Carey Nieuwhof

Why I'm Tempted to Take Over Customer Service

So yesterday, my frustration peaked again with companies that act like they really don't want your business.

I have spent a disproportionate amount of time trying to get home internet in the last three weeks.  Without boring you with the details, here are some of my frustrations:

• The modem for my original ISP died December 14th.  It was 10 days out of warranty.  They would not honour the warranty and were going to charge me for a service call and a new modem.  I purused other options.
• One company billed me $376 for a new install on home internet, and then did not call me for 10 days.  I called them several times and finally canceled when they were still unable to do an install or explain what happened.  I got a full refund, but no internet.
• Another company said they had two potential solutions.  One was not in stock anywhere in Central Ontario and no store knew why.  The company wasn't shipping new units, leaving the local dealers at a loss to figure out what happened.
• I bought portable internet in another form from that company.  It wouldn't install on my computer (and the signal strength wasn't that great.)  They gave me a full refund.  But then their parent company billed me for the first month anyway.  They refunded it.  Spent over five hours in line or on hold in the process though.
• I went back to my original company for new technology they offer.  It's been nine days.  They promised an install in 3-5 days.  No one has called.  I have called them twice.  They sent the order to the wrong store.  No apologies.
• Total time invested in getting home internet - probably 10-12 hours in the last three weeks.  Yikes.
• I still have no home internet.  Maybe today.  Maybe tomorrow.

I'd really love to take over the customer service industry.  I'd love to bring back a customer centered angle.  At Starbucks recently they forgot to put vanilla in my drink.  I brought it back (only because I'm not man enough to drink it black).  They offered to make me a new one (not necessary, I said, so they just put vanilla in my drink) and then they gave me a coupon for a free drink next time.  Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about... They exceeded my expectations.

Sometimes I think that many people would rather defend the institution than serve the customer.  And here's what worries me...do we do that in the church?  I worry that the answer is yes. 

When we meet people, are we more interested in how we can serve them or how they can serve us?  When any organization becomes more interested in how people can serve us, we lose our soul. You don't need to know much about Jesus to know that somehow the Gospel takes the side of serving others, not self.

What good practices/bad practices do you see in the church (any church)?  And what can we do to get a service mentality back?

You Choose

Man, I thought for sure I was going to escape illness this Christmas.

I usually get sick because I work too hard, don't take enough time off or stay up too late.  I thought I had passed through the holiday fire unscathed.  While I watched person after person get picked off with illness this fall, I stayed healthy.  Until now.  

This morning when I woke up, my voice was several thousand feet below its usual elevation, and when I finished the final service, I was ready to go to bed (sorry if I talked to you today and looked like I was paying zero attention.  I kind of wasn't. My brain resembled fried bananas.) 

I keep thinking I can beat the system.  Nope.  Natural law - don't get enough sleep and go too hard - pay for it.  I've been pretty good at staying in balance, but the last two months I've pushed the limits. 

So today I'm thinking of 2 Chronicles 36.20-21.  God had earlier told his people to rest...even to give the land rest.  They ignored him.  So he shut down their nation for 70 years.  One way or another, rest happened. 

God kind of gives us a choice.  You choose to do limit yourself voluntarily on the front end, or the limits will come involuntarily on the back end.

Lesson learned. Again.

Think I'll go to be early tonight.

Encouraged or Discouraged?

Today, I want to encourage you.  And I mean that in the literal sense. To encourage means to give courage.  This isn't encouragement designed to make you feel good about yourself, it's affirmation designed to give you more boldness, to take more risks, to give you courage to do what you couldn't do otherwise.

The opposite of encouragement is discouragement.  Which, naturally, means feedback that results in you losing courage, losing the willingness to tackle issues.  

That's why this week has been so refreshing for me and others at Connexus. We took some big steps in faith last year, and while we've had some real highs, we've had moments where it was downright discouraging and scary to live this kind of mission.

This past week, in some small but important way, we've gotten a glimpse into how God is using a tribe of people who call Connexus home to shape live change over the last year. I was so excited for our team - our volunteers, congregation, staff and elders.  Their courage is making a difference!

I want to share those findings in the hopes that they will encourage you to think about how God is using you. The whole exercise will take 2-4 minutes.  If you're ready, jump here to read this week's posts on the Connexus blog. You'll read posts about how God is impacting lives, how the ministry at Connexus impacted people, some phrases that summarize the life change and more. 

As I read some of the comments, I was amazed at how many stories God is writing that none of us have heard yet.  And yet the are incredibly meaningful to God and to the person/people involved.

We all run into this coming weekend feeling some emotion.  If you are encouraged, don't let the encouragement simply make you feel good, let it give you more courage to step out into new places with Christ.  If you are discouraged, ask God for more courage.  He's probably using you more than you think.

Encouraged, or discouraged?  Regardless of how you feel, I promise you God wants to encourage you to take more risks, to trust Him more.  Because He - guaranteed - is willing to use any life surrendered to Him.

