Will Mancini

The name change series continues with this post. It covers another of the Five Strategic Reasons to Change Your Church’s Name. The fourth reason to change your church’s name is: When a name streamlines communication by shortening or modifying to reflect common usage. 

Several years ago, my friends at Metropolitan Baptist Church in Houston, rebuilt their brand and tapped into what become a useful, and sticky name as “The MET.” Churches should be careful when making a change like this.  Here are two “do nots” of shortening.

DO NOT use initials for your church name. 

Because some huge brands like IBM or UPS use initials, it doesn’t mean you should. Your church’s name is the foundation of a local brand. An organization or local ministry should not behave  like a nationally recognized product, retail or media brand. Just because its more efficient for those inside the church to communicate or type the initials, don’t make the change. Using initials kills meaning and recognition on a local level.  This short-cut with few exceptions, will short-circuit awareness.

DO NOT leave doubt that you are a church when  you shorten your name.

It’s easy to bake up something creative in a name that will not help your mission in the long run. An old rule of advertising applies here, “product center stage.” That means you should say what you are. Authenticity matters. If you’re church don’t try to hide it. But some leaders do try to hide it trying to appeal to the unchurched. Or they just get too creative.

One church named the New Evangelistic Temple, rebranded to be “The Net.” They did a fantastic job renovating a 1940’s movie theatre and restoring it’s vintage look. Despite its great reputation in the community, the church was vandalized the first several months it opened. Most people thought it was a new night club. After a while they put the word “church” back in their name.

Another story is a church planter who launched a church called “Our Place.“ No where in the name did it mention that the gathering was a church. After the launch they recognized the mistake and began to identify themselves as a church again. The lesson: Don’t be so creative that people don’t know you are a church. Once in a while a teaser strategy works. But this is a very rare exception.

One further note on excluding “church” from your name is that unchurched people do not prefer it. It smacks of “bait and switch” salesmanship or inauthenticity in the focus groups and surveys we have conducted. 

How to Shorten Right

A classic story of good shortening is Federal Express. This innovative company brought overnight delivery to the world. As the brand sustained its ubiquity, people began shortening the name in common usage to “Fed-ex.” Why does this happen? Humans gravitate to using less syllables in communication.  So the company responded by reflecting common usage in the brand. Another example is Kentucky Fried Chicken. Two days ago I drove past the KFC Yum Center in Louisville, the home of the KFC brand. When you see KFC you know what it means. Again the brand is well known enough that it can make this leap.  Keep in mind that wherever you see the KFC initials you see the face of Colonel Sanders, which is a strong reinforcement to the initials. 

The Story of Metropolatin Baptist

Years ago, Metropolatin Baptist reached out to Auxano to guide them through the vision pathway  and to complete a comprehensive rebranding process. The journey led to a strategic shortening of their name in their logo. Why was it a good move for The MET? First, the common usage of the church culture had gravitated toward calling the church “The MET” for years. It is both an attractive and descriptive shortening in addition to being a more efficient solution. For example, the “The MET” is more descriptive and closer to the actual name than “The Net” in our previous illustration.  Second, we believed that the shortening could build stronger awareness with the external audience as the church launched a multisite strategy. This second reason hinged on a logo execution that included the full name of the church (as you can see here). So we steered away from being too creative, yet delivered a bold, distinct brand that visually reflected the vision of the church.

Check out a visual overview of The MET’s brand by Auxano.

Every leaders who takes their culture seriously will name that which matters most. This expression of “values,” if not called “values,” will then be articulated. 

• David Loveless of Discovery Church calls it The Discovery Difference
• Bruce Miller of McKinney Fellowship  calls is it Our Heart 
• Larry Osborne at North Coast Church calls them Plumb Lines

How do you articulate your DNA and your deepest guiding principles?

Steven Furtick of Elevation Church calls it THE CODE. Elevation has received much attention as a fast-growing church in the Charlotte area, reaching an attendance of 5,000 at three sites after four years. It’s a remarkable story, with a notable feature: The commitment to clarity. 

