The Small Church Marketing Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode, Zach and I discuss how his church plant in Newtown, Connecticut follows up on their visitors and the importance of it.

Often more established churches slack in this area because whether or not they follow up on guests they'll still have people show up next Sunday.

A church plant doesn't have that luxury. New people are the only people at a new church and follow-up is essential.

I hope this episode is a help to you and will reignite a fire within you to value and steward well the visitors God brings to your church.

If there's anything I can help you with don't hesitate to email me at dillon@gospellightmarion.com

In this episode, I had the privilege to host a friend of mine, Pastor Gabriel Ruhl.

Pastor Ruhl is the new pastor of Pleasant Valley Baptist Church in Chico, CA. This past summer he was installed as the pastor following his father who pastored the church for several years.

Pastor Ruhl has been in full-time ministry for 21 years and has served as an assistant pastor at Lancaster Baptist Church with Pastor Paul Chappell.

Through his time in ministry, Pastor Ruhl has overseen and been hands-on with the follow-up and disciple plans and processes of the churches he's served at. I believe he has some great insight that will help your ministry improve in this area of follow-up so you can see more visitors and see those visitors come back again.

If I can be of help to you, shoot me an email at dmccurdy@gospellightmarion.com

In this episode, we'll be continuing our topic of Trunk or Treat events.

We'll be discussing the importance of collecting people's information and then making sure we utilize it to the best of our ability.

Also, we'll be going over some practical ways to collect info and follow up on these folks.

The purpose of an event like a Trunk or Treat is not just to give out candy or leave a good impression in people's minds but rather to engage them in the future. We want to see these people come to a service or another event in the future at our church. So we need to plan with the end in mind.

If you have any questions are would like to talk about this event at your church feel free to email me at dmccurdy@gospellightmarion.com.

Show Notes:

What are the aspects of a Trunk or Treat?

• Follow Up, Planning, Promotion, Event

1. Plan with the follow-up in mind.
   1. What is your follow-up plan?
2. Make it an event - Photo booth, drawings, donuts, cookies, hot chocolate, food, coffee, face painting
   1. Exceed people’s expectations
3. Collect information - Sign up sheet online
4. Drawing cards/Photobooth

Followup Plan:

• Collect info
  • Drawing Card/Photo Booth
  • Online Sign up sheet
  • Facebook Event
• Develop a follow-up plan during or even before you plan and promote the event
  • Emails
  • Texts
  • Letters
  • Photo drop off
  • Posts on the Facebook event page

Thanks for joining us for this series about Trunk or Treat Events. This is part 2 with my guest, Tim Baker.

In this episode, we'll be discussing volunteer placement and involvement, promoting to your community, how to run this event, and some encouragement to you to consider doing this type of event at your church.

I hope this episode is a help to you and your ministry!

If I can be of help in any way or you have some questions about doing a Trunk or Treat at your church feel free to reach out to me at dmccurdy@gospellightmarion.com and I'd be glad to help you out.

Books mentioned 

The Complete Collection of E.M. Bounds

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Collection-M-Bounds-Prayer-ebook/dp/B0066HYW5U/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2O53O7G6U2Q6K&keywords=em+bounds+on+prayer&qid=1664975859&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIzLjM0IiwicXNhIjoiMy4xNyIsInFzcCI6IjMuMjIifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=em+bound%2Caps%2C120&sr=8-1

Trunk or Treat Events with guest Tim Baker part 1

This is episode one of our series we'll be doing about Trunk or Treats. There's going to be a ton of helpful content and ideas given out here so grab your phone or a notepad and take them down. I've seen this event, more than any other I've been a part of, bring visitors in the door of a church. I hope this episode will be a help to you and your church and you can see the same types of results.

I'm glad to have one of my best friends and brother-in-law, Tim Baker, joining me as we discuss Trunk or Treats. This event has been huge at Lakeview Baptist Church where Tim is the Youth Pastor.

Lakeview is a town of about 1,000 people and they've been able to see this event bring in over 500 people to their church.

Tim shares with us some of the work he put in to start this event, how his church people have jumped right in, and some of the results it's brought.

There's a lot of content here so I split it up into two episodes, so hang on tight as we explore the Trunk or Treat event!

Small churches want to reach their communities for Christ, grow the attendance of their churches, and make disciples of Jesus Christ.

But for most churches marketing resources are too expensive or not practical to utilize effectively. Small churches shouldn't have to spend enormous amounts of money or ridiculous amounts of time learning and leveraging marketing resources.

When you listen to the Small Church Marketing Podcast you'll receive practical and proven ideas that can be implemented in your church.

In this episode, we'll be discussing the visitor process. What to do when a visitor shows up at your church.

This is super important! We need to have a plan and execute that plan every time someone new shows up to your church.

I believe churches struggle to get new people and to get those new people to come back when they don't have a plan in place.

The 5 things you need in your plan are:

1. A welcome team

2. Information collection

3. A gift for the guest

4. Guidance for your visitor

5. Make a good impression

If you have a plan and implement it I believe God will bring you more visitors and you'll more of them come back again.

In the next few episodes, we'll be talking about Visitor Followup, Event Followup, and Outreach Followup. I'm super excited to be talking about these topics and I hope you'll join me and find some help along the way.

If I can help you with anything don't hesitate to email me at dmccurdy@gospellightmarion.com

Ben White and I talk about the taking and usage of photos in our churches. Unfortunately, churches have been notorious for having terrible, cheesy, plagiarized, and tacky designs. 

Ben saw this need at his own church and did something about it. 

He gives us some techniques, equipment, and ways to get others in your church involved in this endeavor. 

If taking your own photos at your church or even having someone else do it for you seems far-fetched right now there are some resources we talk about in this episode that can help you.

Ben has taken much of his faith-based pictures and made them available on a website called Unsplash https://unsplash.com/@benwhitephotography

I hope this episode is a help to you. If you have any questions or there's anything I can help you out with personally my email is dmccurdy@gospellightmarion.com

Books Mentioned:

The Wisdom Pyramid

Done - Cary Schmidt

Everyone Communicates. Few Connect

The Power in Preaching

Dangerous Calling

Podcasts Mentioned: 

Business Wars

For Ministry Leaders

For the Gospel

Leading in the Gospel

Unbelievable?

Other Resources Mentioned: 

Unsplash

Lightstock

My friend Josh Cox joins us in this episode to discuss visitor follow-up. Josh is the pastor of Keystone Church in Durham, North Carolina. Keystone was started just five years ago and one of the main growth points for this church has been its emphasis on follow-up and how they treat their guests.

We talk about some of the practical things they do for follow-up as well as some things that need to be fixed. 

I hope this episode is a help to you and your church in this vital area of Follow-Up.

We'll be doing a few more episodes on this topic so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss them

Books Mentioned:

Larry Osborne - Sticky Church

Nick Newman - Bridge the Gap

I'm so excited to have Amir Shahbaz Bhatti joining us on The Small Church Marketing Podcast today. 

Amir is a national pastor from Pakistan and he has some incredible insights to share about ministry in Pakistan. 

We'll also be hearing a word of encouragement from Amir for all of us who are ministering in our churches. 

I know you're going to be blessed by what Amir has to say, so let's jump right in!

You can find Amir on Facebook here.