What Helps and What Hinders? Mickey Mouse and Crusty Mac and Cheese…
- Posted by: Todd
- Posted on: Tue, January 02, 2007
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Since our youngest child is still in diapers, we were not able to take advantage of their amazing child care. When our representative sat down with us, she was very kind and began striking up small talk. Not that we weren’t interested in her vacations and in how much she loved the weather in Florida. And it wasn’t that we didn’t want to talk about how much she was glad to have her kids past the infant/toddler stage – it’s just that we knew the clock was running on the time before the natives were going to get restless.
Sure enough, after spending 30 minutes on nothing of consequence, we ran a short tour of the property and headed back to the sales office to get the hard sell.
Now, I should pause to say that my wife and I would be very interested in purchasing time at a time share (we don’t have the money for it, but the interest is certainly there). When we got back to the office, we sat the kids down at an adjacent table and faced off for the final few moments. All I actually remember is her gesturing toward a piece of paper and smiling a lot. The rest of my memory involves Play-Doh, juice boxes, discussions about who had what first and repeated assurances that we would go see Mickey in just a few minutes. As I sat frustrated, I could only recall the moments that we spent in perfect peace and harmony hearing about completely unrelated things. Now, I just wanted to collect the $75 and get these kids some sedative Mickey.
As we were walking away, the only thing that I could think about was this “whatever does not help you achieve your goal only keeps you from achieving your goal.”
What is our goal? Why do we do what we do? What things are we doing that are contributing to the goal? What things are only distracting us?
Understand this very important distinction – the question isn’t “what is or isn’t working?” The question is what is helping us get to where we are going and what isn’t helping us get to where we are going? And isn’t it true that those programs that are working but not helping are draining valuable resources (money, effort, volunteer time) that could be better used in helping us achieve that which God has uniquely designed our church to do?
The same question applies to service planning. What is the bottom line? What is the ONE THING that people need to walk away with for this Sunday? Now, does EVERYTHING help people get to that point or are we communicating several different things and hoping that they will walk away with something from the buffet?
Seriously, they might get something from the buffet of options, but just like your local “all you can eat” bar, they might walk away with the crusty macaroni and cheese… is that the impression of their experience at your church that you want them to walk away with? Why not remove the things that don’t help you?
About the Author: Jeremy Brown is the Pastor of Student Ministries at New Hope Community Church in Bryan, OH. Jeremy is passionate about reaching students and connecting them in relationship to Christ through significant relationships with adults. He enjoys long walks on the beach in the moonlight (especially if he’s walking to Best Buy where he can buy more gadgets!). No, there are no beaches or Best Buy stores in Williams County, Ohio.
What parent doesn’t want to take their kid to Disney? That’s what my friend Jerry said when he found out that we were given a week at a time share and were going to head off to the Wonderful world of Mickey. It was Wednesday night on our vacation when we got the call. The voice on the other end of the line said “Would you be interested in meeting with a representative of our team for not more than one hour and hearing a bit more about the property and some of the amenities here?” I waited to hear the more motivating part of the call. “After the presentation, we will give you $75.” That’s what I was waiting for – I love a sales pitch, but I really wanted to get a snack at Magic Kingdom (and $75 should just about cut it). We made our appointment for 8 AM so we could squeeze it in just before we went to the park.
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