Should a Church be a Brand?

If you see a large golden M on the side of the road,you would assume there is a McDonalds there. We are people who live by brands. Think about it. We have brands on our clothes, on our cars, and sometimes on our houses. We brand ourselves with sports teams, social clubs and academic associations. There is an apple on my phone and an hp on the from of my computer. All of these make us think of the company and what we like or do not like about the company. When I was in high school, if your pants did not have the red LEVI tag on the back or a brown WRANGLER patch on the pocket, you were not in style. So what do we see when we see church signs, logos and mission statements? How about when we see a description of the church as given by the church. I was in a discussion with a fellow preacher that I went to the seminary with in Henderson, TX about this subject on Facebook earlier today. Although these should not matter, the name, location nad description of the church will influence who attends the church. The name Landmark was bandied about as I said that i would not name a church this becuase of the connotation of negativity in current times. There are places this name would work well (most of those places already have one or two named Landmark ________ Church in the area) and there are areas where this would ensure that the church would not be very effective in outreach. Is this depending upon people more than God? Is this a compromise? I am an unashamed Baptist, and the name Baptist is on the sign at the church I pastor. In my opinion names of churches should be about the location, a special landmark near the church, or a name that illustrated what the church is about. That is just my opinion. A church can succeed or fail depending on the reliance of the Holy Spirit to lead the pastor and the people. Many times the church's DNA is in the name, the mission statement or the description of the church by the church. A church should be known by their outreach and their love for Christ, but more often than not they are known by their action. When a Southern Baptist attender moves to a new town, they could feel fairly confident in the First Baptist Church being an SBC church. However, there are FBCs that are not SBCs. BUt, this FBC has become a brand somewhat to stand for a SBC. Landmark in the name usually signifies a church that affiliates with the ABA. These are brands, whether we like them or not, that will effect whether a person attends the church or not.