John Pearson's Buckets Blog

REBRAND: Workbook + Coloring Sheets for Ministry Branding

Issue No. 340 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting quotes Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, “Branding is what people say about you when you are not in the room.” And this reminder: click here for my 2015 book-of-the-year pick and my Top-10 list and check out the resources in all 20 management buckets (core competencies) here.

Boring Is Criminal

That’s the attention-grabbing title of Chapter 41 in Steve McKee’s book, Power Branding: Leveraging the Success of the World's Best Brands. “Boring is criminal.”

It’s also the first quote that prompted the first of many laugh-out-loud affirmations in Jason Pearson’s 60-page coloring workbook for ministry branding. (You read that right: coloring workbook!)

REBRAND: Workbook + Coloring Sheets for Ministry Branding (just $5.00 on Amazon) is a fun and creative starter kit for nonprofit ministry and church marketing teams. Millennials will appreciate the fresh approach (a coloring workbook!) and marketing veterans will have a good laugh and a new coaching tool.

OK. I’m biased. Jason’s my son; needs none of my promo help; he’s the go-to expert; I’m the student.  But I couldn’t resist—and I know you’ll enjoy this one.

As the co-founder of CrossSection, which serves an impressive list of clients, Jason recently was the keynote speaker for Grizzard’s annual gathering of rescue mission leaders. Instead of delivering the same-old-same-old, tired-looking handout (think his dad’s routine), Jason created a 60-page workbook with content and colored pencils. Let the fun begin!

According to Jason, there are four areas that must be addressed to establish a ministry brand that people love:
   • The Customer
   • The Vocabulary
   • The Identity
   • The Calling

In the customer section, he takes a page from the four social styles noting that one-size-fits-all marketing materials will not cut it with today’s sophisticated segments. His “Branding Cheat Sheet” identifies four customer (and donor) styles:

Two styles are task-oriented:
   • THE INFO-SPONGE CUSTOMER is the analytical. She’s logical and loves data.
   • THE JUST-THE-FACTS CUSTOMER is the driver. He’s all about results and efficiency.

Two styles are relationship-oriented:
   • THE HEARTFELT CUSTOMER is the amiable. He’s supportive, yet careful.
   • THE SHARE-MEISTER CUSTOMER (great name!) is the expressive. She’s enthusiastic and unstructured.

So…look at your website, your donor letters, your rack brochure, and your reception area.  Do you connect with all four styles?

Jason notes, using the social styles research (click here to watch a three-minute video on the four styles), that the Info-Sponge Customer and the Heartfelt Customer tend to be slower-paced, while the Just-the-Facts Customer and the Share-Meister Customer tend to be faster paced. (Fundraisers: don’t dawdle with drivers!)

As you’re coloring the “Branding Cheat Sheet” pages, you’ll note the questions from the four customers segments are as diverse as they are unique. As a driver, I can identify with the Just-the-Facts guy: “OK, your bottom line in one minute—why should I care?”

He quotes Seth Godin, “A brand is a shortcut for all of the expectations for what you are about to do for the customer. It’s a shortcut for trust, promises and conversations.”

And this from Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, “Branding is what people say about you when you are not in the room.”

How’s your branding I.Q.?  Try the “Match the Organization With the Slogan” quiz on page 19. And if you recognize this tagline, “Helping in Jesus’ Name™”—what organization has trademarked it?

Haven’t been swept away by the hot coloring trend for adults? No problem—but don’t say I didn’t trendspot this one for you. There are plenty of meat and potatoes for non-coloring types.  Try page 23 and the list of 125 popular words to consider as you build your brand vocabulary.  (My favorites: nurture, collaborative, trusted, sustaining, global, and influence.)

I gotta stop—but there are another 37 pages to inspire, delight and inform you.  Like the logo match quiz—connect the ministry organization with the correct logo. Or, “Circle the Fake Logos” exercise. Really—they’re not all fake? Oh, my! 

There are even four memorable Dr. Seuss-type lines on, “How do I know if I have a good identity?”  Plus, seven questions (and up to 100 points awarded) for “Do I Have a Great Logo?” Robo-Test.

With a nod to his rescue mission audience, Jason quotes Raymond J. Bakke, author of A Theology as Big as the City: “Is Jesus just our message or is he also our model? In fact, we know that nearly all urban persons come to Christ through relationships, not through media. The bigger the city, the higher this percentage seems to be.”

Grab your colored pencils and crayons and order this today from Amazon by clicking on the title for REBRAND: Workbook + Coloring Sheets for Ministry Branding, by Jason Pearson.

Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
1) Jason asks, “What is the most important thing you did in the last 12 months?” Discuss!
2) He also adds, “In three words, describe your ministry.” And one more: “What makes your organization different than a secular nonprofit?” Discuss!

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Crowdfunding: Tax-Deductible or Not? - Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit

As we cycle through the 20 buckets, here are three new resources from the team at ECFA that address critical issues in the Donor Bucket and the Budget Bucket, Chapters 11 and 15, in Mastering the Management Buckets.

[  ] #1. NEW! The Guide to Charitable Giving for Churches and Ministries, by Dan Busby, Michael Martin, and John Van Drunen, is “a practical resource on how to handle gifts with integrity.”

Charitable giving laws are complex and ever-changing. So nonprofit and church leaders will greatly appreciate this hot-off-the-press guide covering “some of the most common legal, tax, accounting, and integrity issues.” For example, is your donation tax-deductible when given to a project on a “crowdfunding” website? Some are, some are not—according to pages 281-284.

[  ] #2. NEW!  Zondervan 2016 Church and Nonprofit Tax & Financial Guide for 2015 Returns, by Busby, Martin, and Van Drunen is now available. This annual update is a must for every CFO and finance committee. The “Recent Developments” section is a jam-packed 10 pages. Order this today and avoid that deer-in-the-headlights look, “I don’t know what I don’t know!”

[  ] #3. NEW!  Zondervan 2016 Minister’s Tax & Financial Guide for 2015 Returns, by Busby, Martin, and Van Drunen is also ready for your favorite April 15 activity. Kudos to the co-authors for this 25th annual update and this noble objective: “Our goal is to help you minimize taxes while, at the same time, filing tax returns that will enable you to sleep at night.”

As you’re preparing your taxes this year, here’s an insight from Max De Pree: “Trust grows when people see leaders translate their personal integrity into organizational fidelity. At the heart of fidelity lies truth-telling and promise-keeping.”

That’s just one of 101 quotable quotes on trust from Busby’s book, Trust: The Firm Foundation for Kingdom Fruitfulness. Click here for the entire list.

For more resources and free downloads, visit the Donor Bucket and Budget Bucket webpages.

P.S. For more resources for your church or nonprofit ministry, visit the blog I write for ECFA on board governance, and my recent post, "Tame the Advice Monster!"

Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free two to four times a month to subscribers, the frequency of which is based on an algorithm of book length, frequent flyer miles, and client deadlines. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As a board member and raving fan of Christian Community Credit Union (a non-profit), we proudly list the credit union as a sponsor at no charge.

Leading Me

Issue No. 339 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting suggests you place two large glass jars on your dresser at home or your desk at work—and drop in thousands of ball bearings! And this reminder: click here for my 2015 book-of-the-year pick and my Top-10 list and check out the resources in all 20 management buckets (core competencies) here.

Corrective for Drivenness

Before you can lead and coach others, says Steve Brown, you must learn how to lead yourself. So what would that look like? Steve enlightens us with eight memorable insights in Leading Me: Eight Practices for a Christian Leader's Most Important Assignment.

It’s packed with the practical—like “The Cycle of Grief” chart on page 51 and its antidote on page 53, “The Cycle of Grace.” It’s original—know anyone who hangs a poster copy of Rembrandt’s The Prodigal by their front door? And—it’s inspirational.

I made a ton of inspirational notes that I planned to share with you, but then I read Chapter 8, and found the big idea for me (and maybe you). Read this excerpt and you’ll be telling this story to family and friends all year!
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Excerpted from Chapter 8:
Stewardship and Shalom
Leading Me: Eight Practices for a Christian Leader's Most Important Assignment
© Copyright 2015, Steve A. Brown. All rights reserved.
Visit Arrow Leadership or Amazon to order this book.

“Teach me to number my days aright so that I may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)

People sometimes do strange things. After my first residential session as a participant in the Arrow Leadership Program, my roommate went home and made a very strange purchase. He bought 25,550 ball bearings.

The natural question is, why? Why would anyone buy 25,550 ball bearings? Well, there is a method to what may seem like my roommate’s madness. The answer is profound. During that first Arrow residential session, my roommate had a transformational experience. He was deeply moved by the needs in the world. He was also awed by God’s particular call on his life to be part of his mission in this chapter of history. Finally, he was convicted that God wants everyone to carefully steward their limited time on this earth.

His prayer was the same as the psalmist’s in Psalm 90:12: “Teach me to number my days aright so that I may gain a heart of wisdom.”

