I have ZERO (by zero, I mean .4 on a scale of 1-10) background in church media related subjects. Sure, I’ve run a camera or two in my life but camera operators are only as good as their director(s). Sure, I worked with Adobe Premiere earlier this decade with simple transitions, timing with music, etc… the typical church media type project everyone was doing when computer configurations were cheaper and more available complete with capture cards. I remember when this ability was few and far between…

(By the way, the entire above paragraph utilized the two spaces after the period rule. Take that, you fake 80s kids born from 85-89 who can’t even remember the 80s)

At first impulse, I’m against church being an avenue for entertainment. The problem herein lies in the fact that entertainment and relevance seem to go together in this day and age in the realm of the churchlands. Relevance is really important these days. The Church as scripturally intended, is in such a transition that it almost appears to be dying, but this is arguable at best. If we bring the conversation down to a denominational level, then I may have a leg to stand on, but I digress…

The other venerable members of Marketing Dilemma, particularly Neil and Jeremy attended the Echo Conference for reasons I’m unaware aside from the fact that Echo has been a premier resource for all things current and relevant in media in regards to church/ministry media from graphic design, television, and any subcategory you can think of that is related.

I’m encouraged somewhat that there are believers who are recognizing the shift in ministry marketing paradigms. I’m glad that Echo mentioned how ministries need to quit doves, flames, flags, etc… as part of their logos. Sure, it made many people laugh at the sheer commonality of those items, but at the same time it was depressing to realize that all those things summed up every ministry out there and how it has homogenized, effectively neutering the marketing aspect of “church as a business.” It’s definitely created the “in but not of” mentality and brought about that separation of church and society, which is bad for business because society is the church and vice versa.

Gasp! Business! I can’t tell you how much church and business still feel as if they don’t belong together, but the truth is they do. Behind every self-sustaining church is a business administrator, whether that role is filled by the pastor or a hired staff member, the administration of business is all too important.

Church and community/society should be one in the same, but it is not. They have both become separate entities in spite of sharing the same members. Is this why double lives are so prevalent? Church has effectively removed itself from the mainstream, but its members must make the transition every weekend of “of” back to “in”. I think this Echo Conference shed light on this very thing I’m talking about. The Church must partner again with the living, breathing people. Is there a place for the supernatural? Absolutely, but it must NOT STAY in the church.

So anyways, I think that while the times are changing there is a group of people out there who are bringing the culture of life with God into the mainstream of life itself, and of its subcategories and in essence keeping up with the times. Some would argue that the Church should be dictating the times and seasons of change, and this may be true to a degree… but what has the Church done? To serve a God whose mercies are new every morning, and otherwise keeps it fresh with who He is, what has the Church done to present this aspect of God in the way they present the Gospel?

I think people are getting used to the idea that the world is not waiting on the Church.

(via Phil Cooke)

My best brain naps normally involve the aforementioned She Spies, Freakazoid!, UHF, or basically any Sci-Fi original movie. The key is it has to be stupid enough not to require your brain, but not so dumb that you start thinking about how bad it is. You’re not trying to start an internal Mystery Science Theater 3000 monologue about the dumb actors because that is what we call counter-productive. That movie may just seem stupid, but it has to be wily enough to get around all of your brain’s guards and attempts to “think things through”. It has to appear innocent while it lays it’s trap.

Mansquito (on Sci-Fi at 3am): “Hey, Jeremy’s brain, I know you’ve been spinning on all cycles to optimize those database queries for some obscure use case, but why don’t you just take a break. Let me take over an hour. Maybe two.”

Jeremy’s Brain: “No. I suppose I can try to relax a little, but I can’t just trust you to take over completely. I’m pretty important around here. There’s a lot of things I need to— Stop rubbing my shoulders, Mansquito. I have a lot to do and— okay, that’s the spot. Maybe five minutes.”

Mansquito: “Five minutes? That’s fine. I mean, I just want you to release that stress, brain. How’s that? Would you like a drink? I happen to have some merlot over here.”

Jeremy’s Brain: “No. I mean, I guess one glass wouldn’t hurt. Um, Mansquito? This wine tastes kind of funny. In fact, my head’s starting to—”

And that’s it. With it’s hypnotic, rohypnol-esque badness a Sci-Fi original movie takes over my higher functions and knocks my brain out for two hours. As the credits roll at the end, my brain starts to come around. After an awkward silence, I get up and my brain realizes it feels more energized. It’s recharged. It just woke up from the best nap it’s ever had. I run back to the computer, optimize those queries like nobody’s business, and get started on the next big thing. Eventually, my brain will start to remember a few fuzzy scenes of genetically altered mosquitoes, but we never really talk about it. The “brain naps” may be my only secret to sanity, and we both know they are uncomfortably necessary.

I could not have created a better definition of “marketing dilemma”.