Good News - January 2021

CHURCH UNITED 10 JANUARY 2021 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South Florida Edition 2020 sent our friends, neighbors and co- workers searching Google and YouTube looking for answers to some of life's biggest questions. Alongside hundreds of other local churches from across Palm Beach, Broward and Dade Coun- ties, we believe that now is the time to collaborate together and unify around one of the greatest evangelistic moments of our time. It’s been said that great movements of God are fueled when gospel patrons and gospel pro- claimers collaboratively work together to further the Kingdom of God in a region. South Florida has a long history of catalytic movements in the life of the Church – movements that were fueled by faithful men and women of God. "My memory goes back to when I first be- came part of this community in the late '70s. We had church and business leaders spearhead an evangelistic outreach with my grandfather, Dr. Billy Grahamhere in Fort Lauderdale. 20 years later, we saw the sons and daughters of those same people spearhead a massive community outreach called Beachfest with Louis Palau. Fast forward 20 years later, the grandchildren of those people are looking at new and innovative ways to further God’s kingdom, and I believe Church United’s Churches Care effort will be another major milestone movement here in South Florida – It's time," said Stephan Tchividjian of the National Christian Founda- tion of South Florida. Churches Care Campaign Powered by Church United and their technology partner Gloo, the Churches Care Campaign is a historic, first-of-its-kind digital, social media outreach to connect South Florida people to South Florida churches. Via world-class social media ads, Church Connect will digitally target, engage and connect those who are spiritually curious to local Christ-following churches demonstrating these local churches care about real, relatable life events and topics. “We’ve seen a tremendous increase in strugglingmarriages, anxiety, depression, financial strain and feelings of loneliness and isolation. This campaign is not only meant to demonstrate that local churches like City Rev care about these issues, but that the Gospel of Jesus Christ along with his people – the Church – stand ready to run toward the pain and brokenness our friends and neighbors are experiencing. "We're proud and excited to collaborate with hundreds of other local churches for this strategic and timely campaign," said Robey Barnes, Lead Pastor of City Rev Church in Pembroke Pines. The right message at the right time to the right audience is the core principle to encourage someone to take action. For instance, if someone googles "divorce" in South Florida, you're instantly provided with search returns such as "$99 divorce" "quick and easy divorce," and "15-minute simple divorce." However, we believe the gospel tells a different and better story. Through Churches Care, people in South Florida will begin to see ads like "your marriage is worth fighting for" or "there is hope for your marriage" as the top search results. Those searching these targeted, re- search-based felt needs will then begin to see reinforcing positive ads on their social media feeds that point them toward the local churches and their relevant program- ming designed to speak to these pain points. We used to spendmillions to reach thousands. Nowwe are spending thousands to reach millions – and it's working. Having launched the week after Thanksgiving in South Florida, Churches Care, which is scheduled to run throughout all of 2021 and beyond, is already outperforming Google AdWords by a factor of 5x and Facebook ads by 2.2x in South Florida – and we're just getting started. After just one week, 540,228 South Floridians viewed the social media ads and 10,700 of those people clicked to learn more. Similarly, 1.7 million people saw the alternative Google Ad- Words search and 8,700 of those clicked to learn more. Let those numbers sink in for a moment. God is most definitely on the move. The Churches Care campaign speaks to the core of why we believe so strongly in the Church United movement. The glue of sustained Church unity is and always will be evangelism. The aroma and witness of unity are themselves evangelistic, but the fruit of unity among committed Christ-following churches will always yield a greater connection and collaboration to see the spiritual, cultural and social transformation of the region – to see an increase in faith, hope and love throughout every workplace and neighborhood. And that transformation could just begin with the click of a mouse or the press of a finger. If your church hasn’t yet joined in this historic, evangelistic campaign it’s not too late. If you’re curious to learnmore or are ready to stack hands with other like-minded churches in South Florida in this effort, please visit churchunitedfl.com/connect to register, learn more and jump in. Edwin Copeland serves as the Director of Church United with the National Chris- tian Foundation of South Florida where he works to unify the Church through collab- oration and celebration to see faith, hope, and love spread throughout South Florida. To learn more about Church United, visit churchunited.city - Edwin Copeland - Church United Church United Launches Historic Evangelistic Effort