Branding the Church of God

A few weeks ago I was talking with another pastor friend of mine, and he was telling me about a lady who had returned to church and was attending in one of his congregations. This lady was in her 80s. She was a widow. She had been in the church going back years and years and years and years and years. In fact, her last husband, who had died a few years ago, was a supervisor in Pasadena years ago for my wife. She worked under him in one of the departments, the letter answering department, that she worked in out there. They got married sometime in those years. In fact, she was telling my pastor friend that Herbert Armstrong did their wedding. Their wedding service was the last wedding service that he actually presided over. I don't know what year that would have been, maybe in the early 80s, maybe sometime in the late 70s or early 80s. I don't know exactly. But she said that that was the last wedding ceremony that he presided over. Anyway, they had both been widowed or divorced in the past and married, and now she was a widow again.

In the eruption and the changes of the churches in the early to mid 90s, somehow she had kind of gotten lost. It was out on her own, never really abandoning the faith, but not really a part of any of the churches at that point in time. Recently, she began attending the United Congregation there. When my friend was visiting with her and talking with her, she said, you know, I'm home. I'm home. This was from a longtime member who had been kind of out in the wilderness for a while. Her return brought that kind of statement from her. She says, I'm home. Now, I want you to think about that, kind of tuck it away, put it on the shelf here for a moment, because we're going to come back to that statement, I'm home in a minute after I talk about a few other things, and there'll be a connection. What I want to talk with you about this morning is a subject that has been on my mind in recent weeks and will be for quite a bit of time in the future. In connection with a project that I'm involved with in the media area of the church and the council, as we begin a process to position ourselves and our media products and our message all under and through a process that is called in the industry a term called branding.

How many of you have ever heard of the idea of branding? Okay. A few, most of us here. I think we all, all of us really know about it. You know, we watch anything out of the old, any Western, and we watch cattlemen branding their steers or their horses.

We all know that that brand identifies that animal belonging to the individual, the Circle K Ranch or the Bar R or whatever the ranch name is. That brand on that animal identifies who owns it. Branding goes far beyond cattle ranching or horse ranching. Branding is a fact of life today. It's just a part of our consumer society because you and I are inundated, surrounded by, and familiar with all kinds of brands in the things that we purchase. Whether it's a car, a truck, we are identified by certain brands. Some guys are Ford people. Some people are Chevy people. And then some people are something else or whatever. My dad was a Chevy guy. I grew up in a Chevy family. General Motors. I had to wait until my dad was dead before I bought my first Japanese vehicle.

Some of you will understand why. And I driven onto my dad's home lot in a Isuzu rodeo. It's hard telling what he would have said, much less done. One of his good friends would have thrown a wrench through my windshield. That's how they would have been. But anyway, we all identify with certain brands and we are familiar with certain brands. We buy things based on what they are. I brought one with me this morning because we stopped at one of the familiar brands this morning.

We all know what this is. Right? Starbucks. You know why it's a Starbucks? It's not just a white coffee cup. Of course, it's got the traditional green right there. But people like to be seen just holding one of these, even if they don't like the coffee. Because it carries with it a certain mystique or a certain image that people like to be associated with. People who don't even like the strong, sometimes bitter coffee that is here. But nonetheless, Starbucks Coffee is a well-known brand around the world. I was reading the Wall Street Journal this morning, an actual piece.

There's some guy whose goal is to visit every Starbucks outlet in the world. He's already gone to over 9,000 of them. And he chronicles them with a picture, him holding a Starbucks and a picture, and he puts it on his website. The problem is that they're closing several of them right now, and they're closing many that he can't get to. He said that he'd spent $1,400 to fly out to Vancouver, British Columbia, when he heard that there was a Starbucks there that was going to close, so that he could get his picture made there with a cup of coffee.

Don't ask me why, but some people have their particular goals in life, and his is to be photographed in every one. McDonald's is another brand that we're familiar with. We know the Golden Arches. We know Kentucky Fried Chicken. We see those, and we instantly recognize them for what they are. A hamburger that is going to be consistent, that is going to essentially taste the same, wherever you buy that. I've had McDonald's burgers in McDonald's restaurants in several countries, and you know what? They all taste the same. Kentucky Fried Chicken. Extra crispy. You know what it's going to taste like, whether it's in California, West Virginia, or Texas.

You know what it is going to be. There's a consistency. There's a sameness to it. And it doesn't change. Hershey's Chocolate is another brand that we are familiar with. Nike Shoes. The big swoosh. If you only saw, I didn't bring a picture of it, but we all know the Nike swoosh. You could probably chop that in half and show somebody half of that, and they would know what that brand was.

