Sorry for the lack of posts. I have been away and did not get a chance to cue up any posts to show up in that time. But I am back and, as usual, have a head full of ideas that may or may not be of help but sure are of interest to me.

Here is the first few. While away I did not get much reading time, but what time I did have gave me a chance to read through The Starbucks Experience, by Joseph Michelli. It is an interesting book that chronicles the rise of Starbucks. (And points out quite clearly how much money I would have made had I invested in Starbucks stock versus my high flying tech fund.)

There are a couple of ideas that jumped out for those of us who lead.

One, Starbucks spends more money training their employees than they do in advertising. While I am not a person who looks at expenditures of large companies, this strikes me as quite different. I would think that most churches spend more on advertising then they do on training the staff. I know mine does.

How would are ministries be different if we were to spend more money developing leaders versus running ads in the paper? Referring to ministry in a completely unspiritual sense, would improving the abilities of our staff give us more “bang for the buck” than running an ad in the movie theater?

What could this concept mean for yourself? What if you spent more energy improving your preaching versus working on catchy titles?

Two, Starbucks insists that their really is no way to hide poor quality. To them every detail matters. They try not to let anything slide. They are in close contact with their growers in South America, the tiniest detail of production, the feel of jackets on the CD’s they sell….everything. They try not to let anything slide.

What do we let slide? What do we excuse and say, “that is just the way we are.” My brother-in law visited our church while I was away and as an outsider pointed out to me a number of things he found odd and confusing. It was a good reminder that everything matters.

Three, keep asking the “what if” question. The question Starbucks asked was, “what if we took the quality coffee bean tradition and merged it with the charm and romance of the European coffee house?”

What kind of, “what if” questions should you be asking? What if we merged the concern for the poor and disenfranchised with evangelical passion? What if we could figure a way to create the intimacy of the small church with the excellence of a large one? What if we …. fill in the blank.

One more “what if question”, what if Starbucks were to offer free wireless internet access? Hmmmm?