The "WTF" image that made the rounds on Twitter.
At first everyone thought it was just a misstep: The college ministry’s banners proclaimed “WTF” in big bold letters. But rather than the familiar if profane abbreviation we’re used to, the words “worship,” “teaching” and “friends” appeared below each letter.
As some noted on Twitter, “this is what happens when churches don’t stay up on current trends.”
After I had a big laugh and then felt guilty for laughing at someone else’s misfortune, I contacted the church. Turns out ‘WTF’ was no accident but intentional.
“We are aware of what ‘WTF’ originally stands for, and that is actually why we chose it,” says Rob James, with Copper Pointe Church, the Albuquerque, N.M., church behind the college and young adult ministry, Wake. “It is something that our target audience is very familiar with. We are a progressive college group located in Albuquerque, N.M., and we know that any college-aged person is a phone-weilding, text-sending machine. So why not use what they are familiar with?”
“WTF” was on purpose. In fact, it’s a main cornerstone in their branding. Their url is wakeWTF.com, their Twitter handle is @WTFisWake and their Facebook page is Facebook.com/WTFisWake.
“We have taken precautions so that nobody gets the wrong intention,” says Rob. “For example, it will never be seen on any of our media as a question. It is always a statement. WTF is Wake. Worship+Teaching+Friends is Wake. Those are the three standards we have based our college group on.”
And so far the response has been positive, at least among the college students they’re trying to reach, with more than 300 students on seven campuses attending.
As Rob explains “We often hear the question in excitement, ‘You guys are the WTF church, right?'”
It puts Copper Pointe’s tagline in a new light: “Church like never before.”
Rich Kirkpatrick
September 6, 2010
Kudos Michael… what a great thing Wake has done and I am happy you did a bit of digging to educate us all in the twitter world about it.
~JOSh-X
September 13, 2010
Rich! <3 Fancy running in to you here! My buddy posted the WTF picture on his Facebook from Fail blog, which caused me to Google "Worship Teaching Fellowship WAKE" and find this article, and subsequently, your comment.
Hi! Small (internet) world ;)
Michael Buckingham
September 6, 2010
Thanks. I wanted to give them a chance to tell their thinking behind it. I also reached out to a few other college pastors, one of which replied with
“seriously i have said wtf in my head as i read this like 5 times now…as a christian i am a bit taken back by it…as a college pastor, if a student leader came to me with it, I would tell them to think again…a campus rep is so important to your ministry…are frats laughing with you or at you…my guess is most people will think that they didn’t know what WtF stands for and that you did it on accident…but no one will care to tell you that.”
Jesse
September 6, 2010
The funny thing is when I first saw the Twitter account @WTFisWake, I read it as “WTF is Wake?”
And I doubt I’m the only one…
Rich Kirkpatrick
September 7, 2010
Now let me clarify what I meant… I think it’s a great thing to see Wake reach 300 college kids. However, I am not so sure the WTF really is much more than an amusing gimmick albeit harmless. It DOES grab your attention but not sure it does much more than that.
Ian
September 7, 2010
I think that’s pretty good actually. I did read it as a question, initially, and I needed to know the answer so I clicked through to the article. Turning the acronym on its head actually works out here. It’s kind of silly, but I read further into their material because of it, so I can’t say it’s ineffective.
…although, if they decide later they want to use a less offensive abbreviation, they could switch it up and have FTW (Friendship Teaching and Worship – For The Win).
Marc Aune
September 7, 2010
I agree that FTW would be preferable, but I recall that the first few times I read FTW it was meant as “f*** the world,” not “for the win”. That’s not really an improvement.
Good for this church if they reach unbelieving college students with this campaign, but I think for the majority of ministries it would be a bad idea to do this.
~JOSh-X
September 13, 2010
I remember the first few times I used FTW, some people asked me why I was saying eff the world.
~JOSh-X
September 13, 2010
Wow, I literally emailed some people that we should use FTW instead minutes before reading your comment, haha! As my dad used used to always say to me, GMTA ;)
Priscilla
September 23, 2010
Ian, I really don’t think FTW is less offensive than WTF. I know that people use these terms, but when I read them, it is impossible for me not to read them as the words they represent, and F is offensive no matter where it is in the phrase.
