-by Ref. Jeff Gannon, Senior Pastor

The 10 Things We Must Do to Realize our Redemptive Potential….

  1. The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing
  2. Chapel Hill has a strong mission of welcoming all people to experience and share the extraordinary grace and love of Jesus Christ!
  3. The values cannot be forgotten.
  4. Chapel Hill must become more “Methodist” and Wesleyan without becoming more denominational.
  5. Infrastructure that will support growth
  6. Simple Church
  7. Creating a culture of invitation
  8. Spend 25% of our budget on marketing/advertising

This one will take some time. Assuming Chapel Hillers are inviting their unchurched friends/neighbors/associates to worship, which is the most significant and meaningful form of marketing/advertising, the second most effective box of tools for inviting persons to Chapel Hill is…

  • Direct mail
  • Social Media (Facebook, Website, Twitter, etc.)
  • Newspaper
  • Live Streaming Video
  • TV/Radio ads around holidays

If we were to spend 25% of our current budget on marketing/advertising, we would spend about $210,000. Obviously, we will have to work toward that figure. We currently spend about $10,000 which is about 1% of our budget.

Our goal with direct mail is to target the major seasons of the Church year. i.e. Christmas/Easter/Fall/New Year. We typically send out 20,000 flyers. A good response is 2% of the total number. If one family chooses Chapel Hill as a result of being invited through the mailer, the total cost of the mailer is covered.

Doug Rupe, our Director of Communications, will soon be live streaming our services via the internet. We are currently “broadcasting” the services each Sunday into Fellowship Hall. In the 21st Century, one must employ all of the tools necessary to connect and grow people who are hungry and thirsty for the things of God. It is amazing to me the number of persons who first go to our website before visiting Chapel Hill. Again, Doug Rupe does an excellent job in keeping the website current.

What have we missed in our marketing plan? We want to hear your ideas and perspectives. Please email Doug at drupe@chapelhillwichita.org

In closing, I love this quote which Malaura Epperson uses to close her email messages. Since she is in the advertising business, I think it is appropriate to share it…..

“Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing but nobody else does.”