Doorbusters! Part 2

So yesterday I wrote about the doorbusters that stores use to get you in the door on and around Black Friday.  If you missed it click here.  Basically we talked about how a store will take a loss on an item to get you in the doors and sell you additional products and that those products could also be their service, store layout, cleanliness, etc.

Here is the question…what if other organizations use the same methodology? or do they?

Sports teams use incentives all of the time.  They have special deals on tickets.  Especially in the minor leagues.  The Gwinnett Gladiators of the ECHL always have great deals.  They have a Sunday deal that includes 4 premium tickets, programs, food, etc for like $40.00.  Theater productions do it all of the time too.  I see reduced prices for specific dates in hopes you will come to the show and tell someone about it.  We see so many businesses have doorbuster type deals all year long.  Except for one…

What is that one?  You know what it is…the church.  What would happen if a church had a doorbuster type deal?  I know what you are thinking and I will get to that in a moment.  Anyway so what do you think may happen if a church had doorbusters each week?  Say free Blue Ray players to 50 new visitors one week.  Do you think you would have at least 50 new visitors? Let’s say you have those 50 new visitors and you giveaway 50 Blue Ray players. Do you realize that while you took a monetary loss on the Blue Ray you gained the opportunity to educate 50 new people on The Word.  So let’s say that 10 of those visitors come back and eventually 3 of them accept Christ into their lives.  Was it worth it?

You spent $6000.00 to save 3 lives.  Now again I ask you; was it worth it? I think a life is worth a lot more than $2000.00 don’t you?

Now to what you were thinking; ‘yeah but The Word stands on its own and we shouldn’t have to do a doorbuster’. To that I agree we shouldn’t have to but we do have to.  This is 2010 and people are father away from God than they have ever been and it is time we step up the game.  It is time we get our heads out of our collective_____ and get with the times.  Learn from other industries.  Learn how to get people in the church, teach them about Christ, and save lives.   Isn’t that what we are called to do?

Let me give you an example of what other churches are doing.  I used to attend a church that had free coffee and doughnuts.  I remember the pastor telling a story of how he was just about to baptize someone and he asked the guy “what made you come to our church and what led you to this step?”. Dude told him straight up “my wife begged me to come but honestly I came because of the doughnuts and coffee. I knew that she was happy I was here and I was happy to get a fresh Krispy Kreme each week. But something happened as I sat through the service each week and I started learning and wanting more. I saw how much I need Jesus in my life and I want to accept Jesus into my life.”  The doughnuts got him in the door, God did the rest.

Put incentives out there and see what happens.  Step outside of the box YOU placed yourself in and get into the wide open spaces that GOD has given you.

Doorbusters! Part 1

This post is a long overdue but I thought I would write it anyway.  Plus since I still get almost daily emails from Toys R Us about doorbuster deals it continues to make me think.

We all know that the day after Thanksgiving is known to the retail world as Black Friday.  For years it has been the day stores open early with deeply discounted specials as the Christmas shopping season goes into high gear.  This year I went to Target to pick up a portable dual screen DVD player for only $88.00.  Once I grabbed my item, guess what happened next?  I started shopping the store.  I picked up a sweater, some DVDs, a shirt, and a few toys.  Then I saw the line wrapped throughout the entire store as people with carts flowing over with items got ready to hand over their money.  What amazed me most was how organized this particular Target was at handling the crowd.  They had several systems in place that kept the customers happy.  They were well staffed and had a great spirit about themselves.

So now lets analyze this ‘doorbuster’ DVD player.   I paid $88.00 for an item yet I bought several non-doorbuster items while in the store.  Even bigger is the fact they got me and several thousand others to experience their store, we saw the excellent service Target provides, we saw how they strive to keep customers happy especially in an extremely stressful time, then we told others about our wonderful experience at their store.  I would bet that if Target took losses on the doorbuster items they more than made up for it through other purchases plus future purchases from returning customers.

Being totally honest, we know that many people come in for the doorbusters and never return.  But I would imagine that most come back at some time and some even become loyal customers.  Target and many other store seize the doorbuster opportunity to take a visitor to their store and turn them into a customer for life. They sell them on their true offering which is service or product selection, price, etc. I wonder what would happen if other organizations adopted the doorbuster strategy…

TO BE CONTINUED…

Strip Club and the Church – Part One

This weekend I read about a strip club in Las Vegas that was advertising their club via a truck they drove up and down the strip.  Now this was no ordinary truck.  This truck had clear panels so you could see the dancers inside dancing.  Yep a portable strip club right there driving around complete with girls, poles, lights, music, and ultra high heel shoes.  I would imagine they grabbed a little attention.

My first thought about this marketing ploy was “wow what an amazing, creative idea”.

Next thought was what if the church took this same approach?