I think the church’s use of WTF validates its use.
srf
September 28, 2010
Just FYI, FTW (for the majority of users) stands for “For the Win.” So, probably significantly less offensive. I think that might have been a better choice. It’s at least inherently positive, whereas WTF can have a positive or negative connotation.
LJ
September 7, 2010
I personally have trouble reading this. I do not swear, nor do I associate with many who do, yet it is the vulgar use of the letters which play through my head.
As a fairly young person with many college-age friends, I like that they are trying to attract young people. I just think there could have been a better approach.
Doug
September 7, 2010
Sickening.
Mark
September 7, 2010
Another ridiculous attempt to be relevant by being irreverent! How about just presenting God’s Word and letting that be enough? If I can teach Scripture and theology to HIGH SCHOOL students who get it, why not skip this?
And we wonder why the world laughs at us . . .
Alyssa
September 13, 2010
and how many of your high school students will continue to go to church in their college years? how do you know they are even understanding what you are talking about or are remembering what you are saying? Copper Pointe Church and Wake make church fun and interesting. They capture students who have never wanted to go or stay in a church or school because they didn’t get anything out of it or were so bored they stopped going. Check out Live sermons that are posted online at wakeWTF. com. Wake is based on Worship, biblical teaching, and making Christian friends, hence WTF is Wake. Worship+Teaching+Friends=Wake.
ashley
September 7, 2010
… while I’m not sure if I like, it’s SMART!
I’m guessing Wake isn’t trying to REACH christian college students, they are trying to get new non believing students, add numbers of non christians to be intrested, and this does just that.
non christians will ask the question, (I have in my head), but the members of wake will know the purpose and try to get the question askers to know the answer as well.
lets not be so “holy than thou” that we can’t reach out to non believers like our selfs. You can live a holiness lifestyle without being “holy than thou”
A church in tulsa, ok used a slogan “Tougher than Hell” to reach a motorcycle crowd… this was good marketing just like WTF Wake
cksyme
September 9, 2010
I can’t see how using WTF in a title to catch attention is smart. It’s overused, but it’s new to the church, so I guess we all need to applaud. No thanks. The church needs to come up with original stuff–not use the world’s leftovers for shock value.
Alissa
September 7, 2010
I agree with the comment left by the anonymous college pastor. First of all, I know what WTF means, and when I read it I say the offensive word in my head which is not a word I care to entertain. Maybe some “cool” people dont care that its just a word, but given the connotation and definition of the word.. WOW, how edifying!
As a president of a campus ministry on a super liberal, secular campus, Ive come to realize the goal isnt to be “pop culture relevant” to students, because the gospel is never kosher with pop culture. It’s an impossible feat. The WTF slogan does nothing to engage students with the gospel. Students who are sinful and dont know it. Students who have been messed up by “religion.” Students who dont even know anything about Jesus. Why are they going to go to a “Christian thing” to get the same culture they can get on the internet or in their dorm room? What secular college student is going to be intrigued by a cheesy mockery of the very culture they live in?
Want to hook them in? Share something startling (the gospel). Live life differently and intentionally. Have real relationships with people. Confess sin to each other. Encourage one another. Have open and honest discussions with non-Christians.
Oh dear. Im not going to get on a rant about “cool and relevant” campus ministries…. Anyways, yeah, that guy up there.. I agree with him…
Michael Buckingham
September 7, 2010
@Alissa That was James Damude, of Church Reloaded.
@rich kirkpatrick I agree and I just don’t think we need more gimmicks in the church.
I give them a lot of credit for trying to be creative and for trying to speak their language, but especially as core branding, not the a move I’d recommend.
As I explained to Rob, I also know college ministry is a different beast than “normal” Sunday church. It’s a tough crowd to fight through all the clutter and noise to get through. I probably would have suggested FTW instead of WTF, but I also know that sometimes you have to go to the edge. In my opinion this just goes over that edge.
But, Wake calls this a big win, and while it’s easy for me to say it feels too much like a gimmick and certainly wouldn’t be something I’d present the churches I work with, he’s living in it and that might make me a Monday morning quarterback.
I also give them huge props for taking the flak they’ve received and not getting defensive but instead engaging in the conversation. That alone says tons about them.