Because it is so iconic. It is so well known. Brands also revolve around people. Martha Stewart, for instance, is a brand. It almost went belly up whenever she went to jail a few years ago, but she managed to salvage it. But Martha Stewart Living, Martha Stewart Products, we have a patio set in our patio. Martha Stewart Patio set. Kmart. Brands can be around all kinds of things. Clothing brands. Eddie Bauer. Liz Claiborne. Levi's. By names of people, by names that we all instantly recognize.

Sony. Marriott. If I pulled this out of my pocket, what is this? Apple iPod. It's an Apple... No, it's not an iPod. It's an iPhone. But because of the shape, you know what it is. You don't have to see. Of course, on the back it's got the Apple logo, but you know by the shape what it is. Disney. It used to be Walt Disney. Now it's just Disney. But we know essentially what to associate with that. Entertainment. Movies. Family movies. Good quality. MTV. ESPN. Steven Spielberg. Is a brand. In the area of religion, names have brands as well. Oral Roberts. Remember that name?

Oral Roberts. For an older generation, he was among the first teleevangelists. And he was associated with healing. He had a healing ministry. Tent Crusades. Today we have Joel Osteen, who is more or less represents a certain type of religion. Rick Warren, who some say is the successor to Billy Graham. Organizations carry brand names as well that are instantly recognizable for what they do, what they provide. Such as the Red Cross. Such as the Salvation Army. We know what they are when we think about them.

The United Way. The Nature Conservancy. ACLU. NAACP. Go on and down the list. These are all products, names, but they are also brands that carry with them a promise to deliver a particular product that is consistent, that is quality, that entertains, that is a certain level of value to those who want and buy that. And they run the gamut from taste to appearance to just plain utility. All up and down the road. I don't know if I could I pull something else out of my pocket that would be an instantly recognizable. Does anybody know what this is?

What kind? Victorinox. Because it's red, and if I turned it around on the other side, you would have the seal on it. But again, it's instantly recognizable. Which is an interesting thing about brand. Something that is branded and a product. If the design, if you can tell just by looking at it what it is, you've created a very, very good product.

And you've got a success on your hands. Now, I want to do something a little different here at this point. I want to illustrate that particular point. And I'm going to ask for a volunteer from the audience. So don't get too excited. This is kind of a wild situation. But I'd like to ask for a volunteer from the audience. Carl, would you like to come up?

Now, turn around. Don't stop right there. I am going to show you something. First, I'm going to blindfold Carl. Can you see anything, Carl? No.

This is my Grand Canyon hiking handkerchief. I did wash it since then.

Okay. Now, I'm going to show you something. Don't say anything. Don't say a word. So you'll know what I'm going to ask Carl to do. Okay? I'm going to show you something. Everybody knows, okay? All right, don't say a word. Now, Carl, I'm going to hand you something. And I want you to feel it. And I want you to tell us what it is.

Coke bottle.

Okay. Say it again.

Coke bottle. It's a Coke bottle. Okay. He passed the test. You never know how these are going to work out.

Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Yeah, that's it. Okay. It's a Coke bottle.

Now, most of you would have been able to do the same thing, I would think. The Coke bottle has a distinct shape.

And as I just showed with Carl, you can be blindfolded and feel it and know what it is.

Now, there are a lot of other soft-drink bottles that you might not be able to do that with.

But the Coke bottle is unique. It's had this shape ever since Coke began to be bottled over 100 years ago.

There's a story behind this. When the makers of Coca-Cola commissioned someone to design them a bottle, the designer took the ingredients, and of course, in those days, real cocoa from the Coke plant or whatever went into Coca-Cola.

And he went to nature, looked at the cocoa pod, and he saw that it had a distinct shape to it, which is about the shape of this bottle. And so he designed the bottle after the shape of the cocoa pod. And that's the shape of the Coke bottle to this very day. That's what it is.

Which is, again, the illustration of, in terms of marketing, advertising, and this concept of branding, is that you've got something on your hands when it's something that certainly is so unique that people know what it is, blindfolded, or instantly recognize it, you know, even when they see or even, like I said, with the Nike swoosh, if they would just take part of that, people know what it is.

They've got a symbol of their product, helps to perpetuate it, sell it, and make it a part of the culture.

And so the Coke bottle is very much like that.

