Inside the Magic Kingdom is a foundational book for the LifeKIDS ministry at LifeChurch.tv. Given the impact to my ministry (and me personally), I want to share the 6 primary lessons of this book and flesh them out one post at a time. I’m taking a little turn here, but hang with me and imagine how these lessons might translate to your world.
Lesson #1: Your competition is anyone the customer compares you with.
Who is your customer?
In LifeKIDS, our primary customer is the kid.
What would a kid compare us with?
Nickelodeon, Noggin, Disney, Hannah Montana, High School Musical, PS2, Wii, Webkinz, etc, etc. This is where our kids spend their time. These are the things that capture (and keep) their attention.
Why do we want their attention? We have to have their attention in order to teach them about Jesus! So, what do we do the grab their attention?
Anything short of sin!!
In my humble opinion.
Anything short of sin.
Use wisdom, stewardship and (by all means) the leading of the Holy Spirit. The window of opportunity is brief. Know your customer. Know what grabs them and create an experience of the same caliber. Then do whatever it takes to grab their attention so that Jesus can transform their hearts.
November 13th, 2007 at 12:33 am
Something Craig Jutila shared at the 2004 Purpose Driven Concert has been with me for a very long time. He talked about how at his church, his literal competition was DisneyLand, Magic Mountain, Dave and Busters, etc.
When it comes to programming, these places will beat us every time. No matter how hard the church might try, it’s just hard to compete with DisneyLand. However, as a church we have one thing that will win over Disney every time… relationships. Not that we shouldn’t develp the very best program possible… one that the kids will think is fun and exciting, but where we’ll truly “rule” over the competition is when we get the relational part down.
November 13th, 2007 at 7:41 am
Very nicely put, my friend.
November 13th, 2007 at 9:33 am
Kenny,
Thank you for bringing that into play. I was at that conference at Craig’s thoughts still resonate with me. You’re right. Relationships are the sustainer. Programming attracts them, draws them in, but relationships keep them coming back long term.
However! We can still produce some mean programming that will capture and keep their attention. How? Refine, refine, refine. Keep segments tight, make transitions smooth, eliminate the awkward ‘glitches’ that loose the kids attention.
Let’s get them from both sides. Outstanding programming coupled with amazing relationships!
Well said Kenny.
November 13th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
Everything is great here. I like to think no so much competition as much as Research and development. We are trying to reach the same group but for a vastly different reason.
Disney and everyone spends millions to learn what kids like and how they think. I agree we can lean much from them about the “containers” that hold information.
Where we have to be careful is that we keep our mission clear, they are after money we are after life transformation.
I think we can use their containers in the form of programing and insert our life changing truth.
Anyway that is my 2cents. Great post Gina.
November 25th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
Gina this posts are wonderful. Brief, yet full! thank you for reminding me over and over… it’s not about us, but god using us to impact lives for eternity. I love tat last line, it really captures what we should be doing…doing “whatever it takes to grab their attention so that Jesus can transform their lives.”