Video Transcript: Making Your Calling and Church Known Part 2

We're gonna continue our discussion of make your calling your church known.  And remember, the your calling is right at the beginning, when you've sensed  that call or your church when you're planting a church, how are you fit on that,  

you want to just continue to be transparent and get word of mouth starting right  away, remembering, it's about an engaging story. It's Embodied Reality, you're  living it out. And then you're sharing this, it's almost like that seven connections.  We've talked about many times at Christian leaders Institute, that how it is in  your personal life is something that you're sharing Embodied Reality, and then  you're sharing how others can participate. And again, remember Acts 13:48, as  the Gentiles heard this, they were glad they were happy. And they glorified the  Word of God, as many as were ordained to eternal life believed in the word of  the Lord was spread throughout all the region. So let's talk about the reasons  why people talk about you. Reason one is you people talk because you're doing  or selling something. Again, I don't like that word selling around the church idea,  necessarily, but for our purposes we're going to use you're doing or promoting  something that they want to talk about. They love your product. In other words,  they love the gospel, they love the problems you solve eternal life, a new life,  love all those. They love that. And they like how you treat them. Are you  someone with people, smart ministry respect, you've done something  interesting. It's about giving them a reason to talk about you. The more  interesting you get, the more motivated the talkers are, your customers, those  your call to reach, are not going aren't going to love or hate you or feeling  different for no reason. In other words, if you if you embody the called  messenger of the Lord, you are one of the reasons people will talk about what  you're doing, that you is continued. For those who are there with you giving  people something to talk about means being creative, and how you present your products, how you look at a hymn, I'll give you an example of hymn. An old  hymn you can look at a hymn in an old way. It's like okay, we got to do old hymn  or a young way. Your services, you can look at doing Sunday schools, in our  churches, all these things go or you can find a school that is alive in young and  fresh and new. You're gonna look at the church, a church has been around here  2000 years and nobody's gonna do that. No, the Church is the Body of Christ.  The day to day existence of your church, your business doesn't, doesn't provide  a the day to day existence of your business doesn't provide a reason to talk. The reality is you want your church to have reasons to share. You've got to keep  putting new topics out there. Even your most diehard fans need something to  keep them interested on an ongoing basis. Without that extra oomph, you don't  have a conversation. So what Andy is trying to say, is keep that fun, that  shareable, that simple embodiment of the gospel, keep that within your  congregation. If you're an autopilot as a church, you're just sort of sitting there  and nothing's happening and you're not creating that buzz as a leader. So you  are the buzz creator. Reason number two, is me. Talking makes me feel good. 

We want to look good. A lot of people get their kicks out of being the expert on  their favorite subject. When we tell people about what to buy, we're showing off  what we know. Some people do this really well. And everyone takes their advice. We love to talk to these people when we're making a purchase. They love to tell  us what they think. Okay, so here's you. It makes you feel good about sharing  about your church, if you don't feel the buzz in telling people about Christ.  People don't feel the joy of that. People are not going to talk about what you're  talking about. If you're not convinced, how are people going to be convinced and if you don't feel good about it, we want to help other people. That desire to look  smart, is often paired with a higher level of motivation to help others. Some  people are so passionate about what They know that they want everyone to  enjoy what they're enjoying it bugs them to see someone buy the wrong product, or get stuck with an inferior product. Now translate this to the Gospel, it bugs me to see someone not having the hope of Christ. And if they don't know, God, it  bothers me. So I want to tell people I want them to say, You know what, that guy, he wants people to know, God is bugged when people don't know God. Now,  does that mean I'm bugged? Because I have a notch in my belt? No, it's  because I love people. I love God's creation, I'm called to be a church planter.  And if someone dies, and goes to hell, I know I'm not responsible for that. But I  don't want that to happen. I want them to know, Christ and the power of his  resurrection. And I get a buzz personally, when I share that, it makes me feel  good. We want to feel important, Andy says some people talk because they like  they like being asked, they get a kick out of being an expert. The more people  asked for their advice, the more important they feel. It feels good to be an  authority figure. Now, I'm going to translate in the Gospel, we're servants. We're  not doing this because we just like being asked. But if we're honest, there's  something joyful about knowing the truth. There's something incredible about  answering questions of people who are hungry and teachable. So a very  important reason that people talk about you, is you. It's me. I found it, I want to  share it. Another reason people will talk about you is us. We feel connected to  the group. We are emotionally rewarded, we share excitement within a group,  that we have common interest, we share a bond with people who like the same  teams or the brands that we do. And we feel a similar connection with those that like the same cars or clothes, the passion generated by being a group of  enthusiasts translates very easily into word of mouth. That's the church. If your  church feels the joy of being connected to your new church plant, they will share it. Now, how do you stop? Word of mouth? Let's talk about that. Well, here's  some things that Andy talks about prizes and rewards. Mixing love, and money  is usually a bad idea. offering customers incentives to spread the word about  your stuff is often a mistake. And here's why you make them feel dirty, that they  paid for it. Some things shouldn't be for sale, friendships, certain kinds of favors, your recommendation, going to church should not be for sale should not be 

