The Barna Group conducted a recent survey that investigated the awareness and likeability of 34 public figures. Eleven of them were religious leaders. Here is how they are perceived:

Percentage of Awareness Among All Adults

1. 79% Billy Graham (4:1 favorable vs. unfavorable ratio)
   >> 64% favorable
   >> 15% unfavorable
2. 58% Pat Robertson (1:1)
   >> 33% favorable
   >> 25% unfavorable
3. 34% James Dobson (4:1)
   >> 27% favorable
   >> 7% unfavorable
4. 25% T.D. Jakes (5:1)
   >> 21% favorable
   >> 4% unfavorable
5. 24% Franklin Graham (7:1)
   >> 21% favorable
   >> 3% unfavorable
6. 22% Joel Osteen (3:1)
   >> 17% favorable
   >> 5% unfavorable
7. 19% Tim LaHaye (3:1)
   >> 14% favorable
   >> 5% unfavorable
8. 17% Rick Warren (2:1)
   >> 12% favorable
   >> 5% unfavorable
9. 15% Chuck Colson (2:1)
   >> 9% favorable
   >> 6% unfavorable
10. 5% Andy Stanley (2:1)
    >> 3% favorable
    >> 2% unfavorable
11. 4% Bill Hybels (3:1)
    >> 3% favorable
    >> 1% unfavorable

Percentage of Awareness Among Born Again Christians

1. 87% Billy Graham (11:1 favorable vs. unfavorable ratio)
   >> 80% favorable
   >> 7% unfavorable
2. 70% Pat Robertson (2:1)
   >> 49% favorable
   >> 21% unfavorable
3. 51% James Dobson (9:1)
   >> 46% favorable
   >> 5% unfavorable
4. 38% Franklin Graham (18:1)
   >> 36% favorable
   >> 2% unfavorable 
5. 37% T.D. Jakes (8:1)
   >> 33% favorable
   >> 4% unfavorable
6. 33% Joel Osteen (4:1)
   >> 26% favorable
   >> 7% unfavorable
7. 29% Tim LaHaye (4:1)
   >> 23% favorable
   >> 6% unfavorable
8. 26% Rick Warren (3:1)
   >> 20% favorable
   >> 6% unfavorable
9. 24% Chuck Colson (3:1)
   >> 18% favorable
   >> 6% unfavorable
10. 6% Andy Stanley (2:1)
    >> 4% favorable
    >> 2% unfavorable
11. 5% Bill Hybels (4:1)
    >> 4% favorable
    >> 1% unfavorable

The survey also measured the awareness and likeability of entertainment, political, and business icons. Surprisingly, there was little difference between the perceptions of born again Christians and non-Christians, which leads Barna to conclude:

That suggests that their faith in Christ has little influence upon their decision-making, which explains why surveys find few distinctives in their lifestyle and values. Not only are most born again adults surprisingly oblivious to national religious leaders, but they apparently have the same perceptual filter as people who have not turned to Jesus Christ. If nothing else, this suggests that most born again adults are a work in progress, and that there is a lot of growth yet to experience in the renewing of their minds.

In a recent Chief Marketer article, Nilofer Merchant of Rubicon Consulting explains the importance of creating a reason to care when leading an organization or team through change.

Explain the benefits but then create an emotional reason for people to connect to the change. Let people know that something fun/joyous/motivating will result. Remember that no one does anything entirely from a rational place.

Unfortunately, some churches hate change. Often the root is emotions not reasoning that cause a congregation to want things to stay the same. This is why it is important to explain the emotional reason behind change as well as the rational.

In Blue Like Jazz, author Donald Miller shares:

I believe that the greatest trick of the devil is not to get us into some sort of evil but rather have us wasting time.

This is why the devil tries so hard to get Christians to be religious. If he can sink a man’s mind into habit, he will prevent his heart from engaging God.

Not only is it an obstacle to engaging God, but in ministry, it is a slow, steady march towards irrelevance.

Dr. Charles Stanley of First Baptist Church (Atlanta, GA) offers the following perspective on doing church:

If you do not allow God to change the way people do church, you will miss out on what God wants to do.

[via Tim Stevens]

Robb Overholt of EPIC City Church (Norfolk, VA) offers the following bit of wisdom:

Half the battle is helping our people talk positively about their church.

Positive people do extraordinary things. Attitude is everything. Encourage a positive environment in your church, and you’ll be half way to success.

[via Ben Arment]

Earlier this week Viacom announced that about 250 jobs (6% of their total staff) will be cut from MTV Networks so that they can focus more on their Internet presence. MTV Networks includes MTV, VH1, CMT, BET, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Spike TV and others.

There are also rumors that MTV may cancel its flagship music video show, TRL, after ratings have dropped from an average audience of 853,000 in 1999 to an average audience of only 373,000 for the first six weeks of 2007.

Considering that Viacom invests thousands of dollars each year to better understand their audiences, it is notable that MTV Networks is undergoing such drastic restructuring for the sake of focusing on the Internet. Perhaps this means that they see the Internet as possibly more profitable and more effective at reaching their audiences than their traditional medium.

Last week, we also mentioned The New York Times’ plans to switch from print to the Internet. Consider it proof that the Internet is quickly replacing much of the roles of newspapers and television. Churches too must understand the strengths of the Internet and how it can help them minister more effectively.

[via Forbes & Forbes]

I recently had the opportunity to read The Blogging Church by Brian Bailey of Fellowship Church (Grapevine, TX) and Terry Storch of LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK). It is the perfect book for church leaders who are wanting to learn how to use blogs to enhance their ministry but don’t know where to begin.

Brian and Terry answer the questions that every beginning blogger asks and educate the reader on important how-to’s and benefits of blogging.

Of course, first you must determine if blogging is right for your church. Here are a few pointers from the book to help you decide:

• With limited staff and little technology expertise, any new piece of technology must have a persuasive answer to the question, “Is it a tool or a toy?”
• If you face a decision on how to invest the time and money of your church and staff, you must determine what the return on ministry will be. In other words, what is the measurable ministry benefit?

And if you still aren’t sure if blogging is right for you, read the book to get the entire scope of the pros and cons of blogging.

Karl Fisch, a high school technology director from Colorado, has created a fascinating presentation of ideas and statistics that explain how our world is drastically shifting from what it used to be. Highlights from the presentation include:

• The number of text messages sent and received every day exceeds the population of the planet.
• There are about 540,000 words in the English language which is about 5 times as many as during Shakespeare’s time.
• It’s estimated that a week’s worth of The New York Times contains more information than a person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the 18th century.
• It’s estimated that 1.5 exabytes (1.5 x 10 to the 18th power) of unique new information was generated worldwide in 2006, which is estimated to be more than the previous 5,000 years.
• The amount of new technical information is doubling every 2 years.

It is mind-numbing to think of how fast our world is changing. And it is because of this fast-paced change why relevance is so important for today’s church. It is much easier to stay relevant and understand culture when change is slow. So the question is: as our world continues to increase its rate of cultural change, how can the church keep up with it all?

Quite possibly it may mean that the future of ministry will be niche ministry that focuses on reaching a specific subculture.