Great article by Seth Godin…

This is a great article from Seth Godin. It strikes me, in my context, because it speaks of the conversations around “missional” churches. We all have the tendency to think in terms of our experience. Our solutions then to the problems we perceive, UNLESS WE ARE INTENTIONAL, tend to mirror our experiences. We think that our problems can be fixed by doing more of the same…not ever considering that doing the same __________ might not work since the context in which we do them may have changed.

You can access Seth’s article HERE. I would love to hear your thoughts, so drop back by and share them.

Insightful article from Seth Godin

I know that this is a marketing guru and that many people get hives when they think of “marketing” and “church work/ministry” in the same sentence. My purpose is not to stoke the debate. However, I learned many years ago in sales…that you must sell what people desire to buy. Simply telling someone that you have the best stuff, or that they need your stuff, or that they should be loyal to stick with your “stuff” because it was with them in the early days…won’t cut it.

Here is a LINK to the Article. It is short. Let me suggest you read it and then….

Ask yourself some questions:

• Do I feel entitled to have people follow me/buy from me/participate in my ministry?
• Am I doing the hard work of determining what a person needs (either real or felt) and then contextualizing my offering to meet those needs?
• Do I blame people who choose to “buy” something/somewhere else…as if they were the problem…even though I never did the work to explain how my small group ministry, my church, my denomination, or my Jesus was the answer?

I know there are some folks who would say, “Just preach the Bible and it will all work out.” Funny…Jesus did not conduct His ministry that way…and neither did Paul, nor Peter. No missionary ever succeeded with that mentality and none ever will.

If you want to be effective, you must think like a missionary…meaning three things:

• You need to know who your audience is. If you have no “target/focus point,” you’ll not know where and how to aim.
• You need to know what your audience wants/needs/thinks they need…and respect them enough to contextualize your solution to their specific situation.
• You need to present your solution and seek commitment. In sales…when I would train guys to be successful, I found that often times, they never wanted to actually engage the customer and ask them to buy. All the best sales strategy in the world is pointless if you never pick up the phone or never leave your desk. Customers live and work outside your office. Go where they are.

Effective evangelism (or if you will allow me…”missional” ministry) is no different. If you are going to be successful, you MUST engage in the process and do the work!

Love to hear your thoughts so feel free to jump into the conversation.

Listening to Critics: Another Seth Godin Post

Guys, this is a great post. I found it to be deeply thought provoking about the critics I seek to please and those that really matter. Admittedly, I seek to please people (many times) whose opinions don’t really matter greatly in the big picture. Let me offer an example or two:

In the church, there are always people who have opinions and vocalize them about decisions, strategy, or vision. Sometimes though, the loudest of these voices speaking about why the new “outreach strategy” won’t work…are those who are not doing outreach of any sort anyway. The ones who are (doing evangelism) may chime in with criticism, but usually shape their comments around the experience they are presently having and how the new direction may affect their current efforts. (I get “suggestions” all the time from people who are consumers and not producers…who sit in a pew watching things happen and then critique efforts to make things happen.)

When you take it outside the walls of a church…consider your business. Do you try to gain the approval of the employee down the hall or the supervisor who entrusted a task to you? Do you value the input of the influencer or the noisy person? There may come a time when you cannot please both. Which critic will you listen to?

Truthfully…as a general rule…the noisier a person is, the less real influence they have. That is why they are being noisy…because very few people are listening to them and they think that by being louder, their audience will grow.

We would do well, at times, to place our greatest efforts toward those who are actually working to fulfill the mission, rather than those who simply want to sit and opine about their perspective on it.

Love to hear your thoughts. (Yes, I know it is provacative. I am not seeking a fight…just to provoke honest thought.) Read Seth’s post…it is the real point. Then stop back by to share your thoughts. Thanks!