The 1968 Series went the same way: The Cards won games 1, 3, and 4; the Tigers won game 2.
But my problem, as I mentioned earlier, is that we had tickets to game 6. So game 5 was a win/win. If the Cards won, my team would be the WS champion for two straight years (and three of five years). If they lost, I’d be sitting in Busch Stadium watching game 6. The ideal scenario was that I’d see the winning game.
But they didn’t win the fifth game . . . or the game I saw . . . or the seventh game — despite the fact that Bob Gibson was pitching game 7 and had just won games 1, 4, and 7 in 1967 and games 1 and 4 in 1968.
So I’ll take one more victory, no matter when it comes, no matter how small the margin, no matter how ugly it might be. My team hasn’t won a World Series since 1982 (which I also got to attend), so it’s time.
- - - -
All right. I’m trying to decide about the cup of coffee. Thanks for the advice. I love what several of you said: that it’s the friend you drink it with that matters.
Wasn’t that the real storyline of “Cheers”? There may have been jokes about people drinking too much, but I don’t remember seeing people drunk. The series was about friends being together. The whole “where-everyone-knows-your-name” theme.
Meanwhile, I’ve read that Starbucks is planning to dramatically increase their number of stores, spreading like rabbits to 40,000 stores.
Is there any way we could try to plant a church for every Starbucks that’s opened?
Yeah, Starbucks has really gotten the multiplication thing down. They say that anyone can open a Starbucks franchise as well (so long as you have $100K to start out). You could plant 10 churches (or more!) for that figure, so what are we waiting for?
FYI, here’s the Starbucks mission statement that’s on their Web site:
Subtract the profitability note and change a few things around, and you might have a mission statement for a church planting movement. Here’s a mission statement I have adhered to:
How about two churches for every Starbucks that opens? In our area the little drive through Starbucks are mostly what are going in. Could we make a new go at the drive through church concept?
I am convinced in the age of “mega churches” with numerous campuses that we need a return to the house church model of the first century. This would certainly enable a wider spreading of the word in a warm, accepting kind of environment. It would also provide an easier way for us to be inclusive of people from all walks without developing a specific strategy to “target” certain “people groups.”
I’m thinking of presenting this kind of concept in my “Pepperdine talks” next year.
Peace.
We would happily allow Starbucks to use part of our church building if they wanted to open a store here in Salvador, Brazil! At least here the church is spreading faster than the coffee chain
That’s our heart as well, Steve #2. Great name.
mike,
i cannot believe that you are going to sell your soul to the evil coffee chain that is starbucks when you have a pete’s coffee in town!! the staff at pete’s is friendly, on sunday they have a food buffet for $2, AND they have free wireless internet. plus, you could get your coffee with chips and guac from sharkeys.
i’d give anything to have pete’s coffee in england. we’re lucky when we find an alternative to nescafe.
kelly
here’s a link to a BBC story if you need further evidence that starbucks is, in fact, the evil empire. starbucks in ethiopia coffee row
My church (Legacy Church in Plano) uses our closest Starbucks as almost an extension of the church building. In fact, it’s affectionately called “Legacy South” by the members and even some people in the neighborhood (the Starbucks is 1/2 mile south from the church). You will find several members there early each morning just hanging out and talking with all the “regulars”. It’s a really great opportunity to meet, talk and build relationships with people in the surrounding neighborhoods. We’ve even had some “have a cup of coffee on Legacy” days, where we’ve bought everyone that comes in a cup of coffee. Not a big deal, but it lets everyone know about the church and they appreciate the gift. The Starbucks staff seems to really enjoy working with the church also.
okay…that link didn’t work:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6086330.stm
Kelly,
It’s Peets, since Peet was a Dutchman.
And Mike,
Isn’t Highland part of some big important project designed to help squash the consumerist tendencies that so many evangelical megachurches possess?
Starbucks’ “environment” is nothing more than a utilitarian, pragmatic marketing scheme. If they believed a cold, robotic, isolated environment would sell more coffee, you better believe they’d turn the warm wood and soft lights and easy-listening music into stainless steel and fluorescent lighting in a heartbeat!
