This morning I was reading an article over at Church Relevance, in which he gives this quote from Robert Stephens, founder of Geek Squad:
“Marketing is a tax you pay for being unremarkable.”

To understand the quote, you must realize that by marketing he’s talking about promotion: the ads, flyers, radio spots, etc.

This quote gave me a catalyst to begin thinking about something else.  Recently, Starbucks launched their first TV advertisements here in the US.  But consider what Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks and idol of caffeine addicts everywhere, said just a decade ago:
“By its very nature, national advertising fuels fears about ubiquity.”

Starbucks themselves have said that national ads state ubiquity.  In choosing to run these ads, Starbucks has established themselves as the McDonalds of the coffee industry.  They’ve gone back on their ideals, what made them remarkable.  Starbucks was held up as the poster child that word-of-mouth is better than any TV ad or billboard, especially if you get your words into the right mouths.  They can’t claim that title anymore.  Their rapid growth has caused a decline in quality.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d still choose Starbucks over any other coffee place, and it’s still a very awesome, remarkable coffee shop.  But they’ve fallen below what caused them to be remarkable: being better than everyone else at what they do.  So now they have to pay the “marketing tax” to maintain the hold they have.  They’ve gotten too ubiquitous, and feel comfortable where they are, a dangerous place for any business to be.

A ministry that is remarkable will get people talking, no doubt.  A one time remarkable thing won’t cut it though.  You’ve got to provide a consistent pattern of remarkability, or you’ll get a word-of-mouth blitz, then see a sharp decline.  Find out what works.  What works in LA (Los Angeles) may not work in LA (Louisiana).  What works at the church next door may not work for you.  Don’t become ubiquitous.  Allow yourself to push boundaries, go beyond, and find out your potential.  Do something uncomfortable.  Because the way I see it, remarkable is the only way to keep your ministry alive.

Yes, that’s right.  I’ve got a copy of the January/February issue of K! in my hands right now.  This thing is so completely awesome in so many ways, I can’t even begin to express it in words.  You’ll just have to subscribe to the magazine to find out.

The magazine has so many great articles in it from tons of great ministry leaders (including, but not limited to, Roger Fields of Kidz Blitz, Jim Wideman, and of course,  yours truly, ha ha).  We can’t wait to hear from you as to what you think about it.  You should be getting it in the mail very soon.  It’s our Christmas gift to you

Just looking back over the last few months is crazy.  In July, Ryan came to me with another one of his crazy ideas.  He has a lot of those.  However, I felt like this one was especially insane.  We knew nothing about publishing a magazine.  Even important stuff, like writers, editors, designers, printer, postal laws (which are quite an adventure, as I’m told), and lots of other exciting stuff like that.  By September, we had held our first editorial meeting.  Now, we hold the very first issue in our hands and are about to send it to you.  That’s exciting, and nothing short of amazing.

Look ahead to see more about the next issue, as well as more exciting things coming down the pipe from KidzMatter and The Way We See It.   Have a wonderful Christmas and happy new year!

Last night I experienced the most amazing thing I think has ever graced my taste buds.  Better than a nice home-cooked cheeseburger.  Better than any gourmet meal.  It was popcorn.  But not just any popcorn.  This was Cinnamon Creme DrizzleCorn from Dale and Thomas Popcorn.  The second it hits your mouth, you’re engulfed in an ocean of sumptuous cinnamon-white chocolately goodness.  This is popcorn so good, you just have to share some, but desperately don’t want to do so.  And what do you know, Dale and Thomas’s tagline is even “Share Some”.

But let’s back up a bit.  Let’s hop into our handy-dandy time machine, and go back about two months.  Dale and Thomas (hereafter D&T) was giving away free $20 gift cards.  Little bells were going off somewhere in my head that I had heard D&T was good popcorn, so I signed up and got my code in a matter of seconds in my email inbox.  So it sat there until two weeks ago I got a genius idea.  Wouldn’t popcorn make a great Christmas gift?  I proceeded to buy the 12-pack sampler, with all twelve of D&T’s current flavors.  I then divvied them up and made gifts out of them, while keeping four bags for my family.

