My then fiancé, now husband, accepted a job as the Youth Minister at First Baptist Church (FBC) Fairview in January 2021. As we became members and he settled into his role, I began thinking of ways that I could help the church, too. It soon became evident based on my background and my skills that volunteering to manage the church's website, branding, and social media pages was a need that I could assist with.
This looked like photographing church services and community events, updating the church website, developing and defining a new logo and brand for the church online and in print, building content calendars and managing content for social media, and fine tuning messaging on behalf of our church throughout the community on a volunteer basis.
There has been a lot of seeing a need and figuring out how to meet that need, including trying my hand at photography and videography, more complex and creative graphic design, photo and video editing, creating branding guidelines from scratch, and 100 other things. It's been such a gift to have full authority to give new things a try within the safety net of our community and friends.
GRAPHICS: These graphics were used for announcements slides in the sanctuary and on social media posts. They are available here.
PHOTO/VIDEO: There was a need for updated pictures on the church website as well as a better digital presence. As an amateur photographer, I am learning on the fly about framing, editing, and how to make people comfortable on the other end of the lens. Photos are available here.
BRANDING: When John and I arrived at FBC, the logo had been around for over 20 years with no updates. When the new senior pastor began and asked for a new logo, I went to work. The logo we decided on is an arrow pointed upwards because as a church, we want to be a guide point in our community, pointing our neighbors to Christ. These assets are available here.
As the volunteer communications coordinator, I then was responsible for developing the rest of the brand: the colors, the fonts, the use of logos. This included explaining the use of logos, voice, and serving as the "gatekeeper" of the brand to our church members and other volunteers who helped get things printed or distributed. One of the easiest ways I discovered to do this was through developing a brand book to share.
