A Bottle Full of Simple

For many of us, Heinz means ketchup. (Flickr/Mike Mozart)

There is more to a brand than a name, symbol or logo.

A brand is designed to carry meaning and promise. When I think of Heinz, I think of ketchup. Heinz shares the family name with many food products. For many of us, Heinz means ketchup. It's a rule: Fries must be covered with the slow-good ketchup. The name packs in memories as well as spices and tomatoes with added value. The brand epitomizes the key aspiration for any brand. It is consistent.

McDonald's, Jiffy Lube and Stanley Steemer are well-known brands. The companies that own the brands work daily to achieve consistency in the delivery of their service. It seems to be much easier to shove a tomato into a bottle than to change oil, vacuum a carpet or fill a to-go bag. All service-oriented businesses seem to struggle with the delivery of consistent quality.

I think church leaders have a similar battle. Leaders struggle to find their message. Even with the call to preach the gospel, we see wide variation in how that is accomplished from week to week.

I've sat through many "service review" meetings in churches.

The takeaways about "room for improvement" are distilled to the elusive goal of consistency. What I think I am hearing from pastors is a struggle to deliver the vision for the service. Somewhere along the line, services became complicated.

I've often thought that we over-program. We leave little room for the Holy Spirit. Some services are planned to hit a minute-by-minute target. I've had services in which I felt rushed to get through this so I can get to that. The only thing that was consistent was my rush to check all the boxes.

Consistency is achieved through simplicity. We can't be all things to all people. As we are led by God, we must focus on what matters most and deliver it with consistency.

The best brands are consistently simple. Kleenex is always Kleenex.

Dr. Steve Greene is the publisher and executive vice president of the media group at Charisma Media and executive producer of the Charisma Podcast Network. His book, Love Leads: The Spiritual Connection Between Your Relationships and Productivity, is now available.

Leaders, Dr. Greene wants to help you understand the spiritual connection between relationships and productivity. Read his new blog, here.

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