Killing Cockroaches

Here is part two of my posts from Tuesday morning's Killing Cockroaches Tour seminar. These are the notes I took from session two. I will post some additional thoughts later.


Tony Morgan, Killing Cockroaches
7.14.09

Session Two: 3 questions we must wrestle with to gain focus...

Question 1. Are people hearing the message and experiencing life change?

• Tony gave the example of concert violinist Joshua Bell playing in a metro stop and nobody stopping to hear him play in spite of being one of the best in the world and normally tickets to a symphony with him are exclusive and expensive. In the metro stop he was out of context and didn't connect with situation and bustle of the environment.
• We have a great message (the best message), but we have not been effective at putting it into the context of people's daily lives. People are overly busy day to day and just trying to keep up.
• We need to help people identify what is most important in the Word of God and then help them apply that Word to their daily existence.
• Two questions that matter regarding God's Word:

1. What do people need to know?
2. What do they need to do?

Question 2. Are the next steps clearly defined?

• We need to define what it means to be a fully devoted follower of Christ and be able to communicate that to help people get form where they are now. We must be able to explain who we are trying to get people to become.
• (My thoughts: Variety may be the spice of life, but it can be poison in the church.)
• People don't need more options, they need clearly defined steps.
• Lots of activity does not guarantee results.
• Research has shown that more options actually generate less sales
• Complexity creep - adding new things and never unplugging anything old. Starbucks is experiencing this. They started by offering specific and focused menu of coffee. They keep adding to the menu and have lost much of their edge and even retreating in the market place as they close locations.
• Evaluations:

1. What event or program requires a major platform announcement? If people have to be coerced for the event to happen, it may not be viable or needed.
2. What would you not participate in if you were not on staff?
3. Does this event or program reach outsiders or just satisfy insiders?
4. Where is the fruit? What areas is God blessing the most? These may be the areas we should be focusing on.
5. Who do we want people to be and how do they get there?

Question 3. Are the next steps clearly communicated?

• One message for the church that everyone knows and can articulate the same way.
• Are we over-communicating? In the corporate world, would much of we put out be called SPAM?
• We may just be adding noise to people's lives.
• Viral (word of mouth) is preferable and much more effective than a marketing campaign.
• The vast majority of new guests to a church come because they were personally invited by someone or heard directly of something that is happening.
• We need to make the experience better and work to build relationships.
• Luke 11 - We cannot create impossible religious demands or we are the same as the Pharisees. This would include attendance to all programs, events, etc as well as following a prescribed set of rules or expected actions.
• Jesus is supposed to be the center of a person's life, not the church.