Easy Like Sunday Morning

There's a song that says, "I'm easy like Sunday morning." (Now it's stuck in your head. You're welcome!) I've always said that the writer of that song was never in ministry. For those of us who are, Sunday mornings aren't that easy. However, in talking about the "musts" of church marketting, we need to make sure that we are making it easy for those in our congregation to spread the word.


Often times those of us in church leadership get on our soapboxes, preaching to others about the Great Commission, leading others to Christ, inviting people to church without ever thinking that they may not even know how. Most church attenders have never been taught how to tell their story. Few have the outgoing social skills and bravery to invite complete strangers to a Sunday church service with them. That's why in this day we need to give people an easy way to invite others to church and tell others about Jesus.



When asked about this many pastors will say they have little money to produce such items. The budget just simply wouldn't allow. But the fact of the matter is that there are plenty of free ways to give your church goers an easy way to tell their friends.

Some easy examples:

1. Social Media: We will have a blog up in a few weeks about some ways to incorporate social media in
                          churches marketting but it deserves a mention here. If you're a leader and you don't have a
                          Facebook and Instagram account, stop reading right now and go set one up! It's absolutely
                          free and allows you to reach more people in a few minutes than you will probably see all
                         week.

2. Graphics: Many will say that they don't have the know-how to create quality graphics. I'm not talking
                   about professional logos here. Most of us have smart phones. There are plenty of apps available
                   that allow you to create nice looking graphics for little money. (Instaquote & WordSwag are
                   two that we use.) Put those in your bulletins and on social media and let people post away!

I'm afraid that we as church leaders have used a lack of money as an excuse! No more excuses! Get creative! God gave us all brains, let's use them to come up with inexpensive ways to make it easy for those who follow us to tell everyone they know about what God is going in and through our churches! We are a part of the most important entity of all time: The Church! Let's go out and tell the world!

8 Things You MUST Do In Church Marketing: Think!

By Brandon Goff

Today we begin an 8 week blog series... "8 Things You MUST Do In Church Marketing"! Please feel free to share these posts, and help us increase our following by spreading the word of Forefront. Thank you!

When I was younger and I had to do homework, I was like any other kid, I would try to find a way out of it. So, sometimes I would need my parents help. When I got tired of thinking through the solutions and the issues at hand I would ask my mom, dad, or brother (depending on who was helping me at the time) what the answer was. My dad's response was always "I don't know what do you think?". I hated that response, so I would just throw out an off the wall answer and hope he'd just give me the correct one. But he would always respond with this, "No. Stop for a  minute and THINK about it." That was the whole reason I'm asking YOU for the answer dad, because I don't WANT to think about it! Ever been there, or am I the only one?

The reality is that many times in church marketing, promotion, and evangelism we don't want to think, so we just ask God for an answer and hope He gives us one. I completely believe, however, that many times God is responding much like my dad did... "Stop for a minute and THINK about it." Think about what? I don't know anything about church marketing. I don't know how to create nifty graphics, and I don't know how to even use Facebook...so what do I think about? Try these on for size:

Think about...What does my target age talk about?
Quit looking for the easy way out and THINK for a minute. What is your target age talking about? Sports? Politics? Jobs? Promotions? Kids? Marriage? If you know what they are talking about you can speak their language even better! People talk about what they care about. And then when you know what they are talking about...THINK outside the box on how you can market your church to them? If they enjoy sports, why not market a series of teachings based on a sports theme? If they are worried about parenting why not do a parenting seminar one weekend? If they want to be more professional at work why not get a successful Christian business person to come in and meet those needs? THINK about it!
Exodus 4:10-13 - If you ask God to help you speak their language, He will!

Think about...What will grab attention?
I've heard the old saying "The Word will attract them, we don't have to do outlandish things to attract people." so many times in my life that I could vomit. The Word will TRANSFORM them, but we have to get them to a place where they are comfortable enough to HEAR the word! So, ask yourself what could get others attention? At our church we often say, "We will do anything short of sin to reach people for Jesus". (And NO that's not original with us) For Father's Day why not get a bunch of old cars and park them at the church for the men to gawk over before and after? For Mother's Day why not giveaway free family portraits? For Christmas why not have carriage rides for families? What will grab attention and get people to say, "I want to encounter that. And it's at a church!?"
If you're one of those that is against doing something crazy to attract people's attention... check out Exodus 3:1-6... The Burning Bush! Do you REALLY think that wasn't something crazy to attract Moses' attention?

Think about...What will meet a need?
It's time to stop being a church IN the community, and become a church OF the community! Here's what I mean: we're great at being a church that exists within the community and brings people to the walls of the church. But oftentimes we are horrible at being a church that exists within the community and goes out tell people about Jesus and His church! There's a BIG difference... one sees a need, the other meets the need! Meet people's needs and make it known to your church and to your community that you're there to meet needs! If you're doing a town cleanup, let the paper know about it, let social media know about it, let the community know. "But isn't that being boastful?" Not at all! What that is doing is showing people that have given up on church and God, that there are still people out there that care and love, and here's where you can be part of that! People WANT to be part of something bigger than themselves... it's our job to facilitate that!
Look throughout the New Testament...Jesus met basic needs of people - lepers, deaf, dead, and dumb people. Meet their needs and make a difference!

These are just a few things to get you thinking outside of the box and how you can market your church while doing ministry! Now go and let's MAKE HIM KNOWN!

Run Your Mouth

5 Ways To Make Him Known
Part 3: Run Your Mouth
Brandon Goff

Have you ever met that person that just won't stop talking about something? It's usually one thing that has them so fixated that they can't discuss anything else. For me, sometimes that is the new NBC hit The Blacklist. I watched the first episode of the series, and was instantly hooked. I immediately began talking about it, discussing storylines with others I knew that watched, and have even gotten many friends hooked on the show since. For one friends birthday I even paid for him to catch up on the entire season so he wouldn't miss out! In fact, at a wedding this past weekend, I was telling another friend about it. I'm that annoying guy that always runs his mouth about something...something that interests him and engages him!

