Something was missing today at my local Starbucks. It wasn't the coffee, pastries, ethos water, or latest version of cranium. It was the breakfast sandwiches and wraps. If you didn't know Howard Schultz is back and he's cleaning house. One of his first moves is to get rid of the breakfast sandwiches. He feels that it interferes with the "aroma" of the Starbucks brand. As much as I am a lover of the Starbucks brand breakfast sandwich, I've got to give Schultz credit. He's decided that even though a breakfast sandwich can be great to provide as a product to consumers, it's not what the Starbucks brand is about. He's come back in and is "refocusing" the company. Hallelujah!
Let's bring this story into the church paradigm. How many of us have programs or sacred cows that should have died of years ago? Why are we scared to trim the fat? I think there is a lot to be learned from Starbucks and Schultz. Even though you could provide a product that your customers like, in the end, the product or program is excess that doesn't really speak to who you are. Let's be honest, leave the breakfast sandwich to McDonald's and leave the coffee to Starbucks.
I'd love to hear what you'll think. So feel free to post away!
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6 comments:
Some great insight here ML... your observations always impress me and how you can relate them to the church. Good stuff man.
Thanks man. Appreciate the comment.
That sounds good. The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. As we try and do this we need to be careful. Reactions are usually over reactions. This is one of the reasons why we have so many different denominations today. I am all for being focused. We just need to be careful and do it right.
I totally agree. We do need to keep what is most important at the center of everything we do. Thank you so much for your wonderful comments.
Keeping the most important thing at the center of all we do. YES. It is sad that doing this can be difficult. Christ at the center should be #1. But so many times we put ourselves first and Christ second. We need less “self” and more “Christ” in our lives.
sorry its taken so long for me to respond. I absolutely agree that Christ has to be at the center of it all or it becomes about glorifying ourselves.
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