Now, as we bring this down into the matter of religion, the church, the Bible, and you and I, what is this for the church of God? What is branding for the church? I said, we are in the process of looking at obtaining assistance from a professional agency to help us take the various products that we have in preaching the Gospel, and in a sense to brand the message of the United Church of God for the audience today. Now, lest any think that this is a cop-out because we don't know what we're doing, let me tell you that Herbert Armstrong did the same thing years and years ago.

Remember an organization called the Radio Church of God? The Radio Church of God? That was what I first came in contact with.

There was a time when Mr. Armstrong realized that that was not a name that symbolized what the Church of God was.

And so he went to an agency, and they helped him come up with the term, Worldwide Church of God.

So, using experts in the area of advertising, which Mr. Armstrong himself was an expert in, is not anything new to the Church of God.

And it's important that we recognize that there's professional expertise available to us to help us in this very complex world of marketing, consumer values, and the segmented world that we have, where there are so many messages, so many products, and especially in the area of religion, to be able to position the message of the Church in a way that will get through and break through the clutter, break through and, in a sense, stand out, but also represent what we are and the integrity of what we are based upon God's Word in the Bible.

So we're in a process of interviewing and selecting a group to help us in that as we move forward.

So this is something that's going to be on my mind for a long time, and I'm in the process with this sermon, just kind of working it out to help you understand it, but also to help me understand it as well, that there are things for us to associate and to recognize when it comes to the message of the Bible and the impact that it has and how we shape the message for an audience in today's world and get through the clutter that is out there.

I've already talked about the branding for the church. It's so important for the product, for the organization, for the you and for I.

Each one of us has a brand, whether you realize it or not.

Branding in a brand is not really that complicated. It comes down to a promise and a consistency of what you say you are, what you say you will deliver, and what people can depend upon you for, and what they come to you seeking.

In the area of religion and that, obviously, there are many things from the scriptures that are going to tell us how to do that.

You and I have a brand, whether you realize it or not. All you have to do is just kind of run down a list of character traits. Ask yourself about yourself.

For instance, are you dependable? Are you someone that people can depend on? Are you on time? Or are you always late? Because that's part of your brand. That's part of who you are.

If you're one who is consistently late or cannot follow through on a commitment and your word, and therefore you're not dependable, you are – we could say that's reputation, but that's also another word for branding.

Do you stay till after five? Do you clock in early and clock out late? Are you competent? Or do you just get by on looks, reputation? Or is there competence?

You need to – when we look at ourselves, we have to ask, do I do – what do I do that adds distinctive value? To my company? To my neighborhood? To my church?

What do I add to the value of the organization that I'm a part of? That's another part of branding and how to determine that, the brand that we have.

You might also ask yourself what it is that you are known for, or what do you want to be known for? Service? Grace? Humility? Are you helpful? Are you friendly? Or are you moody and critical?

Well, no, Freeman Emmell comes up here occasionally with Gordon. Freeman Emmell is known in his community there in Anderson as a service-oriented volunteer.

So much so that the organization where he volunteered hundreds and hundreds of hours, at one point, in order to honor him, they created a Freeman Emmell Award for Service.

And guess who got the first award? Freeman Emmell. But he's got it hanging in his living room, and they give it every year in his name. Freeman is known for service. That's his brand. And it's a good brand to be known for.

Everything we do defines our own personal brand in terms of who we are, and everything matters. The tone of our voice, the look on our face, how we handle email. Sometimes we can be sharp, caustic in an email.

Those of you that have Facebook pages, what's on your Facebook page? Because that speaks about you.

Some people don't realize that, especially young people don't realize that what they put on the Facebook page, what they put on MySpace, or out on the web, brands them.

Employers today, when they're interviewing people, they look on their Facebook page. They Google their name and see what pops up.

And for some people, they lose jobs or don't get them because they've got risque photos, off-color statements, things out there on the web. You put something on the web, and it's there almost forever. It really is.

But in a sense, it brands a person.

So, personally, we all have to be careful about that when it comes to the brand and how that comes out, how that comes across to people and frames and shapes our own reputation.

What does the Bible say about the brand called Christian, for example?

Think about that. We call ourselves Christian.

What does the Bible say about that? There are a number of scriptures we could turn to. Let's look at John 10.

John 10, verse 1.

Jesus said, Most assuredly I say to you, He who does not enter the sheep fold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber.

But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

To him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice.

And he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him.

For they know his voice.

They know his voice.

The shepherd has a distinct voice.

If you will, a voice that brands him.

That brands him. By which people know him.

And the sheep want to follow that voice.

Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him.

For they do not know the voice of strangers.

Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which he spoke to them.

Most assuredly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

All who ever come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.

I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy.

I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.

And so Christ here portrays himself as the shepherd whose sheep hear his voice.

And they don't hear any other shepherd or pseudo-shepherd's voice.

Now that's an important mark and identifying factor to think about it in this particular subject.

Because there are a lot of... Remember Christ said, Many will come in my name, saying that I am the Christ, and will deceive many.

Paul said to the elders at Ephesus, Beware, after my departing, many will come in unto you.

Wolves wearing sheep clothing, and seek to lead many astray.

So the warning was there. The effect has always happened.

The problem is with us today.

But Jesus said that my sheep will hear my voice. They'll not go into a stranger.

So that's an important thing to understand in terms of the voice that is projected of the church.

That is teaching the truth as Christ gave it and put it within the church.

And everything that is a part of that.

In John 13, well-known scripture, it should come to our mind whenever we think about this matter right here.

In John 13, verse 35, let's read verse 34.

Christ said, A new commandment I give you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

By this we'll all know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.

There's nothing that's more straightforward than John 13.35.

By this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love, one for another.

You want a branding mark on a Christian, on the followers of Christ? It's love. For one another.

By this he says, they will know that you are my followers, that you have loved one for another.

Many other statements we could add to that one right there.

This is not the only identifier, in one sense, that you would look at. If you go back to Deuteronomy 28, it says, God here through Moses talks about the commandments.

Deuteronomy 28, verse 9, it says, It says, So here Christ makes a direct statement that keeping His commandments and walking in His ways will be a distinction that will put His name upon His people by His name.

By which all will see that you are called by My name, by the name of the Lord, God's people.

So love, certainly, is a direct statement from Jesus that tells us one thing.

Here's another, that God's people, the people of God, will be keeping His commandments, walking in God's way.

Those are mutually compatible.

One does, you know, commandment, keeping, and loving one another does not exclude each other. They are both very closely intertwined.

Back in Exodus chapter 13, we can get to an even more specific sign.

Actually, I think, Exodus 31, I've got my numbers turned around.

Exodus 31 verse 13, It says, Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, Surely, my Sabbaths, you shall keep. For it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you.

You shall keep a Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you.

And so, well-known scripture, well-known concept to us, that the Sabbath is a sign.

Now, we know that very plainly, that an identifying factor and sign of the people of God will be the Sabbath. We've also read about the commandments, so you have to keep all of the commandments, not just the fourth.

But we also remember what Jesus said, that love will be the way by which people know you are my disciples.

So, really, when you build all of the scriptures together and you look at it, you know, there's a lot of Sabbath-keeping groups today.

We're not the only group that keeps the Sabbath.

So, we understand that we've got to go beyond just the Sabbath to look for and to understand the Church of God.

This is not a sermon to kind of go through all those proofs, but just wanted to make that statement.

But the Sabbath is certainly a part of that brand, commandment-keeping, and the love of God is going to be a matter by which God's people are known.

But there are other intangibles that have a cumulative impact.

In Matthew 7, Jesus made another statement.

Matthew 7, verse 20.

Matthew 7 and verse 20.

He said, Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

Speaking again of His people in the context.

By their fruits.

You will know people by their fruits.

Back in chapter 5 of Matthew, and verse 14.

Christ says to His followers, You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.

Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

And so, your works, all of this cumulative impact, so many direct matters, keeping God's laws, loving, having good morals and a lifestyle of all of the teaching, is a light that shines and helps to identify the people of God.

You, the organization, the Church.

And so, these are just a sampling of scriptures that you would turn to, in a sense, to look to what is the Christian brand.

And how does that all come together, and how do people associate that?

There's another direct scripture back in 1 Timothy chapter 3 that also is one that you would go to to help to identify and position God's Church.

1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 15.

1 Timothy 3 and verse 14. Paul writes, These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly.

But if I am delayed, I write, so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, or the church of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of the truth.

Now, here in verse 15 is a very clear description, again, of component parts of the church, the church of God.

He says, It is where you go to find the body of truth, of scriptural truth, by which the people of God should live.

Everything from the Sabbath to the Holy Days to all the other commandments to an understanding of the purpose of life, and of prophecy and of the gospel and of who God is and what man's purpose is. All of that is what we call the body of the truth. The church is where it is the pillar and the ground.

It is the repository of where that truth is. And so you go to the church of God, the house of God, to find that truth.

So that is another, that is more of an all-encompassing concept to think about, that people certainly would want to associate.

