Know your audience

Look carefully at these first two photographs. What is similar, and what is different?

[NIKON D5, 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8, ISO 7200, ƒ/7.1, 1/250]

They are in the same church on the same day. The difference is the church has two types of worship services.

8:45 a.m. Contemporary Service 8:45 a.m. Dunwoody United Methodist Church [NIKON Z 6, 24.0-105.0 mm f/4.0, ISO 2000, ƒ/5.6, 1/100]

The very first photo is from the 8:45 a.m. Contemporary Worship Service and the second is from the 11:05 a.m. Traditional Worship Service. They went to great lengths to make transforming of their large sanctuary from a traditional church to a contemporary space. They have fabric that covers all the walls to keep the Rock Style band music from bouncing around too much in the space to allowing the traditional Choir to reverberate during the traditional service.

11:05 a.m. Traditional Service Dunwoody United Methodist Church [NIKON Z 6, 24.0-105.0 mm f/4.0, ISO 1400, ƒ/5.6, 1/100]

The senior pastor speaks at both services.

Senior Pastor Dan Brown, Contemporary Service Dunwoody United Methodist Church [NIKON D5, 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6, ISO 5600, ƒ/5.6, 1/100]

There is little difference between the two other than just his dress code.

Senior Pastor Dan Brown, Traditional Service Dunwoody United Methodist Church [NIKON D5, 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6, ISO 4000, ƒ/5.6, 1/250]

Just six years ago, the church added a contemporary service that met in their gym. It is now the best-attended service and needs more space. This is why they converted their most significant space to accommodate the group.

Andy Stanley, pastor of North Point Community Church

One of the largest churches in America, North Point Community Church, is nearby. Many churches lost members to this church because of the style of worship and sermons.

When Andy Stanley started the church in November of 1995, they intentionally created a new format and wanted to be different than all the churches in the area. Andy said, “Atlanta does not need another church. Atlanta needs a safe environment where the unchurched can come and hear the life-changing truth that Jesus Christ cares for them and dies for their sins.” So began North Point Community Church.

Andy understood the audience better than most at the time for Atlanta in 1995.

WHY CHURCHES ARE DYING AND DECLINING FASTER TODAY

Slow response to change as change accelerates all around us. Many churches are incredibly slow to change. For most of our American history, the pace of cultural and technological change was sufficiently paced for churches to lag only five to ten years. Now churches are lagging 20 and 30 years as the pace of change increases dramatically. To many attendees and members, the church thus seems increasingly irrelevant. To be clear, I am speaking about issues of style, methodology, and awareness, not changing doctrine or biblical truths. A recently interviewed church guest said it clearly: “I stuck with my parents’ church as long as I could. But I had enough when we had a big blow-up over projection screens in the worship center. I wanted to go to a church where matters of minutia were not issues to fight over.”

I believe that the church isn’t the only organization that has to do a better job of understanding its audience. Journalism has suffered dramatically because they have lost touch with its audience.

Like the growing churches, the content should not change; instead, the issues of style, methodology, and awareness need to change.

Today communicators need to do a better of getting to know their audience. While you must master the subject to communicate it, just as importantly, you must pay as much attention to the audience’s understanding.

One of the most significant problems people have with anything they create is that they think people will discover them. Well, the smart ones know you have to advertise and appeal to the needs of that audience to engage them.

I know that some of the most successful organizations are those that have created a fictitious family/customer. This family represents the median of the bell curve of that community.

I have listened to writers and editors arguing over why Sam and Sally [fictitious couple] would be interested in a story.

If you cannot tell me why a story you are working on is necessary for those in your audience to see, then the odds of anyone reading it are not good.

You have to tell people how this information can impact their lives. Surprisingly I have been shocked when people show me their work in journalism, and I ask why they did a story that they cannot tell me why the audience needs to know about it.

If you know your audience and your subject, you will not have to worry about a Plan “B.”

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Meet Storyteller Jay York

Jay York is working on his story for the Storytellers Abroad Workshop in Lima, Peru [NIKON Z 6, 24.0-105.0 mm f/4.0, ISO 32000, ƒ/6.3, 1/200, Focal Length = 24]

I have known Jay York for years. We met at the Southwestern Photojournalism Seminar in Fort Worth, Texas. Jay was using his vacations to photograph for the ABWE.

Storytellers Abroad Workshop in Lima, Peru [NIKON Z 6, 24.0-105.0 mm f/4.0, ISO 100, ƒ/4, 1/800, Focal Length = 35]

Many years ago, photographers volunteered their time to help ABWE missionaries by taking photos of work worldwide that went into a database. During the film years, missionaries would have to go to Harrisburg, PA offices, look through all the 35mm slides, and get copies to use in their slide shows that they showed to churches and supporters on leave.

Jay York and translator Andrea Carhuachîn. Storytellers Abroad Workshop in Lima, Peru [NIKON Z 6, 24.0-105.0 mm f/4.0, ISO 51200, ƒ/4, 1/200, Focal Length = 62]

During our week in Lima, Peru, Jay worked on a story about Elvira Cuevas Bolívar. Here is the package that Jay produced.

Jay worked methodically in ensuring he understood Elvira’s story, which is much bigger than told in this package, and worked with three instructors, Pat Davison, James Dockery, and me.

Jay York’s Story on Elvira Cuevas with Andrea Carhuachîn serving as translator. Storytellers Abroad Workshop in Lima, Peru [NIKON Z 6, 24.0-105.0 mm f/4.0, ISO 2200, ƒ/4, 1/200, Focal Length = 24]

Jay wanted to understand every aspect of the storytelling process.

Elvira Cuevas – Storytellers Abroad Workshop in Lima, Peru [NIKON Z 6, 24.0-105.0 mm f/4.0, ISO 4500, ƒ/4.5, 1/200, Focal Length = 68]

A couple of months before the trip, Jay switched camera systems to the Fuji mirrorless. Jay shot most of this project on the Fuji X-T3.

Jay York with Elvira Cuevas and her son Chris. [NIKON Z 6, 24.0-105.0 mm f/4.0, ISO 100, ƒ/4.5, 1/200, Focal Length = 68]

If you want to learn how to tell a mission story like Jay, check out the opportunity with Storytellers Abroad.

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