Faith Seeking Understanding

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My first regular column ran on Friday in the Midland paper. St. Nicholas’ will have a regular time for some space in the Religion section, and I hope we can use it to bring our Episcopal perspective and to offer thoughtful  reflections on the Christian faith and religious issues of interest to Midland. I have posted the article as a comment on the Let our Light Shine section of this blog. Comments and suggestions for further articles are welcome.

We are looking at doing some advertising on local television. As a part of that, I’m curious about what you think of the idea, and about what you watch on television, and what you guess people who might be interested in St. Nick’s watch on TV.

We are definitely going to sponsor the PBS series God in America this Fall; but we are also thinking about cable and local network affiliates. All of this is still in process, and we’re not committed to doing anything. Still, we have something special here, and we need to let Midland know about it. Let me know what you think.

One of the things the Vestry and other parish leaders are looking at these days is the question of how we can best make our parish and our mission better known in Midland. So we are talking about publicity/marketing/ advertising/evangelism—the whole thing. There are several ideas that are in the works, and nothing is final yet.

One big part of this is taking better advantage of our location. Literally thousands of people drive by St. Nicholas’ ever day, and very few of them know who we are or what we are about. One way to help change this is by a sign, large enough to be read from the loop, and having a message that we can change anytime we want to.

Now, no sign, all by itself, will send folks to St. Nicholas’ in droves—the experts say that maybe 5 to 10% of people who visit a church do so because of the sign alone. However, when combined with other forms of publicity and outreach, this can be an important way to extend our reach into our community.

We are looking at a sign that is about 25 feet tall and 15 feet across, with a changing LED message. We could use this space for service times, upcoming events, and pithy hints about how we are special.

Other things we are looking at include direct advertising on PBS and perhaps cable TV, an overhaul of the website, a presence at Midland College, and more use of the newspaper and other local media.

What do you think? How can we share with Midland our special Church community and the special perspective on the Christian faith that we value so much? Any ideas or suggestions are welcome.

Fr. Jim