Starbucks, Church, Jesus, and Leading Disciple-Making

I’m a coffee drinker. I have been since my Grandfather and I sat down to have a conversation at a family reunion when I was 14. The coffee we drank was terrible, but I didn’t know any better. And it was fun to learn from my Grandpa who loved drinking coffee as well. (He has since switched to decaf, but still swears by McDonald’s coffee as the best coffee in the country!)

When I was old enough to drive, my love for coffee took me to about every coffee shop I came across. I enjoyed spending hours there reading, studying the Bible, observing people, and sampling different kinds of coffees. Eventually, this passion took me to visit area Starbucks.

In seminary, I had a friend who worked for Starbucks to help him through school. I learned that though he was only part-time, he was receiving full benefits–health insurance, retirement and stock in the company. Wow, sign me up! This fascination with Starbucks and how they treated their employees intrigued me. Whenever I visited Starbucks, wherever it was, the experience was usually the same. Energetic staff who appeared to love their jobs and were very involved in the lives of their customers–even the ones I knew they had only just met that visit.

Now that I am leading a church through a difficult culture change, my experience at Starbucks has started to peak my attention. What is it in the culture of their company that drives their success? It’s not about the coffee (I’ve had better coffee elsewhere). It’s about the experience, the interaction with the staff, and the atmosphere they provide.

So recently, I’ve begun a personal study of the Starbucks business concept. Without actually becoming an employee and attending their training sessions, I’ve gathered several resources to begin a thorough study of their leadership concepts. My goal is to translate these leadership trends, compare them to ones I’ve already come across in the church leadership world, and then apply them to helping the average church-attender to become a stronger follower of Jesus.

My blogs over the next few weeks (at least that’s my intent) will serve as reflections during this study. I welcome your comments and interaction as I unpack some of the techniques we can learn from the leaders as Starbucks and apply them to life in our churches. Hopefully we’ll all end up with some valuable insight into leading others in more effective disciple-making and church culture change.

First books for study: The Green Apron Book (my most prized possession right now), and “It’s not about the coffee” by Howard Behar (2009 version).

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