Why I Can't Stand Consumer Christianity

I like to make this blog about positive things, but once in a while I'll divert.  I think today is one of those days.  Revolutionary Love is stirring something in me.  I am so amazed to see hundreds of people give away so self-lessly.  Love that!

There is a growing distaste...dislike...revulsion (yeah) inside me toward consumer Christianity. I think it's there because God is still beating the remains of consumer Christianity out of me.  It's easy to build a church on being cool or by promising what you can do for your members.  It's hard to build a church based on what you can give away and how you can sacrifice.  But it's so much more rewarding.

I'm convinced that the Christian sub-culture many followers of Jesus are caught up in is a form of Christianity but not the real deal. Why? Much of what passes as North American Christianity is basically self-directed.  Our unstated-but-very-apparent goal after conversion is to feed ourselves, protect our families, live in a bubble and get to heaven (and maybe self-righteouslly tell others why they are not going to heaven).

One of the most basic (and hardest to live out) tenets of being a Christ follower is to die to self.  That's what baptism symbolizes.  That's at the heart of Jesus' teaching.  Die to yourself.  Live for others.  Consumer culture teaches the opposite: live to myself and live for myself. Somehow a lot of us still drink that Kool-aid. 

I'm increasingly convinced that church shopping kills disciples.  Pick a church.  Join that mission. Stick with it. Forget what it can do for your family.  Give yourself away. In that, you will find life.

Stop asking what your church can do for you and start asking what you can do for your neighbours and friends and people far from Christ.

Although I really like Connexus, where I serve, I hope Connexus becomes a church where I don't like the music and don't even fully "get" the ministry, but I've thrown myself into it because it's connecting the next generation with Christ.  I would rather sweep floors in a church I don't like that's being effective, than spend a thousand days in some place where only the already-convinced feel gratitfied.

So I'm ranting today.  Reaction?  Any one else cheesed?

Ted Rogers and Tenacity

Ted Rogers died this morning.  Don't know whether you know who Ted Rogers is, but he was a major Canadian business and media mogul - dominating wireless communications, cable, sports (owned the Blue Jays), broadcasting, and so much more in Canada. 

His legacy is a mixed one for sure, but I am intrigued by guys like Ted Rogers.  Why? 

Tenacity. Determination. Resolve. Purposefulness. Endurance. Stamina. Doggedness.

As this short bio points out, Rogers was never one to call it quits.  He was making risky business moves when he was well into his 50s, 60s and even 70s. Many people kept saying he was going to fail, and he came close many times.  But that never stopped him.  He just kept going, defying the critics, and - many would say - proved them wrong.

When you look at how much skill, determination and raw energy he poured into business, it makes me wonder where that kind of drive is in the Kingdom of God.

I know we're a people of grace.  A people who believe in God's power...but where are the tenacious, grace-reliant, odds defying spiritual entrepreneurs of this day?  Why aren't there more? 

When I read passages like this from Paul, Jesus or this from Daniel, I realize that the the scripture is filled with that raw combination of God's grace and people's radical devotion to building a different reality.

What can we learn from guys like Paul, Daniel and even a guy like Ted Rogers?  What are we missing?

2009: A Missional Marketing Decision

Last week, we talked about why we stopped a lot of outside marketing at Connexus in 2008 and asked some questions about when marketing might be helpful.

Yesterday we had one of our final 2009 budget meetings.  We had $5000 budgeted to market a parenting series we're doing in February of 2009. The problem is, you can't reach many homes with $5000 when your ministry area has 200,000 unchurched people in it.

So here's what we decided: we'll try to do more for less. We cut the marketing budget by several thousand dollars and decided to focus all of our marketing on putting invitations for friends into the hands of people who already attend Connexus. What we mean is things like cards and invitations our attenders can share with friends and family, or even gift cards for meals out for people who come for the first time. That's less money, but we hope it's more impact.

Here's our thinking:

• $1000 designed to produce resources regular attenders can use to share with their friends might produce greater results than $10,000 or $20,000 randomly distributed in neighbourhoods.
• It will help us stick to our belief that growth happens best when people invest in relationship with friends who don't go to church and invite them to come with them.
• Viral growth is always the best kind of growth. Buzz generated by people who love something is always compelling.  That's how the early church grew.
• People who come in on the invitiation of a friend have a friend to guide them through their spiritual journey.

So in 2009, no external advertising.  Just a few well made resources in the hands of attenders who can share it with friends.

Would love your thoughts, reactions and ideas.

Tension and Revolutionary Love

Most of us don't sign up for tension in our lives.  But tension is the way we grow.

Muscles grow only when they have tension.  Elastic bands don't do anything unless they are tense.  Same deal with the belts in your car (or around your waist).  Suspense grows in a movie plot or book plot when there is tension. 

Frankly, you're probably only interested in a story line when there is tension. 

