The Communicating With Pastors Episode Church Marketing Sucks

The Communicating With Pastors Episode

February 3, 2015 by Dave Shrein

More About This Episode

The position of communication director (or communication pastor) is fairly new. While many large churches (5,000-plus) have had someone in this role for a long time, the average church is just now discovering the need for someone to ask strategic questions about how their information is being communicated and received. The increase in noise (both online and in life overall) has revealed that the messages from the church are not making it onto calendars, into conversations and/or translating into any type of measurable growth. In a scurry to keep up with the times, churches are hiring individuals to manage communications without a full understanding of what that even means.

A communication director will begin to do their job and pastors realize they’re being told ‘no’ more often or having to explain initiatives and decisions in greater detail than they have been accustomed to. No one is right or wrong in this scenario but the fact remains there is a giant gap between what pastors and communication directors see as furthering the communications of the church.

In this episode Pastor Brian McCoy from Foothills Baptist Church in Phoenix shares his experience working with a communications director for the past four months. Who is this director? It just so happens that I am the director (Dave Shrein). Throughout our time working together to improve the communication mechanisms at Foothills we’ve experienced significant wins, constant misunderstandings and a learning experience that has benefited both of us.

About Our Guest

Pastor Brian McCoy has been on staff at Foothills Baptist since 2010 and serves as the associate pastor of discipleship and outreach. His church, Foothills Baptist, began in 1990 and after 22 years under the leadership of the founding pastor, Foothills is searching for their second senior pastor. During the interim, Brian and the Foothills staff hired me to introduce communication systems and process. In the episode he describes Foothill’s communication strategy as a flat line where everything has received the same communication plan.