She explores some of these questions:

• How does your church leadership view the web?
• Is your church website a communication afterthought or is it treated as the first stop for any visitor who wants to attend your services?
• Does your church have a social media champion, a web-based ministry philosophy, a new media battle plan?
• Is social media over-rated or should your church be paying attention?

If your church leadership needs some education, check out the archived webinar with Cynthia. You can also check out past webinars featuring Justin Wise, Greg Atkinson, DJ Chuang, Tony Steward and John Saddington.

34% of you are feeling great. Energy is high, momentum is high, and you’re pursuing your mission with more clarity than ever. You’ve got new folks on board, and things are great.

On the flip side of that coin are 29% of our respondents who are feeling a little bit let down. You didn’t come into the fall hitting on all cylinders, and reality left you feeling a little flat. But that’s all right, because waiting on fall to come isn’t the only way for churches to gain momentum.

23% of those who answered are just great at setting expectations. You’re not disappointed, but you’re not thrilled. You are right on track for the projections you were making for fall excitement.

Lastly, 14% of you don’t miss a beat over the summer, so there’s nothing to spring back from. So go ahead, share your secrets. How do you keep the energy levels high in the dog days of summer?

And while you’re here, vote in this week’s new poll: How far in advance does your church start planning for your weekly service? Head to the Church Marketing Sucks home page to let your voice be heard.

This year The NINES is back with an even shorter format (six minutes!), some for-a-fee extras and more speakers—including our own Michael Buckingham, CFCC board members Kem Meyer and Phil Cooke, and loads of big names, including Rick Warren, Seth Godin, Michael Hyatt and more.

Those for-a-fee extras include a 100-page conference book, hefty discounts on resources and access to the videos after the event. And there’s still the free option. The paid options are $29 (“premium”) and $99 (“gold”), and the pricier option is the only way to get access to the videos after the event (keep reading for a discount!).

We sat down with Todd Rhoades, Monday Morning Insight blogger and the man behind The NINES, for some quick lessons and behind-the-scenes insights.

What did you learn from last year’s debut of The NINES?

Todd Rhoades: You know, we learned a lot about what to do, and what not to do.  Last year’s NINES was our first online conference.  Here are some of the things we learned (not necessarily in any order):

• People ‘dig’ free.  The idea of being able to provide an event online that people didn’t need to pay for (or travel to for that matter) seemed like a big hit.
• Speakers like to speak.  We gained a ton of momentum last year as we announced speakers gradually.  Once the speaker list was starting to release, we found that we had a ton of people actually asking us if they could speak.
• Diversity is important.  No matter how hard we try, probably the biggest criticism we receive is that our speakers are not diverse enough (not enough women, African americans, etc.).  We really do try to include as diverse a group of speakers as we can.  Truth is, though, in our circles, it’s still dominated by the ‘white guys’.  We’re glad to see that slowly changing.
• Buzz is incredible.  We really didn’t anticipate the reaction we got last year.  In fact, it blew us away!  I think part of it was that it was new.  But a big part of it was the marketing message: 9 minutes on 09/09/09.  It was succinct and easy for people to get.
• Nines minutes is too long.  We noticed that nines minutes that we gave speakers last year was actually too long!  Many speakers got to the six minute point and started to do a re-cap of the first six minutes.  So… this year, we decided to give each speaker just six minutes.  Of course, they balked!  But the end result is a better honed message in most cases that will make this year’s NINES much better!

What kind of reaction did you get last year?

Todd: You know, the response blew us away on a couple of different fronts.

First of all, this was our first experience asking speakers for an event that had never happened before.  We compiled a list of 80 speakers that we wanted to invite; hoping to get 25 or so.  We couldn’t believe it when we had 76 people say they wanted to be a part!

We had hoped for a couple thousand or so people to attend.  When all was said and done, we ended up with over 20,000 unique IP addresses (computers) that logged on during at least part of The NINES last year.  It was incredible!

What’s different about this year’s approach?

Todd: Well, I already mentioned that we’re going with six-minute talks rather than nine minutes.