Alyssa
September 13, 2010
Before you start going on about different churches and their way of doing church, check out http://www.wakeWTF.com. Look at the live recorded services. Why does it matter how a church advertises their ministries if their teachings go right along with the Bible?? If a church is growing very fast (like Wake is) then that church is reaching out to the people that other churches havent.
Bob Horn
September 7, 2010
Here’s the problem with their strategy—although it may pay off—the initial response from readers is, “How out of touch are they?” Only after digging deeper and looking into the real story will you find out who they are and that what they did was intentional. A twitter post shows the photo and makes a negative comment. Then once corrected, they’ve got to make a retweet. People will likely only pay attention to the first tweet. (Think about it… how hard is it to correct a rumor?)
A REAL viral phenomenon gets everyone talking about the product/company/church etc. in a positive light at the outset. They’ve gone viral with a NEGATIVE hoping it will turn POSITIVE. I hope it does.
Kevin D. Hendricks
September 7, 2010
Seems it’s mostly Christians arguing about how out of touch they are.
Michael Buckingham
September 7, 2010
Bob, do you think it would change if you as soon as you went to the website it said:
WTF. Yeah, we’ve thought that too. At Wake we understand you, speak the language (ftw) and meet you where you are and discover Christ together.
Or something like that? Still too much for me, but at least it shows right away that they’r not out of touch?
Kevin D. Hendricks
September 7, 2010
In general, I think it’s kind of funny that most folks are coming down against ‘WTF’ on a site called Church Marketing Sucks. One generation’s ‘suck’ is another generation’s ‘f@ck’.
In my opinion, profanity is relative.
Jama Burch
September 9, 2010
GREAT comment and SO true!
ola bashanda
September 8, 2010
The way you catch them is the way you keep them.
Gimmickery yields more gimmickery.
I’ve talked to hundreds of students on the campus they’re on, and have not met or heard of ANY nonbelievers who’ve been saved.
The whole campaign smacks so much “youth groupy”–that college students who are Christians aren’t mature enough to get something substantive, and nonChristians needs something other than Jesus and real fellowship–the Gospel and the local church being real aren’t enough.
Bring on the goldfish swallowing, backrubs and fashion-shows.
Alissa
September 8, 2010
The way you catch them is the way you keep them.” — you are right.. Also the method speaks volumes about the message, some have even gone as far to say that the method IS the message.
James Dalman
September 8, 2010
Another sad way for a church to get attention. Flirting with disaster …
Crash
September 8, 2010
James,
I understand that this method of attention is unorthodox and has never been done before to this magnitude but, if this church group is growing and more non-believers are attending and the growth of the group is rising then is it really flirting with disaster? I’ve also spoken with some of the regualr attendees at the church and ever since this group changed their slogan to “WTF is Wake” they have seen a huge growth. As Christians we are called to make disciples of all nations. There are many ways to accomplish this calling. If this group is winning people to Christ, then why condemn it?
Mel C
September 8, 2010
When I saw the pic I actually thought it was short for “Wednesday, Thursday, Friday”
Rob James
September 8, 2010
Hey guys! Glad to see this started a conversation! Michael, we loved the article! Thanks for actually doing some research on us and not just leaving it making us seem like we had no idea what it meant.
We don’t see it as a gimmick at all! It is literally the three things every church group is based around. We’ve just worded ours a little differently, of course. It really has done just what Ian said, got people to look into us and our ministry, as is the purpose of any type of marketing. We use this campaign as a conversation starter, and then invite them to church through it. While we know that sharing the Word will bring people in as well, we are trying to reach to those who have a certain view of church. And we’re redefining that view. Just like we’re redefining what WTF stands for.
It’s true Bob, it started off with everybody thinking we were completely oblivious. But until we started telling people it was on purpose, we weren’t written about on blogs like this one or others. We would have hoped that we got positive publicity first, but we didn’t. But now, through corrections, we are. And that’s better than no publicity at all!
At this event we had on the UNM campus (where this picture was taken outside one of the main buildings), we had over 300 students attend in that location alone. And from this one service, 50 people gave their lives to Christ. UNM is a big campus, and we have only just scratched the surface.
Ola, if you think this is youthy, you should see our mid and high school ministry, 212! We’re ministering to over 500 middle school and high students in Albuquerque alone. And we’re even spreading 212 satellite campuses nation-wide! With all of our youth (mid/high/college) services combined, we’ve grown from just under 500 to over 1000 since January! And we’re still growing! We’re excited about where God is taking both 212 and Wake!