So, when my roommate got back home, he took the psalmist’s prayer literally. He wanted to number his days aright. To do so, he did some basic math.
     He estimated his lifespan to be 70 years
     and multiplied 70 years x 365 days.
     This comes out to 25,550 days of life.

Although my roommate knew that this timeframe wasn’t guaranteed and that his days are ultimately held in God’s hands, he was still moved by this research. He wanted to brainstorm creative ways to tangibly and visually mark this precious and finite amount of time. So, he purchased 25,550 ball bearings. With each ball bearing representing a day of his life, he counted out all the days he had already lived.

Then he put the ball bearings representing days already lived into a large jar. The rest of the ball bearings were put in another jar that represented days not yet lived. Then he began a morning ritual.

Every morning he would go over to the jar of days not yet lived, pick out one ball bearing and place it in his pocket. This one ball bearing was a tangible reminder of his responsibility to steward each day that God gives him on this earth.

At the end of each day, he completed the ritual. He would take the ball bearing out of his pocket and place it in the jar representing completed days. It served as a visual reminder that each day given is a gift and resource to steward for God’s glory. Once a day is gone, it is gone forever.

My Arrow roommate eventually stopped this ritual, but he recently told me that the jars still sit on his shelf as a visual reminder.

This story has had a profound effect on my life. We ultimately don’t know how many days we have in this life. Today could be the last one. Maybe there are thousands left. Whatever the number, this story is a vivid reminder that we are called to be stewards of this special gift of time.

Editor’s Note: In this important book, Steve Brown masterfully connects the dots between the illustrations and the Biblical values. (You’ll remember both.) If you appreciated Great Questions for Leading Well (also by Steve), you’ll love this book.

He continues, “The concept of stewardship is clear in Scripture. God has entrusted everyone and particularly Christian leaders with many resources—time, talent and treasure being just three. Our job is to recognize this trust as well as to seek to care for and invest these resources for God’s glory.

“As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4:2, ‘Now, it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.’ In other words, leading yourself well means being a steward of the trust given to you. This trust is magnified for Christian leaders who are given opportunities to leverage not only their own talents but also the talents given to others.

“When I put the ball bearing illustration together with these stewardship verses, I am both convicted and inspired to wisely invest the gift of time entrusted to me. I am overwhelmed by the truth that God invites us to be part of his work and purposes. For these reasons, one of the key elements of leading ourselves is stewarding our time.”
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To order from Amazon, click on the graphic below for Leading Me: Eight Practices for a Christian Leader's Most Important Assignment, by Steve A. Brown.

Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
1) Steve Brown notes that there is “the temptation for stewardship to become an idol. This usually manifests itself in an insatiable drivenness toward more activity, more busyness and more accomplishment. Ironically, this kind of behavior in a leader is often applauded and encouraged by boards, churches and employers. They are impressed by and thankful for the output that often seems to accompany driven people and leaders.” Discuss!
2) So how many ball bearings are left in your jar—and after you’ve prayed “teach us to number our days,” what are you learning? Brown writes, “Psalm 23 provides a beautiful corrective to the tendency toward drivenness.” 

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The Worst Hallucination: "All Depends on Me" - Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit

As we cycle through the 20 buckets, here are two powerful notes from Steve Brown--perfect color commentaries for the Team Bucket, Chapter 9, in Mastering the Management Buckets.

Brown says that “stewardship that is hijacked by drivenness will eventually reap significant costs and casualties.” He quotes from Sabbath, by Wayne Muller, which “counters the drivenness that is often behind the epidemic of busyness in North America.”

WAYNE MULLER: “The busier we are, the more important we seem to ourselves and, we imagine, to others. To be unavailable to our friends and family, to be unable to find time for sunsets (or even to know that the sun has set at all), to whiz through our obligations without time for a mindful breath, this has become the model of a successful life.”

BROWN/BUCHANAN: “Ouch! Unfortunately, there are far too many examples of sacrifices on the altar of drivenness. We are a society that prides itself on busyness and 24/7/365 activity. In The Rest of God, Mark Buchanan writes that in all this frenetic activity, ‘the worst hallucination busyness conjures up is the conviction that I am God. All depends on me. How will the right things happen at the right time if I’m not pushing and pulling and watching and worrying’?”

For more insights from the Team Bucket, visit this webpage.

Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free two to four times a month to subscribers, the frequency of which is based on an algorithm of book length, frequent flyer miles, and client deadlines. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As a board member and raving fan of Christian Community Credit Union (a non-profit), we proudly list the credit union as a sponsor at no charge.