An Epic Journey

Humming along at Panera this morning. Working fast and furious, when all of the sudden a noise not dissimilar to that of a tornado siren broke the silence. It pierced ears, shattered glasses and made small children cry. Actually, most people just looked up from their cup of coffee or newspaper and looked around with stares of confussion tinted with perterbedness (think I just made that word up). The employees just stood around. I decided to watch and see if people would leave or stay. I wanted to see the effect.
The sound went on for a good 2 minutes. Surely long enough for one patron to leave. Nothing. Finally, the manager got up and fixed the problem and saved the day.
What was interesting to me, was that no one left. Everyone went right back to their coffee, papers and conversations. So, here’s the take away for me. People will put up with subpar performance if it’s a fluke. They will even put up with it to the point of it being excruciating. The reality is – this Panera provides a quality service every time – so when people hit a bump in the performance – they know it’s not the norm.
I want Epic Church to have a culture like this Panera. I want people to see the things we do as quality services offered – so much so that when we have an occasionally hiccup, people know that it’s nothing more than that – a hiccup. I know this doesn’t come easy. It takes a lot of deliberate action on our part and a lot of hard work. But I believe we can make a difference in the lives of people in ways that will affect generations to come – and for that, I’m willing to give it all!!

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