ChrisTrethewey.com

Who's talking about your church? (part 2)

In Who's talking about your church (part #1), I asked the first of two questions.

Q #1: Why is Apple the most covered company?

Here's the second question . . . 

Q #2: How does your church rank on the most "covered" list in your community?

First, let me clearly explain. I am not talking about a PR machine that is behind marketing your church. I am not talking about how charismatic your lead pastor is. I am not talking about the popularity of your church or the gimmicks that some churches implement to get "covered".  (I am not saying any of those things are good or bad. But, that would be a good discussion.) What I am trying to get at is this simple point. People vote with their mouth - by what they say. People vote with their feet - where they go. Your church has a "reputation" in the community. People will talk - share their opinion - and encourage or discourage people from being part of your community depending on their experience. You first have to ask yourself: Are people even talking about your church in the community? If they aren't, why not? If they are, what are they saying. Really saying. 

1. INNOVATION: What is your church doing to impact the culture it gets to serve? Are you looking forward to what "could be" or always looking backwards to what other churches are doing? God is giving you a vision - specific for the church you get to lead in. Can you see it? 
2. CULTURE: What is the culture within the walls of your church? If someone walked in for the first time how would she feel? How would he be treated? I am not talking about the "church crowd". I am focused on the people who have never stepped into a church. What would they experience? Would the experience be grace filled? Would they feel out of place? Would they want to come back?
3. CUSTOMER SERVICE: Churches are notorious for awful customer service. Phone calls aren't returned. People are told "NO" - constantly - without ever looking for a solution. People who haven't smiled in the past 2 decades are empowered as greeters. How are people treated at your church? Are calls returned? Do staff and volunteers smile? Are staff solution oriented or is their first response, No? Are people's issues more of a burden or do you seek to help solve problems?

The church is simply about people. Period. It is about creating a culture that connects with people - all people - at all points in their spiritual journey. It's about creating a place that is exciting, welcoming and engaging. 

What challenges do you face in each of these areas? What are some solutions you have discovered? 

Who's talking about your church? (part 1)

I read this post at MacRumors a few days ago entitled "Apple Most-Covered Tech Company in Mainstream Media". I didn't need to see any scientific data (But if you need it, it's to the left.) to know that statement was true. If you are an Apple fanatic, you love all the coverage. If you are an Apple hater, you despise the coverage. Wherever you fall on the spectrum, you know that there is a cult like following of Apple and all their product releases.  A frenzy is stirred up. Excitement grows. People talk. Bloggers Blog. Techies debate. The novist (like me), waits in a paralyzing anticipation of the launch of the next product.

   As I read the article, 2 simple questions emerged. Both questions were linked together. The first question was easy. The second question consumed my thinking.

#1: Why is Apple the most covered company?

Here is my quick take.

1. INNOVATION: Apple is always looking forward to the next "thing" to impact culture. They don't look at what others are doing. They aren't following - they are leading out in the tech revolution. Think about it . . .iPod. iPhone. iPad. Those 3 innovations have completely changed their perspective markets. Think about how many tech inventions have come since then trying to be the iPhone killer (or iPod, or iPad). 
2. CULTURE: Apple has built a community of followers around their culture. It is a culture that screams - excellence - innovation - simple - cool - on the edge - quality.It is a culture that people resonate with. It is a culture that people have immersed themselves in not only with their money, but with their emotions as well.
3. CUSTOMER SERVICE:  Apple has worked diligently on creating an amazing experience for their customer. They value the customer so much that they were just ranked 3rd out of all companies by Business Week.  The next closest computer company was Dell at #23. Apple received A+ marks for "quality of staff" and "efficiency of service". But there was one piece that grabbed my attention. Apple moved from 20th to 3rd in just one years time. 

What else would you add to this list?

All this leads me to the second question . . . .coming in Part 2. 

   

 

YouVersion 2.0

YouVersion 2.0 was released on Friday.  This great resource from LifeChurch.tv just continues to get better and better.  Here are several links for more information.

• YouVersion Website
• YouVersion Blog
• ChurchCrunch
• Iphone App
• YouVersion Mobile

You VERSION: Online Colaboration

Here is a new resource from the team at Life Church. It is a great online collaboration tool for studying the Bible.  I have had a few minutes to mess around with it . . .and seems to be extremely easy and effective.  My only hope . . .get more translations like the NLT!!

Google Reader - OFFLINE

I just downloaded GOOGLE GEARS.  It allows you to read content (i.e. Google Reader) offline.  This is a great tool to keep up-to-date with all the blogs out there.