But really, we believe our services are actually very mature and very real. Our worship is seriously amazing every week. And the messages are never watered down. Our pastor does an incredible job at preaching great messages directly from the Bible. And it’s not a calm message either. He’s not afraid to be blunt and get in people’s faces.
If any of you would like to check it out, we have a couple of our messages online. Go to our web page (www.wakewtf.com or my link on my name) and check out the Watch portion of our site. We also livestream every Thursday night around 7:45 pm Mountain Standard Time. We’d love to have you guys check us out for yourselves!
Clara D
September 9, 2010
The sad state of the church today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aeQ3DmKU7A
Steve
September 9, 2010
I respect the creative thinking that has gone into thinking about how to grab the attention of people who don’t go to church. However, I’m not so convinced with the argument that ‘any publicity is good publicity’. A Florida pastor has been getting a lot of publicity, but it hasn’t been good for the church. Publicity is relatively easy to attract – just be shocking.
I’m also not convinced by the argument that ‘as long as people are coming to Christ, why condemn the strategy?’. This argument considers results superior to method, and I’m not sure we can separate the two.
Jason
September 10, 2010
@Steve, I think this speaks to the bible story of Jesus correcting the disciples that it is about the results and not the deliverer of the message when the disciples were upset that there were people, not among the twelve or the followers of Jesus, healing and teaching in His name.
~JOSh-X
September 13, 2010
What do you think about the verses found in Philippians 1:15-18?
http://read.ly/Phil1.15.NCV
Maria Reyes-McDavis
September 9, 2010
While serving up the Gospel in an unapologetic way is clearly the foundational answer to all church marketing questions, there are equally valid alternatives to how one endeavors to do the serving. Who’s to say where the line in the sand should be drawn between relevance and irreverence?
Chad Maag
September 10, 2010
That just smacks of trying to hard. They know what that abbreviation connects with culturally, and all they’re doing is attempting to capitalize on being “controversial” or “edgy” and not even in a good way, more like in a junior high locker room humor kind of way.
Dawnmaria
September 11, 2010
A rose by any other name is still a rose. Call it what u want, if it transforms one life it is worth the cost of all of the criticism it has rec’d. I’ve read all of the comments and I see a lot of judgement. I have been a lay pastor for 18 years and pop culture will always dictate how we present the gospel. Read Corinthians and WTF up. (that’s wake the friends up).
Jessica
September 11, 2010
I agree @Dawnmaria. Raise your hand if you’ve ever visited this church. Exactly. This is a bunch of ignorant, close minded, holier than thou, and jealous Christians judging a group that they know little about. They have cleverly redefined WTF in attempts to fulfill the great comission and just because of their methods, you all automatically assume that they are not preaching the gospel, nor doing anything at all for the kingdom of God. Ignorance. Try reading 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 where Paul talks about using any means necessary (short of sin) to reach the lost. It has been an extremely successful strategy for them and I suggest that we all sit and re-evaluate what we are doing to appeal to the lost. It’s not about our personal preferences, it’s about the lost. Jesus ate and hung outwith all kinds of sinners. Are you hanging out with the lost or are you hiding behind the doors of you church…so that you can retain your “holiness”. Lighten up, Christians….
Steve
September 16, 2010
Hi @Jessica, with respect, I don’t think anyone is suggesting most of what you’re suggesting they are. Most of the comments I’ve seen are from people who are saying the ministry is good, their motivations are good, that their desire to share the gospel is good. The conversation is around the methods, and how we work out, Biblically, what methods are suitable for sharing the gospel. This discussion isn’t about personal preferences, as much as it is about sharpening each other in the methods that we use to proclaim the gospel.
MJ
September 15, 2010
This is circulating through FB and my friends are laughing about it. It sad that we have had to CONFORMED instead of being TRANSFORMED. Right, wrong, or indifferent, how many new members or converts have truly been won over. This is the true test of the FRUIT.
Steve
September 16, 2010
On a ‘methods’ question, if I could afford to pay people to come and hear the gospel (hear, not repent and believe – that’s the work of God), would that be a good method?
