"The company that taught us that coffee is not a commodity has itself become one."
A couple weeks back, Starbucks closed business to "re-educate" their employees on everything Starbucks. The billion-dollar company is all over the world but at the cost of what made them great - excellent coffee, a place to be with others.

This realization was penned last year by founder Howard Shultz: "We have had to make a series of decisions that, in retrospect, have led to the watering down of the Starbucks experience and what some might call the commoditization of our brand."

These are big words with even bigger implications. But the refreshing thing is Shultz and Starbucks are doing something about it. TIME magazine reports some major changes on the near horizon for the mega-brand. Turns out that, for Starbucks, success means remaining true to yourself.

A similar brand shake up is underway with the western church. With their recent book Reveal, Bill Hybels and Willow Creek take a long hard look at their approach to "doing church" and its ripple affect in the greater church culture. It seems that self-evaluation isn't dead.

If you step back and look at the western church it looks like the current bloated version of Starbucks: one on every corner, smells like something it's not suppose to, has countless unrelated trinkets for you buy, and the main product it sells tastes like a tepid instant mix rather than a hot java cup that burns your taste buds and lights your wick.

In can be argued that the church has become more commodity than community, more instant than intimate, and more marketing savvy than Maker savvy.

It's time to shut down business and "re-educate" ourselves as to what made the church great to begin with. Let the discussion begin.


Tim Willard is a consistent contributor to Catalyst Monthly and was the managing editor for the Catalyst GroupZine. Check-out Tim's blog - FlickerNail.com