Shane Hipps, author of Flickering Pixels, discussed the ever-changing gospel that never changes during Catalyst Conference’s third session. Shane is an ex-adman turned Mennonite pastor. Here is what he said:

Christianity is fundamentally a communication event. God uses many media channels.

We have a little assumption that we all hold very dear… the methods change but the message stays the same. This assumption means that we have to change our methods while protecting the message. But this assumption assumes that each medium is neutral and doesn’t affect the message.

But the advertising industry teaches you the opposite. The media is the message. This means that how you say something determines the message more than what you say.

For example, there is a huge difference between printed words and images. Printed words are processed in the left hemisphere of the brain in a logical way. Images are processed in the right hand of the brain are processed in the emotional right hemisphere of the brain. Images and words are not interchangeable. They are fundamentally different ways of doing things.

In Mark 2:22, Jesus says no one pours new wine into old wine skins. The unchanging message of the gospel then actually changes with each medium. Reality is the ever-changing gospel never changes.

To explain how something can always change but never change is like this… a man always stays a man but he constantly changes from a baby to an old man throughout his life. A mustard tree will always be a mustard tree but simultaneously always be growing and changing.

You don’t have to be afraid of breaking the gospel. The gospel has no room for fear. All you have to do is love.

As each tree grows higher and higher, its roots grow deeper and deeper. The Bible has untouched diamonds buried in it that need roots to grow deeper in order to discover them. But in order to do that we must become gardeners of the gospel rather than fearful guards.

For the fourth lab of Catalyst, Shane Hipps, author of Flickering Pixels, discussed how technology shapes us in unexpected ways. Shane is an ex-adman turned Mennonite pastor. Here is what he said:

When I was in advertising and worked for Porsche, I had a sense that I was creating a counterfeit gospel. I left advertising because I did not agree with how it manipulated people’s lives. While in advertising, I learned about what influences consumer subcultures.

The implications of how technologies shape you are vast and deep.

ORAL CULTURE (<1500)
<tribes / empathy / intimate>

In order to understand community, we must go back in time to the age of oral culture. This means that you must rely on the people around you. You share stories with each other… repetitive, conservative stories. People in an oral culture tend to be very tribal and communal and empathetic.  They are intimate in their living conditions. And their acts of violence are passionate.

The technology of writing changes this.

LITERATE CULTURE (1500-1850)
<individuals / separate>

Writing separates you from the tribe. Reading and writing as a technology demands isolation. In order to read, you can’t interact with others well while reading. Literacy brings the rise of individualism. It makes relationships distant. It has the ability to be anonymous. You no longer have to know the communicator in order to know his thoughts.

ELECTRONIC AGE (1850<)
<tribes of individuals / empathy at a distance / intimate anonymity>

The phonograph, the telegraph, and the radio revolutionized communication. Marshall McLuhan says, “The electronic age has given man an ear for an eye.” The separation experienced from literate culture is less destructive than what happens when oral cultures are fused through electronic media. It is a tangle of complex emotions. For example, while cell phones connect you with people digitally, they also separates you physically from the people closest to you. There are pros and cons.

Empathy at a distance is what happens when you sit down for dinner in front of the TV and you are emotionally engaged by the trauma on the news without being able to help. There may be an initial response, such as giving support to relief organizations. However, the human being was not designed to withstand human suffering all day every day. In order to survive, you grow numb, which leads to apathy not action.

Technology allows you to share intimate details with the masse. However, the way you preserve intimacy is by exclusive boundaries. The moment that curtain parts and everyone else is invited in there is no more intimacy.

Tech based communication lowers our inhibitions digitally the same way alcohol lowers inhibitions in person. For example, teens use social networks to do the following:

• 92% keep in touch with friends (which is normal behavior)
• 60% play a trick on someone
• 44% ask someone out
• 42% write something you wouldn’t say in person
• 24% break up with someone

So what does all this mean?

The more aware you become of these dynamics, the better it is for you as a leader. The trick is to understand the paradox. And if you understand the paradox then you can be discerning. You can become more intentional about your relationships.

