Light Bulbs and Lawn and Garden

Last week, I had to make a “Home Improvement Store” run. (I will not disclose the name of the store to protect the guilty.) We needed a few things for our new house and so off I went. I have to confess, when I enter a “Home Improvement Store,” I’m kind of out of my element. (That’s a humongous understatement, by the way.) (Think fish out of water, driver out of car, stopsign on a round about) I needed 3 things: 1) 4 L brackets to fix my kids dresser, picture wire, and 5 light bulbs.

Upon entering the store, I began to read the Huge signs above my head for direction. They read various things like “Hardware,” “Lighting,” “Seasonal,” “Lawn & Garden,” etc. Thinking through the whole “L Bracket” thing, I headed for “Hardware.” I asked a guy name Vic and he asked a guy named Jim and Jim prompted redirected me two aisles away where we located the “L Brackets.” Not bad for round 1.

Next was Picture Wire, which I remembered having seen a few days before when I was there with Scott Drummond (who is a “Home Improvement Store” Officianato). So I got that no problem. Round 2, success.

Then came the light bulbs. Now, if you were me, walking through that store and you saw a big sign that read “Lighting,” would it be wrong to assume that that is where you would find the “light bulbs?” Well, according to Steve who works in “Lighting” I was wrong. Dead wrong. Steve cleared the whole matter up for me when I asked him where the light bulbs were… He calmly replied, “Oh, they’re all down in Lawn and Garden.”

My first thought was obviously, “Yes of course! Lawn and Garden, that makes total sense. How foolish of me to think that light bulbs would be in “Lighting.”

At NLC, there are 3 words that have become a filter for all of our environments… Easy, Strategic, & Obvious. Everything we do centers around those 3 words. Every sign, the placement of every greeter, worker, volunteer, etc. Everything. We want to make sure that people know how to navigate around NLC on a weekend with as much ease as possible.

There is nothing quite like being a 1st timer at a new church, is there? Do you remember your first time? It’s down right scary isn’t it? You don’t know anyone, you have no idea where you’re going, and you’re hoping someone will look friendly enough to help you find your way. Then, if you have kids, it’s compounded by like 1,000 times isn’t it? At NLC, we want to do everything we can to set people’s minds at ease and help make everything as Easy, Strategic & Obvious for them as we possibly can!

So this week, when you come into NLC, pay attention and look for those 3 words in action.

Easy.

Strategic.

Obvious.

3 words, 1 big difference!!! As Easy as finding light bulbs!

Just a bloggish thought,

Matt