I have had the privilege of serving as a communications director in two churches in my career. Both churches had never had a director of communications before I came, so I filled newly created positions in each church.

Thus, in each of those congregations, I have had the opportunity to pioneer what those roles looked like for them -- a truly "trial and error" process.

My first position was a unique experience. And I can safely say ... it was a life changing one.

But I can also say ... working ("serving") as a church communications director is a multi-faceted, sometimes misunderstood and often challenging role, of which I'm seeing more and more comm. director positions created as more and more as megachurches continue to grow and flourish throughout the U.S.

With that being said, I want to offer my two cents worth on answering the questions: "What is a communications director?" and "What does one do?" (Both are questions I am asked frequently.)

I offer this post as a working definition and starting point to answering those questions:

A church communications director ...

• Educates -- those trained in theology, Greek, etc., as well as those in the pew, on the effective use of marketing and communications strategies in "church work."
  
• Recruits -- volunteers and others to assist in their work.
  
• Trains -- others for the work he/she just recruited them for.
  
• Produces -- a church's communications materials: worship guides, brochures, Internet sites, etc. This is the aspect that everyone sees and expects to see come out of their office.
  
• Leads -- others and provides leadership in strategy and ideas. (Leadership is one of the areas I am working to improve myself in this year.)
  

A church communications director is usually responsible for ..

• Web site(s)
• Print production
  
• Marketing and advertising
• Photography
• Video production (Yikes! This is not always an area of responsibility.)

Here are some of the computer programs I use frequently (ranked in order of importance and use to me):

• QuarkXPress -- I learned this program in college (maybe version 3 as I recall) and continued to use it and love it, despite the fact that Adobe InDesign is catching up (or even better now). But old habits die hard!
• Adobe Photoshop -- Perhaps the most awesome software on the planet and I've yet to exhaust its potential.
• Microsoft Word (including the Office suite) -- Seriously, will there be a time when this things actually writes for you?
  
• Adobe Acrobat -- What comm. director can do without PDFs? Although I'd seen a couple of free sites out there that produce them for you without the software.
  
• Adobe/Macromedia DreamWeaver -- I'm not a coder, but this makes it easy for me to do Web stuff. It's a powerful program that, again, I have yet to tap into its full abilities.
• Other less-used programs might include: Video-editing software like Avid or Final Cut Pro (depending on if you do video), Audacity for audio editing, Microsoft Excel for budget sheet or neat graphs, and who would forget PowerPoint.
  
• And of course ... an Internet browser, but come on, aint' that common sense! I use Firefox, but test my sites in Internet Explorer, etc.
  

Supervisor: Typically, it's the church business administrator.

A church communications director wears many hats [I compare it to being a Swiss Army Knife, see illustration], including that of a:

• Community Reporter -- As a comm. director, you will inevitably become the hub of information about events and activities in your church. As people realize this, they will come to you to figure out when or where stuff is.
  
• Graphic Designer -- Someone has to design the church directory, or new members' brochure.
  
• Public Relations Practitioner -- You'll write the releases about your big Fourth of July Celebration and give ideas to reporters for stories.
  
• Media Liaison -- You'll help schedule and coordinate media interviews and sometimes even escort camera crews around your building as they interview your people or sit in on your worship services.
• Image Guardian -- This could probably be lumped into another job role, but I prefer to separate it here. As a comm. director, I feel I'm in charge of preserving (and promoting) our church's image in the community. Everything I do sends a message -- both to our people and those outside our fellowship. When producing media for my church, I ask myself constantly, "How will this be viewed by a guest, or someone in our community?"
  
• Marketing/Advertising Coordinator -- Get ready for the yellow book salespeople, they're coming already! You'll have an opportunity to install strategy -- often with abyssmal promotional budgets -- for reaching your community with your church's message.
  
• Copy Editor -- I've learned you better carefully weed out those errors in the bulletin before they're distributed to 1,500 people on Sunday. What you do is seen by everybody. And they quickly find out who you are, what you look like, and make suggestions about everything you do. (Of course, a great many will also stop you in the hall and thank you for the work you're doing.)
  
• Photographer -- Have a digital camera surgically attached to your hand for all the events you'll cover.
  
• Web Site Designer/Webmaster (aka Webminister) -- I invest a ton of time into this technological tool. More and more, people are looking to the Web for information. I find this job function to be one with near limitless potential in reaching people with the Gospel without pouring out a lot of money. It just takes time and sweat. A good servant-hearted volunteer helps too! [See the 20 things I learned from redesigning my church's Web site]
  
• Information Technology (Yikes!) -- Although it might not be in most comm. director's job description, if you know how to turn on a computer and then operate it with relative ease, you'll get asked to troubleshoot everyone's tech issues (especially if you're the "Internet guy" or "gal").
  
• Firefighter -- Put out fires, leap tall buildings, accept complaints with a smile ... oh, and occasionally, walk on water.
  

One quick background story: A friend of mine, who I attend seminary with, and I were driving back from school recently and talking about calling and God's direction. I admitted I was pretty clueless as to the next step in my life would be, work-wise, when he told me that what I'm doing -- this whole church communications thing -- is new territory for a lot of people. And that I have a great opportunity to help define and strengthen this role in the church. Maybe even innovate a little bit.

I was inspired.

I'm certainly not the best at what I do ... but at the end of the day, what truly inspires me about all this -- you know, being a church communications director -- is that God would use my gifts, skills and past experiences among a group of His people ... and that among them I could be used by God to redeem and refine marketing tools and practices with biblical discernment and faithfulness ... for the good of His Gospel, for those He is drawing to Himself, and ultimately His highest glory.

A worthy job indeed.

***

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