Internal prep · not for the client

Forest Hill Church
Kickoff Call Prep

Brand design is the gate. Until it is settled, most of the rest gets built twice.

Monday, August 3, 2026 Blueprint score: 38 / 100 Blueprint delivered and paid

The one job of this call

Leave with the names of everyone who has to be in the brand decision, and a date for the brand session. Access and connections can start in parallel. Nothing else matters today.

The call

Talk track: six moves, 45 minutes

1
3 min · Open

Set the frame

SayThe strategy work is finished and it is yours. Today has one job: brand goes first, so I need to know who has to be in that decision.
2
4 min · Recap

The blueprint in one breath

Six buckets. Four Ps: plan, produce, promote, protect. Plan yearly, adjust quarterly, report monthly, execute weekly. Do not tour the document.

The lineKnowing what to fix is not the hard part. Knowing what to fix first is.
3
8 min · The gate

Why brand goes first

  • The website is built on the brand. Build it first and you build it twice.
  • Consolidating campus social means one visual system. That system is the brand.
  • Signage, print, and the in-house templates all wait on the same call.
The lineConsistency beats perfection. Lock the colors, fonts, and style once, and everything after gets faster and cheaper.
4
15 min · The real work

Map who decides

Spend the most time here. Get names, not roles. Keep the veto list tiny, and say out loud that Doc's input weighs most.

Ask it this wayIf we bring three brand directions to a room, whose name has to be on that list for the decision to stick? And who can stop it after the fact?
5
7 min · Parallel track

Start access now

None of it waits on the brand. Frame it as plumbing.

SayWhile the brand decision gets scheduled, my team can be getting access and mapping connections. That work is not blocked, and it makes everything after the brand faster.
6
5 min · Close

Book the brand session

SayI will send the access list by Wednesday. I need the names by Friday and a date for the brand session in the next two weeks. Can we put it on the calendar right now?
Fill this in live

Voice, vote, veto

Voice

Input only. Likely campus pastors, creative team, a few elders.

  • _____________
  • _____________
  • _____________

Vote

In the room. Likely Doc, Bryan, Ryan, Natalie.

  • _____________
  • _____________
  • _____________

Veto

Can stop it. Doc almost certainly. Push back if this grows past three.

  • _____________
  • _____________
  • _____________
The point of the call

Three decisions to walk away with

DecisionWhy nowWhat good looks like
Who is in the brand decision?A decision made without the right people gets reopened in six weeks, and everything downstream stops again.A written voice / vote / veto list with real names. Veto list of three or fewer.
Is the refresh a yes?Doc was weighing green and gold against the current black and gold, keeping the crown. Until that is settled, nothing visual ships.A clear yes to explore, or a clear hold. Either works. Drift does not.
When is the brand session?Momentum dies between calls. A date turns a decision into a deadline.On the calendar within two weeks, booked through McKenzie while everyone is still on.
Parallel track

Access to ask for on the call

Domains and hosting

  • Domain registrar. Today it traces to an unnamed support email, which is a real risk.
  • Flywheel for the main site, Apache for the campus microsites.
  • AWS Route 53 for DNS.

Data platforms

  • CCB, roughly 65,000 contacts.
  • MailChimp, roughly 18,000 reachable.
  • Growth Method, roughly 65,000 numbers with unclear consent.

Channels

  • Admin on all Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok accounts.
  • Google Analytics and Search Console.
  • Google Business Profile for every campus.

Brand and creative files

  • Current logos, fonts, any standards document.
  • Photo library.
  • Templates the in-house designers work from today.
Ask these

Questions

Who decides (ask first)

  • Whose name has to be on the list for a brand decision to stick?
  • Who can stop it after the fact?
  • Do the elders or the board have a say, or is this staff?
  • Has a brand decision here ever been reopened after it was made?

The brand itself

  • Where did Doc land on green and gold against black and gold?
  • Is the crown staying?
  • Any date we must be brand-ready by, like Christmas or a series launch?
  • Does South Boulevard need a Spanish-language expression?

Campuses

  • Are the campus pastors bought into one brand across all locations?
  • Who actually controls the domains today?
  • Which campuses are active, which are launching, is Eastland now Casa Viva?

Team and timing

  • Natalie's team capacity over the next 90 days?
  • What is committed for fall: Awaken, Saturate, Christmas?
  • Who can hand over access this week without waiting on anyone?

Name this tension: August 26 is 23 days away

That is their date to sunset campus Instagram accounts, and consolidating means one visual system we have not settled. Raise it, do not solve it. Either move the date, or consolidate on the current brand and re-skin after. Let them pick.

Do not say

  • Do not claim BB grew a list from 1,500 to 10,000 for them. That is an example, not our result here.
  • Do not quote traffic or conversion results. We have not delivered measurable web results yet.
  • Do not lead with the app. The client has never raised it.
  • Campus times and events on the concept site are still sample data.
  • Never "replace your team." Say multiply.

Objections you may hear

  • "Let us digest the blueprint." It loses value sitting still. Fixed scope on the first 90 days so we act while it is fresh.
  • "Website before brand?" One workstream, so the site ships once.
  • "We have creative people." Good, we want them. We are the system, they own voice.
  • "Money is tight." It can be phased.
  • "Can one agency handle multi-campus?" One architecture is the fix, not the risk.
Brand-neutral, can ship now

Quick wins to offer

Open Graph tags

Every shared link renders as a bare URL today. One site-wide fix makes every future share look credible.

Plan a Visit page

Every version tested returns a 404. One page: what to expect, parking, kids check-in, soft form.

Weekly sermon recap

Only 3 blog posts indexed against roughly 440 events. A recap plus transcript is 50-plus search assets a year.

Before you hang up

Close-out checklist

Voice, vote, veto names written down and read back to the room.
Veto list is three or fewer. If bigger, you pushed back.
Brand session on the calendar, booked through McKenzie now.
One person named to hand over access this week.
August 26 raised, and they chose.
You asked "any major objections?" not "what do you think?"