Be Anal

Yes you read that right. Be Anal! For years people have made fun of my analness. I am the guy that sees a chair not straight and will go fix it in our rented worship space. I am the guy that puts all kinds of time into finding the right music for different elements of a service. And, for a while I thought maybe I need to just let it go, but NO! Be anal.

In the book I am reading right now called "All Marketers Are Liars" by Seth Godin I came across this and boom it hit me... this is why I am this way. This is why I am this way at church but not in other areas of my life. Just ask my wife:

"This is why fonts, web design, photography (I would add all those other things like colors, sounds, design, layout...) are so important. Why it matters how your sales force dresses and speaks. When Pat Holt strings together a list of words not to overuse... she's not being a stickler for formality or grammer. Instead she's reminding us that words matter, that poor word use (or any other thing done poorly) is just a red flag for someone who wants to already ignore you."

Read that again and then put into the frame of the Gospel. Each week we are communicating the most important message in the world to people hopefully that already want to ignore us because they are just starting to kick the tires of faith. My point: Be Anal!

Spend time making sure your physical environment is done well and not half A__ed. If something is not straight, take 3 seconds and fix it! What story are your colors telling? What are your fonts like? What kind of mood is your music setting? What are your greeters wearing??? Be anal, not to be a "stickler" but because all it takes is one red flag, even unintentionally, for someone who already wants to ignore your message to do just that.

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