Posted on Thu, Apr. 13, 2006

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RELIGION

Easter service aims to wake up sinners

Offering $10 gift cards from Starbucks, leaders of a Cooper City Baptist congregation hope a caffeine-driven campaign will bring new members into the fold.

BY ROBERTO SANTIAGO

rsantiago@MiamiHerald.com

CANDACE WEST/MIAMI HERALD STAFF

COUPONS: Pastor Troy Gramling of Flamingo Roadd Church in Copper City displays some of the Starbucks coupons he uses to help attract ne parishioners.

• Miami Herald Radio News | Interview with Pastor Troy Gramling

Praise the Lord and pass the latte.

That's the caffeine-infused, soul-saving offer that Pastor Troy Gramling of the Flamingo Road Church in Cooper City has launched to lure new members -- just in time for Easter.

He is offering a $10 Starbucks gift card to those who visit his Southern Baptist ministry before the start of Saturday or Sunday services.

''And you don't even have to sit through the service to get the card -- although we certainly encourage you to do so,'' said Gramling, lead pastor of the massive church that sits on 17 acres at 12401 Stirling Rd.

The church also holds services at the FIU Graham Center Ballroom in Doral.

The Florida Baptist Convention, which represents 2,800 member churches across the state, said many of its churches have started using unconventional methods to attract young people in the past four years.

Churches host everything from monster truck shows to concerts to hunting trips to car repairs.

The coffee for Christ campaign was the brainchild of executive pastor Raul Palacios, who was intent on finding an updated way to attract the young and unchurched.

They had tried other, more-traditional methods -- community outreach, service projects, billboards, concerts, newspaper ads, even televising its Sunday morning service at 11:30 a.m. on WSVN-Fox 7.

''The idea was easy to come up with: Pastor Troy's a huge Starbucks drinker,'' said Palacios, who said the church has had Christmas choirs sing outside Starbucks in the past three years. The church also offered half-price coffee drinks to patrons. ''Starbucks defines our culture. There is a Starbucks on almost every corner,'' Palacios said. ``On the way to work, after work, everyone is always stopping by Starbucks.''

During one sermon, Gramling said he even used a mocha Frappuccino recipe to illustrate the ingredients behind romantic love.

``We made a mocha with the Starbucks coffee.

'The chocolate [syrup] is the `wow' and the romance. The caffeine is the communication -- what keeps you coming back. And the gentle stirring is how you become one,'' he said.

IT'S NOT CHEAP

The venture cost the church $35,000.

Church leaders purchased $10,000 worth of gift cards and spent $25,000 for mailing 150,000 direct-mail pieces to homes throughout Southwest Broward, West Miami-Dade and households in both areas with Hispanic surnames.

They are expecting 1,000 people to respond.

Last weekend, they gave out six $10 gift cards -- but none of them has yet translated into new members.

''They have not called us back,'' Palacios said.

''It is a risky venture, but Flamingo Road Church is on the cutting edge of trying to make the church appeal to young people,'' said Barbara Denman, director of communications for the Florida Baptist Convention, based in Jacksonville.

INNOVATIONS

''One church in northern Florida sponsors its own monster truck show to get people to learn about Christ,'' she said.

``Another invites wild game hunters go on a church-sponsored hunting trip. They come back and prepare a feast that feeds over 700 people.''

Does it make good business sense to spend thousands to reach a handful?

''To measure the effectiveness of any marketing investment you have to know what you want to achieve,'' said Paulo Rocha e Oliveira, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Miami, who examines how religious institutions use business models. 'And in the case of Christianity, it is Matthew 28:19 -- `Therefore go, and make disciples of all nations.' ''

Palacios anticipates that his Starbucks mailing will generate an impressive response this Easter.

''We get 4,000 every weekend, but we expect 8,000 during Easter weekend,'' he said.

``People may say they come for the Starbucks, but deep down they come because they need God in their lives.''