've caught a lot of kids sneaking off to make out as a youth pastor, but to my knowledge, this is the first time someone had the guts to try it in the youth room--while one of our student pastors was giving the message.)

The parent (who was encouraged by our leader to talk to me directly, and I hope they will) had some valid points. Two kids making out in the youth room during youth group would concern me as a parent as well, and so I addressed the issue with the two students. And yes, when I hear a student throwing out a cuss word every other sentence, I'll ask him or her to tone it down. But as I was thinking about the parent's complaint, a thought came to my mind:

If we're doing our job as youth workers, then we'll always have some teenagers in our church that some folks might consider "disruptive."

For a while, our team has been working really hard at making our youth ministry a place where people who might not know Jesus feel welcome. This school year, we've seen a lot more guests than we have in previous years. In addition, there's a small subset of our group who make it clear every week that they disagree with me about this whole Jesus thing, not to mention most of the things I teach about sex and marriage. But still they come and listen (even if they do wander out of the room about halfway through my message). I recognize that such an environment will create some very uncomfortable situations from time to time. But if you're dealing with some "disruptive" teenagers in your church, that might be a sign that things are headed in the right direction. (Never mind the fact that we all know "church kids" who have a tendency to get into more trouble than the kid who came for the first time with his girlfriend last week who wanted to know where he could smoke a cigarette.)

Video of the Week: Promo for "Fresh Start" Course

This is a video to promo a course at our church we call "Fresh Start." Though the course is designed in part for those who might be coming out of the "local religious culture" here in Utah, you'll notice that specific terms and labels are avoided. A part of our philosophy of ministry is to avoid an "Us vs. Them" approach to evangelism, but instead to build bridges through loving relationships and teach biblical truth where we have the opportunity, as Judi does. From time to time I get questions about what it's like to serve and minister in Utah, and perhaps Judi's story might provide a small glimpse:

Judi Abdulla, Fresh Start from The Heights Community on Vimeo.

Important Thoughts on Grace from Mike Yaconelli

I re-read Mike Yaconelli's Messy Spirituality this week, and these paragraphs just jumped out at me:

According to his critics, Jesus "did God" all wrong. He went to the wrong places, said the wrong things, and worst of all, let just anyone into the kingdom. Jesus scandalized an intimidating, elitist, country-club religion by opening membership in the spiritual life to those who had been denied it. What made people furious was Jesus' "irresponsible" habit of throwing open the doors of his love to the whosoevers, the just-any-ones, and the not-a-chancers like you and me.

Nothing makes people in the church more angry than grace. It's ironic: we stumble into a party we weren't invited to and find the uninvited standing at the door making sure no other uninviteds get in. Then a strange phenomenon occurs: as soon as we are included in the party because of Jesus' irresponsible love, we decide to make grace "more responsible" by becoming self-appointed Kingdom Monitors, guarding the kingdom of God, keeping the riffraff out, which, as I understand it, are who the kingdom of God is supposed to include).

-Messy Spirituality, p 47 (bold emphasis mine)

I worry that Christians have a habit of making grace "more responsible." I remember once when I served in a previous church, a teenager in our church brought her boyfriend to church on a Sunday morning. This young man may have never been to church, as far as I know, and I was glad he was there. Our church had two services, and we had a "fellowship hour" between services where we would all enjoy snacks together. While I was enjoying a snack that morning between services in the fellowship hall, a man (who was also on the church board) pulled me aside and sternly instructed me, "Tell that young man to take his hat off!" I was taken aback and explained that it was his first Sunday here, and that he was a guest. "I don't care," the board member huffed. "He needs to learn that you don't wear a hat inside the church."

Roy Gruber Interview in Church Executive

Roy Gruber (Twitter) is our lead pastor where I serve. Recently he was interviewed for the September issue of Church Executive on what it's like to serve in Utah, where so many people belong to the LDS church. I've learned a ton on what it means to be a missionary from Roy, especially when it comes to building relationships with people for the long haul and being bold in our witness for Jesus, not just with our words, but with our lives as well. It was cool to see this interview--his perspective is a unique one since his mindset of moving to Utah eight years ago was as a missionary. Here's an excerpt, but head over to the Church Executive website for the rest:

Do former members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) move to evangelical churches?

