Today we continue our series of interviews with board members from our nonprofit parent, the Center for Church Communication (CFCC) .
Brad Abare is the founder of Church Marketing Sucks and CFCC. He still blogs occasionally around here, but he also serves as the communications director for Foursquare (the denomination), and consults with Barna and Personality.
How has CFCC changed in the past year?
Brad Abare: We’re more organized. One of the first things the newly formed board of directors did in late 2009 was name an executive director, Cynthia Ware, to help facilitate the enormous potential of the CFCC community. Cynthia has done a phenomenal job developing the team, championing new projects and expanding the CFCC platform. From the beginning, CFCC was built to be a platform for people to launch from, not an institution unto itself. So although we’re more organized, we still lack, fortunately, those gnarly characteristics that often come with growing an organization. CFCC doesn’t have office space, employees, telephones or a private jet.
You shut down your Facebook account and you haven’t tweeted since May 2009. How has your social media blackout changed your perspective?
Brad: The original reason I signed up for Facebook was so that my name belonged to me. I deactivated the account once I realized I couldn’t not be an active participant. I know half a billion people have signed up for Facebook, but I still don’t get it. Twitter was something I signed up for in the early days because it was pitched to me as a micro-blogging platform. It didn’t take long for Twitter to became a status-update platform which is just dumb, especially for people who don’t know me and who I don’t know either. Other than the occasional feeling that I’m slightly out of touch culturally (something I’ve always struggled with especially since I don’t watch or have a television), I do not regret my absence from social media.
What’s the most exciting thing you’ve seen churches do to communicate in the past year?
Brad: I love meeting and seeing churches who care deeply about why they actually exist in the first place, and making sure their reason for existing is communicated and shared among the congregation and community. I’ve traveled to a half dozen churches in the past six months and seen this first hand. Churches that understand deep down how they create, transfer, embody and express value are churches that get it.
What do you see down the road for CFCC specifically and church communication in general?
Brad: I see CFCC becoming more of a trusted platform that people can use to launch their projects from. The church communication community continues to grow. My prayer is that CFCC can be a champion and cheerleader for helping people who want to help the community. As for church communication in general, I think it will continue to become a significant part of how churches prioritize. Everything communicates. And because there are more and more things communicating, churches will need to be more and more disciplined in how they approach what they’re saying and who they’re saying it to.
Does church marketing still suck? Are we any closer to changing the url of our flagship blog?
Brad: From where we started six years ago, a lot of churches are much better. Unfortunately, the majority of churches who still have communication issues are the very churches that Church Marketing Sucks will never reach. This is where my heart is most heavy for the CFCC community. I’m not sure if we’re any closer to changing the URL, but we’re certainly more poised than ever to keep making a difference.