We’re also featuring some ‘user-submitted’ videos this year.  The deadline is now passed, but we invited anyone that wanted to to submit a video for consideration.  I think we ended up with over 40 video submissions.  Most were very good!

A couple other things we’re adding this year:  the opportunity for churches to host a group viewing party (for free); iPhone and iPad streaming; and the addition of a couple of paid registration offerings, including the options of a full color conference program book and access to video-on-demand after September 9 (Editor’s Note: Keep reading for a discount on this option!).

Last year there was some frustration about not having a schedule in advance. Will we get a schedule this year? (And if not, why are you holding out on us?!)

Todd: Ha! Yeah, we’re holding out on you again this year!  But there are some good reasons… really there are.

First of all, we simply don’t finalize the schedule until a few days before the conference.  We have a ton of videos to go through (over 150 this year) to review for quality, content, theme, etc.  We take it very seriously, and it is a long, tedious process to get the final schedule down.

Second… if we told you the schedule beforehand, you’d tune in just to see your favorite speaker.  The power of The NINES is that you get to hear from some of your favorite speakers, and some that you don’t know… maybe never even heard of… that will be your new favorite speakers.  Some of the best feedback we got on speakers last year was that some of the more unknown speakers had the best presentations.

To be honest… that’s something we really like about putting together The NINES… we get to feature people that have a great story to tell, but haven’t had a good platform to tell it.

Now if you really, really want to see a schedule of the day, you can register with one of our premium packages.  In each of these, we do include a general run order within 48 hours of the event that will give you a better idea of who’s featured and during what hour.

A few months back there was some controversy over your Twitter voting for this year’s NINES speakers. What did you learn from that whole ordeal? Did it end up being positive and helpful, or did it cause too many problems?

Todd: Yeah, we took some flack for the list.  Essentially, we wanted to use it as a tool to give input to people to suggest speakers.  That was a great idea.  Unfortunately the tool we used also gave the ability to vote with a thumbs up or a thumbs down for each speaker submission.  Some people didn’t think that we should have a thumbs down button.  The list created a ton of buzz… over 50,000 visits to the page over a few weeks!  The end result for us was good.  We generated some good buzz and also gained some great speaker suggestions that we followed through on.

What have you learned about marketing an event like this that could be helpful to local churches trying to do their own marketing?

Todd: I think the one thing is this:  Have a message that is clear, concise, and easy to share.  I think that was the key last year.  The theme was clear.  It was easy to communicate.  It was new and fresh. And people gravitated to it.  They told their friends who told their friends. That’s the buzz part.  On the back end of the buzz, you have to deliver what you promise.

CMS Discount
Thanks Todd! In addition to answering our questions, Todd also offered a $10 discount on the gold registration for Church Marketing Sucks readers. The discount code is good for one week, so you have until Sept. 5 to cash in and save $10 on gold registration for The NINES.

Remember, if you’re a church that has a need, you can post for absolutely free. Want to hire a full-time communications director? Graphic designer? Web developer? Post away on the Job Board. Or do you just need some short-term video help or marketing consulting? Check out the Freelance Board.

Here are a few opportunities we’ve posted recently:

• First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue needs a full-time graphic designer.
• Become the Creative Video Director at Lake Hills Church.
• Bel Air Presbyterian Church is hiring a communications specialist.
• United Methodist Church of Westford needs some freelance Web site help.

Remember, both posting and browsing are 100% free, so head on over and check out the opportunities.

Nike’s “Write the Future”
My sports suspicion was confirmed this summer, as I watched Nike’s “Write the Future” commercial, produced by advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy and directed by the illustrious, Academy Award-nominated, Mexican filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Babel, 21 Grams, Amores Perros) that debuted during the 2010 FIFA World Cup event in South Africa and has been viewed on YouTube more than 20 million times.

Wieden+Kennedy’s website describes the three-minute film as showing, “how one moment on the pitch can be the catalyst for ripple effects felt around the world.”

Davide Grasso, Nike’s vice president of global football marketing, described the campaign as capturing the “scale, emotion and impact that one single moment in a football game can have on a player, fan or nation.”