You would want your message and your reputation to be associated with the truth in this particular way and understand it from all that it says.

So the light of the world, keeping the commandments, keeping the Sabbath, all of that is a very important part of what the brand of the church is all about.

And that is what it comes to be. Now, there's another way to look at this in the Scriptures because we not only have these specifics, we have the teaching of Christ, but we also have examples of how certain congregations of the church were.

And it's interesting to note that there are some interesting descriptions and reputations of various congregations within the Scriptures, within the New Testament that we have. If you turn over to the book of 1 Corinthians, you will see that there is a brand called the Corinthian brand, and it has nothing to do with leather. You remember the 70s car, the Cordoba, that you could buy, and it had Corinthian leather in it. It was a Ricardo Montalvan, advertised it had Corinthian leather.

I owned a Cordoba during that time, during the late 70s, but it just had fabric in it. It did not have Corinthian leather in it, but I did drive one for a short period of time.

There is a brand that we could call the Corinthian brand, and it is the story, or the reputation, or the brand of the Church of God at Corinth.

Now, we have in 1 Corinthians an example of many things that explain exactly what this church was about.

In 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 10, Paul begins to sketch out what this church was all about. He says, Now this I say, that each of you says, I am of Paul, or I am of Apollos, or I am of Cephas, who is Peter, or I am of Christ.

So here he says, we don't need to go through all of this, what he says here is, it has been declared concerning you.

Your reputation is this, that you are a divided group, that you have factions, that some feel that Paul is their champion, some look to Apollos in this corner, and over in this corner there are those who are just of Christ.

So in this big room where the Corinthian church met, you have at least four camps that are identified here, that create contentions in terms of how people identify. It would be like saying, some are Chevy people, some are Ford people, and there the two shall meet.

But it was a divided church, a contentious church. He pleaded with them not to have that.

This is the Corinthian brand. This is what came into people's minds in Philippi, Thessalonica, or back in Jerusalem when they heard about the church of Corinth. What do people think about when they hear the name, United Church of God, Fort Wayne?

What do you think they associate with that church?

I don't know that there's any distinctive brand name. Certainly nothing bad in my mind. I don't hear anything. But it's just a thought. It's just a question I put out.

I would say that many people probably think of it in very good light. We send our get-well cards with our pictures on it. We still do that up here.

We shall return. But I've had comments that people enjoy getting that type of get-well card from a congregation where everybody's picture is on it. So they can see the names that are signed in there, turn it over, and associate with it.

Corinth didn't have that. In chapter 5, we all know what's in chapter 5 in 1 Corinthians, verse 1, It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality, as is not even named among the Gentiles, that a man has his father's wife.

It's commonly reported. Actually, this is what the word on the street is. Again, this is your brand. You are an immoral group. You are loose sexually. Not a very good reputation, is it? Not a very good brand. And yet, as a church of God, look at chapter 15, 1 Corinthians 15. And verse 12, If Christ has preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? Heresy. Doctrinal heresy. Some say and some teach and believe that there is no resurrection. Can you imagine that?

And Paul goes through the whole chapter to talk about the resurrection. But again, this was commonly reported. So it was a contentious church. It was an immoral church in certain quarters. Not everybody. But the morality problem was there. And the fact that they didn't deal with it created another problem. And there was also doctrinal division, doctrinal heresy. This is the Corinthian brand. Not one that you would want on Fort Wayne. Not one I'm saying is on Fort Wayne either. But this is how you can look at it and understand in terms of the church. Now, contrary-wise, if you turn over to the book of Philippians, you see a completely different church and a completely different picture that is mentioned here regarding the Philippian church.

Chapter 1 of Philippians.

In verse 4, verse 3, Philippians, Paul writes, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making requests for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now.

So Paul has good thoughts about the people at Philippi. In every one of his prayers, he thanks God with joy for their fellowship. Their fellowship. Now, you go back to Acts and you see the story where the church began. It was down by the river. Remember the story of Lydia, the seller of purple, and her family?

She invited Paul into her home, and they were very hospitable. Paul had good memories of the time and the people at Philippi. They loved to be one another. He brings it up in the first few verses. In chapter 2, verse 12, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. They were obedient.

They were obedient when Paul was there and when he wasn't there. It's kind of like being a worker in the office who works when the boss is there and works when the boss isn't there. It's like a child who obeys in your presence. And you could leave the room and not worry about them because you know that they're going to be behaving themselves with five, ten, thirty minutes that you're gone from the room.

