Warm or Cold Market??

After speaking at a wonderful Church on the West side of Chicago today, I was talking with a new member at their after service pot-luck stocked with delicious Filipino food! He is in the automotive industry and works for a major Japanese manufacturer. We were talking about how it is generally a waste of time to try to gain business in a cold market verses trying to do so in a warm market. There are certain products and clients which are easier to pair then others.

Before going into ministry full time, I was in sales. I once worked for a company setting businesses up for Visa and Mastercard processing. After working for the company for over a year, I tracked my sales record and discovered that the majority of my income came by signing contracts with a very specific group of people, middle aged females who carried titles having to do with office management. On the flip side, I did not fare well securing contracts with males who were owners or managers of the businesses. After figuring this out, I no longer wasted my time trying to gain the business from the men and focused on the middle aged women. My income more then doubled. There was a lady sales associate in the same office as I who had the exact opposite Warm and Cold Market. She could not for the life of her sell a contract with a middle aged woman, but she could sign contracts all day long with male owners and managers. Interesting? And so at times, we traded leads, experienced less frustration and we both made more money.

There are a couple of things that we can learn from this. First, people don't tend to buy into a product or a concept based on the quality of the product itself, but more because they connected, or at least were not intimidated by the person who introduced them to it.

With my business mind, turned Kingdom mind, I of course love to think about correlations...

At TFI Gateway Church in Manila, we are reaching all kinds of people and we have several segments of the population which we are targeting. One group that we specifically hear the voice of the Holy Spirit leading us toward is call center agents.

For those of you unfamiliar with the call center industry, there are offices in the Philippines, India and in other countries which field calls generally in customer service or in telephone sales for companies in western nations. A good example of this is that right now, less then 3 miles from our home in Manila, JP Morgan Chase Bank is opening a new call center and is conducting a massive hiring in order to handle calls for their customers in America. There are more then 800,000 call center employees in Manila alone. They are a nocturnal group of people who work through the night while it is day in America, Canada and Europe. They have developed something of their own own sub-culture as well as schedule. Most would not attend normally scheduled services or even traditional Churches anymore. When I say traditional, I mean Churches conducting services and programs in the way Churches used to do things... not 30 years ago, but 3 years ago.

We are quickly moving towards becoming a Church which meets the needs of this very specific group of people by conducting meetings at odd times and with a unique approach. We have a burning desire to serve this group of people and it is growing day by day as we continue to work and pray. Right now, we are in more of a planning and trial mode, already with great results.

As a Spirit led Church, we don't have to figure out what our warm market is. Instead, we must listen for the voice of God, telling us what to do and how to do it. As a matter of fact, it is equally important not to waste time by pursuing ministry in segments which God has not asked us to serve and has asked others to serve instead. I believe that God wants the Church to fish for every kind of fish, using all kinds of bait and all kinds of vessels. And that every Church will receive instructions from God as to who to serve and how best to serve them.

Fishing requires preparation. A lady in a Church I pastored a few years ago brought many people to the Church who received Jesus. Every single one of them, after they received the Lord, we willingly handed off to other Churches and she was very disappointed because our Church seemingly did not grow from her efforts. But the Kingdom of God grew! Some did not speak English, and ours was an English speaking Church. Others needed support in areas that we had no support groups or expertise. The other Churches did a great job following up with them and discipling them. A beautiful reward about it is that there were also those saved in other Churches who ended up joining our Church and growing through wonderful and focused mentorship. Our Church and the ministry we conducted was not only a good fit, but a divine fit specifically for them.

God's plan is perfect and when Churches function & network together without competitiveness, in unity of the Spirit, not only does the harvest increase, but the higher goal of discipleship is reached as well. We need to prepare specific ministries which will care for the needs of those who the Lord will place into our care. And for those our Church God is not asking us to care for, let us generously and humbly help them to find the care they need somewhere in the Body of Christ even in another Church. This is my dream and I believe I am dreaming one of God's dreams...