Now, back to last night.  I was craving a snack, so I pulled out the case (yes, case) of popcorn.  One bag of D&T is 12-inches long, and serves 2-4 people.  We decided on the Cinnamon Creme.  I do not know that I could ever go back to regular movie theatre-style popcorn again.  It almost seems like a sin.

D&T has not spread by multi-million dollar TV ads, magazine ads, full-page ads in the New York Times, or all-out web blitzes.  No, they’ve spread simply by word of mouth.  It just so happens, their popcorn happened to hit some very famous mouths.  They’ve included Oprah (as one of her “Favorite Things”), People Magazine, the Today Show, CNN, and many others.  D&T has a product so spectacular, so awesome, you can’t help but “Share Some”, just like I’m doing right now.

What do you do or what can you do in your ministry that will simply make it so that people can’t help but sharing it with their friends?  What game can you play, element can you add, media component can you slip in to make your ministry so totally remarkable that no one can stop telling others?  Do your kids tell their friends?  Do your parents tell their friends?

As Ryan has mentioned here before, the power of a personal invitation is paramount to any number of mail flyers, door hangers, or take-home sheets.  What is really effective in spreading the message of hope we have to offer is someone saying, “My church has this really awesome thing we do in Kids’ Church.  You should ask if you can come this Sunday.”  Getting kids (and even adults) to a point at which they can’t help but sharing it is simply remarkable.  And that’s the way I see it.

Ryan and I have this wonderful lady that attends our church named Martha. She operates (with her husband) the church bookstore, works with missions organizations, and she also bakes. Oh buddy, does she bake. Her best kind of cookies are simply known within our church as “Martha’s Wonderfuls”. These are seriously the best cookies known to mankind. I think these are the cookies that God serves in Heaven. She is simply an amazing cook, and all around amazing person.

So that was the good story. Now, I’d like to tell you another story. A much, much scarier story. A story that gives small children nightmares, and is not for the weak of heart. The kind of story you tell around the campfire and then go “boo!” and everyone jumps. Here goes:

Once upon a time, Ryan Frank played the guitar. And sang. The end.

So do I have you thoroughly scared yet? Yes, that’s right, Ryan went through a phase when he played the guitar and sang. Live worship was a big fad in children’s churches, and not having anyone else to play for us, he took up the guitar. God has blessed some people greatly with vocal and instrumental talent. Ryan, on the other hand, lacks the, um, musical adeptness of some.  His guitar playing was actually pretty good.  However, as even Ryan will admit, the singing was a little scary.  It wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t any Michael W. Smith either.

So why do I tell you these two totally random and seemingly unconnected stories? If you’ve read my posts before, you know the answer already: to make a point.

Here’s the connection: One person (Martha) is doing what she is really good at to bless others, whether she’s using one of the latest and greatest things or not. The other person (Ryan) was doing what was latest and greatest at the time, despite the fact that he wasn’t very good at it.

Children’s pastor’s tend to suffer from “Fad-itis” a lot. Just think back over the fads from the last few years of children’s ministry that you remember. Many of the ideas you probably thought of are still in use today. Many of them can still be useful today. Some of them are still very popular, and for good reason. They’re great ideas.

I love fads, don’t get me wrong. They can be great tools. Where the problem comes in is when you try to use one of these fads and you’re not very good at it. Like Ryan, you may try to do something really hard and try to do it well, but you are simply not gifted in that way. That’s part of life. If you are not good at something, don’t force yourself to do it! If you can find someone in your church to do it for you, great! Go right ahead and do it. But don’t force yourself to follow one of the “fads” if it will do more harm than good.

So, after all of that, here’s the quick, two second summary:
Don’t force yourself to do something you’re bad at if you can do something you’re good at and be just as effective.

P.S. Ryan, please don’t hate me (puppy dog face). I was just picking on you because I knew your feelings wouldn’t be too hurt, and you know that you don’t sing very well already. So, still friends ?