And your friends from Uganda offer a whole lot of great coffees that would also help support some rural farmers…
I think coffeehouses are great way to meet and visit with seekers.
sorry greg.
i do agree with your point, however.
Whats wrong with a utilitarian, pragmatic marketing scheme? Isn’t that a “scheme” that involves defining practical planning steps, learned from a historical study of cause and effect relationships, to market a product or service that provides the greatest good for the most people?
Plant a church in a starbucks or plant a church with a starbucks in it. What a great conversation/relationsal connection that would be.
“market a product or service that provides the greatest good for the most people”
This is the exact mindset we’re trying to drum out of churches. As long as church is seen as a “place where” things happen, or as the dreaded vendor of religious goods and services, we will never become “missional.”
There are a lot of us hoping that the 2006 World Series continues to follow the 1968 script!
GO TIGERS!!!
Actually, if you visit Christ’s Church of the Valley in Peoria (Phoenix area), AZ you will find a Starbucks right in the megachurch. Which prompts the question: is caffeine an acceptable aid to worship?
I coulda sworn I posted something about Starbucks church of Christ on the last post….
Regarding Victor’s quote directly above - wow! That bothers me on some level -maybe it shouldn’t, but it does. Jesus left the church to meet the downcast, poor, spiritually starving - and he didn’t need a major buzz to do it - although wine was usually involved.
I guess the question we should be asking is what are the spiritual and relational steps that precede a church being planted? If “church planting” was the end in itself, then we should follow the Starbucks model. But maybe it shouldn’t be…
There I go disagreeing with myself again.
I like what GKB said above. It made me re-think my original comment.
Mike, you’ve hit on the truth I recently discovered. Everything tastes better in the company of people you love. It took living away from our closest friends for over a year and getting to be with them again to realize why the food out here in CA never seemed to taste as good as what we had in Omaha.
Love the post Mike… except for the connection to 68.
Here in Guadalajara, the church seems to be growing and expanding God’s kingdom in a great way. But if we could keep up with Starbucks’ growth… Wow! In the last two years they’ve planted at least 12. (And one is withing a 20 minute walk of my house!)
However, the day is coming, I truly believe, when we will far out-pace Starbucks.
It seems like God is getting his church ready for a great movement… in Mexico, the U.S. and around the world.
I am a fan of Sumatra and Verona at Starbucks. They’re two totally different tastes. Sumatra is bold and full of flavor, while Verona is smooth and perfect at night or when it’s cold outside.
I do agree with your other responders from the past two posts that a cup of coffee is only as good as the company…and that could be your wife, your students, a friend, a stranger, a sunset, snow, or one of those great W. Texas thunderstorms!
I say good luck to the Cards in game 5…that coming from a frustrated, yet faithful Astros fan. I’ll be watching and cheering for your team out here in the desert…AZ.
Let me know about the coffee you chose.
Coffee, Coffee, Coffee. I love it. I need it. I will admit that I drink coffee before worship ever Sunday. If I don’t, my mind tends to wander. Am I addicted? Yes. I’ve tried to quite, but my family and co-workers didn’t like me very much. Jesus didn’t need coffee, but he was after all, JESUS.
Steve Jr, I like your first post, don’t rethink it.
i guess it would be ok to be called a coffee bibber.
Wouldn’t it be great to see a church planted, a missionary supported, or a new ministry started for every Starbucks. I would love that! A new mall opened here a year ago and it has 4 different Starbucks in it alone. That is crazy! As for coffee, I can’t stand it! It smells so good, and then (in my opinion) tastes like licking the ground. I just can’t do it. I will recommend a drink. It’s called a Vanilla Steamer. Steamed milk with vanilla and whipped cream. An excellent choice for non coffee people.