Steve Fogg
September 16, 2010
A question I’m asking is what kind of publicity is this getting in the wider culture? Is it making waves or is it part of the noise?
I did a quick google search and on the 1st two pages on google is only christian blogs talking about it.
But WTF is obviously impacting its primary audience. So that is what matters right? I guess thats how you interpret what Paul meant when he said we are to be ‘all things to all people’ (paraphrasing)
I heard a great quote from Craig Groeschel ‘Anything short of sin’ in respects to reaching their local neighbourhood, so the question I’d be asking is – is this a sin? I personally don’t think it is so my view is good on them.
stephy
September 16, 2010
This reminds me of Tommy Wiseau saying “The Room” is a black comedy and is SUPPOSED to be funny…
Rob
September 18, 2010
So I think this church using the term “WTF” is just fine. Ya there is some shock value but that is ok too. This church is using something that younger people know as a hook. It has caused discussion on the internet. Yes some discussion is not positive(mostly from Christians) but others are looking up what this church means by WTF and finding out positive things. Which is a good thing.
Now if you look at what some other churches have been doing recently there is a big difference on the discussion from non-Christians. There are 2 churches in particular that grab headlines and make news around the world. Westboro Baptist Church and Dove World Outreach Center. If you don’t know about Westboro look them up…….and Dove have been in the news in the past few weeks. If you don’t know about Dove World Outreach Center look them up.
In my humble opinion a church using WTF for Worship Teaching and Friendship is infinitely better than having Non-Christians saying WTF over a “Christian pastor” wanting to hold a “Qur’an-burning”
But then again what do I know.
Now Discuss!
Daniel
July 17, 2011
Rob, in saying “This church is using something that younger people know as a hook,” I would ask you, how far is it ok to go with your line of thinking? Do we use prostitutes next? The world uses drugs….should we try to sell cool slogans on baggies of pot we can give out to seekers? “Get High On Jesus?”
I’m trying real hard to speak the truth in love, perhaps my flesh is gettng in the way some, but you need to seriously re-think what sound doctrine is. If you are under 30 years old Rob you need to seek council from a matrue man in the faith. I say this because, your argument sounds like one who is young. I mean no disrespect…just speaking the truth. And if you hold yourself out as teacher or even an evangilist, you will be held to a higher standard when you face God. Do take this lightly son.
Rob, the Spirt living within you will give you the words, dont buy into anything the world has to offer – not even marketing Jesus like Hollywood markets the next star.
Blessings in Love,
Dan
Erin
September 20, 2010
I give respect to any church that is trying to grow instead of doing things the same way because it’s how it’s always been done. However, every time I see WTF, I think of what it really stands for, not Worship, Teaching, Friends. I’m trying to follow Philippians 4:8, and that’s not helping. Why not FTW? Everyone knows what that means, too. For The Win certainly goes along with the message of the Gospel a lot better than What The F***.
Here’s a question: why does there even need to be a “hook” in the first place?
derrick shirley
September 21, 2010
as a 45 year old pastor that has been in the ministry for 18 years, i have seen thousands come to Christ (by the efforts of many) relevent presentations of the Gospell – all the lights and video blah, blah, blah – help me understand where the line is drawn – is there anything off limits? is there anything we as Christian leaders should stay away from in trying to connect people to God? I’m trying to envision Jesus walking around with the latest hipppest church t-shirt that simply read WTF Church or John writing to the Church of WTF – it’s natural that your mind wonders to what you’ve heard the most in society – maybe we have to dumb down the Gospell for college students – what about GD Church – that sounds cool – God Delivers Church – why not? something to think about – we often overlook kthe parts of scripture that say whatever is noble and pure…think on these things. – maybe it doesn’t matter.
derrick shirley
September 21, 2010
after you help me understand – give me some direction with how to educate my 5 kids about this one (9 yrs and under)…something like…”know really WTF is ok” – “GD Church is alright” – and “BS Church is really cool”…Be Saved Church or Best Saved Church – what about “the Finger Church and you point up to heaven and the logo is actually the middle finger and we can call it “Find Understanding – Hey, I’m really trying to get it and think outside the box…right? Who needs lines drawn?
with all respect thanks for reachinig people far from God and opening up the doors of conversation – more of it needs to happen – these are tough times.
Steve
September 22, 2010
I’ve written about this strategy on my website – Communicate Jesus, and also at my weekly column at Sydney Anglicans.