One Moment
This made me wonder whether or not church communications and marketing material appropriately alerts our audiences to the impact they can have in and on the kingdom: Are we encouraging the people in the pew to believe that God has plans to prosper them, to give them hope and a future?  Or, are we presenting the church as a safe, holy huddle from which we rarely break?

Nike’s “Write the Future” campaign invites its athlete subjects and, indirectly, its viewers, to ambitiously consider the exaggerated consequences of their actions, and then, having played out the extreme best and worst case scenarios, to passionately pursue the ultimate “goal.”

Come, Sit and Stay
Alternately, I have experienced church communications and marketing material that simply invite the audience to:

• Watch the future, not write it
• To accept Christ, not follow Him.

What is frequently missing from church communications and marketing material is the action orientation of Jesus’ invitation: “Follow Me” and “Go,” the biblical predecessors to Nike’s contemporary and secular slogan, “Just Do It.” Our work sometimes suggests that people “come, sit and stay” as opposed to “go, tell and do.”

Church bulletins, flyers, postcards, videos and websites are sometimes guilty of inadvertently making church the finish line as opposed to the starting block.

We Need To Do Our Part
Now, please allow me to be very clear here: I, like you, believe that salvation comes through God’s grace, by faith, as it is written in Ephesians 2:8; but, let us keep reading through verse 10, which reminds us that we were “created in Christ Jesus to do good work…”  James 2:26 goes on to tell us that, “faith without deeds is dead.”

The principal point here is that our work product must invite audiences to actively participate in the work process of kingdom building. The audience must be encouraged to “write the future” of the Christian faith.  Sure, we know the final score—we have been given the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57)—but God has given us the imagination, inspiration and motivation to write the day-to-day details of our divinely appointed lives.

Is Church Marketing Smart, Creative & Fun?
According to Trevor Edwards, Nike’s vice president of global brand and category management, “Consumers expect brands to be smart and creative and fun.”

Unfortunately, when these same consumers come through the doors of the church, as congregants, they significantly lower their expectations. They don’t expect church communications and marketing material to be smart or creative or fun. They expect them to, well, suck!  And, far too often, we deliver on their diminished expectations.  Though popular, this practice is not consistent with Christ’s communication style. He was smart (Luke 2:46-47), creative (see any of the parables) and fun (Mark 3:17).

In the book, Nike Culture, sociologists Robert Goldman and Stephen Papson reveal three ingredients that make Nike’s mass-media public philosophy successful:

1. They rarely, if ever, get preachy.
2. They aren’t into guilt.
3. Their ads respect the viewer.

We, the church communications professionals of the world, would do well to take note.

Examples of Writing the Future
What does it look like when communities of faith “write the future?” Scripturally speaking, it looks like…

• Lydia’s conversion and baptism, followed by the baptism of everyone in her household (Acts 16:14-15).
• The woman in Sychar, the Samaritan village, whose witness led to the conversion of many of her neighbors (John 4:39-42).
• Zacchaeus, the tax collector, whose curiosity led to conversion, and to the blessing of the poor and exploited (Luke 19:1-10).

Fast forward to today and writing the future of the faith looks like…

• Eugene Cho’s One Day’s Wages initiative to end extreme global poverty.
• Shaun King and the A Home In Haiti project.
• Scott Harrison and the charity: water project.

To name just a few.  The impact of churches and ministries—people, not buildings—who are willing to write the future is bigger than sports, politics and popular culture, even at a global level.  For us, writing the future is about the endgame for every man, woman, and child alive: Salvation.

Living the Gospel Story
This, then, is the message that church communications professionals should be sharing with our communities and congregations: Through God’s work in you and through you, He can make a difference that will be felt throughout the world.  Eugene Peterson, theologian and author of “The Message” Bible, keenly observed that “the stuff of our lives becomes the material of gospel story… the God-authored narration.”

This rich material does not benefit anyone, including ourselves, until it is put into practice; practice which develops into discipline; discipline which forms disciples.  Conveyance and delivery of this invitation to participation should be the standard by which all church communications and marketing material is measured.  “Ads that lead to acts” is how advertiser Leo Burnett might describe them.

So, what does your church’s communications and marketing material say? Does it invite the audience to ride the benches or get into the trenches?

