I just read a review of All Marketers Are Liars by Seth Godin. I may be picking this one up at it has some very interesting insights. These are from a discussion board of other church leaders. This is what they said...

• “Either you’re going to tell stories that spread, or you will become irrelevant.”
  
• “Stories are shortcuts we use because we’re too overwhelmed by data to discover all the details.” [Think about the parables of Jesus.]
• “People pick and choose. Everyone will not listen to everything.” [So don't try to be everything for everyone.]
• “You can no longer force people to pay attention.” [Why do we even have bulletin announcements?]
• “The best marketing techniques are the simple stories that are the most likely to break through, the most likely to be understood and the most likely to spread.” [People don't talk about Connections, they talk to me about the people who have been changed at Connections.]
• “When we encounter something for the first time, we compare it to the status quo. If it’s now new, we ignore it.” [New is better. Different is better.]
• “If a consumer figures something out or discovers it on her own, she’s a thousand times more likely to believe it than if it’s just something you claim.” [This resonates with my own experience, and is why I continually resist neat and tidy "pre-packaged" Christian growth/ discipleship programs. This is counter to the discipleship strategy of almost every church.]
• “If you want to grow, make something worth talking about. Not the hype, not the ads, but the thing. If your idea is good, it’ll spread.” [If it requires an announcement from the platform and a bulletin insert to succeed, then it's probably not "worth talking about" and it probably won't grow.]
• “Your goal should not be to create a story that is quick, involves no risks and is without controversy. Boredom will not help you grow.” [One "secular" article on public speaking gave this recommendation that has really stuck with me: if you have to choose between information and entertainment, pick entertainment. But if you can communicate your information in an entertaining way, even better!]
• “It’s hard to be remarkable when you and your organization insist on not changing the status quo.”

Interesting things to ponder as we move into our second year and feel a growing confidence in the mission of our church. More and more people want to "promote" Connections. The question isn't that we need to do it (we do need to share the story of Jesus with the world),

the question is how we do it.