Category Archives: Church Business
Marketing and PR according to Randy Phillips
Randy Phillips has a keen ability to make things happen and then to get other people to get excited about what he is making happen. He was born with some of the talent, his father contributed to it, and a news editor at a local outlet put the icing on the cake. I sat down to lunch with him the other day and he shared with me his Marketing/PR strategy from the ground up.
Let me back up just a little and say that I used to be on his staff and one of my three positions of the church was marketing/PR. So, I am very familiar with his tactics and strategies as I used to be one of his key players on the team. This stuff will not only help you tap into the news outlets, but the same techniques are used to garner interest from those in your church that are on the outside looking in.
Anchor Store
As we sat at the table, he took the pepper shaker and stuck it at the middle of the table and said, “You start with your ‘anchor store’, and then you build off of that. Just like Walmart or Target is an anchor store in the shopping center with many smaller stores on the periphery, your ‘anchor store’ is the core idea that God gave you to begin with.” Maybe it is a concert, a new program, a outreach plan, a new business or ministry idea. God gives you an idea that will help accomplish his purpose. You get fired up about it because you felt it came from God. However, getting others to get on board is often a challenge. (Especially those outside of your core ministry circle.) Randy’s dad, Kenneth Phillips taught Randy a lot on this topic. Thinking of the big idea. Think outside of the box. Be creative. The anchor store is the foundation and in itself it needs to carry its own weight.
The Pastoring Parade
I just reviewed the list of people from the New Members meeting in April of 2012. (almost a year ago)
Here is what I determined from that list:
- 12 families making up 19 people are still active
- 5 families making up 13 people are no longer here (unknown reason)
- 3 families making up 6 people have moved out of the area
Rick Warren says that pastoring a church is like pastoring a parade. There is a constant moving of people and you are saying, “hello, how are you, goodbye, hello, how are you, goodbye, hello, how are you, goodbye”.
Andy Stanley said, “Everyone leaves your church..at one point or another.” They either move, quit, or die.
Knowing how to pastor people in the flow of life is often challenging. We get personally attached to those who make big time investment. We wish that others would connect more. There are times when it seems like everyone is joining the church and then times when it all seems stale. Thankfully, we have never had a mass exodus or ‘split’. I say ‘thankfully’ because of the emotional pain and logistical nightmare that incurs on us as humans. I am not sure the real damage of this ‘church failure’ to the kingdom. It is quite possible that some mega churches do just as much harm to the message of the gospel. But, I digress…
To keep on loving people, preaching the gospel, correcting, encouraging and fulfilling the commission is exhaustive when looking through the fleshly eyes. We are tempted to believe that our next technique will solve the parade. It won’t. Jesus preached to a parade just as we do. We do our best and learn all we can, however, at the end of the day we need to be focused on Jesus Christ. (period)
When pastoring with a real, personal relationship with God and always centering on the gospel, we are able to:
- Remember what is important
- Reassess priorities
- Not be as concerned with comparisons to other churches or leaders.
- Celebrate everyday victories. (1 baptism, 1 new volunteer, 1 etc)
+robin
Full Length Video Documentary of PSM first Nigerian Well
Here is a 20 min documentary of the first well PromiseLand San Marcos drilled in the Issi village area of Nigeria.
How We Plan a Year
We use Google Docs and map out the year. We are currently penciling in ideas for 2013. Sermon series, holidays, guest speakers, vacation times, all these help shape our plan.
There are weeks that we call ‘stand alones’ these are sermons that are not a part of a series. We often change the schedule in the middle of the year when things flow differently. However, we try to nail down as many things as possible early on.
Here is how 2012 has ended up.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ar0DdqHAywQZdGlKczhXQnBQQml3TGZhekd4RVpCc2c
Robin Steele 