This is what Paul says here of the character, the attitude of the people at Philippi here that they obey. Not only in my presence, but in my absence as well. So they were an obedient church. In chapter 4 of Philippians, in verse 10, he says, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again. Though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. They were generous. They had provided for Paul physically money, food, where they could.

And other times when it was not possible, but they wanted to and he knew that. But he said, you have greatly provided for me. And it has flourished again. So they were a generous church with what they had, and they supported his ministry. We would say they regularly cut a check to help him and to support him. There's more like probably food, as well as perhaps money as well, and tithes that were sent to him.

But they were a very generous group. So here at the Church of Philippi, they enjoyed one another. They had lively fellowship. They were obedient. And they had a reputation for that, and they also were a generous church. That's quite a bit of distinction from the Corinthian brand. I bring it out just to show that in the Scriptures, churches have their own brands. We could say the same, I guess, if we really superanalyze congregations within the United Church of God today. Each congregation will have a certain feel about it, a certain personality, because of the people, the individuals, the place, the country, and the region of the country.

A church in Southern California is going to be different from a church in the Midwest. Southern Californians are different from those in the Midwest. You go to South Texas, and there's a difference there in terms of the regional peculiarities of South Texas than you would find in the Northeast. So that's just the way it is. But of course, people's character will make a big difference as well. There's one more example of brands of churches in the Bible. Some of you are probably already there with me.

It's in the book of Revelation, chapters 2 and 3. Seven churches, each with distinctive personalities, from the Ephesus Church all the way to the Laodicea Church. And we bring those names up at times if we want to label a certain attitude. Luke Warm, what do we say? Laodicea. Brotherly Love, Philadelphia. You know, a church that had a lot of bitterness because of what they had to go through?

The church at Smyrna. You read each of those seven examples and stories of those churches, those descriptions, and you find seven distinct congregations. In that case, all of them even within the same region of Asia Minor. So it's not like they were Greek as opposed to Jewish, or, you know, they were part of the Greek world, but they were part of Asia Minor at that time, and there was a common regional connection among all of them, but there were seven distinct congregations that were there.

So we throw those out at times to illustrate certain spiritual qualities. And sometimes we get it right, and sometimes we get it wrong. Sometimes we'll hit people, especially Laodicea. If you want to hit somebody over the head, call them Laodicea, spiritually. Smack them right between the eyes and say, oh, you're Laodicea. But it instantly brings up a brand, a reputation, a character of Christianity, if you will, and peculiar to that particular church. So these biblical brands, in a sense, are something we see and understand as we deal with this and work through.

Now, let's bring this down to the question for the moment. And that is, what does this do for the United Church of God, and how do we position our brand as to what it is and what we do? How should we position our brand? Let's think about this for a moment.

We all know what we used to have, if you will, for a brand of the church. Anybody know what that was back in the old days? What was the image of our brand?

Anybody? The lion and the lamb. Remember the seal from Isaiah 11, where the wolf will lay down with the child, and a little child will lead them all. We had that on our seal. And that was not, in a sense, unique to us because artists have depicted that scene for years, long before the church of God ever used it as part of its corporate seal. But the peaceable kingdom has been painted in so many different forms. You'll see that in the art world. But we had a rendition done for us, cast in bronze, and put on our seal back at that particular time. Now, in the United Church of God, we don't have that, do we? What do we have? Right there in front of you. Yeah, you see it. That's our seal. It's taken, if you will, from Matthew 28. We could turn over and read that. I can go out and get it here. Preaching the Gospel, preparing a people. And we have a portion of the globe here. It's Africa and Europe. And North America is up there as well, and Asia. You've got Australia down here. This particular scene was chosen because it was one that would incorporate all continents. Even if you've got Australia up here, North America. But it's taken out of Matthew 28, where Christ said, Go therefore, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So this is what we have chosen at this time. I don't know if we go through this whole branding exercise and we'll come up with a new seal or not. I don't know. I can't say that right now. That could possibly happen. But this is what we have. So it's different from the lion and the lamb. And yet, it's biblical. Is it the position that we want and need? I'll lay that back there because I'm not going to try to hang that back up. So I haven't desecrated the seal.

But how do we describe this today? How do we position ourselves? Jesus, when he was before Pilate, was asked who he was. Was he the king of the Jews? In one sense, as the Roman world looked upon him, they looked upon him and branded him with that idea that, are you the king of the Jews? Have you made yourself a king? That was because of his message, because he came preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God. And it was a message that overturned not only the Jewish authority, the Jewish world at the time, but it pointed to the overturn and the overthrow of the Roman world, because the Gospel of the kingdom speaks to the age-ending kingdom of God brought to this earth at Christ's second coming in the power and glory of the ages. In Acts 17, there is a statement made about the preaching of Paul and the early church that is interesting to look at.

