Okay, it may be true that sometimes, female church planters think a little differently and come up with different metaphors than their male counterparts. Yesterday was just one of those days.
I was sitting in a classy hair salon in Walnut Creek, California, when a woman who seemed quite underprivileged walked by. I relished watching her be pampered, cared for, and ultimately made to look like a princess. I watched as my hairdresser, Lindsay, made me fee feel queen-like, too.
I asked her, “Besides a salon, is there any place else in the world where everybody is treated like royalty?”
She thought for a minute. “Maybe Nordstrom’s? Nordstrom’s knows how to give great customer service.”
She told me that at her salon, they frequently talked about the customer experience. It was more than a great haircut and style, more than getting the color right, and even more than that wonderful head massage when they shampoo your head.
“Is there anywhere else,” I wondered with Lindsay. “I wish everywhere could be like that”, Lindsay mused. I thought about airlines that offer first-class seating. Yes, some people pay more for extra seat width, extra leg room, priority boarding, and extra nice meal service, but what about the rest of the service? It has always annoyed me to watch flight attendants flashing super smiles or listening more intently to their first-class customers.
Shouldn’t every passenger be afforded the same degree of “niceness”, or is that something people should pay for too?
Recently one of our newest church planters shared an experience during one of his Sunday messages. He said that he had been walking down the street with his wife when a homeless man dropped something, as the object rolled in front of him; he kept walking. His wife, however, stooped to pick the item up and hand it to the man. A simple kindness and the planter acknowledged that if Jesus had dropped something, he would have rushed to help. He wants to be different and admitting his need to be a better man was a good first step.
What would it be like to start churches that treated everyone like royalty?
The experience of being served would be better than first-class seating— better than the upscale salon experience. I am not talking about creating a fake environment, nor the experience of creature comfort. What I mean is, what if our new churches were better different places where generous, consistent, honoring service to others was the standard. What if we didn’t brag about it, or pat ourselves on the back. What if we just practiced treating people inside and out of our worship services like royalty so they can better imagine a kingdom?
After I had left the salon, I called a church planter whom I coach and told him about my experience. “I think I see some of that in you and your new church already, those places where men and women can experience feeling like they are part of the Kings family.”
Happily, he liked the idea.
“Let’s Plant a V3 Church in my Neighborhood”
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