Many folks who grow up Mormons and leave their faith move into the growing group of those who have no contact with any church due to feeling “burned” by their experience. Many of those who are not connected to any faith grew up in a church and have not given up on God, but they have given up on their church experience.

What approach works in evangelizing Mormons?

Event evangelism does not work in Utah, whereas a relationship found in community provides the ideal environment for people to discover who God really is and what it means to know Him. What does work on a practical level are relationships with neighbors and coworkers. This relational reality exists around the world, but what is true in Utah is this: Without relationships there is no outreach impact. The starting of new churches also makes an impact. Right now there are a record number of church planters in northern Utah and that is a wonderful and welcome development.

What doesn’t work in reaching Mormons?

What does not work is debating over quirky doctrines of Mormonism. Many LDS folks feel embarrassed by some of the previous or current beliefs of the church. It does not make an impact to win the “sprint” of momentary debates, but impact comes on the longer road of relationships. By definition, outreach through relationships is not a strategy but an everyday way to live out faith.

Spiritual conversations happen easily in Utah. In those conversations, speaking the truth in love helps us examine the differences in faith. Our Mormon friends sacrifice much to leave the LDS faith. A good amount of that sacrifice often includes relationships.

Dr. Pepper, Evolution, and Engaging with Culture

Let's say you're on Facebook one idle evening, and you come across someone who has "shared" Dr. Pepper's Facebook page, so you click on the link and check it out. When you get there, this is what you see:

Dr. Pepper/Facebook

Upon seeing and digesting the ad, do you...
1) Chuckle a bit to yourself at the cleverness of the ad?

2) Find yourself suddenly craving a Dr. Pepper and drive to the nearest 7-Eleven?

3) Immediately (and very smart-like) identify the underlying anti-God agenda within the advertisement and vow never to drink another Dr. Pepper again, thereby vanquishing once and for all the foe of evolutionary thought and those who believe evolution ought to be regarded as fact?


Several Facebook users opted for number three and left comments about the ad indicating so. These comments reveal a very disturbing trend of Christians responding to ideas that contradict a biblical worldview with unjustified anger, offensive one-liners, and sometimes even hate. Rather than engage with these ideas that are in the "marketplace of ideas" and therefore inevitable for us to encounter, many followers of Jesus instead opt to respond in varying degrees of unhelpfulness, from ridicule (if you were smart, you'd love Jesus!) to boycott (you'll cry when you go out of business because you didn't love Jesus!) to lawsuits (I'll pretend to be persecuted by you, when really I'm just angry!).

The Dr. Pepper example is tragic because 1) Commenters who vowed to boycott Dr. Pepper immediately shut down any possible chance at conversation and gave those who think Christians are clowns just one more reason not to give Jesus a second look, and 2) The nature of many of the comments are just plain sinful, because of their antagonism and lack of love.

Instead, followers of Jesus need to learn how to lovingly and intelligently engage culture and foster conversation. There are plenty of people who would be interested in having a lengthy discussion about Intelligent Design and its implications on scientific thought if we would perhaps stop arguing with people on blogs and social networking sites like Facebook and be simply be willing to present our ideas and listen to others' ideas. There is a time to stand together with righteous indignation when there are people who are being hurt, taken advantage of, or murdered. A Dr. Pepper ad with a funny take on evolution is not one of those times. We would do well to learn how to have kingdom-minded, God-honoring conversations with people about issues which--if resolved--might allow them to take another look at Jesus.

Sermon by Stuart McCallister: By All Possible Means

Stuart McCallister of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries is an annual favorite at our church. No matter how many times he visits, he is always challenging and convicting, preaching on the importance of apologetics and the biblical mandate to reach people for Christ by all possible means. Here's the sermon he preached this past Sunday:

"By All Possible Means"_Sept. 9, 2012 from The Heights Community on Vimeo.

Are We Known By Our Love?