That's why I love the new series we start this weekend at Connexus: Revolutionary Love.  We are going to attempt to be more generous to the poor than we have ever been.  In four weeks we are:

• Going to cram an ambulance full of non perishable food and toys
• Try to purchase 1500 mosquito nets to save 1500 African children's lives from Malaria
• Build a health clinic in Guatelmala and bring jeans, socks and underwear to the kids there
• Raise money to pour into the local mission of Connexus for a strong 2009

The issue?  We planned this series in the summer, before the economic downturn started and the economy headed south.

The tension?  We decided not to downgrade our goals by even $1, believing the community needs love more than ever before.

So we head into this weekend attempting to be the most generous we have been this year while the economy sputters.

What I love about that recipe is I believe it is going to stretch me and stretch our congregation more than we've been stretched in a while. 

Think back to the stories you know in scripture:  was there ever a story without tension?  Ever a time where God grew a person or leader without stretching them.

These is an exciting, dramatic and uncertain time.  I think it could be a great opportunity.  What do you think?

What Marketing Might Help With

So yesterday I blogged on the downside of marketing in response to Tony Morgan's post about why churches should stop marketing.

Really grateful for the questions/comments Nick and Dan offered in regard to yesterday's post, so here's a little more.

• To me, starting a church is as much as question of narrow-casting your vision as broadcasting it.  While all church leaders want numbers, I think it's better to have 15 core leaders who share the same heart and strategy than 100 people who have competing strategies sitting around the table.  If I was to market, it would mostly be only to get the right people around the table. I think that can be done relationally in start up or through carefully targeted marketing. (North Point started with no marketing, but some partners use them.)

• Once you have your core, and the DNA of your church has gelled, marketing can be a friend when it empowers your team to more effectively invite their friends.  Rave cards can help alot and we are constantly putting materials into the hand of our regular attenders to help them share the message (for example, starting with our next series, anyone who asks gets a free CD of each message). 

• I think the best application of marketing, if a church is going to do it, is to connect with unchurched families over parenting. The average unchurched parent doesn't lie awake at night wondering what some senior pastor is going to talk about next...but they do lie awake some nights wondering whether their kids are going to be all right. Most parents just don't know the church can help them.  If a church has a great family ministry strategy, some marketing can help make the connection.  Since helping families win at home is the heart of our mission, and the only money we really have set aside in 2009 is to market a series and strategy aimed at parents we have planned for February and March 2009.  But we are going to deeply encourage our regular attenders to get their friends to that series, so it's a way of supplementing our strategy.

Overall, I think the withdrawal from spending tens of thousands of dollars on marketing has been healthy.  It has

• Refocused me on ensuring that personal connections between people and Christ and people and people are being made.

• Given us a more accurate read on what's really happening at Connexus.  No 'fake' growth.  Any growth is from buzz that people give to people.

• It has better focused who comes to our church.  There has been a little less church shopping and more personal connection.  For me, that's a win.

Other thoughts?

Vision Disconnect, or Strategic Difference?

I have loved the opportunity to connect with leaders on the Orange Tour this year. We get to talk about family ministry and leadership, two subjects I love.

But as I sat down with lead pastors in over half a dozen cities, a few things became clearer for me.  We often talk about being aligned on vision as leaders. I know I talked about it for years with leaders.  But this fall it became clear to me that maybe it's a bit of a false discussion.

Here's why: just about every follower of Jesus I know is reasonably aligned on vision.  We love God and think Jesus is who He says He is.  Think about every church vision statement you've seen.  How many have truly been off base?  Some are written better than others, but have you ever really disagreed with one?  They're pretty much all restatements of the great commission.  Mainline...evangelical...non-denominational.  We all pretty much say the same thing.

Here's where we differ: not on vision, but on strategy.  One church prefers a hundred programmes.  One church prefers all things to be directed to groups. One church prefers cutting edge music, the other like blended worship.  One church defines a particular strategy for family ministry, another simply let's various strategies arise.

When you can begin to separate out vision from strategy, it does several things:

• It stops the discussion from being personal or "moral".  We agree on the mission and vision, we just have different approaches to accomplishing it.
• Narrowing the issue down to strategy allows a team to become more aligned.  It's far easier to unify a team around a common strategy than even a common vision, because a strategy is specific.
• It allows us to celebrate differences.  Do I love our strategy?  Completely!  So does our staff and leadership team.  I think it's great (not perfect, but still great).  But I don't have to disrespect another church's strategy to celebrate ours.  After all, we share the same vision - we're just taking different routes to fulfilling it.

There's more to say on this, but I wanted to throw this out there to see if it resonates at all with you. Is this a helpful way of thinking about this?  What benefit to leaders and staff might come out of thinking through things this way?

If Your Friends Could Preach....

So as a companion to last week's post about what you would choose to be the next message series, here's a fresh angle.

In your conversations with your friends who don't attend church, what subjects keep coming up?  What might be a subject that help move them from disinterested to curious to even maybe trying a weekend service?

Anything's game.  Have some conversations and report back.  Or offer some thoughts from recent conversations.  As we plan the 09 preaching schedule, I'm all ears.

What are your friends thinking about?