As much as we seem to hate to talk about it, there’s a lot of overlap between marketing and evangelism. Â Both are an attempt to convey information in a convincing way. Â There are also many differences, but just bear with me for the sake of the exercise.
A standard marketing tool is the “Elevator Pitch.” Â The scenario behind this tool is that you step into an elevator with someone who is a possible client. Â You have the time between when the elevator doors close and when they open at the destination floor to make your pitch. Â You don’t have to get all the information across in the pitch – just enough to pique the interest of the person so you can then exchange information and follow up later. Â Salesmen and consultants write, memorize, and rehearse their elevator pitch so that when the time comes, they are ready to deliver it.
How does this relate to evangelism? Â In my experiences with this as both a lay and an ordained person, the opportunity to witness to Jesus from our Episcopal experience usually comes upon us at suddenly. Â At some point in a conversation, things turn to religion and people ask about my church. Â I then have a very short window to explain. Â I don’t have to explain everything in that short time. Â I need to get them interested, and usually put them at ease that even though I’m a Christian, I’m not going to start throwing bibles at them or insulting their gay friends. Â Deeper conversations can come out of this first encounter.
Therefore, the BLOGFORCE challenge this week is to write an “Elevator Pitch” of no more than 250 words for the Episcopal Church. Â This is an open challenge – we invite anyone to respond. Â Instructions on how to participate are below. Â We will be re-posting blog entries throughout the week on Acts8 Social Media and then putting up a “Roundup” post on Monday morning.
The Rev. David Simmons, ObJN
Acts8 BLOGFORCE Wing Commander
A couple of links on Elevator Pitches:
How do I participate in the Blogforce?
Simply blog your answer on your own site, then:
1. Paste this code at the bottom of your post – note that it is code so you will probably need to switch to HTML view in your blog editor:
<p align="center"><a href="http://bf2.frdavid.org"><img alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/blogforceparticipant.gif" width="290" height="73" /></a></p>
It will look like this:
2. Send the permanent link and the 250 word or less pitch itself to [email protected]. Â This should be done by no later than 5PM Central Time on Sunday. Â On Monday, the pitches will be re-posted with links. Â At that point, the provided code will point to the round-up page instead of here.
The editorial board of Acts8 reserves the right to decline submissions that are deemed offensive or do not uphold the Guiding Principles.
Thanks for this great prompt! Here’s what I came up with.