mixed with prizes. Now, a lot of church planters have done this. If you come  over, we bring you a pie. Now, I know that bringing a pie can be a beautiful thing as an act of love. But then it can move into something else, where you sort of  have these little gimmicks, and I've seen them in church planting, where it goes  beyond just the hospitality love. But it starts going with gimmicks and it just feels as if we're almost like compelling people by a reward to come to your church.  Instead, it's intrinsic. We want to share in the prizes, then reward is just the  embodiment of a message I want to be there. Prizes and reward, mixing love  and money is usually a bad idea. And this is what Andy says, people are  engaging in word of mouth because they love you. Or it makes them feel good.  When you offer a monetary reward a discount points or miles for referral. You  make it awkward and creepy. Just at the moment someone's about to  recommend you they think if my friend finds out, I'm being paid for this, they're  not going to trust me. I better not say anything. Notice. You don't want your word of mouth to have an operating system that's connected to money. You know, one church planter said I like to give $100 for every church member that brings in  another family we just give them $100 And people are talking about that. I think  that's a bad idea. Because what will start happening is you will get people that  might promote you if they need an extra $100 that month, but in the end, it will  word will all get out. Oh this is the Promote Get $100 If you're bringing new  member church see notice how why that would be a bad idea. Here's the other  reasons how to stop word of mouth over exposure. When you understand why  people talk one more lesson, this clear over exposure kills word of mouth. When everyone knows about something, no one needs to talk about it. Nothing can be  dorky or that in English that means, you know, odd, doesn't get any more odd  than saying, Hey, have you heard about Star Wars? Now Star Wars in Western  countries is a movie that almost everybody has seen. How weird is it to say,  Hey, have you heard about Star Wars? You know, that it sort of stops and  nobody's going to share something that everybody has seen overexposure kills  word of mouth. Here's another one, forgetting why people talk to you. Then the  company tried to make Krispy Kremes as common as Dunkin Donuts. So this is  a case study of Krispy Kremes. In America, there was a donut manufacturer and companies in Krispy Kreme really the rage. What built the chains great word of  mouth was affected. The doughnuts were hard to get fresh in a limited supply  disappeared. When Krispy Kreme put its practices. cold and stiff on every shelf.  Their pastries cold and stiff on every shelf. This suddenly massive overexposure killed What was special? In other words, what was buzz worthy or remarkable?  Nobody tells their friends about food you can buy in a gas station. Okay, so to  retell this, what Andy is saying is Krispy Kremes used to be special, you'd have  to go it was warm, then then their marketing where every gas station had Krispy  Kremes. Then they got cold and stale on the shelf. And pretty soon, people  didn't even want to buy Krispy Kreme doughnuts at all anymore, because they 