Well, 62% of you think that we’re not going to get anywhere decrying mosques and burning books. The only way to come to any sort of peace is to discuss and try to coexist peacefully with one another.

Next up, 27% of folks that responded think we need to live somewhere in the middle. There’s a time and place to take a stand for what you believe in, but we have to be tactful at the same time. You think Christians can accept and care for Muslims while staying firm in what they believe.

And lastly, 11% of you say that we’ve got to stay firm, regardless of the hit to our public relations. Even if it’s not politically correct or culturally acceptable to burn copies of the Quran, you think churches have to do what they feel they have to do, throwing PR caution to the wind.

We look forward to hearing more stories of churches handling these issues in innovative, gracious ways in the future. And feel free to sound off in the comments with your thoughts and stories of success.

This week, summer’s winding down, and we want to know: How was your church’s post-summer bounce-back this year? Vote on the Church Marketing Sucks home page.

“In my experience, much of marketing is a game of waiting on the other guy to go first. Well, if nothing happens, you go first.”

While the ‘other guy’ Seth was referring to in this case was that company or organization that serves as a leading competitor for any entrepreneur seeking to excel in a particular arena, this small bit of advice can be (at times) extremely dangerous for some of us to act on who serve as marketing and communication leaders within our local church.

Especially without wise counsel.

Now I realize some of you reading this have the sudden urge to run and gather up a few of your fellow buddies (you know, the ones you can’t wait to wake up each morning and discuss the incredible mysteries God is unveiling through Seth and his blog) and label me as a marketing heretic. But before you do, allow me to explain.

Following Our Leaders
What happens when ‘the other guy’ you’re waiting on to go first, is the one you work for? Or more specifically, what do you do when ‘the other guy’ is actually your pastor, or ministry department leader?

As church marketing and communication leaders, especially those of us who are on staff at our churches, God has given us all a special gift; a gift I fear many leaders today are no longer interested in opening and embracing.

We have been given the wonderful gift of going second.

God has enabled us with the vision and creative ability to provide clarity and relevance to the voices of those in our church He has appointed to go first.

We have been given the awesome privilege (and burden) to ensure that through our art, nothing our church or pastor tries to communicate from the altar is lost in translation when it reaches the porch. No matter how wide the gap.

Following Faulty Leaders
Now trust me. For those of you reading this today who are struggling with having to always come second in what seems to be a broken system created and enforced by your pastor or department leader, I feel your pain.

Nothing can be more aggravating then to serve in a role that is restricted to simply advertising a product or service your pastor desires to sell, rather than to assist in the actual creation and implementation of that product or service.

Spending every week at the office fulfilling last minute flyer and video requests, unable to ask the whats, whys, and hows of those you serve under, can cause the most dedicated among us to one day face the following questions:

• Should I find a different church to work at/for?
• Should I quit working in ministry altogether and focus on more secular marketing arenas?
• Is it time for me to start my own marketing business or coaching network?
  

Whether or not God may be leading some of you today to answer one of the above questions with a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No’—I am confident that your ability to answer correctly is deeply rooted in how you have (first) embraced having to go second.

Creativity & Humility
Remember this: some of the most creative voices we have leading the church today , were once only echoes; echoes that discovered this one immeasurable truth: When our creativity is married with our humility, incredible things can happen.

So before choosing to go first, be sure you have indeed learned the value of going second.

• Veritas Creative Group handles church marketing from soup to nuts— branding, communication, web design, stage design, lighting & audio services and multi-site consultation.
• Seeds is a free ministry of Church on the Move providing series artwork, video, drama and other resources.
• PraiseBanners do just what they sound like: provide quality, affordable banners for special events or to add a special touch to worship.

And we know there are plenty more companies we haven’t heard of yet. So take a few minutes and suggest a link. It could be an organization, a blog or any other resource aimed at helping local churches communicate the gospel. The process is quick and easy and has the potential to help churches across America find communication solutions.

Amen, brother.

When I was in high school, I knew of two people who had cell phones. This was in 1998, mind you. Not exactly eons ago. Coincidentally, they were the default social chairs for their groups of friends. Why? Because they had the resources to gather people together.

