Friday, April 27, 2007

OUTBACK STEAK CHURCH!

Exerpts from : writing by Keith Drury


The Outback Steak-Church

After a delicious steak dinner with our best friends the other night, I couldn't help wondering what church would look like if done with the Outback Steak House method. How would you do it?

1. You'd limit your programming.
The Conventional Wisdom in the restaurant business is find a good location, operate as many hours as possible to spread the fixed costs, and keep the food costs as low as possible. The Outback Steak House breaks all three rules. When Chris Sullivan and Robert Basham started the chain they wanted to have some life beyond steakhouse management for their two interests: boating and golf. Figuring their managers should get the same, they determined the Outbacks would only be open in the evenings - one shift a day. They thought offering everything all the time would water down the product. They decided to open less hours and do it better. What they discovered was both their waiters (and their pastor) avoided burnout (industry average manager turnover = 35%; Outback turnover = 5.4%). The point: doing less and doing it better. The Outback Steak-Church would do a few things really well.

2. You'd limit the seating.
Most Americans in love with vision more than Steak, prefer to dream big and build likewise. Hey, if you've got people lined up two hours for a steak dinner what would you do? Tear down your barn and builds a bigger sanctuary, right? Not at the Outback. The typical Outback is 6,000 square feet (with the kitchen taking more than half of that) and seats only 220. Only 220. Why? Because that's the optimum seating to guarantee a quality steak, according to Sullivan and Basham. Great Steak is their goal -- everything else serves the Great Steak goal. Is this an anti-church growth philosophy? Not necessarily. They just plant more Outback steak-houses in new locations. Which is exactly what they've done to the tune of more than 200 steak-house-plants in the last five years. They argue that an optimum facility is better than a gigantic one. An Outback Steak-Church would decide the optimum size then spin off other churches.

3. You'd recruit qualities then train for competence.
A friendly decentralized flat company, the Outback is committed to a friendly informal atmosphere. They worry more about friendliness than previous experience in their hiring. Instead of recruiting experienced cooks and waiters, the Outback hires 75-80 friendly people then trains them to cook and serve. They believe it is easier to add competence to friendliness than the reverse. The application is obvious.

4. You'd treat your workers well.
Outback managers only work from 3 PM to midnight and make about $120,000 a year doing what they love. The Outback's waiters start later yet and earn about $125 a night. Both work only one shift straight through. Morale is high, the managers stay put, (and the Sunday school teachers love it.) An Outback Steak-Church would value its workers, making sure they see their intangible eternal rewards which are far greater than a mere paper $120,000.

5. You'd serve first rate Steak-preaching-teaching.
The Outback serves Steak with a capital S. You don't go there for desserts or vegetables. You go for Steak. Every Outback Steak grew up in a particular area of either Nebraska or Colorado which produces the tastiest Steaks. Sure, the Conventional Wisdom is that people are eating less red meat, and entertainment is what they want from pulpits, but the Outback folk know better. If you serve great Steak, prepared well and seasoned delightfully, people will wait two hours to get a seat. It just might work.
hmmm....ET Rambling...

Thursday, April 26, 2007

AMERICAN IDOL RAISES $30MIL +


I ended up watching the American Idol "GIVES BACK" Yesterday and thought that this is what the Church is suppose to do! This is supposedly our greatest hour to reach out and carry out Gal 6:2 "Carry each other's burdens and in this way fulfill the Law of Christ". This is the only place in scripture that "THE LAW OF CHRIST" is mentioned.
Is the CHURCH missing the mark ?
Is Bono and American Idol doing the work of the church? Are we being isolated instead of being insulated!!!
ET Rambling...

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

NEW CHURCH HOME

Although it has been official for over a month, we are moving to Clinton, NJ to minister at Faith Chapel Wesleyan Church in the Penn-Jersey District.



"THE CORE"
...was started to highlight our families answer to plant a church in obedience to God and start a prayer partner information site. Little did we reallize that God had a plan to jump start the program! Faith Chapel started as a church plant and is now an established church. I will be taking over as the senior pastor and am excited at the opportunity to allow God to work through me and His people.


Connecting with God...connecting with others!




I pray that we could have real faith for real life as we build lives for eternity and make a difference in our church, community and beyond.
The authority of Christ and His Holy Bible,
…the necessity of a re-birth, and
…the urgency of evangelism.


Please continue to pray for our housing, we need to sell our home in Michigan and find a home in NJ.

Our God is big enough!!!