Greetings in Christ, Reader,

And welcome back to the marketing newsletter for people in a field where you almost have to be a little 'off':

Giant defaults and weird winners - that's the current situation in America, and that's our topic for today: Owning your weird to thrive as a church.

Here is everything we're going to cover:

• Me, not being a hypoctrite (asking for reviews)
• Get VBS signups via digital marketing
• Whoa, we're halfway there.
• Make the bots happy by writing for humans (and other bits from around the web.)
• How the Holy Trinity grants us faith, hope, and love
• Thriving as a church by bucking homogenization (Own your weird)

🤝Help, Please

I’m trying to build some reviews over at Trustpilot. Would you leave a review for us? Even if you aren’t a paying customer, you’ve still been served by this business via our content, and telling others about your experience will help. For example, you could post something like: “I've been subscribed to ChurchSEO.io's email newsletter for four months and have implemented several of the SEO recommendations on our church website.”

This should be a reminder to YOU to get Google reviews for your church.

🎥YouTube Video

Check out the last YouTube video I made, on the topic of promoting your Vacation Bible School. I walk you through how to use the 4 Pillars of Church Marketing to effectively promote your VBS.

Check out the video:

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In Pillar 3, paid ads, I recommend using short form video ad creatives on Meta, and to be completely comfortable with them being rough around the edges. That’s the inspiration for today’s theme. (Keep reading!)

🗞️Personal and Business News

20 Years in Ministry

I was ordained in July of 2006, but my two congregations threw a surprise party this weekend to celebrate my 20th anniversary in the ministry. It was a blessed occasion, and a nice moment of ‘renewal’ for me. They bought me a nice cast iron table top hibachi grill. 👍

I'm about halfway through my career in the ministry! Whooooaaaa, we're halfway there. Oh, oh, living on a prayer!

One-Page Websites Performing Well

My one-page websites are continuing to perform well. I saw this result from a previous customer:

If you're in a small community, all you need to rank at the top of Google is one of my one-page websites along with the Stratospheric SEO package. Less than $500 to set up. Less than $100/year to maintain. No tech skills needed.

Launched a New Site

Check out the new site we launched for Rock of Ages Lutheran Church in Colorado Springs, CO. They purchased this under the Starbase Hosted Websites we offer.

🌐 Around the Web

One of the biggest changes in the history of online search began rolling out this week. Google is introducing what it’s called an ‘intelligent search box.’ This is going to transform the way people search, which will change search engine optimization. I’ll be unpacking this more in the coming weeks.

Google also recently published its first documentation on optimizing for AI search. I’ll be breaking this down more fully in future content, but here are a few quick-hit observations:

• AI SEO is still basic SEO.
• For local institutions like churches, your Google Business Profile is critical
• Related to today’s theme: Write for humans first

​Half of the articles on the internet are AI-generated. That’s a sea of sameness, and the only way your content is going to rise above is by deoptimizing it. Write like a human and for humans. Let your rough edges poke through. Be weird.

The Pope recently released an encyclical letter on AI entitled Magnifica Humanitas. I have some major qualms with this document, not least because it fails to recognize the massive improvements in human life over the past 80 years, improvements that have come in large part through the stabilizing influence of advanced weapons technology. However, one aspect resonates with me: the necessity to resist the homogenizing tendencies of AI, both culturally and personally. In other words, in the age of AI, we need to protect and foster uniqueness. Or, to put it more crassly, we need to own our weird. (Keep reading.)

🙏 God Stuff

Many liturgical churches recently celebrated the Feast of the Holy Trinity, when we celebrate the truth that God is one divine substance in three persons, and three persons in one divine substance.

One of my favorite quotes regarding the Trinity comes from Hilary of Poitiers. In his work on the Trinity, he says speaking about the Trinity is quite dangerous. It is a doctrine that ought to be kept in the heart, and putting it to words is only necessary to refute the errorists who would rob people of the comforts of the knowledge of the one true God.

As someone who checks out the “What We Believe” pages on church websites frequently, I think Hilary was absolutely correct! Many churches, even those that belong to church bodies that formally adhere to orthodox Trinitarian dogma, end up describing the Trinity in downright heretical terms.

That’s why I recommend that churches stick with a formal creed like the Nicene Creed for the “What We Believe” section. You won’t do better.

