I’ve been giving a lot of though to the idea of how we typically do outreach.  I think I have often misunderstood that marketing and outreach were the same thing.  A talk the other day with one of the pastors at the church I’ve been involved in lately has really opened up my eyes to how marketing can also become a trap that we fall into.  We are supposed to “market” God with our lives, not just some catchy slogan on a billboard somewhere.  The catchy slogans are good for building awareness that someone indeed wants to reach out (outreach) to them and may serve as a connecting point, but we will never touch a life through a fancy billboard.  It’s what happens when people do respond to our marketing efforts that changes lives.  But here’s the catch, marketing isn’t required if lives are indeed changed.  Marketing will only be to let outside people know of the exciting things already going on.