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Spend your time gearing up, not freaking out.  The post-advertising age is scary, yes, but many of the tenets of outreach___connection to communities of adults and children, co-journey and agenda-less friendships and engage others through community service projects with no strings attached___are objectives at the top of any pastor's To-Do-list.

Here's The Reality Check, checklist:

1.  Think about your church's reach.
Do you have an established marketing effort in place so that your church keeps in touch with its attenders through email, a Web site, events, newsletters, conferences, etc.?

2.  What do you know about your church demographics?
  Have you collected recent information on who participates and why?  Where they live?  How far they drive to participate?  Whether they are repeat attenders?  Whether they are young families, empty-nesters, singles, seniors, or teens?  Your demographics dictate the categories on which you should focus your efforts and the ones you shouldn't waste time and energy on.

3.  What is the competitive environment like?
  Look around.  Are other churches of your church's type and in its region getting prospects?

4.  Do you know your prospect base?
To guage the effort in reaching prospects, tighten and tweak your assimilation systems.  Close the back door. Before every church committee conducts business, ask participants to take five minutes and write down three names of individuals, friends, and associates to invite and engage life conversations.

Barry is Founder and President of Ministry Indicators www.ministryindicators.com , a consulting group to churches under 1,000 and ready for renaissance.  He also serves as a consultant for the Missouri Conference of United Methodist Churches.  He can be reached at barryw@ministryindicators.com