Behind the Scenes of the Grasslands Gathering Campaign
When we started crafting the communications plan for the Grasslands Gathering, we knew the first step wasn’t flashy — it was about asking the right basic questions. About a month out from the event, we sat down online with the team in Topeka and dug into the essentials: Where exactly is the gathering? What’s the building infrastructure? Will it be hybrid? How many people can we host well in the room and online?
Clarifying those simple, logistical pieces helped shape everything else. We learned that our focus needed to be mostly on driving in-person attendance of participants within a few hours of Topeka, with a secondary focus on people across the grasslands dioceses. Once that was clear, we got to work.
We adapted registration text from the diocese and built social media ads and podcast promotions. Because we have an existing podcast network (hosting shows like Sermons That Work and Prophetic Voices), we recorded simple audio spots — just a straightforward read layered over music — and distributed them through Spotify’s Megaphone platform. The ad included basic information about the gathering and a single, simple call-to-action: Register for participation at this link!
On social media, we stayed true to the visual identity already created by the diocese. We targeted users across the grasslands dioceses like Nebraska, Kansas, Navajoland, and South Dakota. We ran campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, carefully timing posts around Lent and Holy Week so they wouldn’t compete with or distract from the season’s core messages.
While on the ground in Kansas, we gathered short videos and interviews with participants, uploading them via a shared iPhoto album. Our social media lead, who did not need to be on-site, gave us a focused shot list and interview prompts to keep the content lively, genuine, and visually strong. She would then upload and share her finished pieces from hundreds of miles away.
If we’d had a few more weeks of lead time, we likely would have also promoted the event on the front page of our website — though that calendar books far in advance — and sent targeted e-blasts to mailing list subscribers interested in creation care and living in grasslands dioceses.
Still, the energy here, supplemented by those who registered after finding our campaign, has been amazing. Hearing directly from people who care deeply about God’s creation has been extremely motivating. It’s inspiring to see how individuals across the grasslands — from bustling cities to remote wilderness areas — are deploying their God-given gifts to care for the earth and each other.
Learn more about the 2025 Grasslands Gathering here.
