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September 19, 2006

Red Herring on Web 2.0 & the Church

The business and technology magazine Red Herring mentioned Church Marketing Sucks in a recent online article about web 2.0 and the church, "Religious Sites Embrace Web 2.0". The article covered MyChurch.org and eBible, and included a quote from, well, me:

“The church is probably handicapped in the sense that the least likely place you’ll find twenty-somethings is in a church,” said Kevin Hendricks, creator of the 30,000 visitor-strong blog Church Marketing Sucks. “The few of us who are there are stepping up and trying to pull the church kicking and screaming into the 21st century, and it happens in small ways.”

For accuracy's sake I'm not actually the creator of CMS. That credit goes to Brad Abare. And for humility's sake, I have to admit how arrogant that quote sounds when I read it now. I can assure you that's not my heart. A lot of folks are trying to pull the church kicking and screaming into the 21st century, not just a handful of twenty-somethings. There are actually a lot of people older and younger doing it, and most of them smarter than me. But I think you get my drift.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:36 AM
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September 13, 2006

MinistryCOM 2006

Early this month I had the privilege of meeting a handful of the people who hang out in the Church Marketing Lab. We were all attending the second annual MinistryCOM event in Phoenix, and coming together to sharpen our skills, meet new people, and discover more ways of telling the Story better. Thanks to everyone who stuck it out for the last session on Friday afternoon. It was nice to have a few people stick around so I wasn't speaking to the crickets.

I love putting faces to names, especially names that grace us with their digital ink here in the Center for Church Communication. I'm blown away by the creativity that exists within the community we're all a part of developing. Thanks for being on this journey with us!

The folks at MinistryCOM have already invited our participation in next year's event. Stay tuned for details on how we might be able to help build the community of church communicators through this event and others like it. Your involvement is crucial!

Posted by Brad Abare at 5:34 AM
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September 5, 2006

Pioneers

Editor's Note: And so we come to the final installment of our 'heart and soul' series. Last week Brad talked about the realities of running a non-profit, and this week we'll close with another guest blogger entry. This time around it's Kem Meyer, the director of communications for Granger Community Church and prolific speaker (she'll be at a church communications conference near you). Kem has some kind words for us and reminds us how far we've come.

Pioneers
by Kem Meyer

Happy anniversary Church Marketing Sucks. You were the first to acknowledge that, yes, church marketing does suck. Some people couldn’t get past the "naughty" word on your site. Was it marketing or sucks that was naughty? Who knows. For the rest of us, it was an inspiration to move. You had the courage to call it for what it was--with a jolt. And, as a result, ministry professionals across the country were awakened, united and empowered to make a change; to get out of our own way so people could actually experience life change through the story of Jesus.

Continue reading "Pioneers"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:42 AM
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