I’m not saying have a truck driving around with strippers, while that would grab some attention I don’t think that is the correct route to take.  What I am saying is when will our local churches get BOLD with their advertising?  Not just flyers in the mail, a billboard, or a website.  I mean stepping out, reaching the people, showing them what living in Christ is all about, in a bold way.

Think about this; I would imagine that this strip club has neon on their building as well as shapes of women which could attract those looking for, well, a strip club.  Yet instead of just sitting back waiting for the crowds to show up they went out to the people said ‘hello Vegas, here we are, look at us. Here is what we have to offer’ and it worked.  I understand that their business is booming.

Contrast that to the church where we put a cross on the roof, name it with a name that sounds like a cemetery, then sit back and wait.

I believe our product is much better than what the strip clubs are selling. So let’s act like it!  Get creative! Get crazy! Go wild! Get BOLD! Find a way to get people to church, to hear God’s word, and have a BLAST doing it.

What is your Frap?

You probably thinking well I like white mocha, caramel, or something like that.  While those are tasty frapachino that is not what I am referring to.  Do you know where the frap came from?  Basically the frap came from some baristas chilling on a slow day and started experimenting.  They thought they would take a regular cappuccino throw some ice in it and blend it up.  It was good.  So they tried flavor after flavor and started selling the tasty treat to customers.  They named it frapachino because it ain’t nothing but a frozen cappuccino. Combine the words and frapachino is born.

So I ask you what is your frap?  What are you experimenting with?  Are you trying something new or fresh?  Are you putting a new spin on an old tradition?  If the answer is no then why not?

Not everything we come up with will be the new frapachino but without trying we will never find it.

Everyday is Halloween….for some

Do you wear a mask?

Think about that question for a bit.

Too many people in this world put on masks.  They have a mask for work.  They have a mask (and costume) for church.  They have one for the in laws house and another for their parents house.  They have one for their kid’s school. They even have one when they are on the computer.

So I ask you is everyday Halloween for you?

There is a God!!!

Last week the question was posed “have you had anything happen in your life that made you realize there really is a God?”.  I have to say yes.  Big time!

Last year on August 15 my baby girl, Ashley, was born.  She was two months early and weighed in at 2 lbs 15 oz.  No signs prior to that day said we would have a baby early.  Nothing at all.  No complications. Nothing.  My wife goes in for a routine check up and boom 24 hours later we have a baby.

During this time we freaked a little bit.  I mean we didn’t even have a name finalized, the house wasn’t ready, we had eight more weeks to get that stuff done.  However there were other plans.

Everything went well and today my baby weighs over 18 lbs.  She is taking steps and starting to walk.  Wow what a year!

Recently we were in Disney World and I literally broke down as I thought about how far she has come.  From spending time in the NICU to hanging at Disney in just a little over a year.  I just looked at her pointing to parades, characters, reaching for mommy as Mickey approached, riding rides and smiling the entire time.

Ashley is just one proof in my life that there is a God.  She has been used in so many ways to bring my wife and I closer to God.  God has used her to bring my wife and I closer together.  He has used Ashley to put our lives into perspective and make us better people.  He has used Ashley in ways that are just truly amazing! How God uses someone so small to do such BIG things is simply awesome!

Friends

Proverbs 18:24 Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family. (MSG)

As I read this verse I thought of three types of Friends

1) FRINGE – We all have fringe friends.  These are the friends being referred to in the first part of this verse.  There can be many in this group however they may come and go. Many of these friends are the ones at work or on a team. Quite often you lose these friends when you leave an organization.  Maybe you quit a job, left a church, graduated college, or moved out of state so you lose touch and move on.  Just not a deep relationship. One perfect example of some fringe friends I have had is when I recently left an organization and all of my ‘friends’ immediately dropped my from their Twitter accounts.  Kind of funny huh?  They came…they went…

2) GREAT –You connect well with this group and have become close with this group.  The trust level here is very high.  These friends are on the list you would call when you may need something but they may not quite be at the top of the list.  They are somewhere between the verse above they don’t come and go but they aren’t quite to that family ranking.  However you love them and they love you.  They are GREAT friends.

3) CORE – These are those that fall into the sticks by you like family piece of the verse.  The ones you know you can call at anytime of the night.  These are the ones that will always be there for you.  The ones that you may not talk to for several months but when you do talk it is like no time has passed.  Many times you have known this group for many years but not always.  I can remember when my wife questioned me about why I invited certain friends to family events and my response was because they are family.  When my wedding came up I knew who needed to be there and it wasn’t all blood relatives yet it was my brothers.  Our CORE friends are who we would do anything for and they for us.

Now here is a question for you…where do you put Jesus?

Family Reunions

Recently I attended a family reunion and afterward I was hit in the face with a few observations.

In this reunion you had people from all over coming to see each other for one weekend.  It was real cool to see that many people come together to celebrate their family legacy.  We had a nice dinner and all but it started to hit me.  As I sat at the tabble I looked around I noticed eveyone is sitting with who they came with to the party.

