One of the characteristics of great brands is delivering an experience that is consistently consistent. Today, an answered prayer was met with an inconsistency for my 14-year old Jacob. Our church leaders have trained Jacob to utilize the weekend services to invite unchurched friends. Finally, and with much anticipation, a lost friend named Juan came with Jacob to The Matrix, a seeker service targeted to the junior high crowd.
After the service, my 14-year old critiqued the ministry he loves and is committed too:
--"Dad, Juan loves X-box and I told him that we can play in the Matrix gameroom before the services starts. Today all of the games remained unplugged."
--"They always have great videos or some creative element. Today was the first time I can remember when they didn't do anything like that."
--"The singer during worship was off vocally. During the worship, it killed me when Juan asked, "what are they saying?""
Today was a helpful reminder that God's sovereign goodness and love for Juan are infinite whether our X-boxes are plugged in or not. Yet while the battle belongs to the Lord, we must still prepare our horses.