But, what about the heart matter Hilary takes up?

Christianity is unique in its emphasis on the heart, our confidence that God blesses our hearts with faith, hope, and love. As I think about non-Trinitarian faiths, it is clear to me that they do not, and cannot, bless anyone with these charisms.

Faith - Belief in God is not emphasized in Judaism. (This comes as a surprise to non-Jews.) Judaism often approaches God apophatically. It is more comfortable saying what God is not rather than what He is. And, they are emphatic that He is not the Triune God. But, if you define God simply by what He is not, you end up with a God that slips away from any ability to grasp. In contrast, Christianity teaches that the one true God has made Himself known in the Incarnation of the Son.

Hope - In contrast to Judaism, Islam insists in belief in God. But, hope is a different matter. Any good Muslim will tell you that he has no assurance of paradise - it’s all in God’s hands, and nobody knows what his final judgment will be. As Christians, however, we have hope on account of the Trinity. We are confident that the Father will accept us on account of His delight in the Son. We are confident that Christ will be faithful in shepherding the flock His Father has granted Him. We are confident that the Holy Spirit will carry out His mission of salvation, bringing to completion what He has begun in us, a mission received through His procession from the Father and the Son.

Love - God is an eternal relation of love between the Divine Persons. This is what it means that God is love. Because of this, all the works of God are works of love, and He has transformed our hearts into ones that love Him and love the neighbor.

Faith, hope, love - This is what the Triune God accomplishes in our hearts, and this is why it is crucial to defend orthodox doctrine on the Trinity.

😜 Own Your Weird

In my content on promoting VBS, I recommended using short form video as a Meta ad creative, and not sweating it if it’s not perfect. I took that to heart! The mom I had as the talking head in the video had glasses on, and the ring light reflected off her glasses terribly. Guess what? We’re still getting signups for our VBS.

Owning my own personal weird has been a principle threaded throughout this whole side-business. I had to get public about this strange niche knowledge and skill I had acquired. (Took a little courage, by the way.) Almost all the content I’ve produced as part of this business has departed from normalcy, from the cyberpunk/Gothic aesthetic mashup that permeates it, to the memes in much of my content, to the occasional rough edges - it’s weird through and through.

That’s by design.

Giant Defaults and Weird Winners

In many ways, the world has become a much more homogeneous, standardized place in recent years. Let’s call that the McDonaldification of America. (I love McDonald’s, but that’s beside the point.) By that I mean not just fast food, but systematized sameness: predictable, frictionless, franchised, and beige.

McChurches have arisen to match that trend. Their worship styles have mass appeal. Their visual aesthetics often match the ubiquitous “Millennial Greige coffeehouse” vibe that McDonald’s now utilizes. You know what you will get at these places: CCLI Top Ten, a wholesome atmosphere, and a message that is ‘inspiring’ (even if not in-Spiring.)

Those kinds of churches aren’t going away anytime soon, but there’s a good chance that your church should think hard about going a different direction.

Winner-Take-All

First, it’s a winner-take-all approach. As proof of this, I offer a two-word argument: Burger King.

And the numbers here are wild. McDonald’s is still the king of the default. In 2024, McDonald’s did about $53.5 billion in U.S. systemwide sales. Burger King did about $11 billion. Wendy’s did about $12.6 billion. So McDonald’s isn’t just a little ahead of the other burger chains. It is in a totally different category.

But, interestingly, McDonald’s itself is not exactly living in some golden age of surging mass-market growth. In 2024, McDonald’s global comparable sales actually dipped slightly, and U.S. comparable sales increased only 0.2%, with higher average checks partly making up for fewer guests. In other words, McDonald’s still wins because it is the default. It is not necessarily proof that the old mass culture is as healthy as ever.

The more interesting thing is what is happening around it. Burger King gets squeezed. Wendy’s gets squeezed. Subway shrinks. Meanwhile, Chick-fil-A, Chipotle, Culver’s, local smashburger joints, food trucks, “authentic” ethnic restaurants, coffee shops with strong vibes, and all sorts of other niche winners emerge.

That’s the world we live in now: giant defaults and weird winners. What disappears is the broad, mushy middle.

It’s Not 2006 Anymore, Bro [The Decline of American Mass Culture]

Second, it’s an approach that was most dialed in to where American culture was 20 years ago. But, now there are two cultural trends happening that make this approach less optimized than it once was: the disassembly of American mass popular culture and the emergence of AI.

