teastory

In an interview Seth Godin, Tony Morgan asks “Do you think marketing should be important for churches?” Seth replied, “Nearly everyone who markets something suffers from the following conceit: other people do marketing, but my product is so amazing and magical and important that marketing isn’t necessary. Nowhere is this idea easier to embrace than …

For my tastes, that’s a little over the top. Nevertheless, there is something to be said for this well-honored proverb of business execs worldwide. Take, for example, one aspect of God’s covenant with Abraham, found in Genesis 12 (a covenant, which by the way, carries over into the New Testament: See Galatians 3:29)… “I will …

I ran across an interesting blog today by Chris Erdman. The blog itself was posted last year, and in it Chris posits the idea that a church mission statement is a bad idea. Click here to read his post. In response, it sounds as if Chris’ aversion is to marketing and to any attempt to …

OK…Nike used to stand for cool shoes, now it stands for gay? According to the Oregonian, sporting apparel giant Nike endorsed a bill in the Oregon Senate that would create civil unions for same-sex couples as well as a bill that would outlaw discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees. Nike — the only …

I just finished reading the most recent issue of the Barna Update. The article investigated the reading habits of Americans by looking at who is buying the best sellers. Here’s a snippet: The DaVinci Code actually drew its most prolific fan base from the Catholic population. The book also drew many readers from those who …

The following article appears in the March/April issue of Ministries Today magazine. “When God told me (Dutch) to agree in prayer with a dead man, He had my attention!” That’s how author Dutch Sheets begins his latest book, History Makers, co-written by William Ford III. Sheets goes on to explain what really is the premise …

First, click here to read Brian McClaren’s article concerning the film “Hotel Rwanda” and his reaction to it verses his reaction to last year’s “The Passion of the Christ.” Then come back and read my response. **************************** Wow…it’s difficult to know exactly how and where to start in responding to an article such as this. …

This was in today’s issue of 850 Words of RELEVANT: “Once in a while we feel privileged to bring you groundbreaking stuff. Click here to check out one of the funniest videos we’ve seen in a while. Think Vanilla Ice meets cheesy youth group pastor who’s really into the Word …” There simply are no …

Islamist Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, granted an exclusive interview with Anthony McRoy, a London-based scholar of Islam, and a religion journalist writing for ChristianityToday.com. In the article Sheikh Omar discusses the “rationale” for 9/11 and the basic ideology of radical Islam. This is frightening stuff. I can think of only one way to be inspired …

I read an article today by Dannielle Blumenthal (writing for AllAboutBranding.com) that has some nice little thought nuggets for religious organizations. Here’s my favorite quote: “Your brand is how you are perceived by others – what people think you’ve said. Unfortunately, though, you do not control what other people think. The only way to manage …