If you can stand one more reference to Steve Jobs, I’d like say a word or two. Steve Jobs was great at many things, but I think what he was best at was selling stuff. He did not invent the Mac, or the iPod, or the iPhone, or the i-anything. What he did was figure out how to make that stuff cool.
A better way to say that is, Steve Jobs figured out how to make us say, “Wow!”
Steve Jobs was all about the “wow.” When he launched the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad, critics said no one needs another MP3 player, cell phone, or tablet computer. Jobs agreed. What people needed (and the word is “needed”, not “wanted”) was something that would wow them.
Michael Hyatt, chairman of Thomas Nelson Publishers, has written a lot about creating “wow.” As a publisher, he often wonders why people would buy more books. Doesn’t the world have enough books? Of course they do. But there are precious few books that make us say, “Wow!”
Does anyone really need more ministry?
Those of us in ministry can ask ourselves similar questions. Do people need one more prayer? Do they need another church? Are they looking for a theological summary of salvation history? Do they have a felt need for more catechisms? Are they so bored on Sundays that Mass becomes their default activity?
These kinds of questions are especially crucial for RCIA teams to be asking. We do this ministry because we had a “wow” experience somewhere, sometime, perhaps even long ago. Whatever it was, it so wowed us that we now give our lives to bringing that wow to others. But the way we do it is often underwhelming. We have to first get back to our own wow experience before we make other people say, “Wow!”
What makes you say, “Wow!”?
So here’s a little exercise for you to try. See if you can come up with a list of ten wow experiences in your life. They don’t have to be related to church or ministry. Just whatever has wowed you. Then post some of them in the comments box. Here are mine, in no particular order:
- Snorkeling in the Florida Keys when I was 14 and seeing all the amazing, multicolored life that swims there
- Seeing Michelangelo’s David in Florence
- The first time I kissed my wife
- Reading Rabbit, Run by John Updike when I was in college
- The first time I cooked Thanksgiving Dinner by myself
- Getting my first bike on Christmas Day
- The first time I saw the Pacific Ocean
- Eating in a seaside restaurant in Costa Rica and watching the sunset
- Skiing a blue diamond slope for the first time
- Seeing my first published article in a real magazine
So what has made you say, “Wow!”?
1. Seeing the Grand Canyon
2. Flying in an airplane for the first time
3. Vatican II
4. Visiting and living in Assisi, Italy
5. My summer job in Tuscany
6. The Sistine Chapel
7. Each and every sunset on Lake Erie
8. Spider webs
9. The generosity of people I meet everyday
10. Rainbows after a storm
1. Kissing my husband the first time
2. Venice, Italy
3. My first Easter Vigil
4. The National Cathedral in Washington
5. My first NCCL conference
6. My first Mile-High Congress
7. The St. John’s Bible
8. Reading Les Miserables
9. Star Trek Voyager episode “The Void”
10. Nursing my babies
1. Falling in love
2. Listening to Randall Thompson’s “Alleluia on the way to work.
3. Adopting my daughter
4. The birth of my grandchildren
5. Listening to children talk about God
6. Hiking in the Dolomiti
7. Being in the plane going to Italy for the first time
8. The first time I served at mass
9. The morning I knew I was content with my life.
10. Reading To Kill A Mockingbird