lost that remarkable the overexposed in areas that put Krispy Kreme in poor  light. The same thing can happen. Sometimes they know in churches, you know, we'll get set on a program or something. And we'll keep talking about this. Pretty soon everybody knows it. And even the community might know it. So what we  have to always do is think about how can we keep pushing the envelope of I'm  sharing the love of God, having things to talk about, one of the things I really like about Facebook is you get Facebook people to sign up in. And if you have the  means to have a smartphone, you upload different pictures, and just things to  talk about, you know, in a church. It doesn't have to be programs that we talked  about. It's about the stories, the embodiment of the gospel. Let's keep those  stories in front of everybody. The five T's of word of mouth marketing. The first  one is talkers, who will tell their friends about you. And the topics? Well, when  they talk about the tools, how can you help the message travel? Four. taking  parts? How should you join the conversation? Or taking part? How can you join  the conversation without talking about it's taking? Or how can you join the  conversation five tracking? What are people saying about you? So let's talk  about these five T's, first of all talkers, who will tell their friends about you. Now,  strategically in a church plant, its people who come to your church, they're going to be the ones that are going to tell their friends about the church about you  about this new work of God in the area. talkers are any group of people who  have the enthusiasm and connections to rely on the message. Sometimes they  are called the influencers or the evangelist. But don't let these terms make it  sound as though you need an exotic system to find it. Malcolm Gladwell wrote a  book called The Tipping Point, and he talks about three basic type of promoters  for any movement, even a local movement, the connectors, the mavens and the  salesman, and he said in any culture, there's a small group of these, maybe it's  he called it the law of the few. There are a few who are the talkers. So when  you're planting a church, you are looking for those talkers and they're out there.  And when you find a talker, you're going to help them connect more and more to the message in the church plant and they will promote for you in ways that you  can never imagine God has put these talkers in every community. Topics What  are they talking about? all word of mouth starts with creating a message that will spread it doesn't need to be fancy. Good topics are portable, clear ideas, one  person you repeat successfully. Death is defeated. What Yes. God lives for you  today. God loves you think of all of these remarkable, shareable messages that  we have. You know, one thing I feel sort of frustrated about in the church is so  many times the church, the Gospel, church planting is reduced to a few social  issues, like the Church's stance on things like homosexuality, or the Church's  stance on justice, the church's, it's like a social gospel thing. And those are  important topics. But I will tell you right now, the remarkable is not those things.  It's the remarkable that Jesus died for our sins that we have hope for eternal life. The fact is, we're called to love God's creation. We can disagree with people. 

We can disagree with people a lot, and people disagree with us. I mean, politics  is one big sea of disagreement. But the essence of us is not the things we all  disagree on. It's that we will serve the Lord, we will serve others, we will  proclaim the gospel, it's Christ, who changes the hearts. I can rant about people  I disagree with, and hope that their heart is going to change because I make my  business to disagree. Yes, that's talkable people will talk. But they'll talk about  what is not our brand. What they should be talking about is, you know, that  person really loves someone else. You know, I know, in my wife's family, they  were in the Netherlands at World War II. And they were Christians, they  disagreed with those who are Jewish, religiously, they disagreed, because  they're looking at the divide. Christ is the Messiah. The Jews in the Netherlands  the 1940s, did not believe that Christ was the Messiah. That's a fundamental  disagreement. That's a bigger disagreement than some of the social issues that  everybody's arguing about today. But what did these Christians in the  Netherlands do many of them, they hid people they had fundamental  disagreements about and many of them like Corrie ten Boom, lost a sister over  that hiding of Jews who they had a fundamental disagreement with. That was  remarkable love, that a fundamental disagreement, and yet they're willing to risk  their lives. If that's the type of word of mouth about Christians, that we really are  people who know how to love, even people who disagree with us. That's the  kind of message that spreads in a way that really brings growth. So what are  they talking about? Are they talking about what we're against, or that you're  talking about what we're for, because we're talking about what we're for, that is  redemption, life, you know, God will work with everybody. If we keep proclaiming the gospel, God will work on hearts. Remember what that Acts passage says, in  those who are appointed to eternal life believed that as we spread the message  and know that not everyone is going to be convinced about the gospel, and  they're going to be different. Let's not reduce the message to one social issue.  Let's not make Christianity. This, like the Crusades, interpretation of Christianity.  And that's what many people want to do as a church planter. Be aware of that.  Here's some tools. How can you help the message travel? If you're running a  store or restaurant, or a church, don't let someone walk out the door without  something to give to a friend, like a menu or a cube by the help of this? How  about little cards about inviting others to church? You know, different companies  like this cosmetic store are famous for their simple free samples, it's impossible  to leave without a pocket of a few goodies. And they always give you more than  want so you have something to share with a friend. How can you do things like  that in your church? How can you now again, you're not giving gifts to get  something back? You're giving something to share. So in this case, maybe we  start getting tracts back into the church, but we write the tracts in such a way as  they indicate love and keep to our core message. And we part of that as we  share how to get someone to check out our church after they see that are 