Ryan Gear
September 24, 2010
I agree with a commenter above, “Gimmickery yields more gimmickery.” I blog about creativity continually, but I think a lot of college students would roll their eyes at a church that uses wtf intentionally. Maybe they actually screwed up and then claimed it was intentional- “Oh, well… you see, we’re just trying to be relevant. Yeah, that’s it, relevant.”
It’s just more proof that Jesus is way cooler than His followers. He didn’t need gimmicks.
paul
September 28, 2010
Well its silly for sure. I have to agree with pretty much everything that Alissa said. I think this is just the next obvious step in the “they will know us by our tshirts” “christian” culture…which begs the question…
…should I wear my “get crunk for Christ” shirt or my “Do the Jew” shirt? (and yes these do ACTUALLY exist?!?!?!
As silly as this may sound, All Star United had a blisteringly correct perspective on consumer church culture in their song “Smash Hit”. Seriously Google the lyrics.
Tulsa House Cleaning
October 5, 2010
I personally think that whatever we have to do (short of sin) to get young folks into a relationship with Jesus… and into His house — since the traditional church for the most part is not doing her job at grabbing up the next generation.
I hope that all those young folks up there in NM (an the rest of the U.S.)… have a serious WTF moment :)
-Daniel
Neal Montgomery
October 11, 2010
I’m all for being relevant, but not at the cost of my integrity. I feel this attempt fails the integrity test.
Brett
November 5, 2010
Seems like it’s a deliberate fail instead of an unintentional one, and I’ll echo the people who suggest that most of the the folk you get with gimmickry you have to keep using gimmickry to keep. I also agree they blew the chance to do pretty much the same thing by rearranging the letters in the for-the-win version.
Would it have been OK if they used four banners with the words (O)pen, (M)ission, (F)ellowship, (G)iving? That’d sure catch some eyeballs. Or just go ahead and use four batters to make an actual acronym out of an off-color word.
I certainly pray for the ministry represented here and give thanks for the work they do for the Kingdom in their setting, but this is a marketing strategy I’ll leave on the shelf.
Brett
November 5, 2010
“batters” — maybe I mean “banners.”
Daniel
July 17, 2011
The use of the acronym “WTF” in church advertising is sad and disappointing. What happened to the Holy Sprit wooing sinners? Do we really need to reach sinners the same way Hollywood reaches them – through shock value tactics? Churches today have departed from true worship to a commercialized version of worldly entertainment. I left the “Clubs” long ago, and don’t want an encore at my local church.
Here is where the rubber meets the road: Take away young singers in tight paints, deafening rock concert amplifiers, lime lights, pounding drums and dancing, and watch how many people will stop coming to “church” (if that what you call it) and your answer will follow.
You want to communicate Jesus? Try using the “Word”…Brother! Its sharper than a two edged sword cutting deep to the bone. Putting on a rock concert and calling it church/worship is like going on a date with another women and saying it’s good for your marriage. It’s merely justification for sin.
Honestly, whist is the real goal? Reaching sinners and training up the body, or is for Money, greed and power? It has a name it’s called Empire building.” This is precisely what Timothy warns about in the last days. 2 Tim 4:3 “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. If your teachers say it’s ok to party like its 1999 in church then you should run! Run before they tell you to do worse…yes its coming, the word says so. Don’t be fooled.
Find a good bible church that focuses the majority of a service on teaching the word. You or your family doesn’t need to get a “club experience” to experience the power of Jesus. It’s kind of like couples that need an ad reline rush to accompany their wedding ceremony because getting married isn’t exciting enough to them. You know the ones that bunji jump off a bridge immediately after they say I do. If you, your parents or your kids need a rush in order to get you to church then you’re better off staying home.
Be encouraged, all you need Jesus, not anything the world offers. Find solid teachers and solid bible churches. Leave the rest for the world.
Daniel
colm oreilly
July 17, 2011
I was raised as a Catholic. I abandoned the faith in my late teens after I discovered the horrible crimes committed by the church in the name of God. I turned to Protestantism for roughty a decade where I discovered that the horrible crimes committed in the name of God went right back to the beginning of the bible. I looked at other religions and found their mythology laughable and in turn their mythology made Christian mythology equally laughable. What was not so laughable was that other religions seemed equally as guilty of evil in terms of violence, brain washing and cultism that I experienced within the churches I attended. I don’t claim atheism just yet though, I’m still holding out for the idea that a singular consciousness is interconnecting everything and that one day we will evolve to tap into it a will and make the universe a better place.
