The Gospel According to Starbucks

The Gospel According to Starbucks: Living Life with a Grande Passion by Leonard Sweet

Leonard Sweet was one of the featured speakers at the Minister’s Retreat that I attended a few weeks ago, but I chose a different “track” at the retreat so I was unable to hear his presentation. I heard various pastors describe his presentation as both “brilliant” and “challenging.” On the flip side, I heard that his hour or so of speaking was “the same information he wrote in his books.” When the retreat was over, I figured I’d read the books and catch up on whatever challenging brilliance I’d missed in the live version. I ordered a handful that sounded good from the dealer that supplies my addiction: amazon.com.

I devour books like Leonard Sweet does coffee, but I took my time reading this one. I wanted to savor not just the truth but the application of this book. Written to challenge the Church to live an incarnational Gospel, the very point Sweet makes is to apply our head-knowledge of Jesus to our lifestyle. He describes this as EPIC Christianity: Experiential, Participatory, Image-rich, and Connective. The message of the Gospel is simple and absolute, but the way we live it is what changes the world.

As the title suggests, this book extols the virtues of Starbucks as both a business model at the height of the coffee revolution, and as the pleasant experience born of leather armchairs and mellow music. The world is willing to spend 300% markup on a cup of coffee (more than once a day for many customers) and spend countless hours in lines and at tables for the Starbucks experience: collectible mugs, exclusive music CDs, plush surroundings that invite you to remain long after the coffee itself is cold. “The product is no longer king, it’s the experience that surrounds the product that brings people in the door.”

The modern church can learn from Starbucks, Sweet posits. “If faith is not both an engagement and an experience, then it’s little more than a good idea. If faith is not beautiful in its practice, then it can easily devolve into an argument . . . . and who is looking for another argument?” Participation is just as important as experience; the pop culture of the 21st century gives us American Idol, where people vote for their favorite performer, the Ipod where anyone can be a DJ creating their mix playlist, fantasy sports teams, Wii video games and more. Sweet adds imagery as one of the essential facets of Christianity to impact a world that lives in High Def and wants to see Christ visually. He makes a great point about art in the Renaissance being so infused with Christianity that the world’s greatest artists expressed Christ in images resonating through stained glass, sculpted marble, and frescoed ceilings. When is the last time that our modern churches used art in any form to express worship or define our relationship to the Lord? Connectivity is the last great trait of Starbucks that the Church should emulate. It’s the theme of community that is found all over the New Testament, and it’s still in fashion today. People want to be connected; they like their name on the coffee cup and the barista who remembers their daily order. They want to be in relationship with other people, so much so that the Internet is the new medium for “social networking,” message boards, forums, and “blog communities.” If the Church can apply these principles of experience, participation, imagery, and connectivity to the way we live our faith before unbelievers, we will see them start lining up outside churches the way they do at Starbucks.

Based on this work, I’m looking forward to reading my next Leonard Sweet book. Although his constant praise of Starbucks reads like an annoying infomercial at times, I agreed with the truth that he presented. The book challenged me in very specific ways, and I believe he got his message across very effectively. Well, he must have, because I’m writing this at a Starbucks right now.