Cutco and the Church

We need to get EXCITED at church!!

While I would not PREFER to be working at Cutco, that is where the Lord has placed me at this time. I wouldn’t say I am a full participant, but I did go to the conference and guess what? They have a GREAT plan for discipleship!!

I have an “office manager” – I could liken her to a discipler; she shows concern for my work potential in Cutco, calls me to find out how life is going, and wants to help me reach my Cutco goals “as well” as my life goals. She instructs me in the way of Cutco so that I can be profitable out in the field. She gives me a focus (sell knives through relationships) and then sends me out to do just that. She makes herself available at ANY time because she is there to help me through my Cutco problems. (Am I doing that for my small group girls?! And isn’t eternal treasure a bit more important than a paycheck from selling knives?)

Cutco then has different levels of management, etc, etc. This provides various levels of accountability and motivation for the “sales reps” (lay people) as well as the upper level management.

We then have these division conference meetings.
My manager pumped us up for these. She instructed us on what to wear, how to act, what to bring, what to expect, and why we were going. I have likened the diision meetings to our corporate gatherings at church. My manager expressed a LOVE and EXCITEMENT about these meetings. She set an example of behavior and attention while we were there and truly enjoyed herself and told us what SHE had learned from the event.

At the meeting we were unified together. We were reminded of our purpose as Cutco sales reps. We saw that there were others, we were reminded of our goals and duties. We were taught new strategies and ways to sell knives and make relationships with our customers. We were taught how to improve our skills, we were sent out with a motivational speech to reach beyond the standard – to run hard in the race, to set goals and meet them, to make a difference in the world, etc.

Isn’t that what the corporate church meetings are supposed to be? Aren’t we there to minister to one another? To be unified in purpose? To be reminded of Who we are serving and why? Aren’t we there to learn the standard and to be exhorted to follow it with greater zeal?

We didn’t so much go over every jot and tittle in the Cutco handbook – we went over application and refining. It has been in the training with my manager that we have gone over the jots and tittles. In the corporate meeting we were energized to go out. We were reminded of why we had committed to the “cause” (if you will?) of Cutco. It is my manager (in the church comparison – my “discipler”) who is there to take my questions and attend to the details of Cutco.

How is she able to do this?

Because SHE has been trained and continues to be trained and continues to practice her selling techniques.

Again, I say – shouldn’t this be the pattern of the church?!!

In the system of Cutco, you only get promotions as you meet the money standards.
Don’t we have standards in the church? Was not Stephen only chosen to serve the tables because he had proven himself to be full of wisdom and of the Holy Spirit? What are the standards for elders? Are we holding to these standards? Why not? Do we CONTINUE to TRAIN those who are in leadership? Why not?

Are those in positions of leadership even able to answer those questions of details?
(I am in a position of leadership: am I able to answer those questions of details in theology and doctrine? Why or why not? Who has trained me in a discipleship relationship? Who IS training me?)

Are we EXCITED to go to our corporate meetings?
Are we EXCITED when we are AT our corporate meetings?
Why or why not?

Are pastors EXCITED to preach?
Are they motivating us to go out and work with zeal and righteousness?
Are we hearing the Truth of the word and how to apply it and live it out?
Are we actually applying and living out these truths?

I have some quotes from (I think) Art Azurdia who spoke at the Shepherd’s Conference this year. Yes, I listened to some of the sermons from the SHEPHERD’S conference. Yes, I even chose to listen to the one about how to PREACH…something about preaching with passion…???:

“Preaching is theology coming from a man who is on fire.”
Preach as a “dying man as though NEVER preaching again.”
“Preach with conviction. Commit to one sermon at a time.”
“Preach toward a verdict: ‘so that’.”
“We don’t expect them to change.” (Expect them to change.)
“Preach with urgency – their last, your last, judgment.”

I jotted these quotes down on a scrap of paper as I was working in my classroom and listening to the sermon. If it was Mr. Azurdia speaking, I love him. I heard him at Master’s once. WOW! He was talking about running the race with endurance. I was on the edge of my seat, literally. During his preaching he said, “Are you ready? Are you going to stand up and GO?!” And I almost stood up and went because I was so engaged with the truth he was preaching.

It’s okay to show passion in church. It’s okay to worship with energy and emotion. It’s okay to cry and clap and shout your praise to the Lord. It’s even okay to dance.
It’s okay for pastors to walk around, to shout, to wave their arms, to wipe sweat from their brows, and to hold themselves back from the tears they are about to shed. That is love for the truth pouring out from their souls. That is the “proof in the pudding.”
Excitement, in itself, is not the “poison” that makes a church “seeker-friendly.” It’s the motivation for the excitement that can be the posion. It’s the origin for the excitement that can contaminate it. But that is no reason to stop it. That’s only another reason to gird our loins and fight for truth (good works -- with ZEAL).

Besides, if the people at Cutco can be that excited about their knives, where is the Church’s excitement for eternity and for their loving Savior?!

Let's get excited.