Excellence is important to me. My home church (fbt.org) believes in excellence in ministry (Ecc. 9:10). Focus, which I posted on earlier, is a part of excellence. Without focus, without intentional limited direction, you can’t achieve excellence. You can’t do everything. Do one thing, and do it well.
No where is this clearer to me than in the coffee war between McDonald’s and Starbucks. You are aware of the McCafe launch and its attempt to dethrone Starbucks. Despite their efforts, I think its now common opinion that they’ve largely failed in that bid.
I think I know why: focus and its affect on excellence.
I don’t want to be the guy who drinks Starbucks just because it’s cool. So I have been drinking McDonald’s regularly for a while. I’ve come to the conclusion that Starbucks just has the best coffee in the world. Period.
But why? How?
Starbucks is focused on one thing: making great coffee. McDonald’s is focused on….well…I can’t say really. They have dozens of different products from hamburgers to parfaits to salads to ice cream to wraps…..get the picture? And consequently, the employees of each are equally focused or not focused.
A Starbucks barista is a pro at mixing my drink by hand exactly like I ordered it. A McDonald’s employee, who has to know how to prepare 3 dozen different things, sometimes has a hard time figuring out if the automatic espresso machine is making my drink correctly or not. I’ve gotten some horrible drinks from McDonald’s as a result; never one from Starbucks.
Focus affects excellence. Excellence affects your product. When your product is ministry, specifically church, that can affect lives.
How do you strive for excellence in ministry? Any specific stories or examples?