It's a great way to connect with communicators who can help your church. And now it's permanently free.

Congratulations Vincent!

If you'd like to join Vincent, Michael and the many others from the CFCC community that are attending HOW, it's not too late. Register by this Friday, March 28 and you can save up to $120 when you use code "CFCC8".

It's my pleasure to introduce Michael Buckingham as the presenter for the CFCC session at the HOW conference this year. Many of you know Michael from his active involvement in the Church Marketing Lab. He's also the founder of Holy Cow Creative and lives in Michigan. Michael hosted a workshop for the Church Marketing Lab at last year's MinistryCOM and did a great job. I can't wait to hear what he has in store for HOW. I've asked him to give us a sneak peak at his notes in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, if you haven't registered to attend HOW, you still have time. See you there.

The full potential for this partnership will only be realized over time, but things are off to a nice start. Consider this:

• CFCC has been invited to do a special workshop at the HOW Design Conference this May 18-21 in Boston. Look for details soon, including an exciting announcement about who will be doing the workshop. Nope, it ain't me!

• HOW has issued a special code for the CFCC community (that's you) that will save you up to $120 off the registration price for this year's conference. Just enter coupon code "CFCC8" when you register online. But hurry, the early-bird deadline is March 28.

• HOW has also given us one free full-conference pass for May 18-21 in Boston! You want it? Just drop an email to HOW2008@cfcclabs.org and tell us why it should be yours. The first 30 people to respond will be entered in a drawing for the winning ticket. Transportation, lodging, meals, etc. will be your responsibility. You don't have to wait to see if you've won before you register. HOW will issue a refund if you win the drawing and you've already registered.

Not bad for a first date, eh? So go register for the HOW conference. There's also a meet-up in the works for folks from the Church Marketing Lab. We'll have more details on that later too. See you in Boston!

Local Labs are meet ups organized by people in your area and give church marketers a chance to get together. It's a chance to talk about what works, what doesn't and why it matters. It's an opportunity to connect and encourage other local communicators.

Local Labs are being organized across the country, with groups popping up in Denver, Phoenix and Los Angeles. It's truly a grassroots effort--and one that we can't claim much credit for. We're doing what we can to facilitate the meet ups, but it's local church marketing heroes who are making it happen.

Read more about Local Labs, including how to join one or start your own. And be sure to drop us a line and let us know how your group is doing.

The first step in the research project is to gather data, and that's where we need your help. We're looking for churches and ministries to take the online survey. Only one person from each church or ministry should take the survey, and it should be the person who has the most overall knowledge of the planning, design and development of the organization's web presence. So if that's you--go take the survey. If it's not you, please pass it on to the right person and help us gather the necessary data.

The results will be unveiled at the upcoming Internet Ministry Conference, held Oct. 20-23, 2008 in Grand Rapids, Mich. After the results have been made available at the conference, the Center for Church Communication will release the results online.

"The church is all about spreading the greatest story ever told," Abare says. "We have a problem when that story is lost to poor communication methods, marketing gimmicks and inauthentic ways of connecting with people. The creation of the blog was a way we could help church leaders, without them having to hire our services. Our mission is to frustrate, educate and motivate the church to communicate, with uncompromising clarity, the truth of Jesus Christ."

Abare maintains that marketing isn't sleazy--it's just another way of getting the word out. "Marketing is simply thinking through what you do and why you do it," he says. "It's being intentional. You can certainly do marketing poorly--either so sloppy it doesn't work or so slick it turns people off. Both suck, and both are at odds with your religious values." ...

"Understanding the church audience is just like understanding any other audience you're communicating with," Abare says. "We're all people with heads and hearts, bellies and budgets, families and friends."

And when it comes to spreading the word, there's a term that churches certainly can embrace: marketing. Says Abare: "Some have argued that marketing is just another word for evangelism, suggesting that it's a way to spread the good news of the Gospel, just as an evangelist would tell people about Jesus."

This month, we are pleased to welcome three new additions to the CFCC Ad Network:

The Internet Ministry Conference
Training to improve your online ministry.

Outreach Cinema
Engage your community with feature films!

Power2Show Media Player
Use Power2Show to announce activities/events.

We're grateful for the support of these advertisers and the CFCC community.

CFCC Connects Churches and Communicators
Launches Job Board and Freelance Project Sites

May 4, 2007 - Los Angeles - The Center for Church Communication (CFCC) has recently unveiled a new effort to connect churches and communicators. The Job Lab and Freelance Lab provide a new avenue for churches to connect with creative professionals that can help them in their communications and marketing efforts.

"Churches need talented people helping them to spread the good news," says CFCC founder Brad Abare. "And talented people need to know how they can help the church. By connecting the two groups we hope churches can improve their communications and ultimately be more effective at telling people about Jesus."

"We hope the Job Lab and Freelance Lab will become a standard part of a church's hiring and creative process," says CFCC Labs Director Kevin D. Hendricks. "A church can now find the help they need, whether it's a full-time job or a one-time project, whether that help comes from down the street or across the world."

