I was talking with a parishioner after services on Sunday and somehow we got on the subject of the Church and NASCAR ... stay with me.
Most congregations are running at some sort of a deficit. The one we are facing is manageable; it's certainly not ideal, but we are optimistic that we are on an upward swing. Other congregations are facing deficits in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
How might we be able to cover these deficits, we wondered. And after a bit of back and forth, I suggested that maybe our answer could be found in NASCAR.
"NASCAR???" she asked incredulously.
"Sure . . . Think about a car race. Other than seeing a bunch of cars going really fast to the left, what do you notice?"
She thought for a moment and said, "Advertisements."
"Bingo. Every car has a major sponsor. Every car has a multitude of minor sponsors. Every car's paint job is covered with advertisers. So is the driver's fire suit and helmet. The driver will never talk about 'my car,' but about the advertiser's car ... as in, 'Yeah, the Nationwide car was running really good today on those Goodyears.'
"So what if we sold advertising space for things in church?"
In short, we developed a way to get people to buy sponsorships for the various seasonal hangings (Christmas and Easter costing more than say, the 14th Sunday after Pentecost), the stoles I wear, the Advent candles, etc. And then she decided we needed an electronic hymn board. Every year during the Season after Pentecost we take hymn suggestions and incorporate them into Sunday services. We could begin selecting hymns based on the highest bidder and advertise that on the electronic hymn board. "The opening hymn today is 618, brought to you by Nancy Davidson."
I drew the line, though, when it was suggested that Communion be sponsored by Bud Light.
Monday, January 25, 2016
The Money Gap .... or, what the Church can learn from NASCAR
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at
7:23 PM
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1) If you comment, leave a name. If you can't figure out how to log in or register or whatever the system is making you do (which, believe me, I fully understand how frustrating that can be) and you must comment anonymously . . . leave a name in the comment section. Purely anonymous comments will be deleted.
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Enjoy the game.
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1 comments:
Oh, I don't know. Bud light and pretzels would be good. Maybe those Pretzel thins, because they would be easier to chew.
I like the idea of auctioning off the hymns; some of us have favorites that never get sung.
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