Book Review of Branded by Tim Sinclair

This month, I have the privilege of beginning a reviewing agreement with a new publisher. Several months ago I recieved a postcard in the mail inviting me to review books for Kregel publishing. I decided that I would sign up. So they sent me a complimentary book in exchange for an honest review. That complimentary book was BRANDED by Tim Sinclair.

Tim lives in Illinois and works in Christian radio. He currently is a radio personality on a morning show at a Christian radio station, but has also worked in advertising in the past. In his advertising work, he especially focused on branding, which makes him especially qualified to write a book on the subject.

I have had the opportunity to review BRANDED in the past. I passed it over the first time I heard about it because it was a book that unashamedly talks about marketing Jesus effectively. When I hear the term "marketing Jesus" I get concerned. I think of pastors dressed in plaid suitcoats playing with zoo animals in order to sell Jesus the way a used car salesman sells cars. Or, I ponder if Mr. Sinclair is suggesting that I as a pastor should get a pinky ring and a purple suit, and make my wife get a beehive. Thankfully, Mr. Sinclair does not endorse such unwise practices. As a matter of fact, I think Mr. Sinclair might believe these are, in fact, a poorly thought out marketing strategies if they were implimented.

As I understand BRANDED, Tim Sinclair is longing for Jesus to have a better public relations campaign. Too often Jesus has been "branded" inaccurately and unfairly by people who call themselves his followers. This in turn has led to the church having less of an impact in the world. It has also made it difficult for believers to introduce Jesus to spiritual seekers because "poor branding" has given Jesus an "image problem". As Sinclair says at one point, "The archaic tactics of high-profile believers make our day-to-day job of sharing Jesus increasingly difficult. And frankly, that stinks" (p. 24).

BRANDED has several suggestions to help believers "re-brand" Jesus more effectively. Most notably, Sinclair suggests that Jesus needs a grass-roots marketing campaign. This includes living our faith hands-on in the real world, and a witness that combines knowlege and experience, and an appeal to head and heart.

This book is simply written. I would not be suprised if what we read in BRANDED was first presented in a speech or workshop of some sort. Many of the paragraphs in BRANDED have one sentence. This makes the book an easy read, and a quick read. Sinclair is effective at getting his ideas across. He has a lot of good ideas to think about as well. Those who enjoy deeply thought out, artistically crafted sentences will be disappointed in BRANDED. Nevertheless, Sinclair is a very effective communicator.

I would recommend this book highly to folks that feel like there is something wrong with how the church is presenting itself in the world, and find themselves wondering how they could do to help people see Jesus in a better light.