They're Everywhere, They're Everywhere!

Yesterday my wife comes through the door and says to me "Tally... did you put those signs up today?" The look on her face was of amazement and shock.


I said "Well, I had someone do it... but yeah."

She continued "They are Everywhere. You can't go to a light in Greenbrier without seeing our signs stacked up at the intersection."

I said "Good. That's what I wanted to happen."

You see... we're trying to use this summer to be aggressive with outreach. A big part of outreach has to do with awareness. As a small start-up church we don't have a ton of resources and we don't have a ton of people to saturate our city. But none of that matters.

When I was in college I constantly heard from Dr. Falwell that "The way to reach people is to contact them and contact them continuously." Dr. Falwell started his church and began a marketing blitz that would be considered amazing by todays standards, let alone what was going on in 1956. Within weeks of their opening, Dr. Falwell was on the speaking circut as well as radio and T.V. In addition he made his way door to door all over his town.

Once a person was contacted, they'd get a follow-up phone call and a newsletter in the mail. Every contact made received 3 contacts alone in that first week. With the newness of what he was doing and the fact that he was a 'cool' church planter (he was the only one on TV and radio)... his church grew to 800 people within that first year. He never had to look back.

We didn't make that splash when we started. If you're a church planter out there, chances are that you didn't make that huge 200-300 person splash either. Most don't. The thing is... we didn't fold either. We don't need to. We were able to manage our resources and take time to develop people from right where they were. Our church isn't full of talented people in any one particular area but we have a group of people willing to work once they see the vision.

So... this goes back to our signs. One of the things I'm going to do is to work hard to blanket this part of town with info about us. There is NO ONE who drives in the Greenbrier area this weekend who is able to deny that they read one of our signs. There are so many of them that it forces you to say "Who the heck did that?" You are compelled to look.

Granted... I've considered these disposable... the city may take them down in a few days but to me it's worth it. It's a small part of creating buzz and showing our own people that we're willing to get out there. If your people dont' see the effort, they will quit. Also... one of the things I leared from "Why Men Hate Going to Church" is that guys want to be a part of a winner. Guys want to be on a team making things happen. If it's "his" church... he wants it to make some noise. Guys would love to say "Yeah... I go to Focal Point Church." and have their friends say "Is that the one that meets at the Theater with all of those signs? The alternative is a long explination that gets uncomfortable for most guys. They'd rather be a part of a team that's moving the ball.

So this summer we're trying some inexpensive things to make some noise. We only put out half of our signs in the area right near the mall because it's a densely trafficed area and as I said they are likely to get tore down when the mowers come by. What we will do is wait a few weeks and do it again. In addition we are hosting free movies, a few cookouts and in July we're bringing in a group from Pennsylvania to help us make some noise with a gas giveaway, block parties, ice cream giveaway and they will spend the week canvassing neighborhoods letting people know about the church.

So... no excuses... get out there and make some noise. Make sure the reason people aren't coming isnt' for a lack of effort. The way I see it is that if I bust my tail to make people aware of us and they don't come... that's more on God than me. I'm going to do all I can and trust that God will do what only he can.

BTW: Ben Arment did a similar sign campaign a while back and that's where I stole the idea. It's not that signage is new.. it's that the amount of signs in one place gets the heads turning. I'll let you know how it goes.