“Well then … how do you promote yourself?”
Our office manager told me Courtney was on the line for me.
“Courtney?”
“She said, ‘Hi, is Brian in; it’s Courtney.’”
I know some Courtney’s … but none that casually. Who knows …
“I’ll take it.”
Courtney started out by asking if I received the really nice pen with Grace Community Church imprinted on it that she sent me for free.
“Ummmm … I’m sure our office manager might have seen it.”
“Well, can I direct you to a place on line that you can see what it looks like.”
“Courtney are you trying to sell me something? Because we wouldn’t be interested in buying any promotional items.”
“Oh, well how do you promote yourself? How do you say ‘thank you’ to your clients that come to your services.”
I’m thinking to myself that so many things are wrong with the question she just asked:
We don’t have clients; we have people.
We don’t thank people we see; we embrace them.
We don’t ask people to come to “services”; people are invited to worship gatherings.
People can’t come to “service”; people must go out to engage in service.
What the heck does promotion in a faith-community setting mean anyway? (I’ve discussed this in response to church marketing before)
Instead of calling her on those points, I just replied to Courtney: “We thank people by equipping them to be Jesus in their daily lives.”
Long pause … A few words incoherently started and abruptly changed … Finally Courtney says: “Well, do … uhh … how do the people in your area know about your church?”
“Courtney, we just try to be the hands and feet of Jesus all the time. As relationships and friendships are built, some people want to walk on the journey of faith with us. Our thanks go to God for working ahead of us, and through us, and in us. It’s hard to express that with a pen. Much better to just live it, like Jesus did, don’t you think?”
Long pause … again … Finally: “OK. Well you have a good day … Thanks.”
“Thank you, Courtney.”
SO TELL ME SOMETHING:
How is your energy and money being used these days to live like Jesus … other than in pens?
——
Brian Niece
www.brianniece.com
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husband, father, philosopher, thinker, writer, listener, storyteller, creator, teacher, equipper: (pastor) husband, father, son, philosopher, thinker, writer, listener, storyteller, creator, teacher, equipper, pastor Read more from this authorTags: church_marketing, feet_of_jesus, grace_community_church, journey_of_faith, promotion
Christianity, Leadership, Ministry, Sacramental Living, The Church
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By Mark
, June 25, 2008 @ 4:02 pm
It is interesting that this post and our twitter comments on the disenfranchised came so close together. Our church has for several year ran a very traditional bus ministry. God has begun to show us some results in these kids, who are the epitome of disenfranchised. What adds to the excitment is that there are even a few of the parents who have begun to attend. All of this is exciting but we must trust God to help us find a way to break the cycles that are so prevelent here in Albany. More specifically the “disenfranchised” often have a very strong hand out mentality, this has burned a lot of our people out. How will this happen, I wish I knew, but I do know that it will be a fun ride!