I am leaving next week to write my second book. “Shadow Him”. For the 1st time in my Marketing Ministries career(8 years), life I am shutting everything down and going away for one week to write a book, eat, sleep, and write.
The chapter titles…The Natural Progression. I am very excited to co-author this book. Its going to be excited and liberating all at the same time

I meet with several visionaries pastors and ministry leaders every week! I want to say that before we change the world we have to begin to understand who we are and how we want to communicate our brand. For the past several months we have been taking clients and friends through “The Natural Progression”. I am encouraging most everyone in my circle of influence to embrace the “Natural Progression”. Pray on it….

1) God down loads a dream to you and you embrace that dream as your Destiny

2) Write down the Vision

3) Formulate your plan, business and marketing

4) Develop your brand

5) Communicate the Vision through your Marketing

6) Hear from God Daily about steps 1-5

7) Take action: God can’t steer a parked car

Start with you, then move to your family, then community then move to the region, country then to the world. Make sure your backyard is cleaned up and you know who you are in Christ before you go to the world.

We recently upgraded our reporting system to Function Fox and this article came out of their newsletter. I about had a cow when I read it. It quite halirous to me, only because we have been teaching this stuff for years. I guess most of you have seen this happen since you are always posting new and creative material so it doesn’t come to a surprise to you that other people are saying the same thing

You can’t attract prospects without good stories…
by Larry Melnick

…and you can’t tell a good story without a good script.

Humans live in stories. Your story is a window through which you see the world. Also through which the world sees you. It affects how you make decisions and how the world makes decisions about you.

The fact that we naturally live in stories is actually good news for professional services firms. After all, we don’t sell a product and therefore we need to rely on prospects to infer our potential value.

Unfortunately, most case histories simply don’t tell the stories in a thorough and compelling enough manner. Don’t get me wrong. I realize that it’s “short attention span theatre” out there, so I’m not talking about writing a book. What I am talking about is a case history that’s designed to grab a prospect’s attention and then deliver the story in a clear, compelling and concise way by answering 5 key questions:

1. What was the business problem or opportunity that existed (not that they needed a new website or identity) and what were they trying to accomplish?

2. What were the key insights that we knew or learned through research that helped determine our strategy (shows that there’s good thought behind the work)?

3. What did our strategy involve?

4. What if any obstacles stood in the way of success (external and/or internal)?

5. What were the results of our efforts (increased sales, etc., not the website that you developed)?

When you have a free moment, take a look at one of your case histories. If it doesn’t sufficiently address these questions, you’re probably selling yourself short. You’re also not providing your business developers with enough knowledge to effectively engage prospects in a meaningful way.

Since I wrote this article we have been in many meetings and counseling sessions talking about this process, I am so excited that we have nailed this down. I am predicting great results in the next couple of months from several ministries who have been in an earshot of this information. Last week while in Dallas, I spent close to 8 hours with Tim Hill Ministries talking about step 2…… Vision. I have learned a great deal about vision over the past month. Step two vision, once nailed down is the foundation of your success.

David Kinnaman President | Barna Group published this short article on branding……

“Whereas in business, the key driver in the flywheel is the link between financial success and capital resources, I’d like to suggest that a key link in the social sectors is brand reputation – built upon tangible results and emotional state of heart – so that potential supporters believe not only in your mission, but in your capacity to deliver on that mission.”

Several years ago, our research pointed out the steep decline of a well-known non-profit brand. The leadership of that organization had a choice to take stock of the challenges and either recalibrate their efforts or ignore the warning signs.

What would you do? No organization should allow public opinion to determine its vision. Yet your identity – your brand – is a matter of stewardship. Perhaps your organization has enjoyed favorable positioning for decades or just for a few short years. Either way, your organization’s brand is part of your resource engine.

A non-profit’s brand amounts to “influence equity,” the ability to shape the future, to inform minds, to fill venues, to raise funds, to create and distribute resources, and ultimately to connect people to Jesus Christ. A solid brand offers the capacity to fulfill a vision.

