Starbucks Gospel

I'm almost finished reading Leonard Sweet's book "The Gospel According to Starbucks: Living with a Grande Passion." He uses the word EPIC as an acrostic for E-experiential; P-participatory; I-image; and C-connected. I like how Dr. Sweet examines our culture and give ideas on how to effectively communicate Jesus. You can either minister to the world in the way you wish it was or you can minister to it the way it is. I especially am amazed at how our culture is so participatory. Examples: American Idol is huge, partly because you participate by voting for your favorite. My wife Pat loves to vote for who she thinks is the next Taylor Hicks. (By the way, Pat never voted for Taylor) In our culture you can choose what you want your license plate to say. Many businesses today ask customers what kind of products they want rather then spending millions in research and development. It's all about participating. Even in ministry, teaching is not enough, it's actually doing what you teach. In the next few weeks at Breakfast Club, we're going to look at prayer. Not only will there be teaching, but we'll actually be participating by praying in different ways. Karaoke is another example of participating by making your own music. Even blogging and Facebook is participatory. Participation is in the air we breathe! These are the days my friend.
Jim "Train"