Church Marketing Sucks

Last week, I was privileged to help lead our seventh Certification Lab at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas. It was a successful event and, when I begin to consider the numbers, I am overwhelmed at how God is allowing the Center for Church Communication to impact people through these live events.

We had 31 participants from all over the United States join us.

There were more than 25 churches represented and the average church has around 1,700 in weekly attendance.

The average experience level of the Certification Lab attenders was just over 3 years.

Perhaps the most remarkable number to me is the number of people who could potentially be impacted by the Certification Lab. Based on the congregations represented, we impact over 40,000 people.

Our instructors—Phil Bowdle, Gerry True, Mark MacDonald and Stephen Brewster—taught on a variety of topics from leadership to personal creativity, developing systems to social media best practices, branding to purpose. I’m always amazed at how the topics presented seem to be exactly what the participants need to hear.

We were also privileged to have a few guests drop in:

• Jonathan Malm, author of our very own book, Unwelcome, stopped by to hang out with participants.
• Lori Bailey, communications director for Life.church and YouVersion, came by to answer questions from participants.
• Max Lucado, author and pastor of our host church, Oak Hills, blessed us with a word of encouragement and prayer.

Overall, the Certification Lab continues to be a highlight of all the things we do at the Center for Church Communication. But don’t take my word for it, check out some of the things our participants said on the end-of-event survey:

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This conference was just what I needed at just the right time.

Great time, great energy and great information! I would highly recommend this event to a friend.

Thanks guys! You are making an incredible impact! I appreciate your investment in me, the 1,500 in my congregation and the communities that we strive to reach with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The practical (real life ministry) situations/illustrations you shared were fantastic. Just keep those coming.

I really appreciated each person and what they had to bring and their perspective. Thanks for sharing your knowledge as well as the time each of you took to answer questions. I’m a raving fan!

Not convinced? Search for #CertLab on Twitter and see for yourself what participants had to say.

If you haven’t attended a Certification Lab but would like to, you’re in luck. Our next event is July 17-19 in Nashville. Register now or learn more about Certification Lab.