Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Being last

There are apparently only two places where it counts for something if you are last:

1) the kingdom of God (see the gospels)

2) the supermarket check out line.

Anytime they open a new check out line at the supermarket, the clerk utters "I can help whoever's next". It never fails that when this happens, I find myself waiting in the express line (read: the 10 item or less lane) while the person in front of me, who apparently doesn't either know how to read or count for their cart has like 137 items, is getting a price check on a can of beef broth (seriously, is the $.04 the price check might save you really worth it?). With all of this going on, someone has just gotten behind me in line.

At this point, my total wait time: 10 minutes. "Johnny Come Lately's" wait time: 10 seconds.

So when the clerk says, "I can help whoever's next", what does Johnny Come Lately do? He assumes, of course, that he is next, since he's the last to arrive, and is off on his way while I am still waiting and wondering what the gas discount is for the day . . .

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Google and the Church- Final Thoughts

One last post on the connection between What would Google Do? and the church:

Jarvis coins the following term: free is a business model. He writes that it is impossible to compete against. The most efficient marketplace is a free marketplace. Money gets in the way (76-77). The user doesn't pay anything to use Google, but gets all of the value. Recently, we made a decision to make it easier (read much cheaper) for groups outside of Hillcrest to use our Family Life Center. Doing this certainly demonstrates a love for our community, but it also adds value to the community.

Jarvis also writes that cash flow can blind you to the strategic necessity of change, tough decisions, and innovation (110). At a recent Hillcrest 101, we retold the Hillcrest story including the extremely difficult decisions we made to stop doing certain things including Sunday School, AWANA, Sunday Night Service, and even the block party. All were at one time an incredible and fundamental part of who we were as a church, but all needed to be let go of in order to make the ongoing transition to who we are now as a church. What might we need to let go of this year? next year? the next 5 years in order to continue to be the church that God wants us to be?

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

What we talk about

Real interesting article and discussion over at the Argus about worship and church. There's several comments, which are almost as interesting as the article itself.

In contrast, KELO had two stories tonight about the tough times that people are facing. One is here and the other is here. Sadly, no mention of the church and its role with these problems, but plenty of energy spent discussing how we worship.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Google and the Church- Part 2

Jarvis continues to raise interesting questions in the book What Would Google Do?:
  • How can you act as a platform?
  • What can others build on top of it?
  • How little value can you extract?
  • How big can the network atop your platform grow?
  • How can the platform get better learning from users?
  • How can you create open standards so even competitors will use and contribute to the network and you get a share of the value?
  • How can you add value? (35).

While these questions deal primarily with business and even more specifically, social media, the underlying principles are there for most organizations. I would think that the last two questions have some great potential for any organization including the church. How can a church create value to people’s lives, and even more so, add value at places where there are already natural intersections with their lives? I think things like Financial Peace University which Hillcrest launches this month are potential examples for this. People have a need to right their finances, the church provides a proven product to do that (the key here is not recreate anything that is out there if it works well), and the intersection is created value.

Wednesday Night Service has that same potential, though perhaps not as obvious. People have a need to serve others (or at least participate in the community on some minimal level), the church partners with others to provide opportunities (and also does so in time frames that work), and when people serve (and provided the experience goes well), value is created.

The second to last question is more difficult and perhaps requires the input of other churches, which we all say are not our competitors, but we function as if they are. How can churches create open standards? Can a church do all things for all people? Or is it better to specialize or focus on a couple of things and partner with other churches who do other things better than us? Shouldn’t we have just a big old meeting and agree that there are some things that we are all going to do (worship, teaching and education, caring for one another, and taking care of our local communities being ones that would probably rank up there), but then when it comes to other interests (preschools, sports ministries and programs, marriage ministry, parenting seminars, etc) would we not be wise to at least pursue the thought of sharing resources, talents, so that those places with those bents were the ones providing it? I think of New Hope Family Church who provides an excellent sports ministry for kids. Rather than trying to launch our own sports ministry, are we not better to at least consider supporting theirs? I think of another church who’s thinking of launching the Celebrate Recovery ministry which would be an excellent opportunity as there are currently no locations in South (or North) Dakota. What if we saw these not as threats or weaknesses on a church that doesn’t do that but rather as opportunities to partner, to share strengths, to add more value to our community rather than taking away value by diluting our own services?

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Google and the Church

Jeff Jarvis has a new book out called What Would Google Do? that essentially reveals the rules for how Google not only became the web's premier search engine but also an outstanding business model. The book esentially builds off of other titles such as The Cluetrain Manifesto and Here Comes Everybody which make the argument for how socal media such as blogs, facebook, etc are changing the way we do business. One might have to stretch a bit in order to make connections to churches (even Jarvis argues that Google's core principles really don't apply to 'God'), there are some interesting potential discussions out there for churches.



Jarvis writes that “companies must learn that they are better off when they cede control to their customers. Give us control, we will use it, and you will win” (12). He then goes onto detail his horrific experience with Dell Computers and how through blogging and other social media, Dell made significant changes to their customer service strategy for the better. The interesting thing for me is to consider the implications for church. What does 'giving control' look like or is it such an idea even transferrable to church? Churches such as Hillcrest typically extend control through 'official' routes such as a business meetings where church matters are brought before the membership for discussion and sometimes a vote. The essential problem with such meetings is that no one comes. Well, not no one, but sometimes you barely get a quorum there. In fact, this last year Hillcrest approved moving from four business meetings per year to two, which would seem to contradict Jarvis' 'giving up control' principle.

What does more control mean at this level? I don’t think the answer lies in more structure or more business meetings. But might it lie somewhere else? Might greater control by the people possibly look like . .

  • gathering people's input on where Hillcrest ought to make its next push? Similar to the reveal when we asked people where their heart beat for the community, might we repeat the process periodically to see where people's hearts are?
  • providing social media for people to interact with what they are seeing and experiencing at Hillcrest? A facebook group might be a start (though I am naive when it comes to facebook), but blogs or other online tools to discuss messages, service opportunities, theology, etc.
  • password protected discussion forums (or intranets)? These areas could be places where Hillcrest members and attenders joined join or began conversations regarding programming, missional opportunities, doctrinal issues, etc, providing church leadership with a valuable learning tool (sure beats a real time 'listening' session) as well as an avenue for members to voice their say outside the context of a business meeting or other formal spot.

Just some initial thoughts. More to come.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Odds and ends

Some unconnected thoughts:
  • An interesting conversation over at Tim Stevens' blog about how you define the gospel.
  • My brother-in-law Tyler chimes in on his blog that serving others (or doing good) is part of any good sharing of the gospel, which I couldn't agree with more.
  • Tried the Keg lunch buffet this week. I personally think that the Keg has some of the best chicken in Sioux Falls, but they should stick with what they are good at (chicken), and stay away from unnecessary diversification, in this case, the buffet. The buffet line had a sign that said "start with soup!" only to discover that there was "no soup for me". The line had mashed potatoes, which were ok , but I would have preferred potato wedges, which apparently didn't make the final cut. Next time, I'll order off of the menu.