Perhaps the most important aspect of any organization who is interested in media buying is that of adequate research. Churches in America seem to always be about a decade or more behind the technological advances of the culture. While its parishioners are wearing bluetooth headsets, texting clients in Japan, and checking e-mail on the cell-phones, the church, it is satisfied with the idea that moving from overhead transparencies to a digital projector qualifies as spending its advertising dollars. While media buying is an expertise that is honed by years of networking and experience, many churches are sliding into the pit of irrelevancy by their refusal to even discuss it. Churches are in many respects just like any other business trying to “sell” a “product”. The Gospel message should be viewed as its primary product. Once a church recognizes that it has a product to sell, it has cleared the first hurdle in media buying. Many churches use the ancient model of “advertising”: word of mouth. Imagine a company like Google or StyleDrop.com relying solely on that method of advertising. While a grassroots, word of mouth campaign is a wonderful place to start, churches and businesses alike need to reconsider other avenues of advertising, like ambient media through companies like Buy Now Media. Professional media buying services should be considered to handle this daunting task. Welcome to the twenty-first century, churches…let’s allow the professionals to help fill the pews.