Comments on: The Idol of Marketing http://blog.ministrygrowers.com/2008/11/21/the-idol-of-marketing/ Plowing the Soil for Pastors to Plant the Seeds Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:55:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: Corey Jamison http://blog.ministrygrowers.com/2008/11/21/the-idol-of-marketing/#comment-3483 Corey Jamison Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:58:28 +0000 http://blog.ministrygrowers.com/?p=727#comment-3483 TR, thanks for the comment! I agree with you for the most part, but I do think we need to make sure we always go to God first when starting anything. Prayer and a biblical understanding should be the foundation for everything we do, especially when dealing with sharing the gospel, and that is what church marketing is. I do not think experts are bad, I read them daily, I just think that we might go to them before we humble ourselves before God and ask for guidance. I guess what I am getting at also is do we trust that God can move without our brilliant marketing. Do we trust more in marketing to grow a church then we trust God? I understand that the end result is still God, but it is more of a heart issue for me. Marketing is a great thing in the church if we place our trust in God with it. I think we are on the same page, just saying it differently. TR, thanks for the comment! I agree with you for the most part, but I do think we need to make sure we always go to God first when starting anything. Prayer and a biblical understanding should be the foundation for everything we do, especially when dealing with sharing the gospel, and that is what church marketing is. I do not think experts are bad, I read them daily, I just think that we might go to them before we humble ourselves before God and ask for guidance.

I guess what I am getting at also is do we trust that God can move without our brilliant marketing. Do we trust more in marketing to grow a church then we trust God? I understand that the end result is still God, but it is more of a heart issue for me. Marketing is a great thing in the church if we place our trust in God with it. I think we are on the same page, just saying it differently.

]]> By: TR Wilkens http://blog.ministrygrowers.com/2008/11/21/the-idol-of-marketing/#comment-3482 TR Wilkens Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:45:58 +0000 http://blog.ministrygrowers.com/?p=727#comment-3482 I would hope that we would first turn to the experts. Yes, faith and prayer are important in having a constant conversation with God and to guide us through our day, but when we think about marketing, we think about being effective. The message is God. If we are poor, ineffective communicators/marketers then we don't get the message out. The message is important and the medium needs to be effective. People that want to be pastors go to seminary to learn how to be effective pastors. They don't go there just to be better christians and they don't just go off and start a church based on an already established faith. If God has given you the gift or talent to be good at marketing and you feel the call to use that gift to share God's word, then he will give you the opportunity to be effective and to do His will. "We do the work, we come up with the creative and we see the results. We forget about the Creator who gave us creativity and worship our products." We do the work to glorify the creator. In marketing faith, God should be our final product. If our final product is a tooth brush and our marketing is effective, we shouldn't worship our campaign or the tooth brush. We should be thankful to God for giving us a talent that we can find pride in. And we may only reach one person if we are poor communicators with our message of faith, but that may be just what God had planned. We don't do what we do as christians to keep a tally or to find favor with God, we do what we do because God IS in our hearts and he loves us very much. He has to because we continuously fall short. I would hope that we would first turn to the experts. Yes, faith and prayer are important in having a constant conversation with God and to guide us through our day, but when we think about marketing, we think about being effective. The message is God. If we are poor, ineffective communicators/marketers then we don’t get the message out. The message is important and the medium needs to be effective.

People that want to be pastors go to seminary to learn how to be effective pastors. They don’t go there just to be better christians and they don’t just go off and start a church based on an already established faith.

If God has given you the gift or talent to be good at marketing and you feel the call to use that gift to share God’s word, then he will give you the opportunity to be effective and to do His will.

“We do the work, we come up with the creative and we see the results. We forget about the Creator who gave us creativity and worship our products.”

We do the work to glorify the creator. In marketing faith, God should be our final product. If our final product is a tooth brush and our marketing is effective, we shouldn’t worship our campaign or the tooth brush. We should be thankful to God for giving us a talent that we can find pride in.

And we may only reach one person if we are poor communicators with our message of faith, but that may be just what God had planned. We don’t do what we do as christians to keep a tally or to find favor with God, we do what we do because God IS in our hearts and he loves us very much. He has to because we continuously fall short.

]]> By: Bunk http://blog.ministrygrowers.com/2008/11/21/the-idol-of-marketing/#comment-3382 Bunk Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:44:55 +0000 http://blog.ministrygrowers.com/?p=727#comment-3382 Wow. Fabulous post. Especially in the realm of faith based blogs and websites, sometimes the Creator is lost in hindsight to whatever site or marketing campaign is being used. I too feel that sometimes we focus too much on numbers rather than the effect our posts or product can have on simply one individual. If someone blogs for a total of five years and in the end only ends up changing the life of one individual or reader through that time period, does that nigate the fact that even though the blog might not have had a huge amount of readers it is not as valuable or the work was done in vain. I continue to remind myself that God is not a God of numbers, but of heart issues. Wow. Fabulous post. Especially in the realm of faith based blogs and websites, sometimes the Creator is lost in hindsight to whatever site or marketing campaign is being used.

I too feel that sometimes we focus too much on numbers rather than the effect our posts or product can have on simply one individual.

If someone blogs for a total of five years and in the end only ends up changing the life of one individual or reader through that time period, does that nigate the fact that even though the blog might not have had a huge amount of readers it is not as valuable or the work was done in vain.

I continue to remind myself that God is not a God of numbers, but of heart issues.

]]> By: Corey Jamison http://blog.ministrygrowers.com/2008/11/21/the-idol-of-marketing/#comment-3331 Corey Jamison Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:33:32 +0000 http://blog.ministrygrowers.com/?p=727#comment-3331 Here is a question for you, and lets be honest. When thinking about marketing do we turn to God first with faith and prayer, or do we first look to "experts" like Seth Godin? I tend to look to the "experts" first. Here is a question for you, and lets be honest. When thinking about marketing do we turn to God first with faith and prayer, or do we first look to “experts” like Seth Godin? I tend to look to the “experts” first.

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