Hey, you know how we could open as many churches as Starbucks? If everyone who reads this blog would commit to beginning a church in their homes and then multiplying that once, twice or more over the next few years, we could easily do it. Worldwide, I’d say more churches are started each year than SB could only dream of. But we’d have to be inventive, imaginative and trusting to move beyond our current idea of church…much like SB did to move beyond the world’s idea of a coffee shop. Let’s do it!
Well! Y’all can word battle about coffee and Game 5 of the WS, while we fans of the San Diego Padres are in deep mourning, suffering an almost mortal wound.
Our 12-year skipper, Bruce Bouchy has turned coat and gone off to the insufferable San Franciso Giants. This means that next year not only will we again have to put up with Barry Bonds, but with Bouch coaching Bonds, of all people, turning him around into a decent human being. Grrrrr! [
]
So, revel in your coffee and your WS, we’ll just sit here and mourn. [wiping tears from cheeks]
Doug wrote:
—–
Whats wrong with a utilitarian, pragmatic marketing scheme? Isn’t that a “scheme” that involves defining practical planning steps, learned from a historical study of cause and effect relationships, to market a product or service that provides the greatest good for the most people?
—–
Yep. And Philip Kenneson has written a masterly critique that argues that there is, in fact, a LOT wrong with a “utilitarian, pragmatic marketing scheme,” and what’s wrong with it are the fundamental assumptions that such a scheme requires that we make about the Kingdom. I dare not try to speak wide-rangingly on Kenneson’s behalf, but suffice to say that when I read him, I was thinking throughout, “yeah, you know, that’s really true when you stop to think about it.” In our desire to market our ideas effectively - whatever “effectively” means, we beg the question - to a media-saturated America, we make subtle, tacit agreements with our culture about who we are and how we must be perceived by that culture in order to be given a “fair hearing.” (We assume, moreover, that we deserve a fair hearing!) And those agreements, Kenneson argues forcefully, are often antithetical to the essential nature of the Kingdom. It’s worth listening to Kenneson, if only to question your own ecclesiological headwaters.
qb
Did you know that there are three times as many tanning salons in Washington state than there are Starbucks?
For all of you coffee bibbers, the game is about to start in St. Louis this evening. It has rained all day; but, they are drying out the field as best they can to get this game in. The groundskeepers are happy that there is no standing water! If the Cardinals clinch, they won’t be drinking coffee after this game! Mike, I feel that spiritual connection with you! GO CARDINALS!!!!!
Well! They did it, Mike, they did it!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!
Whoo hoo!!! Go CARDS!!!!
I think the Lord gives us some mountain top experiences at times to be a foretaste of what a true celebration and party we have to look forward to someday. ST. LOUIS is celebrating tonight; but, it is all so transitory. I am thankful for the celebration that we all have to look forward to together! With that said, 2006 goes down as a year to remember.
Bradford L. Stevens
St. Louis, MO
The Championship once again lies in the hands of the franchise with the second most titles…
The St. Louis Cardinals! The 2006 World Series Champions!
There truly isn’t a group of fans as loyal and supportive as the St. Louis Cardinal fans!!
–A St. Louis Native and Cardinals Fan, ALSO transplanted in Texas–
Eckstein-World Series MVP. What were the odds of that happening on a team with the likes of Pujols, Edmonds, and Rolen? He embodies what baseball is all about. Congratulations Cards. Mocha…lots of mocha.
Around here it is almost impossible to find a seat in a Starbucks that is not occupied by a Christian. I cracked up the other day as I saw two guys planning worship on their laptops, one reading Velvet Elvis, one reading McLaren, another reading Foster, plus a group of Students who who proudly wearing youth group t-shirts.
ok, I didn’t read all the comments, but one of my sisters has Starbucks as a client. they are currently opening a store every 24 hours.
I agree with Kelly–Peet’s is a great place for coffee. And, they offer the frappacino’s (sp?)or frozen drinks for $1.99 on Fridays AND buy one get one free specials to students during certain study hours. I like the camaraderie among the coffee drinkers and the Sharky’s Burrito fans at the United on Judge Ely. Everyone needs to give Peet’s a try! (They also use “free market” coffee.)