Similarly, when I asked a local high schooler how he and his friends communicate, without hesitation he said, “Facebook.” I prodded further, “What happens with the people who don’t have Facebook pages?” He started at me blankly. His response punctuated the vacant stare, “Having a Facebook page is like having a phone number. You just have one.”

Add this anecdote to the fact that, according to Qualman and his research, younger generations find e-mail antiquated and passe, and you have a full-blown, fundamental, communications shift on your hands.

In Socialnomics, Qualman dives deep into the statistical realm of social media. He gives hard usage data for social mediums like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blogs and then unpacks what that means for the various societal social institutions in our everyday  lives.

Take politics, for instance. Did you know that during the 2008 election, 500 million blogs mentioned Barack Obama as compared to the 150 million that mentioned John McCain. Simply put, more people were talking about Obama–for better or worse–and many believe that helped get him elected.

Take Qualman’s chapter entitled “The Death of Social Schizophrenia” for example. Qualman maintains that because of the dependence that Generations Y and Z have on the social web, the line is further blurring between “work” life and “home” life. Because of the ubiquity of social media, people are “on” (for lack of a better term) 24/7. We get a fuller picture of someone’s personality because we see them at work, we read their tweets when they’re at home, and we see the pictures they post to Facebook after a night on the town. No more “split” personalities. No more “social schizophrenia.”

Can you imagine any benefits to this elimination of bifurcated social roles for Christians? I can. It “pulls back the covers” on all areas of our lives. Granted, most social mediums are “opt-in” (at least for now), so there is some censoring going on. But what better way to live one’s life out in full-view of the public, unafraid of someone from your congregation knowing that you had a bad day, you like to listen to Rage Against the Machine, or sometimes a video from FailBlog.org really brightened your day (even though the video featured a poor, hapless soul getting hit in the crotch with a whiffle ball bat). Freedom!

What does this have to do with the way we communicate in the church? Hopefully everything. Because the same high schoolers who navigate social relationships with mediums like Facebook and text messaging will be the same people who will be filling our pews in the next 10-15 years. If we have any hopes in communicating the message of the gospel to them, we need to learn their language (and pick up an accent if necessary!). We must learn how to navigate the pitfalls of social media with wisdom and humility. We must learn how to leverage these powerful tools for the sake of furthering God’s work here on Earth.

All of that in 140 characters or less. Are you up for the challenge?

It’s nice to know where you are.

It’s even better to know why you’re here.

One of the first things I do at the start of almost every meeting I convene is remind myself, and those in the meeting, why we’re here. It’s more than just a summary of the agenda, it’s a (re)calibration for why we’re meeting in the first place. Why are we talking about this project to be completed by this date for this audience?

When people have a sense of why they’re here, direction and decisions become that much more clear.

In the first few chapters of Second Samuel, after King Saul had died, David is caught in the tension of honoring the previous king and embracing his own destiny as king of Israel. The tribes are somewhat divided because many have been hunting David down as Saul was out to kill him. With Saul now dead, those who were on David’s side seek to settle a few scores. Abner (commander of Saul’s army) is stabbed in the stomach. Ish-Bosheth (Saul’s son) is decapitated during an afternoon nap. David’s response to both deaths reminded Israel why they are here, and it’s not to retaliate for previous injustices. Soon after, leaders of Israel met with David and confirmed/anointed him as king.

We’re involved in too many things. We’re in too many places at one time. We’re caught up in the swirl and whirl of life as we know it today. We’re spending more time communicating and connecting. We’re launching new things. We’re raising families. We’re meeting friends. We’re online, offline and out of line. We’re trying to follow Jesus.

As communicators, we would serve our audiences well to continually remind them why they’re here, why they’re involved and why they matter to this community.

I recently visited a church for the first time. At the start of the service, the pastor prefaced the morning by reminding us why this church was in this city. He reminded all of us why we gather and what we gather for. The worship, the message and the experience was enriched because we all had a common understanding for our gathering.

I hope he does that every week.

From the teams we lead to the churches we pastor, may we not only help people understand where they are, but may we regularly remind people why they are here.