You can spend tons on fancy equipment, but if you’ve got nothing to say …
I’m reading this book called Rework.
People use equipment as a crutch. They don’t want to put in the hours on the driving range so they spend a ton in the pro shop. They’re looking for a shortcut. But you just don’t need the best gear in the world to be good. And you definitely don’t need it to get started.
In business, too many people obsess over tools, software tricks, scaling issues, fancy office space, lavish furniture, and other frivolities instead of what really matters. And what really matters is how to actually get customers and make money.
You also see it in people who want to blog, podcast, or shoot videos for their business but get hung up on which tools to use. The content is what matters. You can spend tons on fancy equipment, but if you’ve got nothing to say … well, you’ve got nothing to say.
— Jason Fried
What can the church learn from this?
Los
RAIN IT DOWN
lets hope we can learn something from this because we do have something to say but if we get caught up in equipment and how to say it the message never is said.
I think a big thing here is that we don’t get caught up in other things telling the story for us but we ourselves telling the story through the way we live.
Totally agree with Kyle.
preach
Do you ever find that the people who do have something to say get lost in the fluff of those with fancy equipment? How does one effectively bring their voice to the top?
Consistency and shameless self-promotion!
That helps too, but I was thinking that those with a real message typically have their say while the others are waiting for their power point to load or their projector to sync with their laptop, or for the youtube video to upload or…..
I find this the case a lot. Expecially when the communicator isnt the strongest.
If we all keep waiting until we get _______ or can afford to _______ then we will never just _________.
Fill in the blank for yourself, your business, or your family.
preach it
When I was reading this, my brain was immediately going to the church. I think, in some regards, the church has gone overboard with the powerpoint and the video and the lighting, and the whole production for a worship service. Granted, in some situations it can be an addition to a service, but as your premise points out, what happens, when there is nothing else there. All that is there for show, its just fluff. I think many churches have crossed over and are using these things as just that, fluff. It’s ways to attract people into the church because it has a wow factor, and are using it to cover up areas they may be lacking in. Now, please, understand me, I’m not saying every church that has all these things is lacking in sound doctrine, that is not the case. I think some have lost track of the real point – the Word, and have put the emphasis on the package rather than what is actually being delivered.
I agree. But it is hard to pinpoint those. I also think that if we spent as much time praying for as we put into production for then revival would break forth…
AMEN!!!!!
haha… i just read your comment after I posted mine same thing.. just differnt!
BTW I strongly Agree!
agreed!
Yep. If you are bound and determined to have a big, fancy package, there’d better be a gift inside more impressive than the wrapping job. Otherwise, people have a pretty empty feeling after crumpling up the wrapping paper and finding out there’s nothing worth keeping inside
If we recognize even a glimpse of the unfathomable grace of God, then we will very naturally produce the artistic ‘upsurge of appreciation’ (as C.S. Lewis puts it) and will be genuinely compelled to make our praise all the more fitting through whatever means God generously affords us. That kind of production effort is noble and good. As soon as we are praising our praise though, I think God goes and finds someone else that remembers how much we need Him. Remembers the ultimate object of praise. The ultimate inspiration for art.
This is a huge problem these days in worship!… we get caught up in light shows and cool videos and fog…effects and all of that… and all of those things are fine and cool… but the worship comes first…in our lives… then in our lyrics… and lastly in our music…everything else can be a distraction. simplicity is totally a Jesus thing! he came without fanfare… he lived simply, there is something to be said for a simplicity that screams authenticity to people… and draws them into the real experience of what the Holy Spirit can do without all the extra fuss.
I think for me the biggest thing is that all the bells and whistles are nice but its not what keeps people in the church… Transformed lives, that is what will attract and keep people in the church.
Again, all the bells and whistles are nice and at times helpful but without transformation taking place its nothing but clanging cymbals….
When people see a transformed life it gives them HOPE that their life can be transformed too!
There is no hope found in the bells and whistles…
I just read a similar idea in Hugh McLeod’s Book “How to be Creative”.
He kicked my tail when he was talking about artists can create without fancy tools. Hobbyist spend a ton of money to get the same result.
In regard to the church, sometimes the bells and whistles are necessary, like baby food and as Christian’s grow, so should their experiences (with less) and a more solid diet…
I think this is really important for the church, especially smaller churches. I see a real trend towards “needing” certain sound gear, certain lights, even a certain caliber of musician to be effective because that’s how some other, much larger church is doing it. They don’t see any point in trying unless/until they’ve acquired those things. In reality though, God isn’t going to give us a message to spread and then deny us the tools to spread it. The Word connects with a lot of different kinds of people on a lot of different levels in a lot of different ways. Fancy new equipment is something we should look at when our ministries are expanding too much to be effective with what we’ve got, rather than as the vehicle for that growth and effectiveness.
People know a fake when they see one. It all comes down to the heart, the soul. I’ve seen God in some of the most remote places that had absolutely nothing and I’ve missed God in some of the most funded, done up places to.
It’s the old cliche’, ‘people don’t care what you know until they know that you care.’ It fits.
Has anyone done a study on the relation between state of the art tools in church and the number of transformed lives that result?
Hey Los,
Too ironic, I work at Purdue Univ. and Jason Fried is speaking to our Entrepreneurship Classon Tuesday, the 23rd.
i’ve got nothing to say.
I was just consulting with a team from a neighboring city about this exact thing. They brought with them there own tech heads who wanted to make sure that the picture of thier new building included the latest gizmo and thingamejig that they had obviously been obsessing over. After re-aligning their thinking behind the worship leader and what the vision was for what was going to be said/sung/offered up to God from the stage, the talk of gizmos seemed a little pointless. Tech is a tool – nothing more.