Creative Chaos--The Importance of Branding A Series

Back in 2001 a former church that I served found itself in an all too familiar place.  At the end of the summer we were significantly behind budget and needed to find a way to "catch up" during the critical Fall period.

We came up with the campaign "90 to Nothing"--meaning that we would take the next 90 days to try to catch up on missed tithes and offerings and that people would give an extra offering to help catch up. (most of the churches that I have served have done this although my current church hasn't had a stewardship campaign in almost 3 years because of this sermon series).

We went all out for this.  We used the Checkered flag as our symbol and hung the banners all over the church and outside the church. We even had a church member bring a race car and set it in front of the church and had the local paper come and do an article on it.  My son was about 3 at the time and he was all about the racing stuff.  He couldn't read but he could hear us say something about "90 to Nothing" over and over again.

This made such an impression on him that later that year when we moved to the Metroplex we would drive by an entertainment complex that had a giant checkered flag as a symbol. Daniel would squeal with pleasure and say "Dad..dad...90 to Nothing".  It was then that I realized the impact and importance that happens when we brand or emphasize something in church.  To this day I think he would still instinctively answer "90 to Nothing" if you were to ask him what the symbol means.

How much do you consider the lasting impact of the images, the phrasing, the titling of series and promotions in your church?  As with the Stewards 'R Us series we can still start the phrase "It all comes from God, belongs to God and is _________(dispersed) by God" as our catch phrase from that series and people know where it comes from.

I'm not saying that we're always so successful with each teaching series.  It just points out the importance of thinking through the lasting impacts that words, images and series can have in the life of the church.

This post is part of Creative Chaos over on Ragamuffinsoul.com.