Technology is like food. Ice cream has a proper place in one’s diet, but if you only eat ice cream then you are in trouble. If you only consume tech communication, it is not healthy.

If you doubt that these online mediated relationships are less than in-person relationships, they are. They are thinner.

Recently, I had the opportunity to discuss the future of church websites over a video conference with Cleve Persinger and the team at The Chapel (Libertyville, IL). I spent some time sharing my thoughts on effective SEO church marketing, and Cleve was kind enough to archive the talk for your enjoyment.
[pardon the rocky audio]

To sum it up, optimize your church website content by using the keywords that are most often searched by the people your are called to reach. You can research these keywords with Google AdWords Keyword Tool.

For Discussion:
- What is your church marketing SEO strategy?

One of the most intriguing and challenging books for me in recent years is Shane Hipps’ Flickering Pixels. It takes a fascinating look at how media affect content and faith. It is a bit of a big concept, so I will use some of Shane’s words to give you a glimpse of what is all about.

It is commonly assumed that as long as we protect the unchanging message of the gospel, the method of communicating doesn’t much matter.

The logic is pretty straightforward. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make it true.

If the first truth is that our methods necessarily change, the second truth is whenever our methods change, the message automatically changes along with them. You can’t change methods without changing your methods - they’re inseparable.

Throughout the book, Shane discusses the complexities of how the medium affects the content and the audience. For example, Shane writes:

Images focus our attention on the realm of cosmetics. Often, it is for the sake of showcasing beauty and talent.

The radio returned our culture to the experience of the tribal campfire with its shared stories, songs, and banter.

The Internet has a natural bias towards exhibitionism and thus the erosion of real intimacy.

Printing put the left hemisphere of the brain on steroids.

If you communicate with people through any medium, you need to understand the pros and cons of that medium and how it influences your communication. You are just as much responsible for the medium you choose as you are for the words you use (or whatever content you communicate).

Here is the review of the most interesting links of 2009’s 5th week (my picks).

DESIGN

• 22 Most Used Free Fonts By Professional Designers [iShift]
• 50 Must-Have Photoshop Brushes [Smashing Magazine]

MARKETING

• 5 Steps to Going Viral on Twitter [Copyblogger]
  (1) Call to action. (2) Timing. (3) Links. (4) Social Proof. (5) Value.
• The Do’s and Don’ts for Expanding Into the Hispanic Market [Chief Marketer]
• Top Tactics for 2009 [eMarketer]

RESEARCH

• 2009 Facebook Demographics and Statistics Report: 276% Growth in 35-54 Year Old Users [iStrategyLabs]
• Boys With Unpopular Names More Likely to Break Law [LiveScience]
  Boys in the United States with common names like Michael and David are less likely to commit crimes than those named Ernest or Ivan.
• Income Distribution Within U.S. Religious Groups [The Pew Forum]
• Infants Draw On Past To Interpret Present, Understand Other People’s Behavior [ScienceDaily]
  University of Washington psychologists have learned that 10-month-old infants use their prior exposure and understanding of familiar actions by a person to unravel novel actions. However, this ability is limited by the location in which the new action is performed.
• Remember That Time? New Study Demystifies Consumer Memory [ScienceDaily]
  Our findings suggest that marketers may engineer experiences to maximize customer enjoyment by improving the most memorable events. For long-term customer enjoyment, marketers should attempt to make consumers’ initial experiences with a service or product very positive.
  
• Repeat abortions among teenage girls have risen by 70% [Daily Mail]
  In 2007, 5,897 girls under 20 had their second, third or even fourth termination. Sixteen years earlier, in 1991, the figure stood at just 2,934, the journal Contraception reported. Abortions in the UK have reached record levels.
• Teens and Cell Phone Use [Harris Interactive]
  40% say they would die without their phone. 42% say they are able to text blindfolded!
• Video games linked to poor relationships [TechRadar.com]
  Researchers at Brigham Young University in Utah talked to 813 university students across the US and found that as the amount of time the students spent playing video games went up, the quality of their relationships with friends and family suffered. The more people play videogames, the more frequent their involvement in ‘risky’ behaviours such as drinking and drug abuse.

