The Heartbeat of Pluster

Confession time: I have a real fascination with everything Disney...from Walt to the parks to movies to merchandise. I'm not a fanatic (yet), but there's a little bit of a romance going on. 

My real passion is understanding the model in which Disney runs their parks. This stems directly from Walt himself, who knew that the magic was in the method.This method was known as "plussing" the experience.

Employees are called "cast members" because any and every interaction with customers are "on stage." I think the real strength in the parks is the experience that is created by the cast members. Walt also encouraged his imagineers to look for new and exciting ways attractions could be plussed, as a living and breathing organism.

So...what if our organization or even our church consistently created a "plus" experience for our guests? How could this change the dynamic for the people we're trying to reach as they walk through our doors? This can be applied, and through vision and teaching, we can duplicate this plussing effect!

I have some practical ways I believe this can be implemented, and will be sharing a lot more in the coming weeks and months.  The first connection we'll make is the responsibility our staff and volunteers must understand: that it's always personal.

...I wanted to get you to start thinking about the "+".  It's what my startup "Pluster" is all about: Plus The Experience / Connect the Story.  

More to come real soon...thanks for tuning in!

-ABB

Social Media & Small Groups

Church happens in community…and community happens Monday-Saturday, not just Sunday morning.

As your church grows, the more and more this becomes true.

Social Media gives us the opportunity to BE the church during the week.  We’ve placed a tremendous amount of effort and resources on small groups, and that’s because they make a large church feel small.  Andy Stanley likes to say, “Church happens in circles, not in rows.”

Small groups typically only meet once per week, as well.  So…if our small group is the church, we should be finding ways of connecting additionally throughout the week as well.  After all, aren’t we supposed to be “doing life together?”

So I’m encouraging small group leaders, and volunteer team leaders..embrace social media!  I’ve seen great examples of adult groups using private Facebook groups.  I’ve seen student groups excel with GroupMe and Snapchat.  Whatever medium you’re using, embrace it to connect your group throughout the week.  I promise it makes a huge difference.

We have the technology to help harness community.  Nothing is a replacement for gathering together on a regular basis.  But to bridge the gap every week, I want to encourage you to use the tools that are available to make people feel as though they belong…after all, isn’t that what we’re all looking for?

God bless!

-ABB

#Wordsnotusedoftenenough

There was a hashtag on Twitter trending worldwide the other day, called #wordsnotusedoftenenough …which I really enjoyed scrolling through.  It’s funny, because as I was seeing an overwhelming response to several particular phrases, I was reminded of 2 phrases we were taught growing up…and 1 that we probably weren’t taught enough.

The “magic” words we were taught: 

1.       “Please”

2.       “Thank You”

And the "magic words we may never have seen demonstrated:

1.    "I was wrong"

Quick question for today: what would your world look like if we were just a little more thankful / appreciative / pleasant / humble / self-aware?  The “thank you” that you were expecting may not evoke much emotion…but the “thank you” you were expecting that was never received most likely will.  And the unexpected “thank you” always evokes a response in us.  How about the unexpected “I’m sorry?”  I think it’s just an overflow of the love that grows inside us for one another. 

Maybe we throw out our intentions, and send that thank you note/text we thought about last week…or maybe it’s time for us to admit we were wrong…

You know this is important, just like I do.  But if you’re like me, there’s always a gap between our knowledge and our actions.  Maybe we just take a couple of those this week, and act on them?  I think that would be pretty great.

I thank you (sincerely) for reading, I hope this blesses you.

-ABB

...Just Keep Swimming

I wish I had all the answers...I certainly don't.

But if I could take just a second of your time (which I value a lot), I'm discovering the factor that separates the HAVES from the HAVENOTS is the ability to bounce back from a failure or setback. 

We all have good ideas...there is definitely not a shortage in this department.

What there is a shortage of...is people who can dust themselves off day after day and work the grind!

Someone turn you down? You pick yourself back up and try the next door.

Life gets busy and distracting? You take the next day and start again.

Every success is the next rung on the ladder of previous failures...nobody gets it right the first time, so please stop living in this fantasy land!

So, as I write every post, this is for me just as much as I hop it's for you...so let's keep swimming.

Hope you have a great week!

-ABB