Too much of a good thing

Here's an equation I come across frequently in my ministry here at Hillcrest:



Ministry people (outside of Hillcrest) with good intentions + a poor or confusing product/ministry/event = an awkward conversation



Much like some businesses are still convinced that television advertising is the way to go, some ministries are holding firm to the belief that the poster (or its less glamorous cousin, the newsletter) is the supreme communication tool for getting the word out about an event. These folks, who by the way I believe are good people whose only intention is to get the word out about their event, will drop by Hillcrest from time to time asking us to hang their poster about their concert/music festival/seminar/high school spring play/pancake fundraiser/cantata/singing Christmas tree/live nativity type of event.

The problem for me comes not with this person's event- by most means it is a fine event- the problem comes with the quantity of events that are out there. So one is faced with two options: you either say yes to everything and make ministry leader happy but turn your church wall into something that looks like this (and with this much on one board, how will anyone find out about you event?)





or you say no to most of the requests that come your way and end up looking like a jerk. Here are some real conversation excerpts I've had with well intentioned ministry leaders:

• "I don't understand why you wouldn't put out this newsletter" (this came after I told the gentlemen that I would take his publication, but that our church probably wouldn't use it and I probably wouldn't display it).
• "Um, ok, thanks for your time" (you could tell that this person really didn't know what to do with me telling them we wouldn't hang their concert poster).
• "we'd really like you to display (our thing) in a more prominent spot than underneath your welcome center" (this gentlemen was really nice, but a little peturbed to learn that we kept most of his materials buried underneath our welcome center).
• "they don't like us" (this was the comment made by the two people leaving my office after I said we wouldn't hang their music festival poster).

Again, the problem isn't the event or the program or the ministry. The problem is that when everything gets communicated (and more specifically, when everything gets communicated in the same way), nothing gets communicated.