PBR Me . . .

As I continue to read Rob Walker's Buying In and look for connections to my work and life in a local church, I am struck by the resurgence of Pabst Blue Ribbon that he outlines in the book. Walker documents that Pabst Blue Ribbon was on its way out as a beer until it picked up a unique and passionate following in Portland by various sub-cultures. He found that this group and others were taking the Pabst brand and defining it the way they wanted. What was interesting is that Pabst was content (probably even thrilled) to allow this to happen (this is contrast with the story Walker tells of Timberland boots, long known to be a comfortable working boot, whose popularity was rising in the urban hip-hop culture leading the owner of Timberland to wonder what he ought to do to protect his brand). Pabst could not have predicted or even solicited this type of arrangement or success. What was most interesting to me were some of the things that Pabst decided not to do in light of their rising fame: they decided not to bring on Kid Rock as a spokesman (though the relationship seemed to have been a perfect fit), decided against mainstream advertising, and decided not to sponsor extreme sports events like the X-games.

I find it telling that while obviously the decisions we make our important, some of the things we decide not to do can be just as important. And while that's a fairly basic leadership axiom, it's a truth that we've experienced over and over again at Hillcrest. In the past few years, we’ve made many decisions not to do some things:

• not having Sunday School


• not allowing advertising or promotional materials within church property for a group campaigning for a state law against abortion


• not endorsing a local ministry that is widely supported by other churches.

Our reasons for these 'non-decisions' are multiple and outside the scope of this post. What we continue to work towards is what we feel the type of church we want to become, and what decisions and 'non-decisions' we believe will take us there.