Reading a Brian Tracy article on business and creating customers for life and thought about its application to church and all of life.
He says two key elements of great business are Positioning and Differentiation.
BTW - I think truth is truth and it usually applies to all areas of life. There aren't "church truths", "business truths", "family truths". God's kingdom truths are for all areas of life. As John Maxwell says "There's no such thing as business ethics" Good ethics are good ethics - everywhere. Truth works - everywhere.
BT's two statements -
Positioning refers to the way your customers think and talk about you and your company when you are not there.
Differentiation refers to your ability to separate yourself and your product or service from that of others.
Positioning
Everyone and everything holds a position in people's perception - people feel a certain way about me, you, the church, the president.
I am on a mission to change the way people think about church. To change our "positioning" in people's minds.
Not church that is boring, judgmental, legalistic, behind the times, out of touch, bland, looking back.
I see church as exciting, colorful, life giving, uplifting, positive, helpful, creative, looking forward - great buzz and energy.
Differentiation
I still think as cool as we want to make church. And we do. Our quintessential uniqueness is love. God loves you. We love you. You are worth being loved. We love each other.
Style is definitely a part of uniqueness but we can get so hung up on "style" that we miss the real point.
The reason there are many churches in a city is this idea. Our church appeals to a certain type. So does the church down the road. I want our church to be the best "The Rock Church" we can be. We can't ever appeal to every person's style. We do our best for God and others when we embrace our uniqueness - and let other churches do the same.
Also - you are uniquely you. Celebrate that. Enhance it. Go for it.
11 comments
Hi Pastor-
Recap-T and I did not like Mute Math AT ALL! We thought it was so one dimensional and there was no groove...like a math problem. I think they put on more show than actual music. Lots of drums. Instead of melody, volume. It was nice to chat with you and hear what you were thinking...
And for your reference to style-I have met some people who consider women's roles in church should be relegated to very traditional and rather unambitious roles. Obviously, our church doesn't think this and neither does C3I. Is this simply a style issue? I find that the generation ahead of me do not consider it to be a matter of as great importance as I do. My parents for instance, were raised when this was the precedence, and so they see it as a viable opinion. The thought of it makes me feel very frustrated, as I have never really had to deal with a closed door, or a pastor telling me that I could not be called by God to lead a church. How do you approach this-is it style? Is it a non spiritual issue that certain churches place too great a significance on?
I greatly respect your opinion. I have always felt inspired and asked to move beyond my current state, by your leadership in my life.
And you should only bring up the iPhone to Thomas if you have some time on your hands-he IS fanatical! I tell him he looks at Apple porn...
A.
Posted on March 28, 2007 at 5:05 PM
this is a great idea for our church. we're positioned in a city that appreciates uniqueness, and unconditional love is the greatest differentiator we could possibly have.
and yea, i was a little disappointed by mutemath... their cd was pretty good, and their performance was awesome - i just felt like something got lost in the translation.
great blog!
Posted on March 28, 2007 at 7:55 PM
Hi guys - I actually really enjoyed MuteMath. Amazing musicians, great songs, lots of energy. But, to each his own.
The women in leadership issue is an interesting topic. I took our team to a conference at a great church with a pretty young pastor (35 yrs. old) and leadership team. They would not even allow Suzette, or any other women, into the senior pastors breakout session. It was so foreign to us.
They would probably say it's a scriptural isssue. I think it's a style, learned paradigm.
I know we all can have a tendency to find scriptures to back up what we've already decided to believe.
I remember really wrestling with this and coming to a "whole picture" conclusion that we NEEDED women in leadership to have wholeness.
Men only see as men. Duh. We need a woman's perspective, touch and color. One is not better. Just different.
Apple porn. I'm probably guilty of that one, too.
Posted on March 28, 2007 at 9:35 PM
yes. you are right. and nothing is tackier than one side yelling about their own correctness.
Posted on March 28, 2007 at 10:03 PM
ha ha - apple is the stuff that brought the berlin wall down.
i've been using a macbook pro since october. i'd be glad to give out any tips i've learned.
also - that place next to el chapala (irradience technologies) is a full apple dealer with several different models and accessories there. nice guy too.
your insights are always fresh and full of grace.
Posted on March 28, 2007 at 10:09 PM
i did it! come see!
Posted on March 29, 2007 at 1:44 PM
great comment Sunday that "the love of God is the commodity of the church." i'm going to write a song about it...
Posted on March 29, 2007 at 7:44 PM
andrew is actually andy...mel and i enjoyed hanging out with you and ps sunday and at mute math. thanks for the time.
Posted on March 29, 2007 at 7:46 PM
These blogs are really good PK! I love our style and that it’s unique for this region. I love that we’re authentic-----this is who we are and this is what God has called us to do. I love what you said---“our quintessential uniqueness is love”. So...we've got the goods! It’s not a nice bonus----it’s everything. I wouldn’t be a Christian today if people didn’t “love” me into the kingdom. Those people didn’t know me well enough to love me---it was the love of God (in them) drawing me, to church and to a relationship with Jesus Christ.