Jason
July 18, 2011
OMG…
Marketing 101, target your audience. This is a good example of that in action, regardless of your organization type.
If some large or well known secular brand did the same thing, most of us wouldn’t think twice about the so called “offensiveness?”
God gave us language and creativity to steward and and use for His purposes. What if WTF became a new church standard….remember WWF and WWE?
WWJD!
Michael Buckingham
July 18, 2011
You can’t allow targeting your audience to take over wisdom. Let’s have a kegger, but fill it with orange juice. Or how about ‘have a beer on us’ and serve root beer. And let’s not forget porn, that’ll get those teenage boys out there, maybe Tosh.O can be a guest speaker.
And then be surprised when they get caught drinking beer and telling you to f*&ck off.
But really, as it’s been said before this really doesn’t make you look hip and with it. It looks like a gimmick and makes you look silly and trying too hard.
Johnnie Griego
October 28, 2011
But as a church and children of God shouldn’t we be leaders and not have to imatate the world to get ppl God’s word. We wouldn’t go drnking at a bar with drunls to speak the word would we? What this chrch has done is a good effort knocking em for being creative, but wtf is a lil in appropriate
Josh
November 4, 2011
I have to say… the WTF slogan definitely caught my attention. I’m a previous non-believer/atheist! I saw this banner hanging at UNM last year and knew I had to check out the service. I went (pretty reluctantly). My previous experiences with religion was that of judging/holier than thou christians and I wanted nothing to do with that. What a nice surprise it was to go to the service… and hear what God is really all about. It was a nice reprieve from the preachers on campus that are constantly saying God is an unaccepting, unforgiving God of wrath and destruction. Through WAKE I have learned He is not that at all, but rather a loving God that accepts people (even sinners like me) no matter what and you can just Come As You Are! The people at WAKE have shown me friendship and love like I’ve NEVER experienced through Church. Had it not been for the WTF banner hanging on UNM’s campus catching my attention, I would not have turned my life around and be living for God like I am today. Thank you WAKE for your bold approach to reaching to a lost world! I am forever grateful.
Dustin
November 8, 2011
I think it’s genius. Coming from a marketer’s standpoint, it really works! Take the author for instance, he/she didn’t just laugh, but they dug deeper, they discovered what it was. What the Pastor intended, happened. You can’t get better results than that.
Parson
April 18, 2012
One more in the long line of examples that when churches say they are “being relevant” what they are really saying is “the world thought of it first.” How about the church leading the way?
Brad Webster
December 6, 2012
Hey, people, knock it off. It’s pretty simple;
They are a church. They are actively growing and have consciously chosen a brand strategy. This alone is more than can be said about many “churches”.
It does NOT matter if their choices meet your preference or your judgmental opinions. They are stepping out and taking risk and being blessed for it. You are not God and when you spew hate, judgement or fear disguised as concern, you are not even representing Him well. So stop looking down your nose in arrogance about how you THINK it should be done.
You are all on the same team and God is a big boy and does not need you to call the shots on wether it’s the right way.
I am a professional logo designer and brand strategist and definitely could put out my opinion or assessment but again, it’s irrelevant. They are doing something and making a difference. Hopefully you are too.
Faith is spelled R I S K.
Brian Norwood
July 28, 2014
I wonder if you all remember all of the controversial, “sinful” things Jesus did his own ministry. He ATE with SINNERS!!! OMG!!! He drank so much wine the Pharisees called Him a drunkard. He let someone who was in all likelyhood a PROSTITUTE wash His feet. At a well side, He engaged someone who was not only a SAMARITAN, but also a WOMAN, and a woman with a BAD REPUTATION at that. He hung out with Tax Collectors. He kept BAD COMPANY, and had a BAD reputation for it. So in the context of the story of Jesus, I think I’d rather be sinner than a Pharisee, and if WTF is working for Wake, I say keep up the worship teaching and friends.
Brian Norwood
July 28, 2014
Wow, way to resurrect and old post, Brian.