Name: Casey Fulgenzi
Where do you serve, what is your title and how long have you served there? Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Associate Director of GospelinLife.com (pending title, just got promoted) and Manager of Social Media, 4 years. I also founded Churchlancer.com in Fall 2017 and will be launching ChurchWebGuide.com by the end of May.
How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t go to church? I manage a resource website for a large church with a well-known pastor/author.
What were some of the things that you experienced that shaped the way you approach your work? I worked at Apple for almost 3 years and then was initially hired at Redeemer to handle customer service. At Apple, customer service was always the main focus, so it was an easy transition for my role. After a few different job promotions at Redeemer over the years, having a customer first focus has always stayed with me both in my role running the website and in my work within other aspects of the church. If you look at your church congregants as customers (not in a transactional sense, but a relationship sense) then it makes it easier to always look out for what’s best for the congregant. That can be anything from UX design to announcements to event planning to. A local business is nothing without a customer. Without members, a local church is nothing but a building.
What’s the one thing you wish people knew about your job? My wish (and my goal) is for people to connect GospelinLife.com with Tim Keller in the same way they connect Desiring God with John Piper or Ligonier with R.C. Sproul. Our name and brand are still pretty new, so really I just want to create awareness and let people know that we exist as a great resource site for pastors, lay leaders and even those curious about Christianity.
What is the one tool for your job that you can’t live without and why? This is boring, but probably Trello. I use it for all of my ideas and as somewhat of a bookmarking system.
What is the biggest mistake that you see churches making when it comes to communications and marketing? Focusing on graphics more than video and photography (we’re guilty of this as well). I see a lot of churches use great graphics through every aspect of communications (email, website, social, print, etc). That’s not wrong necessarily, but sometimes the best way to tell a story is by capturing real life emotion on camera.
Who is someone that you look to up in the church communications world?
Rob Laughter at The Summit Church. He’s become a good (digital) friend of mine over the last few years and we’re in similar church setups, but I just love the way he thinks about analytics and data. I tend to shy away from that and go with my gut, which thankfully I’ve had more success with than failures, but I’d love to find a nice balance of the two.
Also, Paul Cox. We’ve only recently become friends over the past few months, but I just love what he can do with code. I know HTML and basic CSS and can patchwork my way around a few different languages, but most of my specialty comes with WordPress and knowing how to get it to do exactly what I want. I’d love to be like Paul and just be able to start something from scratch while having a tight grip on the code and not settling for something that’s not great. He’s also all about building things that are good for the church at a reasonable price. It’s not about padding his pockets, but instead serving the Church in a way that’s sustainable for both parties. I really respect that, both as someone in ministry and as an entrepreneur.