Mass American popular culture isn’t really a thing anymore. That’s one of those huge changes that seems to be the result of the social changes that happened around 2008 - the iPhone and the 2008 financial crisis really were a cultural hinge.

Chris Jackson | SEO Priest @revcjackson Churches trying to 'reach the culture' in 2026 be like: Afrofuturist Church Afropunk Church Aircraft Spotter Church Anarcho-Punk Church Angelcore Church ASMR Church Baddie Church Ball Culture Church Balletcore Church Barbiecore Church Beatnik Church Beekeeper Church Biker Church 4:59 PM • May 5, 2026 1 Retweets 18 Likes Read 7 replies

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And, given the homogenizing nature of AI, there is now increased value in the unique, the rough-edged, the human. Owning your weird differentiates you from the bots. (And, the people who run the bots want your online content to be recognizably by humans and for humans.)

So, there’s still lots of juice to squeeze in the McChurch approach. But, that’s probably a harder squeeze than it once was, and the vast likelihood is that your church won’t be the local winner with that approach. Winner take all.

What This Means for Your Church

Here are some ideas about where the rubber hits the road:

Stop Using CCLI Top Ten

Contemporary worship and praise music is an odd phenomenon. It developed out of a desire to mimic the aesthetics of popular music, but popular music has continued to evolve, while worship and praise is stuck in 2008 era Coldplay / Millennial-Clap-Stomp-Hey popular music. It sounds nothing, absolutely nothing, like anything on the Billboard charts. I recently listened to the top 10 CCLI songs and the top ten songs on the Billboard charts. They sound nothing alike. (Interestingly, the Billboard top 10 has a great deal of rather interesting musical styles! Whereas the CCLI top 10? They all sounded the same.)

I’m not saying you need to be singing Rock of Ages every service. (I’m rather positive, for example, on the new hymn movement stuff - Getty et al. - which I consider a different genre than worship and praise.) I am saying that sticking with worship and praise because it’s culturally relevant is misguided.

Own Your Theological Tradition

Even churches that belong to a denomination will often try to cover that up in their self-presentation, online or otherwise, trying to mimic non-denominational churches. Even if your church isn’t part of a denomination, own your theological flavor.

Whether you are

• Confessional Lutheran
• Non-instrumental Campbellite
• Hair on fire Pentecostal
• Normie Catholic
• Latin Mass Catholic

Completely own it. Don’t be ashamed. Don’t think you’re being clever by luring people in with generic messaging.

Interestingly, getting hyper-specific about your church online increases your ability to be found by people searching for churches. Owning your theological tradition online means that you are going to start ranking for niche searches, which will help you rank for more general searches.

This is one of the strange things about SEO. Specificity does not make you less visible. It makes you more visible. A generic church website says, “We are a welcoming church with relevant messages and great music.” So does everyone else. But a church that clearly owns its theological tradition starts giving Google more actual information to work with. It has more topical depth. More distinctive language. More reasons to show up for the people who are actually looking for what that church is.

The mass-market middle is dying. The default giant wins. The differentiated niche wins. The generic almost-default gets crushed.

So here’s a question worth asking: Where has your church become generic? Where are you hiding the very things that make your church recognizably, meaningfully, and usefully different?

Let the Gospel of Jesus Christ Permeate Your Church Life

When I reviewed the CCLI top ten songs recently, I encountered an all-too-familiar phenomenon: only one of them mentioned Jesus Christ by name. None of them proclaimed the forgiveness of sins in Him.

That’s a central component of the McChurch approach. The name of Jesus Christ and the message of the Gospel are a stone of offense that people stumble over. Jesus is a sign that people oppose.

But, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the one thing needful that the Church offers the world, that no other institution does or even can. It is our “weird,” and the reason for our existence.

Let the Gospel of Jesus Christ permeate your church life - your music, your preaching, your teaching, and even your online presence. That’s the most important “weird” to own.

God's blessings, Pastor Chris Jackson "SEO Priest" ​[email protected]​ Get a Free Review I'll record a free video review of your church's website and SEO situation. Get your review. (No sales calls.) Subscribe Now for Free Not subscribed to this newsletter? Subscribe now. Get All My Free Resources ​This Google Sheet has all my free resources.

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