Advertising in the new normal!!

Ok Ok many churches advertise...nothing wrong with that. Hey when you have something that everyone needs or when you have experienced something that has helped you then telling others becomes important. I know of a church that advertises in a movie theater...another church I know uses billboards...another church uses a mail out service identifying and reaching out to certain demographics. Some churches use TV while some advertise on radio. Good for all of them!

However, there is a new normal going on out there in people-land...many folks do not watch much TV and many folks do not have disposable income like they used to so movies are few and far between. Mail out ads are tossed in the trash too often. However, many folks are using social networking like Face Book to stay in touch with family & friends, or looking up a "blast from the past" and re-connecting. So, Face Book and other on-line social sites are great places to advertise and that simple technique is what we are doing to promote ministries, events, and the church itself.

Our most recent ad is aimed at young couples who used to go to church but became disenfranchised with the stained glass Jesus that was presented to them. They never knew the Bible Jesus...the Jesus who ate with sinners...the Jesus that went home with the area's tax-collector to speak into his life. The real-deal Jesus who ministered to a prostitute about to be stoned...that Jesus is foreign to the generations below my age. Our ad has a guy holding his head and screaming at the thought of returning to church. Yet, that is right where some of these folks are living. They have young kids now and they know they need to give their children religious up-bringing so they begrudgingly are looking at where to go to church as a family. In 3 days 252,326 showings of the ad have happened to all FB folks 18-45 years of age living within 10 miles of our church. 130 people have clicked on the ad for more info. How many will ever visit WHC? Don't know but I will keep you posted. Welcome to the new normal!!