evan mcbroom THE OTHER SIDE of the boat

Church Branding - eternal, worldly & local

The Short Story: heard a great sermon this weekend.  Rev. Chris Chase from Good Samaritan Episcopal Church in San Diego taught on Church Branding.  His lesson

• In Revelation we learn that there will be those who will be marked/sealed as belonging to God -eternal.
• Jesus teaches us to "love one another" as a sign to the - world.
• The local church needs to identify itself uniquely in it's community - local - and Good Sam is in that process.

The Longer Story: This past weekend I traveled to San Diego to lead a branding discovery session with church leaders from Good Samaritan Episcopal Church - or "Good Sam" as they are know to friends and family.  Good Sam is a beautiful place filled with people who are easy to be around. They describe the worship service as a "lighter and relaxed interpretation and presentation of the Episcopal tradition."  It was that. Liturgy, robes, communion and an altar girl wearing orange canvas shoes. They are warm and welcoming bunch and they quietly pour themselves into the lives of each other andhurting people - locally and beyond.  Over and over they described their experience at Good Sam as one of "healing."  One member of the discovery team, Julia, a bright young woman in her Junior year in high school, described Good Sam as "Mrs. Weasley's house from the Harry Potter series." She said, "it's a little clunky, and the people are sorta quirky, but it's a place you can totally just come be yourself."  Every head around the table nodded in agreement.  

 This was an interesting day because, in addition to attending worship services and leading the discovery session, I was also invited to teach a Sunday school class, Church Branding: What Story are we Telling?  Communication Director Leanne Shawler invited me to lead this session, helping the congregation toward better understanding and fostering discussion on the topic.  Often, the work of church branding is done behind the scenes and then revealed to the congregation.  At Good Sam, it's a collective experience.  While a team will lead the effort its the congregation is well aware of what's underway.  Not only was there a class on church branding, but Rector Chris Chase's message presented a fascinating perspective as well.  The entire branding team and process was lifted up for prayer.  

Chris outlined three distinct and powerful perspectives on church branding - eternal, worldly and local. The highlights:

1. In Revelation we learn that there will be those who will be marked/sealed as belonging to God - eternal.
2. Jesus teaches us to "love one another" as a sign to the - world.
3. The local church needs to identify itself uniquely in it's community - local - and Good Sam is in that process.

  The message is about 20 minutes long.  It's worth a listen.  

Janie Mehaffey - a new season of life

I've known Janie Mehaffey since before I knew Christ.  I've known her as 

1. as a friend through my former job,
2. then just as a friend, 
3. then as a member of the Church Communicators Roundtable, 
4. then as a client,
5. then as an employee/colleague working in the Fishhook office in Indy,
6. then as an employee/colleague working for Fishhook from her home in South Florida,
7. then as that same employee on maternity leave,
8. then back as that same employee, but then as a mom...

Through all of those twists and turns I've come to know Janie as a passionate follow of Jesus who loves her family, as a smart communications strategist who uses her big brains for big Kingdom purposes and as a trusted advisor who is one of the wisest people I know. She's brought so much to Fishhook and her impact will be felt for years in our thinking, our processes and our mission...but now it's time to move on to a new season of life.  

 

In 2008, Janie and her husband Matt (the lead pastor of The Pursuit Christian Church) adopted Chase, a boy with more energy than even Janie.  As a big surprise in 2009, Janie and Matt learned that Chase had a new baby brother in Taiwan and without hesitation, they said "yes" to expanding their family.  Jackson will be coming home soon to the Mehaffey home and as that date draws near, Janie has decided, it's time to step away from her work at Fishhook. We're calling it "an extended leave of absence" as the door will always be open for Janie to jump back in if the time is right.  Those who know Janie, and especially those who have worked with her, won't be surprised to know that she's doing an ultra-professional job of transitioning all of her work to the rest of the Fishhook team.  Those details and that transition were never a stressor for me.  I knew that part would be smooooth.  

