I am going to take a huge risk and go way out on a limb.

A couple of my current comments on an article at Church Communications Pro regarding open source products or "freeware" got me thinking about a situation with churches I have encountered personally.  The situation has to do with some churches or their leaders that feel as though they should receive free stuff just for being a church or pastor.

I believe that there is nothing wrong with a church receiving any type of gift when a person wants to give it from the heart or in a worshipful response to God.  I do believe it is wrong for churches to expect or guilt people (knowingly or unknowingly) into giving to their church by using the "Kingdom building" excuse.  

Let me share an example from my business life.

My professional work focuses on helping churches communicate their message.  I do this because I love God and want to give back with the talents He has blessed me with and am passionate about seeing the Church grow.  This is the way that I provide everything from a home to food to education for my family.  The Bible says "a worker deserves their wages" Luke 10:7.  The sad thing is that there have been so many churches during the last six years who have tried to get my services for free or for a huge discount because "I am a Christian and I should give to the Kingdom building movement."  This is absolutely wrong and not Biblical! 

What some church leaders don't seem to understand is that, like them, I too have had to pay my dues for education, training, expensive software, and computers. They forget this is how I feed my family and probably don't know that there aren't benefits like being on a church staff.  Sometimes I have to work when I am really sick and I don't get yearly vacation times.  Please understand this is not a gripe about my choice and lifestyle but that there are many things in the background that can easily be forgotten.

This brings me to my comments at Church Communications Pro.

If a business charges for their services which take time, money, and experience, shouldn't they have the right to earn a profit and make a living from their talents?  Is it right for a church to feel as though everything should be provided for free or at a discount?  Wouldn't you feel horrible by taking the blessing from another person or food from a child's mouth?  And to those wealthier churches who have played the "Kingdom" card - are you not sinning against the person or business by pretending to have no money?

I wish I could give it all away but my priority is providing for the people in my household - and it's that way for other businesses and individuals too!  My hope is that churches will understand this and remember that no one can just work for free...unless you're independently wealthy. 

A worker deserves their wages and churches should be the first to willingly pay Christians who are using their hands to make a living instead of always giving to the people who refuse to work and expect a handout.

People have asked me if they really should brand their church or if it's really necessary for a church to use the same methods that Starbucks or Harley Davidson does.  My response is that if you have any interaction with a live person they will form some type of opinion about you or your church, so yes, branding your church is necessary.

The reality is that a consumer or visitor is going to make an assumption about your church that may or may not be totally correct.  This is why their experience with you must be great and your connection points (website, receptionist, brochure, servant evangelism) must be right on.  Please note that I am not saying to be perfect or flawless but whatever connection they might make with your church first (and even second or third) it should be great enough to leave the right impression.

If you are promoting the friendliest church in town and your receptionist gets hateful answering the phone, you have just made a huge disconnection!  If your website communicates a youthful and emerging worship and it's an oldschool, traditional service - you have just dropped the ball.  In the past, mistakes could easily be overlooked by visitors but in our finicky culture of today, it's more difficult to unscrew our screw ups.  

My advice is to invest in branding your church.  This doesn't necessarily mean a logo or a website, and it doesn't even mean spending any money.  Just make sure that you do your best to communicate a positive and accurate impression through all possible entry/connection points into your church and if a person does connects the dots, it forms the right picture. 

This is what real branding is all about!

I don't really like to talk or write about politics - especially since I am not an expert on it, but does anyone else feel like you are getting shafted by the government and the big oil companies?   CNN  posted an article that suggests that President Bush feels our pain.  Are you high Mr. Bush?  Of course you are!  No one in the government feels our pain and probably could care less.  I don't think the politicians in Washington have given up their Escalade's or lost sleep because of our current economy.

Another interesting article by CNN talks about how the Saudi's cannot understand why our prices have jumped up so high and that there should be curb on the oil prices.

Unfortunately I think the reality is as long as we can get screwed and not do anything about it, we will continue to see gasoline go up and people losing their jobs and homes because of American greed.  Wait a minute, I forgot!  We got that stimulus package to make everything better.  Makes me feel like someone has made so much money on this oil price deal that it's like a little gift of hush money.