Here is the CODE, in 12 statements, and an example of a branded environment (large hallway graphic) to communicate vision visually.

We Act in Audacious Faith – In order to dominate a city with the gospel of Jesus, we can’t think small. We will set impossible goals, take bold steps of faith and watch God move.

We Are a Generation of Honor – We freely give honor to those above us, beside us and under us because of the calling and potential God has placed inside of them.

We Lead the Way in Generosity – Our staff and church will go above and beyond to give sacrificially to the work of God in our city.

We Are United Under the Visionary – Elevation is built on the vision God gave Pastor Steven. We will aggressively defend our unity and his vision.

We Need Your Seat – We will not cater to personal preference in our mission to reach this city. We are more concerned with the people we are trying to reach than the people we are trying to keep.

We Think Inside the Box – We will embrace our limitations. They will inspire our greatest creativity and innovation.

We Dress for the Wedding – We will continually increase our capacity by structuring for where we want to go, not where we are. We will remain on the edge of our momentum by overreacting to harness strategic momentum initiatives.

We Are Ruth’s Chris, Not Golden Corral – Simplicity enables excellence. We place a disproportionate value on creating a worship experience that boldly celebrates Jesus and attracts people far from God.

We Are All About the Numbers – Tracking metrics measures effectiveness. We unapologetically set goals and measure progress through all available quantitative means.

We Eat the Fish and Leave the Bones – We will always maintain a posture of learning. We seek to learn from everyone and incorporate a variety of influences into our methodology.

We Are Known for What We Are For – We will speak vision and life over our people. We will lift up the salvation of Jesus rather than using our platform to condemn.

We Will Not Take This for Granted – What we are experiencing is not normal. This is the highest calling, and we will remain grateful for God’s hand of favor.

This post grew from the realization that because of Catalyst, I have not experienced more peer pressure in my life since fraternity recruitment my freshman year at Penn State. Catalyst is an amazing conference for church leaders  and I am grateful for guys like Brad Lomineck who make it happen. 

But this year I am not going, despite the fact that every “young” culture-savvy leader for Jesus on planet earth will be attending. 

 My mind playfully drifted to the super-spiritual, decide-it-all question of evangelicalism – WWJD? Would Jesus go to Catalyst if he were here today? 

I’ll let you decide. Below are five reasons why I think he might or might not.  To set the stage for the list, here are the four completely different perspectives I have in relating to Catalyst:

• as a local church pastor 
• as a church consultant
• as a ministry owner and therefore a potential sponsor for Catalyst
• as the author of Church Unique, which was one of the largest books giveaways at Catalyst two years ago

 With these different lenses, here’s how I see it.

 WHY JESUS WOULD ATTEND CATALYST

 #1 Jesus created crowds. A guy who hosted a spontaneous picnic for 5,000 would certainly enjoy hanging out with 10,000+

 #2 Jesus enjoyed connecting. Catalyst is one of the best places to meet ministry friends and leaders from across the country.

 #3 Jesus did the unexpected. The folks at catalyst create great experiences with a dash of surprise.

 #4 Jesus communicated effectively. From branding the event to motivational mojo of speakers, the folks at catalyst are fantastic communicators.

 #5 Jesus enlarged perspectives. There’s something about seeing literally thousands of church leaders together that encourages the soul, and touches the expansiveness of Jesus’ mission in the world.

 WHY JESUS MIGHT NOT ATTEND CATALYST

 #1 Jesus saw beneath the surface. Jesus would know what’s more important to Catalyst- the cash or the cause? Their history and brand emphasizes the connection to Andy Stanley (and John Maxwell) in the genesis of the conference in 1999. But they seem to hide the true succession of ownership. Catalyst is currently owned by a non-ministry related for-profit entity. What ultimately drives final decisions today?

 #2 Jesus was undistracted. Could the hype of the event eclipse the help of the event? Yes it’s a great place to be, but Jesus would have discerned how well the investment of time and resources meshed with his mission.

 #3 Jesus popped inflated egos. Is the leverage of key personalities year after year, just smart ministry and business, or does it cross a line of a kingdom value?

