My Starbucks was lukewarm

My Starbucks coffee was lukewarm this morning.  It's never happened before, but when I put the cup up to my mouth expecting a piping hot sip of coffee what I got was a lukewarm cup that almost made me want to throw up.  I was so disappointed and so surprised.  You see, Starbucks has a reputation and when I go and pay my $1.87 for a grande coffee of the day just black, I have expectations.  When they aren't met I feel like I have been jipped.

I think people feel that way when they come to church.  Seriously, I am convinced that whether people have ever been to a church before or are professional Christians, when they walk through the doors of a Church, I think they have expectations. And what's more, when those expectations aren't met those same people feel jipped.  In fact, I am going to go as far as saying that one of the main reasons I feel like Churches all across America aren't reaching more people is because they have become more concerned with the experience that people have when they come rather than the expectations they come with.

So what is it that people expect? We talk about relevant worship experiences and great programs which invariably puts the pressure on the staff to "perform".  But I am convinced that there is more to what people expect than we realize.  Let me mention two things that are on my mind that deal with with this issue.

1. I think people expect CONVICTION.  Let me ask you, have you ever been to a concert or a ballgame where the people in the stands acted like they could care less?  I have and it stinks!  I can remember several years ago sharing season tickets to the Panther games when they went 1-15.  Seeing all the empty seats and disinterested fans made me hate even going.  I think there are probably a whole lot of folks that feel that way about going to Church.  Who wants to be a part of something that people aren't excited about themselves?  Who wants to worship and give praise to God when everyone else acts like they could care less?  You know sometimes I think we worry so much about offending people by being over the top in our approach to Almighty God, when the truth is, a whole lot of the people who we worry about offending are surprised and offended that we're not more over the top. Don't get me wrong, I am not talking about some of the crazy antics we've all seen on TV and elsewhere.  I am talking about people who sincerely approach God with the mindset that He is truly deserving of ALL our praise and adoration.  In my humble opinion, anything that we REALLY care about we are convicted about, and my goodness, the God of the universe ought to be at the top of our list of convictions. Frankly, I think people who walk in the doors of Churches, whether they verbalize it or not, want to see a group of people who are serving and praising God with full out conviction.

2. I think people want to be told the TRUTH.  If you have ever been in sales you have probably heard of a sales approach called the "Back Door" approach.  When sales reps take this approach what they try and do is get their customer to lower their guard by talking with them about everything other than what they came for so that their customer will begin to feel comfortable. When the sales reps senses that the customer is comfortable, he/she then goes for the kill.  I was in sales for almost 10 years and I hate this approach.  I hate it because when someone is trying to sell me something, I want to be told the truth up front about what the sales reps intentions are. Subtly getting me to lower my guard seems deceptive.  I think people that walk through the doors of any church expect that same kind of truth telling from its leadership. In other words, I think people would rather the leadership of the church say things like God expects you to give and God expects you to serve and God expects you to commit.  When leadership says these things up front rather than caudling people with a good experience in the hopes that they will reciprocate by doing what God wants them to do later on down the line, I think it makes a statement. Now, I am not saying that Churches shouldn't create excellent, Christ honoring environments.  The experience is important too. But leaders need to be honest with people up front and tell them God expects you to tithe, and God expects you to serve, and God expects you to be full on committed.  People want to be told the truth and Christ followers ought to tell it.  It is truth worth telling.

I have heard people say that they go to Starbucks for the experience.  Maybe they do, but if Starbucks continually serves lukewarm Coffee, it won't be long before those same people will be looking elsewhere. The same is true with the Church.  People talk about the experience, but what they really want are people worshiping and serving God with full out conviction, and leaders willing to tell the truth.