The Gospel According to Starbucks
Living with a Grande Passion
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Leonard Sweet shows you how the passion that Starbucks® has for creating an irresistible experience can connect you with God’s stirring introduction to the experience of faith in The Gospel According to Starbucks.
You don’t stand in line at Starbucks® just to buy a cup of coffee. You stop for the experience surrounding the cup of coffee.
Too many of us line up for God out of duty or guilt. We completely miss the warmth and richness of the experience of living with God. If we’d learn to see what God is doing on earth, we could participate fully in the irresistible life that he offers.
You can learn to pay attention like never before, to identify where God is already in business right in your neighborhood. The doors are open and the coffee is brewing. God is serving the refreshing antidote to the unsatisfying, arms-length spiritual life–and he won’t even make you stand in line.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Studies show that fewer Americans than we thought attend church, and\t\t Sweet, popular author (Soul Salsa) and\t\t professor of evangelism at Drew Theological School in New Jersey, thinks that\t\t the church should take cues from an institution that isn't suffering a lack of\t\t customers: Starbucks. For all his hip cultural sensitivity, Sweet hasn't shed\t\t one standby of church-growth books: the acronym. His is EPIC, which stands for\t\t Experience, Participation, "Images that throb with meaning," and Connection.\t\t Starbucks has mastered EPIC living, and the church can, too. The successful\t\t coffee corporation recognizes that people are drawn in through visual icons,\t\t and it beats competitors because its design sensibility is superior "indeed,\t\t its imagery is shot through with "spiritual significance." The church should\t\t take a hint and, instead of focusing solely on its written mission statements,\t\t devote some energy to design. Starbucks understands that people hunger for\t\t "authentic experience." Finally, just as people like to drink coffee together,\t\t people seek community and connection in religious settings. Sweet's bottom\t\t line? Christianity must move beyond rational, logical apologetics, and instead\t\t find ways of showing people that it can offer "symbols and meaningful\t\t engagement." This whimsical and insightful book offers a fresh approach to a\t\t topic of perennial interest.