Down south we call that "Running Your Mouth". I think it's time we all begin running our mouths a little more actually. Sometimes we are just way too quiet. No we aren't quiet about our political stance, our opinion about the teen mom down the street, nor are we quiet about the rising prices of everything we need to survive. No... those things we are heard loud and clear! But as soon as we start talking about Jesus and the grace and mercy of God, we aren't heard many times...why? Because we are running our mouths too much about the wrong things, causing others to ignore the important stuff we say!

"What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person." (Matthew 15:18, ESV, emphasis added)

When we run our mouths about something we are actually giving people a glimpse into our hearts. We are asking them to come and see what makes us tick, makes us work. When we run our mouths it WILL define us, and it will give people a glimpse into your heart. So, I ask the question...what are you running your mouth about? If what we say is an overflow of the heart, here my is idea...why doesn't the church run it's mouth about the grace and love of God a little more?

Do you want to make HIM and your church known? Here's what you do...give people a glimpse into your heart! Don't just wait for them to come to your church, but do what the previous posts have discussed, build relationships and go to where they are; and RUN YOUR MOUTH! Run your mouth about how the cross saved your life. Run your mouth about how God believes in you so much He gave you access to Him anytime you need it! Run your mouth about how your church has given you a place to belong and a family to be included in. Run your mouth about how the Holy Spirit guides your steps, and even when you mess up He guides you in the right direction to help you grow.

This week... RUN YOUR MOUTH!!

Lets hangout at your your place

Part 2-  5 ways to Make Him know.

We all feel more comfortable at our own home. We have our favorite chair; we can fix a drink and kick our feet up on the coffee table.  Let's be honest -- it's just more comfortable at home. We reserve the,"Let's hangout at your place,"  to when our house is a wreck and needs to be cleaned, our crazy aunt is in town visiting, or we just got in another argument with our spouse. 

Why do we think that our churches are any different? I remember every time I visited a church for the first time. It always seemed to feel a little awkward. I didn't know anyone, and everyone else seemed like they were already best friends. I never felt like I was dressed right; everyone else had on their "Sunday Best". I didn't know what to expect from the guy on the stage with the title "Pastor."  I wasn't sure if that particular Sunday's message was going to be about the grace and love Jesus has for us all or if the pastor was going to call on me to stand up and point out my sins in front of the congregation.  

Churches hold all types of special events as a way to have people come over and hang out at their house. I'm not knocking it -- I know that many people have met Jesus at these events and have become a part of church families. I know a lot of prayer, time, energy, and finances go into putting these events together.

But, how about we just go hang out at their house? As we look through scripture we see that Jesus made it a point to go where the lost, broken, and hurting were. (John 4:1-26,  John 5: 1-15, Mark 2:15-17)  Let's do the same. I'm not talking about going around the neighborhood knocking on doors and inviting them to our church. I am not talking about standing outside the movie theater handing out tracks with our church information stamped on the back. Once again, nothing is wrong with either of those options. Why don't we just try something a little different? Let us set up in front of our local Wal-Mart or grocery store and give away free hotdogs &  hamburgers and let people know that Jesus loves them. How about a REAL FREE car wash? Everyone gets a little note that reminds them that His grace sufficient. Maybe we could give out water bottles on a hot summer day at the traffic light in town or hot chocolate and coffee on a cold morning. Let's attach a reminder to the cups that tells them Jesus has a plan for their life and longs to be in relationship with them. Let's tell them that He loves them no matter where they are from, what they have done, and how far they feel away from him.  Are we willing to hang out at their place?

5 Ways to Make Him Known

Part 1 - Real Relationships

I grew up in a church that had all the traditional church programs: Sunday School, Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night. We had 2 revivals a year for the adults, vacation bible school for the kids, and summer camp for the teens. Oh, and we did Homecoming: complete with a campmeeting style speaker, potluck dinner on the grounds, and a 2 o’clock Southern Gospel Singing!

We had everything a church was SUPPOSED to have…

        BUT we didn’t like each other.

        We didn’t go on vacation together.

        We didn't attend each other's sporting events.

        We didn’t even eat meals together. (Except Homecoming!)

We attended church together but we didn't  DO LIFE together!

Maybe you’ve experienced surface relationships like that in church. You spoke on Sundays but really didn’t know much about their lives, their kids, or their hobbies. And you SURELY didn’t know anything about their struggles, their doubts, and their fears. Because faith was a private issue,  you didn’t know where they were in their relationship with Jesus.

Jesus never intended for us to live life that way. Actually, when Adam was in the garden of Eden, God said "It is not good that man should be alone..." (Genesis 2:18) God created us to live life in close relationship with other people. He even went so far as to say that people would recognize that we are His followers by how we display our love for each other. (John 13:35) 

We at Forefront wanted to start this blog off with a series discussing what we think are the top five ways to make Him known. What better way to start than by recognizing the need for real relationships in our lives so that others may see and know that we are HIS by how we relate to each other. 

You need relationships. You need REAL relationships. It will not only help you grow in your faith, it will help others see Christ in you.

What would it it look like if you and I were to put down our Christian facades and started being real with one another? What impact would it have on our communities if we stopped pushing the latest fad or program and pushed past the surface friendships that have been fostered in our churches? How would it make a difference in your life if you invested in just a few other people and then allowed those same people to see beyond the mask that you tend to wear? 

 Would you be willing to give it a try? Let's get real. 

Welcome to the Forefront.