There's a lot of talk about branding (most of which is nonsense by the way) your organization, but little said about protecting your brand.

For healthy churches, I believe this is the factor that gets omitted and sometimes can end up hurting us. 

I recently read that Howard Shultz, the founder of Starbucks visits 25 Starbucks every week. Think about that: he doesn't delegate protecting his brand to anyone. He enters local Starbucks all over the world every week to make sure they are creting the experience he expects them to create. 

Here's what tends to happen to us as Pastors: We preach every Sunday we're in town and we never see anything outside the sanctuary. 

So here's a simple strategy that we can forget: a few times a year, just go to church with your family. Get there when everyone else gets there, check your kids in the Children's Ministry like everyone else, find a seat like everyone else, and make note of what you see. You'll be amazed by what you observe (both good and not so good). 

Reports don't protect your brand. Pictures don't protect your brand. What protects your brand is you experiencing what everyone else who attends your church experiences.

You'll be amazed what you see when you're just "going to church". 

For more on how to protect your brand, pick up our resource, "Creating a Culture of Evangelism" by clicking here.