Although every organization has a natural life cycle – and the economy is pushing many organizations into uncharted territory, accelerating the rise and fall of many enterprises – it would be irresponsible not to manage your “influence equity” effectively. Your organization’s brand is like finances, time or human resources: a gift from God to be stewarded carefully and strategically.

http://www.barna.org/blog/archives/55

So lets be perfectly clear. Anything outside this list is a unnatural progression of a Ministry or Business.

1) God Downloads Dream. You understand  and embrace your dream as your Destiny

2) Write down The Vision  “A Vision is a Dream with an Action Plan”

3) Formulate your Marketing and Business Plan

4) Develop your Brand

5) Communicate The Vision through Branding and Marketing

6) Hear from God Daily about Steps 1-5

7) Take Action: God can’t steer a parked car!

My personal experience is that we spend most of our time with clients understanding step #2. As a strategic Christian Ad agency the fun and exciting part is rolling with Step # 6. Gods Flow and anointing is always on time, never early or late, but always on time.

My latest recipe for creativity that I got from my good Aussie friends Stephen and Mara from Heartstyles. Three ideas or questions to ask God when you are in a situation that needs clarifying or direction you are seeking or perhaps creativity you are trying to leverage. One, what is “God Giving me”. What do I need to stay focused? Two, What is “God Telling me”. God is talking to us 10-15 times a day, are you listening?. Three, what is “God Showing me”. What is He showing me right now that I need to act on. What is happening to me? How am I going to be used by God in the next hour. Or how is the brand of my ministry impacting people or carrying my God given talents into the world. Does is say who I am?

Why are we not hearing from God? Barna outlines 5 reasons why we are not hearing from God.

http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/12-faithspirituality/264-many-churchgoers-and-faith-leaders-struggle-to-define-spiritual-maturity

I happen to think that its because we have been preconditioned by the media and we are too gullible so believe what we are told. We are set up at every level to get spoon feed our information. We like to be told what to do and not think for ourselves. So in the last couple of months, I have been asking the question “How do we hear from God daily”. Just last week. I asked God to use me in the next hour. Within in one hour I ministered to two people, it was awesome!. I have come to the conclusion that  He talks to us through Prayer, Scripture, People, and Dreams. Everything happens in the Spiritual first, then moves into Scripture, then into Speech then manifests itself through to Reality. Everything is in Gods Plan!

This past weekend I experienced the most intimate relationship with my Lord Jesus Christ than I have ever experienced. I learned new things about myself and my Lord than I have never heard before. I am soo fired up, about getting intimate with Him. Wow. I learned that there is a difference between mechanical worship and intimate worship. We have all been in mechanical worship scenarios, but how about an intimate worship setting. Intimate worship setting has all the elements of intimacy. Arousal, Foreplay and Afterglow.  Are you getting out your rock bag? Hold on. I thought the same thing too… When you are seeking him and getting intimate with him, the manifestation are miracles. Have you seen miracles in the worship setting you are in every Sunday? Thank you Dick Reuben, Jerry Murphy and Kent Henry, for leading us into a life changing worshiping experience. it changed my life

If your ministry is your passion then your brand should express itself through you and your staff. Ohh boy, I can hear the complaints and hearsay now. Hold on to your rocks…
God desires to express himself through man for His purpose. Right? He created man in his own image. Right. So the passions in your heart should be reflective of what you are doing, I am not talking about your Job. I am talking about the passions of your heart. This is your specific DNA code that God has given to you. Everyone whether they are Christian or not think they are special, this is because God has built us this way. We are special in Gods eyes, because we have a specific function here on earth. Just as a glove is made in the image of a hand, so also man is made in the image of God. So, you are in a ministry? Right? Are the Passions in your heart reflected in your Ministry if so then the Brand must be reflection of your passion and your ministry. Now are the deliverables ie the website and video
a reflection of the passion and ministry
Did I step on some toes? Now you can throw those rocks at your website and video team not me.