For a limited time all postings to the Job Lab and Freelance Lab are free while the communicators at CFCC work out any kinks and spread the word.

The Center for Church Communication is a non-profit organized by communications professionals who have been serving the church and mainstream clients since 1998. CFCC offers information, resources and advice in an effort to help the church matter. Visit cfcclabs.org for more.

Churches can now turn to the Job Lab and Freelance Lab to post full-time positions as well as per-project jobs that require a freelancer. Likewise, Creative professionals now have a place to find church communications and marketing related jobs, as well as freelance projects.

For a limited time both the Job Lab and Freelance Lab are free.

Joshua Cody is our intern. He's a junior at the University of Georgia-Atlanta, going for his B.A. in journalism.

1) When did you become a Christian?

I started when I was about thirteen, and I'd like to think I'm still becoming one.

2) Tell us about your church-going experience?

I've been interested in ecclesiology since before I knew what the word meant. I've always been inclined to experience new and exciting ways of doing church. From Southern Baptist to Pentecostal to Methodist to house church to the African Inland Church, I've gotten a good cross-section of churches thus far. I look to keep on going with this and continue learning that no one has it quite right, and they won't. But we sure as heck ought to keep trying.

I kind of hope not to grow up. There are too many fun things that old people don't get to do because they get bad knees and heartburn and stuff. But I imagine I'll graduate college, head out of the wonderful south, and do some sort of work involving churches and creativity. Planting, communications, ideation, futurism, writing, who knows? I'm accepting applicants for possible future jobs.

4) What made you want to be the CFCC intern?

I saw the post where you got that free T-shirt from eBible.com and knew it was the only thing that could beat the thrift store for a college student. No, but seriously, I love to write. And I love trying to make the church think. I had a slight avenue for writing in the form of a long-dead blog, but it wasn't all I was hoping for. There are still things I'd love to write about that aren't church-marketing related, but this gives me a great opportunity to do what I love while I help people--which I would argue is one of the few tickets to happiness on this great planet.

5) Is it really true--are all interns overworked and underpaid?

Ha-ha. I can't speak for all interns, but we're at least overworked and underpaid by our own choice. I love what I do, and it beats the tar out of getting paid to do a job that sucks. Considering this summer I'm paying $2,000 to do an internship, working for free is a steal.

[Editor's Note to Self: Find interns willing to pay us]

6) You're in Georgia, CFCC founder Brad Abare is in California, I'm in Minnesota. What's it like working across so many miles (and time zones)?

It's actually pretty convenient. By the time they're digging into work in the Frozen Lakes and Left Coast, I'm just settling into class so I can get their e-mails and get some work done while my professors get going. (Kids, pay attention in class. Do as I say, not as I do.) It would be a lot tougher without modern technology, you guys' wives don't want me calling at 8:00 a.m. my time to wake you up at 5:00 a.m. All in all as a college student, my sense of time is so screwed up I don't really notice it.

7) So what do you know about marketing anyway?

I'm going to go with both "practically nothing" and "plenty" on this one. I'm not pursuing a degree in marketing. I'm not the brainchild of a couple of marketing gurus. I don't even have a background interest in marketing. But church marketing isn't business marketing, and it's not quantum physics. It's simply clear your mind out, and ask yourself, "How can we make this message easier for people to relate to?" I think one of the central questions in evangelism/church marketing/outreach is "Are you brave enough to let your ideas die so new ones can come forward?" And I think I lack some of the dirt and grime that many in professional ministry have built up over the years. I'm lucky--I don't have too much baggage. It's just kind of been common sense to me; just a matter of encouraging people to do what it takes to engage the culture. It doesn't take a degree, it just takes some common sense, a little bravery and a willingness to fail.

8) What do you hope to get out of your time working with CFCC?

I figure if I stick around long enough and the CFCC ad network takes off, six digits, a Gulfstream jet and an iPhone. In the meantime, I imagine I just want the chance to write, the opportunity to grow in knowledge and a way exercise my creative muscles. I'd also love to keep meeting some really cool people and hearing their ideas.

9) On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your own church's marketing? And be honest, we promise we won't tell your pastor.

Hmm ... 1-10? I'd say a 6. We recently had a regime change and some bad stuff went out the door. We quit protesting the local Hooters. We stopped having Republican candidates stand up in services. We unleashed a creative beast in the graphic design department who pretty much is the only reason we get above a 4. All in all, outside of graphic design, we're a little bit stagnant. But don't tell anyone I said that.

10) What do you like most/least about working for CFCC?

What I like most about CFCC is just the ability to interact. Everything is tactile. I write something, I see what I've written. I see how people respond to what I've written. It's fun to feel the interactions started by things that go on in your mind.

My least favorite thing? I'd say it's feeling dumb when you say "talk about it in the comments," and no one does.

Good to have you on board, Josh. Thanks.

It's a chance to put some flesh to the lab, critique some marketing samples in person and learn from one another.

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