 #4 Jesus promoted stewardship. Imagine the carbon footprint of 10,000+ people driving and flying to one location when new opportunities for motivation and learning have been created in the kingdom (like Charles Lee’s Ideacamp or Leadership Network’s The Nines). 

#5 Jesus changed a few. Catalyst is all about influence in the name of Jesus, but Jesus recipe for influence was deeply relational. He attracted crowds but invested his life in a very, very few.

Whether you’re at Catalyst or not, make the best of the next few days! I’ll see you there next year.

And, I would love to hear your own pros/cons of Catalyst. The tension is good.

When a first time guest drives onto your campus, they will decide within 11 minutes whether or not they are coming back.

Yes, the decision is made before your guests experience  worship and the content of the sermon- the two elements that demand most, if not all, of our time and attention in preparation.

What would it look like if you extended the same level of intention to the 11 minutes prior to walking in the sanctuary or worship center? Maybe the better question is “What would it feel like for your guests?” 

It’s hard to overstate the wow factor a church body creates by serve generously through a system of hospitality. For the last 10 years I have observed and analyzed over 200 churches while conducting a “secret worshipper” experience.  It is a service at Auxano we call the “Guest Perspective Evaluation.” One of my greatest thrills in ministry is tasting the variety of size, location, and spiritual heritage of these churches. But the most important observation is that any church can take small steps to make a dramatic difference in welcoming guests.

This post is the first time I have shared any of our tools or learnings. And the first place to start is to imagine seven checkpoints for your guest. Think of the checkpoints as “gates” or even “hurdles” that any first time guest must navigate to get from their comfy family room to your worship service. With every gate comes a simple question: Has the church removed the inherent difficulty of navigating the gate for the first time?

More specifically I look for every opportunity to make each gate  simple, easy and obvious to navigate.  Any particular difficulties created by your location or facility should be viewed as hospitality opportunities. By providing a great solution to an obvious barrier, you enhance the wow-factor of the hospitality. 

THE SEVEN CHECKPOINTS

#1 Before Departure: Are directions and service times immediately accessible to guests  from your church website, phone recording and yellow pages?  

#2 Travel to Location: Do guests know where to turn into your church location?

#3 Parking Lot: Do guests know where to park?

#4 Building Entrance: Do guests know which door to enter?

#5 Children’s Ministry: Do guests know where to take their kids?

#6 Welcome Center: Do guest know where to go for more information?

#7 Worship: Do guests know which door to enter?

I look forward to sharing more tools and resources related to my work here. If this is something you are interested in, please leave a comment. Also, let me know what great resources you have found to help with church welcoming ministries or guest services.

It was an exciting day for Austin Stone, a church led by Matt Carter which has experienced a surge of awareness due to their growth and unique vision over the past few years. Today they moved into a new community center designed by Visioneering Studios, led by Mel McGowan. Here are some pics of the new facility.

In highlighting Austin Stone, I want to focus on their well articulated Vision Frame, and in particular, an excellent example of what I call the “Missional Milestone” of Vision Proper- the question in the middle of the frame which asks, “Where is God taking us?”  The milestone, called the 100 People Project, is at the bottom of the post with a video, but I wanted you to see their Vision Frame first. Note that the building is NOT their milestone. Here is their framework:

Mission:

To be a New Testament church existing for the supremacy of the name and purpose of Jesus Christ.

Values:

• Authentic & Intimate Relationship with God
  
• Submission to the God of the Bible
  
• Maturity through Discipleship
  
• Authentic & Intimate Relationships with each other
  
• The Supremacy of Christ

Strategy:  To build up New Testament people who…

• Worship Christ
• Live in Community
• Get Trained
• Make Disciples

Vision Proper (Mountiantop – Infinite Horizon):

To build a great city, renewed and redeemed by a gospel movement, by being a church for the city of Austin that labors to advance the gospel throughout the nations.

Vision Proper (Milestones – 2 Year Horizon):

100 people to start the process to be sent out in 2010 for 2 year terms to unreached peoples.  They created a link for this milestone.