Ok so let’s jump to the next day.  We go to a park and the same thing happens at least at first.  You look around and everyone is talking to the people they either came with or who they talk to on a regular basis.  I said to myself “self, why did we come all this way to only talk to the people we always talk too?”.  It was nice to see more conversation take place over the three day period but should it really take three days?

It hit me afterward.  We can have reunions all we want. We can get together every two or three years talk then go our merry ways.  Or we can choose to take the realtionships we reconnect with at a reunion and start to cultivate them. How much more fun can you have with everyone if are already talking on a regular basis?  No more small talk takes place like “where do you work?” or “what have you been doing?”.  Instead the conversation changes to more meaningful talk about church, college football, scrapbooking, cooking, TV shows, kids, etc.

I know what you are thinking “oh Greg I just don’t have time”  and I understand. But with today’s technology in email, texting, Twitter, and Facebook we can continue these connections.  I recently ran into someone I haven’t seen in about four years but we knew what was going on with each other because of status updates on Facebook.  Immediately our conversation was on current things not just catching up.

This past weekend we got together in Orlando with some of the family that was at the reunion.  Would we have gone if it wasn’t for the reunion?  I don’t know, maybe. But I do know that since the reunion we are communicating more with members of the family.  I know I am making a commitment to stay connected as best as I can and do better than ever before.  Yeah we are all busy but so what.  How long does it really take to update a status, type a text, or send an email?  Yeah not long so stop making excuses and start executing relationships.

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My New Church Home

A few months ago my wife and I decided to change churches.  We felt led to find a church home closer to our house and one that was involved with the community.  I want my children to grow up in a church that was making a difference outside of their walls.

Well living in Jefferson, GA there are several churches but most of them are old school / traditional churches.  So we came across New Community Church online, listened to a service or two, and decided to visit in person.  All I can say is WOW!

Soon after our visit they hosted a ‘Conert in the Park’ where they provided the community with free hot dogs, hamburgers, drinks, etc.  No strings attached.  Just showing love for the community.

Next came the Braselton ‘Movie in the Park’ in which New Community set up a booth and gave away free sno-cones and popcorn. I was honored to get to work the popcorn popper fow a couple of hours.  (Hey if I am going to want a place to serve the community and the opportunity arises to serve then I gotta serve.)

In less than a year the youth group has gone from six students to over one hundred.  Yes you read that right from six to over one hundred!  Just amazing stuff!  I am blessed to be able to serve with the middle school youth on Wednesday nights and I hope to serve on Sundays with the high schoolers soon.

Not long from now community groups start and I can not wait, I even signed up for two of them.  I love the fact I look forward to going to church each week.  I love the fact that I am fired up about Axiom Student Ministry .  I love the fact that my family is having fun at church.  I love the fact I can be a part of something that is serving others.   I love the fact that I feel at home.  I love the fact that New Community is in my community.

In closing each week Joel Osteen says get in a good bible based church, well I can say we have found an AWESOME bible based church right here in Jackson County in the form of New Community Church.

If you live in the Jackson County (Georgia) area come check us out on Sundays at 10:30am or if you just want to hear some great teachings just visit www.newcommunityonline.com and check out the sermons.

Riding Bikes…Getting Focused

Recently my five year old son was invited to a birthday party where bike riding was the focal point of activity.  So we go to the park pull out his bike and he starts riding.  He rides his bike ok but nowhere near the the ability of the birthday boy or even some of the other party participants.  See normally we never ride bikes.  He enjoys riding his motorcycle or playing roller hockey but riding bikes is just not high on his list of activities.  However while we were at the park he pushed himself harder as he watched the other kids riding their bikes.  By the time we left the party he was riding better than he ever had before.

After the party it hit me like a brick in the face;  It is all about where you focus your efforts.  See he has never been into riding his bike, yet he loves his motorcycle.  He loves strapping on his inline skates grabbing a hockey stick and playing roller hockey.  Biking has never been his passion.

This experience brought me to think about how and what we spend our time focused on. In Mattew 6:33 it says But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. This verse is saying if you focus on the Kingdom you will not have to worry about ANYTHING.  You see that?  ANYTHING, you don’t have to worry about ANYTHING.  I can look at my life over the past several years and see how my focal points have changed.  I can see how when my focus became more about Jesus my life improved.  When my focus shifted from sin to Jesus my marriage became stronger. When my focus went from pleasing others to pleasing Jesus my stress levels lowered.  When my focus went from hanging out with friends till whatever times of the night to focusing on Jesus my realtionships became deeper and more meaningful. When my focus shifted from the world to Jesus my life just became better.

When we decide to focus on something we become better at it.  If we focus on hockey we get better, if we focus on bike riding we get better, when we focus on playing video games we get better, and there is nothing wrong with any of those things.  However when we focus on Jesus, our lives and the lives around us get better.  Let’s shift our focus and see how much better we are at EVERYTHING we decide to do.