I’m a big fan of Seth Godin. If you haven’t you should check out his blog. Godin is passionate about businesses and organizations being remarkable and creating remarkable experiences — also referred to as the “Purple Cow.”
The first time I heard him talk about remarkable experiences, I immediately adopted the philosophy into my strategic ministry planning process. Everything I do for God’s Kingdom through web, external communications/marketing, community events, print, etc., runs through the “remarkable” filter.
I also like a good challenge, so when folks start talking about how “we could never pull that off,” that’s when I know we’re where we need to be to be used by God. It’s awesome to look back after a remarkable success and see God’s hands all over it — that moment when we’re humbled because there is no way that would have worked on our own doing. You know what I mean?
Sometimes your church is only an ask away from creating a remarkable experience. This is definitely a topic for another day.
How To Be Remarkable
Digging up a post from a while back, Godin shares ten ways to be remarkable. Here are five that really speak to me. Think through how they apply to your church or ministry.
- “Understand the urgency of the situation. Half-measures simply won’t do. The only way to grow is to abandon your strategy of doing what you did yesterday, but better. Commit.”
- “Remarkable doesn’t mean remarkable to you. It means remarkable to me. Am I going to make a remark about it? If not, then you’re average, and average is for losers.”
- “If it’s in a manual, if it’s the accepted wisdom, if you can find it in a Dummies book, then guess what? It’s boring, not remarkable. Part of what it takes to do something remarkable is to do something first and best. Roger Bannister was remarkable. The next guy, the guy who broke Bannister’s record wasn’t. He was just faster … but it doesn’t matter.”
- “If you put it on a T-shirt, would people wear it? No use being remarkable at something that people don’t care about. Not ALL people, mind you, just a few. A few people insanely focused on what you do is far far better than thousands of people who might be mildly interested, right?”
- “What’s fashionable soon becomes unfashionable. While you might be remarkable for a time, if you don’t reinvest and reinvent, you won’t be for long. Instead of resting on your laurels, you must commit to being remarkable again quite soon.”
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