I tell volunteers in Kids Rock not to ever underestimate the power of the love of God (in them). They have no idea and may never know the impact they have on a child’s life. That love is like a magnet, it attracts first to us and then to God. hmmmmmmmm… is that channeling??? :)
Seems like it’s true for everyone, everywhere--basically we all want to be loved and accepted, have a sense of belonging, connect to something bigger than ourselves and want our life to matter. The local church and the love of God are the answer. We've got the goods!
Posted on March 30, 2007 at 11:22 AM
sounds like coral needs to start blogging!
Posted on March 30, 2007 at 4:43 PM
Pastor Kirk, I admire and enjoy your dedication to spiritual and practical engagement with God. I think that the care and concern you bring in reaching out to people and for lifting them to higher places is fantastic. Responding to your thoughts on differentiation and positioning, I'd like to shift perspective and re-examine potential goals and directions, for the ideal church, from a different paradigm. Let us borrow a "Pastor Nickism" (at least that's where I remember hearing it), "Create value and the money will come" and rework it to "Create value and the people will come". We arrive at a version of "The Plus Factor". So how do we create the value?
A long time advertising concern has been sizzle versus substance. The debate comes from which is more important. We'll borrow a "Pastor Kirkism", "Both boss!" For example we'll use a new sports car ad. Sizzle - Glamour, style, sensory appeal - A glossy photo featuring a shiny new car, with a studly man and an alluring woman, in brilliant sunlight, highlighting all the curves and chrome. Substance - A list of attributes. statistics - horsepower, handling, leather seats, full instrumentation. The most powerful ad is a carefully crafted blend of everything, like a good Starbucks' concoction, having the sizzle of aromas and the substance all the right flavors.
Let's change illustrations to the quintessential American classic, the cookout. An example of the ultimate cookout would be an all day in the park, 4th of July extravaganza. Sizzle - The smells of cotton candy, the sound of the bat cracking a home run, music drifting all over town, memories of someone special tucked in a slow dance, the mental imagery of stars busting in air. Substance - Done to perfection steaks, hot dogs all the way, the ultimately stacked cheeseburger, the thrill of the hometown team beating the next town, the concert with all the patriotic songs followed by dancing around the bandstand and huge showers of fireworks with family and friends, fellowship and sharing.
Let's move from advertising concept to the reality of what we're looking for in the ideal church. How do we deliver the real deal?
Sizzle - Addressing the heart and emotions. How do we communicate the depth and width of Jesus' loving sacrifice for our salvation and growth? How do we create healthy experiences, feelings, and build healthy emotions? We don't want to be delivering an empty, temporary feelgood, running up and down the aisles babbling nonsense, creating exquisite guilt trips to trigger the emotions, ranting and raving to pull the crowds to the altar.
Substance - How do we communicate truth. encourage growth and holy bonding, build connections grounded in personal relationship with God? For our cookout we don't want to deliver the ultimate steak (the Word of God), dropped on the ground, covered with ants, smothered in crusty, dusty 57 vintage steak sauce or cooked till it's dried leather or almost spoiled before we serve it. We don't want our fireworks to be a book of matches lit all at once and waved high. We don't want our ballpark lighting to be provided by almost exhausted flashlights. Our baseball game should be more than a pickup game with rocks for bases and no backstop fence so we're chasing balls through the poisen ivy. We don't want our patriotic music played by a tone deaf geriatric trumpet player and an unskilled music enthusiast on a kiddy keyboard. We don't want our church having classes with no thought to their content or creating well designed classes with too little time to cover the material or led by teachers with fixations leading to nowhere land. That's not the ultimate cookout! That's not the ideal church!
When we re-examine the goals, for the ideal church in this paradigm, positioning and differentiation are still vitally important as part of the real sizzle. In reality a church that is "boring, judgmental, legalistic, behind the times, out of touch, bland, looking back" has a twisted focus, a skewed direction. A church with "The Plus Factor" must have a rich reality that evaporates boredom with it's passion! Sweeps away judgementalism by thorough insights and deep compassion! Remembers fondly the good essences of the past but knows that moving forward is vital to life! Is totally in touch with others because God has so tremendously touched it! Has such a huge variety of flavors that bland can't exist! Where back is only about where you came from and the vision is where you are going!
Our uniqueness must come from a vibrant connection to a living, loving, personal God and each other. A special connectedness that is crafted by each of us in relation with our loving God and with each other as individuals, knowing one another and caring for each other in a transparently personal way. If our uniqueness doesn't come from that basis it has little enduring power.
How do we accomplish this? I don't know all the details, but God does! Trying to focus on closeness to God and those he brings me in contact with, talking to God and listening with all my being is where I am. I salute your thoughts and efforts.
Posted on March 31, 2007 at 2:40 PM