Mainline churches shrink. Will advertisements help?

Mainline Protestant denominations continue their free-fall, as highlighted in a US News & World Report piece that explores their adventures in advertising.

“The under-35 generation thinks church is a judgmental, hypocritical, insular place,” says Jamie Dunham, chief planning officer for Bohan Advertising & Marketing, the firm that designed the United Methodist campaign.

The idea of trying to advertise your way out of that problem was promptly savaged by Kevin Hendricks at the popular Church Marketing Sucks blog, who noted:

If that’s the case, I’m not sure an advertising campaign is the answer…. The problems in the church today can’t be fixed with an ad campaign. Marketing (not an ad campaign, but marketing in the big picture sense) can help to address those problems, but you can’t re-brand your way out of trouble.

Probably not.

JesusFest returns, July 12th in Tolland

jesusfest-2009

(Click image to enlarge.)

JesusFest, Northern Connecticut’s big summer Christian festival, returns and moves from Saturday to Sunday this year, taking place on Sunday the 12th of July.

The event will open with a community-wide, inter-denominational Worship Service from 11 am to 12 noon. Weather permitting, it will be held outside in Central Park. If it’s raining, the service will be held inside the sanctuary of Union Congregational Church.

The celebration will run from 12 noon to 6 pm featuring:

  • Live indoor music and displays at Union Congregational Church
  • Live outdoor music, dramatic arts, games, food, mobile petting zoo, bloodmobile, food drive, and displays along Park Place and Central Park
  • Live indoor music at the Vernon Senior Center (pending confirmation of venue availability)

JesusFest is organized by an all-volunteer, interdenominational group of Christian pastors and laypeople in Vernon and surrounding communities.

For more information, visit JesusFestCT.org. You can also write to info @ JesusFestCT.org.

Will Schiff run for Senate in 2010?

We know he’s not a social conservative, but he’s definitely a fiscal one. Controversial author, doomsayer and commentator Peter Schiff continues to gain visibility and survived (actually thrived) on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night. Will he run against Senator Dodd in next year’s race?

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Peter Schiff
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Political Humor Newt Gingrich Unedited Interview

Judging from crowd reaction – and Stewart’s – there may be plenty of room for candidates that will speak harder truths than what we’ve been getting. Schiff may also fill an important spot at the center of the political electorate. With his following, Stewart has just helped make him more of a national figure and less of a figure known just to people who are burying Gold American Eagles in their backyards.

Disturbing find in Bridgeport highlights links between occult and crime

Narcotics officers in Bridgeport have made a gruesome discovery which highlights the link between crime and the occult. Traffickers in Mexico and other places are said to commonly perform grotesque rituals to obtain supernatural protection for their business but we don’t expect to see such things in these parts.

Members of the Tactical Narcotics Team expected to find the normal tools of drug dealers when they executed a search-and-seizure warrant at [address omitted - ed.] early Tuesday morning.

What they found even surprised them.

“There was blood all over the basement walls,” said Sgt. William Bailey, of the Tactical Narcotics Team. “We found what appears to be a human skull with an alligator head on top of it and possibly a sheep or goat’s head underneath.”

There were beads on the wall along with strange handwriting, kind of like what you would expect to see in a satanic horror movie. There were candles burning in glass and knives and animal horns nearby.

“I never saw anything like this before,” said Bailey. “We called in the detective bureau.”

The suspected human skull will be sent to the Chief States Medical Examiner’s Office to determine not only if it is a human skull, but whose skull it was.

Read more here. Continue to pray for Bridgeport and pray against the drug trade in our State.

Bound4Life Prayer Siege at Hartford, June 13th

Join Bound4LIFE CT at the State Supreme Court (231 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT) to intercede and stand in the gap for the voiceless and pray for the present day holocaust of abortion to be abolished. This is a prayer meeting, not a protest. Event will be held on Saturday, June 13th at 10 AM. For additional information, contact bound4lifect @ yahoo.com.

Community Worship Outreach with Rick Lewis in Bridgeport, June 12th

Rick Lewis

Rick Lewis

Worship musician Rick Lewis is hosting “Rick Lewis & the Hosea Project: Experience God & His Presence in Music” at the Lake Forest Clubhouse at 424 Frenchtown Road in Bridgeport, CT (near Trumbull Mall) on Friday, June 12 from 7:30-9:30pm. This is a free music outreach including several professional area musicians. Contact ricklewismail @ yahoo.com.

Week of prayer at Grace Farms, New Canaan, beginning June 21

Grace Farms in New Canaan

Grace Farms in New Canaan

Grace Community Church in New Canaan will be conducting a week of 24-7 Prayer at Grace Farms in a newly developed, interactive prayer room specifically built for this week. From June 21st to June 28th the church will set out to pray for 24 hours around the clock for the week. Participants are encouraged to sign up for hour long time slots. Sign ups can be done at Grace Church on June 14th or 21st or at the Kick-Off Gathering.

The Kick-Off Gathering will be held in the stables at Grace Farms (365 Lukes Wood Rd., New Canaan) from 6:00-8:00 on June 21st. The time will be filled with music, teaching, videos and prayer. On June 28th, we will hold a Kick-Out Gathering to share testimonies and join together to bring the week to a close. Anyone is welcome to join us. There will also be prayer walks on Wed. morning, the 24th at 10:00am and Wed. evening at 7:00pm. For details or questions, please contact Jake Kircher at 978-239-6756 or jake @ gracecommunity.info.

Disciple in Stratford, June 27

disciple-did_815_large

Information from DID Entertainment, Inc.:

Disciple is coming to Stratford, Connecticut on June 27th. Bring friends and family to Wooster Middle School for a night of rock you will never forget! Tickets are on sale now: advanced ticket price: $12; door ticket price: $15; limited premium tickets: $35.

For tickets, go to: http://www.RTSTickets.com. For groups of 10+ call: (203) 377-5118.

The bottom line swells, and swells, and…

Annoyingly clear thinking from Don Pesci:

The rich ain’t gonna get us out of this ditch.

Here’s why: The real problem in Connecticut has been caused by accumulative excessive spending, a problem only a brave few in the legislature want to solve.

Prove it, doubters say. The proof is in the astounding growth of the bottom line of the budget. The 8 or 9 billion deficit yet to be discharged is larger that the last pre-income tax budget of a little less than two a decades ago. And the present budget is three times as large as that more modest $7.5 billion budget; that’s an increase of an entire budget for each of the three governors who followed the late Gov. William O’Neill into office. Collectively, these governors, and the legislators who during this period used budget surplus after budget surplus to increase spending, are the problem.

Read the rest here: Permanent Spending Cuts, Temporary Taxes.