We totally celebrate Janie and Matt's decision and we can't wait to hear stories and see pictures of their growing family.  I'm thrilled that I'll see them soon when their work at The Pursuit brings Matt, Janie and I together at a conference in just a couple weeks.  At that time, I'll be getting together with them just as friends.  I know we'll share some laughs as we cruise into the next version of our friendship.  I hope you'll join me in wishing them well by adding your comments below. 

Look back. Celebrate. Look ahead.

Looking back: Seven years ago this month I quit my comfortable agency job in search of where God was leading me.  It was financially comfortable, but I had grown exceedingly restless, sensing that God was moving me out and moving me on.  It was January 2003.  A full-on search began, and by April I had discovered Fishhook.  With no funding and no business plan I printed cards at home on card stock and hand-cut them on a paper cutter.  Swiftly God began opening doors and the work came.  Looking back it just blows me away that now, seven years later, Fishhook has grown to 9 people and God has provided steady work and steady growth. We've bobbled some passes.  We've worked through hard stuff. I can look back and see about 5 or 6 specific phases of Fishhook - key points of change, struggles and improvements.

Celebrate: Today, I as have a little time to pause and reflect, I'm celebrating that in the last three weeks, we've helped church leaders launch 2 new brand identities and 3 new Web sites.

Identity and site: www.wheatlandsalem.org

Identity and site: www.golove.org

Site: www.kingswaychurch.org (we developed the identity a few years ago)

This work demonstrates the power of collaboration when our Fishhook team works closely with church staff, pastors and volunteers.  This work reflects, for me, the faithfulness of God as the one who is bringing His calling on my life to fruition.  

Looking Ahead: Next week, we will have a team retreat and we will spend some time considering what may be ahead...what does the next version of Fishhook look like.  What might God have in store?  I can't wait to explore this with the our team.

Extending the church brand into childrens ministry

Kudos to Kingsway Christian Church.  With an already solidly established brand presence on Indy's western suburbs, they have extended the brand identity to their first major ministry.  At Fishhook, we call this a sub-brand - a separate, weighty brand that is connected to the parent through the visual identity, communication and brand experience.

This branding includes the development of a new mark, specific for Kingsway Kids with a strong tie to the overall corporate mark and a twist as the corporate tag line (real - passionate - truth) plays out to describe the Kingsway Kids experience (real - fun - truth).

Much more than just the logo, the sub-branding is part of a larger overall effort to

• increase the visibility of Kingsway's Childrens Ministry (renamed Kingsway Kids)
• improve the connection, communication and collaboration with parents and volunteers
• celebrate how God is at work through Kingsway Kids and more

Kingsway mobilized multiple staff and lay teams to tackle various aspects of the project and Fishhook was honored to collaborate on this major, multi-month effort of research, creative development and implementation.  You can check out some of the streamlined communication tools at the Kingsway Kids area of the Web site.  Check out the videos and High Five newsletter.  

Here are just a few lessons we learned and/or principles we applied in doing this work:

1. It's better for a church to be a "branded house" than a "house of brands."  We see this best in the corporate world.  Disney is a branded house - a strong tie across their sub-brands (Disney World, Disney Land, Disney Stores, Disney Cruise Line, etc.) Procter & Gamble is a house of brands (Tide, Bounty, IAMS, Crest). Design the identity of your ministry brands and your overall church brands to support each other.
2. Parents and volunteers want one place to go to get informationabout classes, lessons, events and the assignments...especially if they have multiple aged children in the ministry.
3. Stories move people. If your ministry has a story to tell, give it a place to tell it.  The newsletter and Web site will become the place to share stories and resources will be directed to help tell the stories. 

Congrats Kingsway and Kingsway Kids! (and thanks for letting us be part of the fun...I mean work)  

Proud of Janie!

I lifted this off of Matt Mehaffey's post today.  He's reflecting on this weekend at The Pursuit Christian Church in South Florida. Matt writes...

Great crowd yesterday.  Both the auditorium and the Kids City area were nearing capacity. 

After the Celebration Service, we invited the church over to our house for Yuleima's baptism.

A bunch of people accepted our invitation and cheered on Yuleima as she was baptized in our hot tub! 

It was also really special for me to watch Janie baptize her. Very proud of her.

Matt, I'm with you - the whole team up here is proud of Janie (and of you).  You have a great wife and partner in ministry.  I am so grateful to you both for figuring out how to include Fishhook as just one of her God-sized ministries.  God is making a big impact through her in South Florida and WAY beyond!

Simplicity in Design...I missed it. But I got it.

Last week we had a gathering of the Indianapolis Communication Directors Roundtable at the Fishhook office.  As you can see from the photo...we squeezed 'em in.  I was looking forward to this meeting, as our own Jenn Stump was talking about "Less is More: Simplicity in Design."  I however, was out of town and missed it.  I really wanted to hear Jenn's presentation.  She's sharp and I can learn a lot from her.  Although I missed it, upon my return I found this flip chart on the wall with the essence of her talk.  I don't understand it all, but I get some of it.  Especially #1

Thanks Jenn!

Girls Gone...What?

I'm not sure even how to describe this...but something happened today that is sort of indescribable.  Perhaps unbelievable.  In some circles unrecoverable.  But here.  Today.  It's all OK.

Imagine my wonder when I received an email from a very good friend and major client (in that order I hope) who was informing me (in his usual wit-filled-way)  that my most recent podcast/video blog was...well...let's say "amiss."  How was it amiss?  Apparently (and at this moment a colleague of my friend/major client, was calling on the phone to confirm that the email was, in fact, not a joke, but completely factual.  Yes, something was quite wrong with my podcast. 

Apparently, as I was learning, following my 90 second video message, the streaming video hosting service (which we were "trying out" on our own stuff before considering it for clients) was slapping a video commercial at the end of my message.  And what was the product being promoted in the commercial that played EVERY TIME at the end of my message?  Drum roll...and I am not making this up.

  "Girls Gone Wild at the Best Bar in America"

Yes, in all it's barely "censored" glory, there were drunk college-aged girls cavorting about...right after I was inviting people to join my company in supporting a new church plant.  I'm sorry?  Did I get that right?  Girls Gone What?  Crap!  Sorry to say it her in my blog, but there is no other word to express it. 

So, what ensued?  I'm pleased with my response and thrilled with the response of my team.

1. I made a quick call, reported the problem and within minutes the thing was fixed.  (moved to another streaming service).

2. I offered up a quick, clear, self-effacing message to thank the friend/client for letting us know about the problem.

3. spent the afternoon (nervously) laughing as our team and his team traded email jabs and zingers back and forth - testifying to the depth, transparency and quality of these relationships.

4. let my team know that I value them all as professionals, as people who are self-aware and as people sharp enough to learn our own lessons (I have lots of lessons to learn myself) and we extend grace, appreciate wisdom and maintain a good sense of humor!

Oh, I'm sure I'll get lots of mileage out of this story.  Glad it happened to us and not to a client.  Technology is risky.  Trying new vendors is risky.  Taking risks is important - it's how we move ahead. 

Oh...what a day.

 

Hook Me Up!

Hundreds of people stopped by the Fishhook booth at MinistryCom and said, "Hook Me Up!" You can still get hooked . . . check out the Fishhook website for details.

something different - something fun

I just got off of a conference call with my friend and Fishhook strategic partner - Todd Adkins.  We were on the phone with one of our clients.  We're developing a super hero for them.  It was a really fun conversation - pure dreaming/character development.  This isn't the final guy - he's a work in progress.  I like this new super hero.  He's confident.  Honest.  Talented.  He's got a good heart.  Huh.  The same could be said for Todd!  It's a joy to work with a good team.