Acts 17, in verse 6, This was in Thessalonica, where Paul was there preaching for over three weeks. And they found themselves in the home of one of the members, he in Silas. And in verse 5, The Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the market place, and gathering a mob set all in the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. And when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. And Jason has harbored them. And these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king, Jesus. So the message that Paul was preaching, or the kingdom of God, here is labeled a message that had the effect of turning the world upside down. In other words, they recognized that the implications of the message, it was a world-changing message. And reality, if that's what they really believed, and if that's what was going to happen, if that's what they were promoting, it was a message that would turn the world upside down, and they were accused of insurrection. Is that the message? Is there a lesson, an element for us to take in positioning our message and the brand that we have for the world today? In Acts 28, in verse 30, at the end of the book of Acts, we find Paul under house arrest in Rome. And it says, Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no one forbidding him. And so for two years we find that this description of what he did was to preach the kingdom of God and the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. That is, in essence, embodied in our mission statement, to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the world. I think there's a lesson and an element to take from here as well. This is a big question. You know, we had in the past a radio program, television program called The World Tomorrow. And when you heard that, then conveyed what you heard on that program. Today we've tried to capture that in the idea of beyond today.

Will that be what we stay with? I don't know. We have The Good News magazine. We have World News and Prophecy. We have Beyond Today. We have Vertical Thought. We have a number of different sub-brands under the brand of the United Church of God. And this whole science of branding is one where you will have certain components of your overarching brand. I mean, you've got coke. You've got diet coke. You've got caffeine-free diet coke. You've got, what other?

Cherry coke. Vanilla coke. All, you know, under those, the coke brand, if you will, that are different products that fall under that. So that's how it works, and that's where it goes from here. This is something I ask you to pray about as we really critically examine the message that we position ourselves as putting out and how we put that out, and how we design it, how we present it, how it's represented in everything from a seal to other images and logos that will denote the particular products that we have in today's world.

In one sense, it's not rocket science, this whole subject. It comes down to a lot of common sense. It's going to come down and flow from an understanding of all of these scriptures that we've gone through, plus many others in the Bible, to really understand it. You know, you could, for your own needs, you might focus, brethren, on John 13.35. By this, well, men know that you are my disciples, that you have love for one another.

You know, sometimes because of your proclivities, your nature, and what you're looking for, that's what you're looking for. That's what you want your church to be. There are others that focus only on a prophetic element. And they want this prophetic brand to be, in a sense, and that's what they focus on. Others look at doctrine. All of those are different parts of the church, as we have tried to show through these scriptures.

But you have to pull it all together. You have to have a balance and understand where they all fit. We don't worship the Sabbath. We don't worship prophecy. We worship God on the Sabbath. It may come as a surprise to some of you that we don't worship the Sabbath. We worship God on the Sabbath. We keep the Sabbath. We observe it. We keep it holy. We worship God, and we keep holy the holy days, but we don't worship the holy days. We worship God. Don't ever forget that. Don't worship prophecy.

Prophecy is going to fail. We see through glass darkly. Do I have all knowledge and all prophecy? I'm just, what? A noisy trumpet. In some ways that fits as well. But we worship God, and that's at the heart and core of our life. All these others branch off and are tied to the pillar and the ground of the truth of the church, than what it holds out.

But this is all that we are a part of, and this is what we know. Translating that into a language that a modern world can understand. A world that is in a society that is different from the world in which many of you grew up in, and the world in which 40 years ago many of you were called in. There are different mindsets out there today. The truth is still the same.

The message is still the same. But how we present that to a world today is very critical to understand, if you're going to be successful. And again, create the optimum environment in which God and His Spirit can do His work and His job. That is what Mr. Armstrong understood. We have poured over his instructions and statements and what he's written, what he did write about his knowledge of advertising, what he learned in the advertising world, how he wrote his philosophy, his editorial philosophy, and how to write an article to present a subject to a mind that is not religious, to capture their attention, to get them interested.

We pour over that. We have to understand where people are if you're going to be able to reach them with the message of the truth. You can't assume that where they are is where you are, where I am. I always get messages from people. They want us to be stronger. Cry aloud and spare not. That's what my mom used to say. Cry aloud and spare not. Need to be like Garner Ted. Need to be like HWA. Preach a stronger message. And they say, well, you're not doing that in this here or this over here.

