Before I begin, I’d like to mention on caveat. The Church is obviously different than Corporate America. The dynamics just aren’t the same. Like many of you, I’ve cringed when the two are treated as one-in-the-same. However, I think we can extrapolate some of their concepts and approaches to effective accomplish the Great Commission.

I’ve been keeping one eye on the iPhone 3.0 launch today. Here’s a couple things I’m seeing from the launch that may benefit us:

1. Collaboration With Partners

A large portion of the today’s launch was given to “outside” developers. Some of my favorite, and most useful, apps weren’t created by Apple. Many times in the church, we treat our local congregation as the “be all and end all” of church ministry. None of us would profess to having the knowledge, energy, time or resources to come up with the absolute “best” in the Kingdom (though this shouldn’t stop us from trying). This is where collaboration comes in.

What are some tools and resources you use to build the Kingdom? We get our ideas from blogs and other churches. We can get videos for illustration from resources like sermonspice.com or web design from churchplantmedia.com. Collaboration is key to effectively accomplishing the mission.

2. Listen and Respond

“Copy and Paste” seems archaic in computer terms, but ask an iPhone user what life has been like without it. Apple listened to their customer base and responded with the feature. I understand that if you gather 25 people in a room, you’ll get 26 opinions on how your church should operate (there’s always one with multiple personalities). However, that shouldn’t stop us from constantly evaluating what we’re doing (big and small picture) and responding to the needs of our base. Are you doing everything possible to meet their needs? What is unnecessary that you ARE doing? And what is necessary that you aren’t?

3. Make the Presentation About the Content

If you’ve ever seen these launches, there’s somethings that you won’t see. Smoke, intelligent lights, dancing ladies, etc. They realize why people come. I read a quote the other day that made me look hard a church ministry:

Churches too often look for “Lights, Camera, Action” instead of “Father, Son, Holy Spirit”

All the technology is great. It’s a worm on our hook as we fish for men. However, let us never forget why people come. They need the Message.