While working on a sermon I preached last week, I came across a study Lifeway did back in 2005 on "The Top 10 Issues Facing the Church Today" (As of right now, you can access a summary of the study here, but the study is no longer available on Lifeway's site). Lifeway polled 1,300 pastors from the West (Europe and North America)on what they believed were the most pressing issues facing the Church today. Here's the top ten list:

10) Abortion
9) Homosexuality
8) Relevance
7) Marriage
6) Apathy
5) Doctrine/World View
4) Evangelism
3) Leadership
2) Discipleship
1) Prayer

Let me first say that I believe all of the issues here are valid issues, and were I making my own list, at least a few of them might make my Top Ten as well. However, the results of the study and the issues that made the Top Ten really concerned me, and here's why: as followers of Jesus (and especially those of us who are church leaders), we have allowed ourselves to become known more by the issues we are for or against than by how we love.

(As an aside, loving others didn't make the Top Ten. Is it because we're already so great at loving each other and loving those in our communities? Or is it a gross oversight by the 1,300 CHURCH LEADERS who were polled?)

In the sermon I preached, we opened up John 13:35 and read Jesus' words in what was kind of his final address to his disciples:

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Just imagine the scene: when Jesus says these words, it’s during the Last Supper, right before he is going to be arrested and crucified. And his disciples don’t quite understand everything that’s going on, but I think they do understand that this is a significant night, because Jesus is kind of giving a farewell address. And in the midst of this, he says, “By this, all people will know that you are my disciples..." I wasn’t there, and I may be reading into the text here, but I imagine that there must have been a significant pause after those words. You know, we read it like “By this all people will know that you are my disciples... (long pause) if you love one another.”

The Difference Between Results and Fruit

If you're in any kind of ministry, you probably understand the pressure to produce "results" of some kind. That pressure might come from external sources, such as a boss or a board. Or, the pressure may come from within your own self, perhaps from a drive to succeed or a lack of self-confidence searching to be fulfilled by praise from others, accolades, or attendance numbers.

Here's the problem: When you were called to ministry, you weren't called to produce results. Many of you will read that and object that God loves it when results are produced, when many come to know Jesus, and when more and more are simply showing up to be told of Jesus' work on the cross. That's true. God throws a party whenever one sinner repents and turns to him. However, those occurrences are simply statistics that indicate a movement of God's Spirit. Yes, God often uses faithful leaders in those movements, but we begin to walk down a dark and lonely road when we start to think that the goal of our ministry is to emulate others' impressive results.

Instead, you are expected to produce fruit.

But what's the difference? Here are some things you need to know about fruit:

Fruit might be an external or internal sort of thing. Not all fruit that grows as a result of being changed by Jesus is something people can see. In fact, I would argue that when we are faithful, most of the fruit that grows is something that happens inside of us, not around us. Paul's list of the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 all are internal qualities that reveal a life changed by Jesus: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control.

The Gospel by Word-of-Mouth

Play a little game of "what if" with me.

What if all of the traditional methods of marketing were no longer available to your church?

No signs by the street showing your service times. No Yellow Pages ads or listings in the newspaper. No website, no billboards, and no Facebook pages. Nothing.

What if the only way people could know about your church was from people who already attended?

Discipleship: Should Jesus Be a Part of Every Conversation?

Credit: Creative Commons (Clemson)

As a youth pastor, I spend quite a bit of time with teenagers. Appointments in my office, coffee at Starbucks, and one of my favorites as of late, getting in a quick nine holes at the local disc golf course. Sometimes, I'll meet with a student to talk about something in particular. Other times, like with disc golf, we'll get together just to have fun.

A while ago, a colleague of mine--who also spends a ton of time with teenagers--asked a question about the time we spend with teenagers: is it okay to sometimes hang out with teenagers and not talk about Jesus?



My first thought was I hope so.

Because there are plenty of times when I hang out with high school guys in our church and Jesus doesn't come up. It's not that I avoid talking about Jesus; it's just that sometimes we're just playing disc golf and having fun.