And I get those, and sometimes they're directed personally at me, sometimes another writer, sometimes another presenter. And I look at it and I recognize, you know, I grew up in the church from the early 60s on. I was listening to those voices. And sometimes the old man cried aloud and spared not. And I say, old man in a respectful way. And he'd pound. Then there were times when they'd talk about evolution and a whale of a tail. And you wonder what in the world that had to do with the gospel.

Or you get off on some other subject. There's a time to be strong. There's a time to be soft. You don't just hammer and hammer and hammer if you're going to have a relationship that is long-term with people or reach them or bring them along. So I chuckle at some of the comments that I get, some of the criticisms that are leveled our way, and recognize that, well, I know what spoke to a certain person. I saw one just the other day, and this person was aged 19, 1969. They heard a voice. They came into the church. And that's what they're looking for.

And I recognize that. I recognize that. And to be honest with you, that's why some people are where they are today in various groupings and the scatterings of the church of God. Because they're looking for whatever it was when they hit that moment where they came into the church. And this particular organization, this particular individual or whatever, represents that to them. That's fine. That's where they have to be.

We have to move on. I think one of the strengths that we have, and that we do at least realize, is that we realize that the church is dynamic. The message stays the same, but there is also growth and understanding. And we're not locked into 1958, 1965, or 1986, in terms of an organizational mindset or whatever.

For everyone that would want to be in 1965, you'll find some that want to be square in 2009 and don't want to go back. So it's a mixed bag. You know, when it comes down to is this, the brand has got to be consistent. It's got to be instantly recognizable. It's got to be, if you will, the real thing.

The real thing. Not a different voice, not a counterfeit. You know, sometimes the brand gets broken. I'm going to hold up something. Tell me what this is.

You know what it is?

It's a top of a Coke bottle.

Okay. Sometimes a brand can get broken. And you can just pick up a piece of the brand, and you know what it is. You'd know this is not a 7-Up bottle. It's not a Pepsi bottle. It's not an RC Cola. They still make RC Cola? Do they? I don't know. RC and a Moon Pie used to be a pretty good break snack. But not that I had too many of them. But talk about a sugar high. RC and a Moon Pie. The Coke brand, again, when it gets broken, walking along the road, you see this. Oh, a broken Coke bottle. That's another strength of the brand. And when it gets broken, you can still put it into a hole.

In the 1990s, the brand of the Church of God got broke. It got broke. It shattered many different ways.

Now, many knew exactly what that broken piece that they found looked like and what it was associated with. And they found their way back to the real thing. For some it was a period of time. But ultimately, where God's Spirit is, coupled with a person's desire and heart, they will find their way back. We continue to see people who find their way home. And though they only held on to just one piece of the brand, whatever it was, maybe they got distracted with other things, maybe they got lost over here and kind of wandering into the wilderness, but they still had a piece of the brand with them. And they were eventually able to put it together with the hole, the real thing. And they find their way home. And what do they find when they come home? Do they find the truth? Do they find a voice that they recognize? That is their shepherd, that is the voice of the true shepherd? And by voice I don't mean the actual melodic tone and the tonal qualities of a voice, but voice in terms of the message, how it's presented, what it says, how it resonates in one's mind. That's the voice that Christ was talking about there in John 10, where He said, My sheep hear My voice and they will follow Him. They hear it and it makes sense, or it sounds like what they were connected to at one time. And they come and they find a place where the truth is taught. And it's squares with what they see in the Scriptures. And they feel safe, and they feel comfortable, they feel accepted. If you will, they feel warm. They feel that it's a place where, as the old ditty with the cheer said, it's a place where everybody knows their name. There's fellowship. There's that brotherly love. Where you know and where you're known. Where they're fed. And where they'll be cared for. Where they can trust. In short, like the widow who said to my friend, when she came back fully into the church, and she said, I'm home. I'm home. She found all of those things. She found what she had heard, known, the truth, safe, and a warm place. Which in the end, in a sense, sums up an effective brand that connects all of God's people together into the church of God. So, this is a little bit about branding and reputation.

And, again, I think when you strip away all the psychology and the advertising jargon and marketing savvy and expertise, in one sense it's not rocket science. It's all about God and the truth and His Spirit. And coming up with the taking that message and presenting it in a package that has all of the qualities that we see here in these scriptures and more to help people feel that that is a voice I want to follow. And when they follow it, they feel at home. So that's what we're involved in. Appreciate your prayers. That can all come together for the betterment of preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.