THE REVIEW OF 2008
Jan. 28th - How to be a Better Listener in 3 Easy Steps
Jan. 29th - 7 Church Leadership Mistakes to Avoid

THE REVIEW OF 2007
Jan. 26th - Women Prefer Direct Mail More Than Email
Jan. 30th - 4 Things Young Adults Want in a Church
Jan. 31st - 4 Qualities of Successful, Growing Churches

At Innovation3, Stacy Spencer of New Directions Christian Church (Memphis, TN) discussed how to have a radically different church.

Radical differentiation is about finding a whole new market space. Your ministry brand is not who you say you are, it’s who they say you are.

How to Protect Your Brand

1. When you start growing… the more cream you add to the coffee, the weaker it gets. As your church grows, do not forget why you are called.
2. Protect against misalignment. Your vision is not in align with your values. You promise more in the showroom than you have in the stockroom.

Churches that zag can fill in the blank - “My church is the only church that _______.”

If you do what you are supposed to do, you will be blessed. When you get comfortable with who called has called you to be, you will be blessed.

The brand must be consistent with who you say you are. Whatever it is that called has called you to be, do it better than anyone else.

This morning I have the privilege of giving a creative marketing lecture at Oklahoma State University (Tulsa, OK). Here are a few thoughts from my talk.

WHAT IS CREATIVE MARKETING?

Typically, people think of advertising whenever they think of creative marketing. They think of Nike, Apple, and Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s Burger King ads. Reality is creative marketing is so much more.

WHAT IS MARKETING?

Marketing has four main areas, and you can be creative in all of them.

1. Promotion
   (i.e., advertising, direct marketing, interactive, personal selling, public relations, sales promotion)
   Example: Crispin Porter + Bogusky
2. Product (service)
   Example: Ideo
3. Price
   Example: Psychological Pricing
4. Place (distribution)
   Examples: Envirosell & UPS

Using these four marketing areas, your four-step goal is to create:

1. Awareness
2. Interest
3. Desire
4. Action

WHAT IS CREATIVITY?

Creativity is about ideas and concepts. You are a product of what your mind digests. If you want to be creative, fill your mind and surround yourself with a broad scope of excellence. Here is what the experts say:

When we remember something, that memory feels unified, but the reality is that you assemble each memory out of lots of different pieces. A tip-of-the-tongue state occurs when one of the pieces gets lost.
- Daniel Schacter :: Psychologist :: Harvard

When you need to tie together things that are distantly related, that’s exactly what an insight is. It’s tying together information that people already know, but they don’t recognize how they are related until that key moment.
- Mark Jung-Beeman :: Neuroscientist :: Northwestern University

Problem solving, whether creative or methodical, doesn’t begin from scratch when a person starts to work on a problem. His or her pre-existing brain-state biases a person to use a creative or a methodical strategy.
- John Kounios :: Psychology Professor :: Drexel University

New insights come from new people and new environments — any circumstance in which the brain has a hard time predicting what will happen next.
- Fast Company

Breakthrough insights are at the intersection of ideas, concepts, and cultures.
- Frans Johansson :: The Medici Effect

3 STEPS TO EFFECTIVE CREATIVE MARKETING

Creativity for creativity’s sake is worthless. Creative marketing must be effective and preferably efficient. Here are three essential steps:

1. Know your brand.
   What makes you unique? What is your mission? What are your core values? etc.
2. Understand culture.
   Understand the cultures of the people you want to reach and how those cultures are evolving.
3. Determine the best marketing route.
   There are hundreds of ways to connect your brand with your audience, but you need to determine which one will be most effective.

JUST THE BEGINNING

There is so much more research and best practices on each area that I have briefly discussed. If you are serious about being a creative marketer, deepen your studies and practice it.

John Saddington of ChurchCrunch recently asked me some good questions and posted my answers on his blog. If you want to read my opinion on the future of church marketing and on how technology and social media change and challenge traditional avenues, be sure to visit ChurchCrunch.com.