Sermon from a Japanese Pastor

This past weekend, we had the blessing of hearing Pastor Masahiro Okita from Japan preach at all of our English-speaking services, via translation. One of the missionaries in Japan we support as a church works closely with Pastor Okita, and it was very cool to hear him share how God has been working in Japan since the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11th, 2011. What was very interesting (and sobering) is how Pastor Okita described pre-earthquake Christianity in Japan: churches from different denominations and traditions did not work together much, and Japanese culture--including the Japanese church--was obsessed with success and material things. Take a half an hour to watch the sermon or listen to it during your workout, and hear how God used the earthquake and tsunami in Japan to unite the Church and open many doors for the Gospel:

Video of the Week: What is a Trader from RightNow.org

This is a great video with an amazing description of what a missionary is:



Hat Tip: Brian Kirk

Church Signs, Eternity, and Evangelism

I thought we'd start off this week with a good discussion. I came across a church sign (see below), and I think it will make for some good conversation. The photo may or may not elicit a strong reaction, so a few ground rules:

1) No cheap shots. Stick to discussing the sign and the questions, not passing judgment on others.

2) If #1 is unclear, please take a moment to read Matthew 7:1-5.

Without further ado, here's your sign (sorry, couldn't resist):

Christmas in our Culture: Obstacle or Opportunity?

Credit: Bart Fields (Creative Commons)

It's no secret that in our culture, Christmas is less about the birth of Jesus than it is about getting lots and lots of stuff. Oh, and that guy in the red suit. I've noticed that this ticks a lot of Christians off. Every year there are news stories about fighting over whether public property can house a nativity scene, or if a church can be entered into a city parade.

I understand that for some people (I would guess a very small percentage of the complainers), there is a righteous indignation. And there should be. To take the best news that the world has ever heard and turn it into a chance to get more stuff and turn a tidy profit sounds somewhat...familiar. And if I remember right, Jesus was not too happy about it when he saw it in his own day.

However, I'm very troubled that so many followers of Jesus view Christmas in our culture as an obstacle rather than an opportunity. We complain that there's no CHRIST in Christmas anymore. We raise our voices at the fact that the Salvation Army--a Christian organization--can't set up shop in a shopping mall to collect our nickels while we go and blow thousands of dollars--charged on the MasterCard, of course--on gifts our families really don't need. We view Christmas as a fight to win, rather than an opportunity to share about Jesus with people who happily sing "The First Noel" every December, but who wouldn't have anything to do with Jesus any other time of the year.

Video of the Week: NewSpring Television Commercial

Very rarely do I think that churches produce television commercials that are effective. This well-done one-minute spot from NewSpring Church in South Carolina is one of the exceptions:

Life of Job TV AD_1 from NewSpring Media on Vimeo.

Question: Do you think advertising on television is effective in getting people to attend a church service?

How to meet with Mormon missionaries

My family and I have lived in Utah for a little over two years now. Not surprisingly, when people from outside Utah ask how we're doing and what life is like in our new state, they usually get around to asking about the LDS (Mormon) church and how it affects Utah culture. (Note: I use "LDS"--which stands for "Latter Day Saints"--rather than the term "Mormon," because that's the term most LDS folks prefer.) Many people assume that because we live here, we are experts on LDS beliefs and theology. More than one person has asked for advice on meeting with LDS missionaries.

We aren't experts by any means on the LDS church, but Jennifer (my wife) and I have made an effort to learn everything we can about the "predominant religion" in our state in order to better love our neighbors and others in our community. Last summer, we had the opportunity to meet with some LDS missionaries in our home each Monday afternoon for about six weeks. It was a great learning experience, and we felt like we became pretty good friends with one of the missionaries who was at every meeting with us. Again, we're not experts, but here are some tips for others who would like to meet with LDS missionaries (or have a meaningful conversation with an LDS friend or family member):

Be hospitable and serve good food. LDS missionaries, for the most part, are college-age single guys (and sometimes women). A great dinner or some treats will go a long way to making them feel welcome in your home. When we met with "our" missionaries, Jennifer made sure to make something each week for everyone to enjoy, and always sent the missionaries off with a Ziploc bag of extra treats. If you don't love the missionaries that visit your home in a real, practical way, don't you think it's rather silly to speak about the unconditional love of God? Go the extra mile and be a good host.