The Book and its Topic
The Gospel According to Starbucks is a book about passion. If you frequent this website you would have noticed that I like passion and books about passion.
I believe we are to desire God, and that as John Piper says on the rear cover of Desiring God: “The pursuit of pleasure is not optional. It is essential.” What is more pleasurable than working on something you feel passionate about?
See, I reckon God gives us the desires of our heart (see Psalm 37:4), in a way, to guide us through our earthly life. If we delight ourselves in him, that is. It is very hard to go against what you want to do, what is enjoyable to you, those big passions, dreams and discomforts inside of you. God created you like that in order to reach His goals through you.
Leonard Sweet shows us that Starbucks is known throughout the world because people enjoy the experience. Starbucks and their baristas are passionate about coffee, and it shows. It rubs off on us.
Sweet explains that the Starbucks experience is an EPIC experience. It is Experiential, Participatory, Image-rich and Connective. These four elements of the Starbucks experience are the real reasons behind the Starbucks success story.
Far from giving Starbucks an appeal to authority, Len writes about the experience they offer "ad hominem". The book was not authorized by Starbucks.
After reading the book you will know lots of interesting things about Starbucks, but more importantly...
You will have a better idea how to be the church of Jesus and how to live more attractive to the world as a follower of Jesus. You might think, “But I am not involved in ministry, not a pastor, and I do not have the calling of church growth.” Wrong. You are the church! You are the body of Jesus Christ. Apart from applying the EPIC life to your church activities, you need to start applying them to your life.
You need to become someone who lives the gospel in a contagious way. In such a way that others will stand in line for a share of it...
It is clear that The Gospel According to Starbucks is the result of some excellent, on-topic research. Leonard Sweet shows a clear insight into modern society. He thinks and argues like a secular business guru, drawing examples of ingenuity from this arena.
First Len illustrates the success of Starbucks and others in the business world for each topic in his EPIC way of doing life. This provides conclusive evidence of the success of the EPIC experience. Then he shows exactly what the church, you and I, need to do to offer the modern 21st century people of God the experience that the gospel is supposed to be.
If we apply The Gospel According to Starbucks, even the younger generations will want to follow Jesus.
BookDisciple Power Quote
“Christians have much to learn about faith as a lived experience, not a thought experiment. Rational faith – the form of Christianity that relies on argument, logic, and apologetics to establish and defend its rightness – has failed miserably in meeting people where they live. Intellectual arguments over doctrine and theology are fine for divinity school, but they lose impact at the level of daily life experience. Starbucks knows that people live for engagement, connection, symbols, and meaningful experiences. If you read the Bible, you’ll see that the people of God throughout history have known the same thing. Life at its very best is a passionate experience, not a doctrinal dissertation. The problem is not that Christianity can’t be believed, but that it can’t be practiced because of its lack of lived experience. And it can’t be observed by others because there are too few Christians who are radical enough to manifest what the gospel really looks like.” – The Gospel According to Starbucks, p. 5.
So, how does it read?
To be blatantly honest, I have read easier books. Leonard Sweet is a doctor... in the PhD way, and that might be the reason why he has a tendency to use bigger words than I can understand. Oooh, jealousy makes me nasty...
Len, bro, I am not really jealous or nasty, and if a PhD is a requirement for such insight and brilliance then I should start studying immediately.
I have learned quite a few new words while reading this book. Provenance, spizzerinctum and sprezzatura to name but a few. The English is heavy and sweet is not ashamed to pull out the big words.
That caused me some tough going and some re-reading of paragraphs and phrases. But you have to remember that I speak English as a second-language.
What did this book mean to me personally?
The Gospel According to Starbucks gave me some clear guidelines on how to live a life that is experiential, participatory, image-rich and connective. Then it showed me how to offer others this life.
Practicing such a life is not something I will be bale to do immediately, but with practice anything is possible.
What do others say about the book?
“Cultural barista Leonard Sweet serves up a triple venti cup of relevant insights to wake up decaffeinated Christians. Careful, the book you’re about to enjoy is extremely hot.” – Ben Young, pastor, author of Why Mike’s Not a Christian
“Reading this book is a caffeine jolt. Get ready to be accelerated into the future, with Jesus a central part of the experience.” – Dan Kimball, pastor, author of The Emerging Church and They Like Jesus, But Not the Church
“The Gospel According to Starbucks inspires us to quit playing safe and mediocre lives and to fulfill our God-given potential. Leonard Sweet uncovers God’s purpose for people not just as individuals but also as communities. An outstanding and thought-provoking book.” – Paul McGee, international speaker, best-selling author of S.U.M.O. (Shut Up, Move On)
“I have a massive passion for passion. It’s my favorite spiritual topic. And I have a nominal coffee obsession, Starbucks being my ritual more often than not. So what a treat to read Leonard Sweet’s extra-shot weaving together of the two–all in the hope that each of us will drink in the meaningful and passion-filled life we were designed for.” – Mark Oestreicher, president of Youth Specialties
Conclusion
You need to start “turning your activities into EPIC-tivities.” We all do. Why do we feel passion is a sin? Leonard tells us that “A driving hunger for God is passion at its best.”
Let us turn our worldview into a worldstage (p. 53).
If we start living The Gospel According to Starbucks, which incidentally is the real gospel (according to Jesus), we will not be able to keep people away. Let’s offer the world an adventure to become a part of. A true experience of God. Read this book to learn how.
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