As a reformed Baptist in the buckle of the Bible belt, I got tired of seeing church branding that fell into one of the two ditches on each side of the church communications road.
Their brand was either outdated and obviously from a bygone era, or constantly changing with the tide of the latest trends. Both approaches failed to think about their brand as a long-term evangelistic and discipleship tool.
Braden and Natalie East are from Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and now have a homestead down the road in Nowata. Braden studied in the Warren M. Angell College of Fine Arts at Oklahoma Baptist University, where he received a Bachelor of Communications Studies, with distinction.
Before founding Restore Graphics, he worked in a lead design role at the Oklahoma Baptist Convention and later joined the creative team at The Voice of the Martyrs.
My mission is to help pastors unify their churches and reach their communities by tending their brand.
In 2023 I had a good friend tell me how his church had an opportunity to rebrand, but had decided not to. Why? They didn't want to spend money on something that would need to keep being updated again and again in the future.
It was then that I realized something: these churches felt like they had to pick between their mismatched and ugly brand from the early 2000's, or a trendy brand that would itself expire in five years.
"There's a third category!" I exclaimed. An intentional, carefully crafted brand can absolutely last for decades. Amazing examples of this are everywhere! When was the last time Nike changed their tagline or logo? Have you seen a rebrand from CocaCola recently?
The problem is that there are too many cheap, quick options out there, and churches are afraid to invest ministry dollars in this key evangelism and discipleship tool: their brand.
That interaction left me wondering... Short of plastering this message on billboards all over the midwest, what could I do to help churches realize the truth?
I'm a designer by trade, and around that same time I was contacted by three churches within the span of a week, who all had the same question: "Can you help us with our branding?" I thanked God that he was bringing such exciting opportunities to my door (even though I was swamped)!
Today I've helped churches all over the U.S. do just that: build a brand identity without an expiration date. The branding toolkits they have now are enabling them to reach their community for Christ, unify their online presence, and reinforce their congregation's God-given identity.
You probably have some questions by now.
(I'll do my best to answer them)