someone who comes to our church shares the joy that they found in our church  again, this is for you're sort of thinking about how do we help the message to  travel Let's talk about taking part how should you join the conversation? Once  you open the Word of Mouth door, the conversations, there's no way to shut it  again, when you reach out to real people and encourage them to start talking  about your brand. That is your church. They, they expect you to participate. You  know, I've seen this too, where church planters, you know, somebody has an  idea, okay, and they adopt it. That idea is getting traction. But the church planter  doesn't talk about it on Sunday, the church planter doesn't connect to the  conversations that are happening. It's almost as though that's their thing. As a  church planter, you are the share in chief, you are the promoter in chief, you're  constantly creating stages for others, and you're talking about those stages,  whether it's online, Facebook, whether it's on the pulpit, even in a sermon, okay,  and I found this and you preach a sermon. And there's something in the sermon  that relates to something amazing that's happening within the church that  somebody is leading the effort on. Here's where you can take your part, and say, you know, this is like, reminds me of John and what he's doing for the youth of  our community right now. John is out there mentoring. When Paul mentored his  disciples, Paul wanted Timothy and others to grow in the Lord. Now, John's  doing that right here in our church to local young people. See, notice your tying  in what John is doing, and you're helping to be even more remarkable. You  really have to join the conversation. Yes, it can be scary, especially at first, you'll  get some negative feedback, you'll even get crackpots. You'll need to assign the  staff to listen to and learn from the conversation. At the same time, however,  you'll be earning the respect and recommendations of your your customers. In  this case of those who come to your church, you'll be building powerful long  term relationships, you are all part as a senior pastor, a church planter, you are  part of every conversation. Another t is tracking this is the last of the five, what  are people saying about you? Amazing tools have been developed to enable us  to understand how word of mouth conversations travel, to follow what  consumers are talking about tracking what is being said about you and your  company is now a whole lot easier. And I don't know where you are technology  as a church planter. But more and more there are tools that tell you what is  being said, is the message getting out and find ways to track it. You know, in the  past, what we do is we have like these books and you can still do that. Get  some folders and the folders track did someone attend? Yes. Did someone  attend again or two more times? Did someone get invited to someone's house?  Where are they at in the whole process of becoming members of your church.  Bottom line, word of mouth cannot be faked. Word of mouth marketing can only  succeed when people trust each other to talk honestly about what they like and  don't like. You can't fake word of mouth. It just doesn't travel without the trust.  You might be a tool or might you might be able to fool sorry, a few people for a 

while. But in the end, people will figure out that you faked it, then you'll be  getting embarrassed. You make enemies, you lose sales, or people stopped  coming to your church or things start happening where you embarrassed the  gospel. So you can't fake word of mouth. You know, word of mouth is something  that can be overwhelming at first, but you know, really, it's about being real and  being remarkable, and we ought to be because the remarkable love of God was  given to us in the power the resurrection is ours and redemption forever and  ever is made available and we get to be the promoters of this how amazing and  awesome is that?