like a fire

You are a post-consumption consumer.
You have everything you need,
and most everything you want.
Except time.

So begins The Purple Cow. I am reading this book in a frenzy and it is changing a lot of what I think about ministry. The basic concept of the book is that we are so inundated with messages that it would take something totally extraordinary to get our attention (a purple cow).

I have been thinking about the gospel. It is important that Jesus died for our sins, but that message is so vague and now so common that I don’t think most people really hear it. Godin challenges marketing types to make a product from the start that is innovative and then show how it helps the user more than just benefitting his life. The gospel isn’t a product, but it is at least as innovative as any product I have seen. Why isn’t it more remarkable?

I have been thinking about this a lot. I think we have trivialized the good news into one aspect that is so vague and flimsy that it is completely unremarkable. What makes the gospel remarkable to me personally is a better place to start. How does it change me in ways so much better than I can tell?

I am going to be talking to my group about it tonight and I will post the results for anyone who is interested. Please comment if you have a thought on it. I would love to hear.