Sean Benesh's Blog, page 15

Brand Building: Who Are You Going After ... and Why? (Part 3)

Social media at times can be disturbing deeply disturbing. Its as if theyre reading your mail and have direct access to your thoughts, desires, and interests. Well, that actually is true to a degree. You know what Im talking about, right? Youre looking for new camera gear and in the process viewed a few different products on Amazon or eBay, read a couple of review articles, and watched several Youtube videos about two of the lenses youre interested in. Then all of a sudden, everywhere...

Brand Building: Who Are You Going After ... and Why? (Part 2)

I get it. We get geeked out about what were starting (or want to start). Our minds race as we think about all of the fun stuff branding, color palette, logos, font selection, website, social media, and more. Oh yeah, and then theres the actual product or service were creating or offering. We think about design, delivery, content, and everything we hope to build and launch. Usually we start with the product in mind.

And thats how we all start. The product. That means were pretty hyped about...

Brand Building: Who Are You Going After ... and Why? (Part 1)

I can honestly say that this morning I am sitting here in front of my computer typing away on my keyboard, drinking coffee, and listening to music with a lot of tension when it comes to this article and I mean a lot. Why? What is so contentious about an article focusing on identifying a target audience, developing a client statement, and then figuring out how to target your audience as you build a brand?

The problem lies not in not building a brand, but in the what for? Or more accurately...

Introducing The Cartographer's Toolkit

Everywhere I go I am always studying and analyzing my surroundings. In particular, whether Im visiting an urban neighborhood or rural community, I am constantly thinking through what type of community it is, noting the variety of housing that is available, discerning its economy, observing the kinds of people out on the sidewalk or in the stores, ascertaining the overall health, and so much more. However, places like these are complicated. Where does one ever start?

Thats why I created a...

Where Are You Going and How Will You Get There?

A couple years ago I was teaching an undergrad course called Introduction to the City. Part of our coursework entailed spending a lot of time in the city exploring. Over the duration of the semester wed take part in walking tours learning about Portlands history, visit self-governed transitional informal human settlements (i.e. homeless camps), walk around a Catholic shrine, explore various Portland neighborhoods, and more. For one of our trips we took a third wave coffee tour. In other...

Rescuing Church Planting From Sunday Mornings

If youve recently started orbiting around Intrepid you may have lingering thoughts, questions, and even concerns. Right? For example are we advocating a certain style, mode, or model of church? With the various topics that we intentionally push back on are we against the system of church planting? Also whats up with the title of this article? Wait, youre against Sunday gatherings for worship, teaching, and celebration? Now let me unpack

On a personal level wed all agree that there are...

We're Getting It All Wrong In Church Planting

To me church planting or church planters fall into one of two categories ... and there's not really that much common ground in between. I would also contend that it is a reflection of our understanding of the gospel and the mission of God. You either have a church planter launching a worship service from scratch. Or you have a church planter engaging in missionary activity that will ultimately see a new community form around people responding to the gospel. See the difference? It's subtle....

What Church Planting SHOULD Look Like

Recently I took a road trip with two of my sons to central Oregon. We now have a routine when traveling and exploring. We drive to where were going, park, get out on foot and explore, take photos, drink coffee, and talk. Our last trip was no different.. The only thing that changes is geography. Well go through stretches where all we do is explore Portland neighborhoods. But this last trip was rural Oregon.

The first town we came to was Dufur. We found a place to park (which wasnt difficult...

Can You REALLY Start a Church and Launch a Startup with ZERO Money?

Shortly after we moved to Portland 9 years ago I began attending Portland State University. Early on I connected with one of the professors who taught in the urban studies program. His name is Charles Heying (a fellow Iowa native). He had written a book called Brew to Bikes: Portland's Artisan Economy. It's an exploration into the unique nature of Portland's artisan or maker economy. Since that day I've used the book repeatedly in classes as well in our Intrepid cohorts. But why?

Heying...

Finding Your Place in the Mission of God

More than money, fame, comfort, accolades, and accomplishment Im convinced that ultimately what we long for is this meaning. A life worth living. Purpose. Im also convinced wed trade anything and everything we have for it. Because without it, lets be honest, life is bland and meaningless. Even worse it can be numbing, pointless, and futile.

It had been a few years since I last read Christopher Wrights The Mission of Gods People. While I had highlighted lots and wrote comments in the...