Remember those apprentices the wizard was teaching to write ads?
Here’s a peek behind the curtain:
Discovery Church Radio Ad
Chris McCallister is the pastor at Discovery Church, a spinoff from a more established evangelical church which had become, in his estimation, too concerned with the corporate machine and not enough concerned with the congregants.
In his mind, all the moving pieces required to make most modern evangelical church’s work requires simply too much overhead, which puts pressure on leadership to guilt members into serving the machine and skews the church’s priorities.
Discovery church is set-up as a low overhead church that seeks to measure and track the growth of its believers instead of the business growth of the church.
I came up with 2 mental images around this:
· The Borg (from Star Trek, which has entered the culture as slang for corporate hell)
· The Self-licking ice-cream cone.
I went with the Borg….
Jeff
Jeff’s Wacky Ad:
[Make this phrase sound ominous, robotic-like tone, possibly with SFX]
“We must assimilate you; you must conform: give to the building fund, volunteer, and help us assimilate more people.”
Did your last church feel more like a massive corporate borg-like machine than a church?
That swelling attendance records, increasing membership numbers, and fund-was what really mattered – was what was being tracked and measured – instead of your spiritual growth and discipleship?
I’m Chris McCallister, the pastor at Discovery Church, and we’ve killed the corporate Borg to create a new kind of church.
No overhead and a paid-for building with just 120 seats means we’re not here to ask or guilt you into conforming to us and feeding the Borg.
Our actual priorities are discipleship and spiritual growth. Priorities that we really do measure, track, and celebrate. Come see how we do that on our Web site at D C C live dot com
Again, that’s D C C Live Dot Com.
Maybe it’s time you escaped the Borg, too… Come grow in Christ at Discovery Church.
Jeff,
I like the ad. It took real balls to base an ad for a church around the Borg. But I fear that you and I might be part of a rare and twisted minority that is familiar with the boogie men of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Sadly, mass media doesn’t lend itself too well to obscure cultural references, so, no: You will not be assimilated.
I’m taking an entirely different approach. I’m going to use the underlying theme you proposed, but frame it in a “Revolutionary Jesus” context. See below. – RHW
Roy’s Less Wacky 60-second ad:
Jesus uses the word “beware” exactly 10 times in the New Testament and 9 of those times he’s warning his followers of the horrible dangers of… no – not sin – but religiosity. Jesus said religiosity was like yeast in bread dough: if you let even a tiny bit get in the mix, it would spread through the whole loaf and ruin everything. Jesus was virtually shaking his followers by the shoulders and saying, “Whatever you do, DON’T get all religious and start making up a bunch of rules.” Jesus didn’t talk about sin because he knew he had that situation under control: he came to die for the mistakes of all mankind, plain and simple. “Wait right here. I’ll be back in 3 days.” He didn’t need our permission and he didn’t need our help. Jesus had it all under control. Then he rose from the dead and said, “Go tell the good news. I fixed the problem.” We don’t do religiosity at Discovery Church, we celebrate Jesus. Come. Celebrate with us. I’m Chris McCallister and I want to meet you.
# # END # #
References (King James Bible)
1. Matthew 7:15
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
2. Matthew 10:17
But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. (In this instance, Jesus said to “beware of men,” I think, because of the persecution that would flow from the intolerant views of their religiosity. This is what the context seems to indicate.)
3. Matthew 16:6
Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
4. Matthew 16:11
How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
5. Matthew 16:12
Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
6. Mark 8:15
And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.
7. Mark 12:38
And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces,
8. Luke 12:1
In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
9. Luke 12:15
And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
(This is the only one that isn’t talking about the false values of religiosity.)
10. Luke 20:46
Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts;