Western Union, Xerox, and GM

The things we would do differently if we could.  What parts of your personal history would you rewrite if you could?  What decisions of yesterday would you choose to decide over?  Any roads you would travel down that you didn’t the first time? What doors would you open that you had left closed?  What career chooses would you reconsider?  The things we would do differently, if we could.

1876 was a breakthrough year for Alexander Graham Bell. In March of that year, he was issued patent number 174,465 for an invention he called the telephone.  Bell went on a lecture tour demonstrating his new talking device. Later that year, he offered to sell his invention with all the rights for a $100,000 to a company called Western Union.  Western Union refused the offer, in part believing there was no future for a device called the telephone.  People had never communicated that way before, why would they have such need in the future?  Besides, Western Union was an incredibly successful company, with a lucrative monopoly on a wildly popular device called the telegraph. Hence the name, Western Union Telegraph Company. 

How many of you in the last year have used a telegraph?  No one?  What a surprise!  Western Union thought of itself as a company in the telegraph business when it should have realized it was in the communications business.  Similarly, railroad companies in the United States suffered from the same short-sightedness when they failed to perceive the competitive threat posed to their passenger travel business in the early 20^th century by the fledgling airline industry.  Railroad companies thought they were in the "railroad" business when they should have seen themselves in the "transportation" business.                                                                                                                     

A few years back, Xerox, the copier giant, was in crisis mode; sales were slumping almost as fast its stock price.  The company needed a new vision, a new way of seeing and a new way of doing.  It started with the salespeople and sales reps.  James Firestone, president of Xerox North America explains,   "Salespeople were used to doing one thing, they would knock on doors, look for copiers, see how old they were, and sell a refurbished machine. They knew how to do that." The salespeople had such predictable routines that they could plan their days, weeks, even years, based on when they knew their customers’ copiers needed replacing. It was comforting. But it just wasn't succeeding any longer.                                                                            

Under the new vision and strategy, the salespeople were trained to engage the customers so they could understand the complexities of how their offices operated and find opportunities to sell other products, such as scanners and printers and monitors. Maybe they would find that the customer actually needed fewer machines that could do more than the old ones had. Firestone recalls that the sales reps became anxious and some resisted, "They'd say, 'I know how to sell and make a living the old way, but not the new way.'"  But with the new way, things turned around for Xerox because they saw themselves not merely in the copier replacement business but in the office management business.                        

Only time will tell if things turn around for a company called General Motors. In 1962, half the cars sold in America were made by GM, one out of every two cars.  When I was ten-years-old I could identify every vehicle made by GM just be looking at the tail lights.  That how ubiquitous GM was, their products where everywhere.  Today, GM’s market share is closer to twenty percent, one out of every five vehicles.                                    

For three quarters of a century, General Motors has been the world’s largest car and truck company.  But you don’t have to be a reader of the Wall Street Journal much less the business page of the Grand Rapids Press to know that that streak will likely end this year if Toyota has anything to say about it.  Do you think anyone at General Motors or Ford or Chrysler is asking the question:  “What can we continue to do just like we’ve always done in order to ensure a brighter future?”                                                                                                                                   

I call your attention to the cover of the bulletin. What do you suppose that picture is?  It’s actually a reproduction of a post card I keep on my desk. It’s a picture of the old Grand Rapids Civic Auditorium.  It’s filled, from the main floor to the top row. I would guess there are five to six thousand people there.  It was taken on April 16, 1933, in the middle of the Great Depression, at an Easter service held by East Congregational Church.  Amazing, isn’t it?  Where did everybody park?  Those were the days, glory days for East Church.  We didn’t even have this sanctuary back then; we worshipped in Second Space.  And it was only to get better and GM was just beginning its 76-year run as number one.  It isn’t that way anymore. Not by a long shot.  Life sure is different.                                                                                                                                          

The essence of living, I believe, comes down not to finding the right answers, but asking the right questions.  Lots of people ask questions, unfortunately they’re not the right questions.        

Some people are asking, “How do we regain a lost glory?”  Well, that’s the wrong question.

Some people are asking, “How do we turn back the clock?”  Well, you can’t. Some people are asking, “Shouldn’t we just continue doing the same things in the same ways like we always done?”  Well, who do you think you are, General Motors? Some people are asking, “Don’t you think we need we need more money in the bank?”  Well, how much is enough?  And what Bible are you reading?  Some people are asking, “Isn’t it the ministers’ job?”  Well, grow up, little infants and take responsibility for your faith and your church.  Some people are asking, “Don’t you think the future is just too scary?”  Well, when hasn’t the unknown been scary? Some people are asking, “Isn’t it time to bring back the telegraph?”  Well, there you go, Western Union and its CEO Christina Gold thank you. 

Poor Paul. He didn’t deserve the Corinthian crowd. This is not why he became a missionary.  Nobody deserves a congregation like First Church of Corinth.  Such a wild bunch!  Hedonists.  Status seekers.  Theologically A.D.D.  You’d think in a church things should be different; not a reflection of all what’s wrong with the world but a place different from the world.  A better place.  A more gracious place.  A place where people agree to disagree and still walk out the door as friends.                                                                                                                        

But in First Church of Corinth there were divisions and cliques, quarrels and grumblings, fractures and fissures.  And it wasn’t about leaky roofs or dirty carpets.  First Church of Corinth had lost its center, its core.  The rudder of the ship had snapped off and the congregation was at the mercy of a turbulent ocean.  The members were clinging to leaders and personalities like drowning victims grasping for lifelines. Some were claiming that the gifted teacher and leader Apollos was the man to follow.  Others objected and said, “No Peter is the one with whom we should cast our lot.”  Another group caucusing in the Parlor took a vote and determined that Paul was the one they should stick with.  While the evangelicals among them, wanted to get back to the centrality of Christ.                        

Everybody had their favorite. This group.  That group.  My cause. Your cause.  Some in Corinth were saying, “I’m not supporting this place if I don’t get my way.”  Others were saying, “If you want anything from me, you’ll have to ask my five times, in five different ways.  And even though I promise it, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get it.”  Tough crowd, these Corinthian folks!  Paul had his hands full.  And at the end of the day, all he could fall back on was the witness of a Nazarene carpenter named Jesus, who lived and loved in such a way that he got himself killed. And that death, that sacrifice, some how and in some way points to the extent that God is willing to go to show us and convince us how much we are loved and how much we are to love.                                               

I believe there’s only one question worth the asking, and that question is this: 

If you want a snapshot of what God intends for the world, read the first two chapters of the book of Genesis. You’ll find there the diversity of creation.  Harmony and cooperation among  human beings, animals, and the environment.  We witness equality between woman and man.  Purposeful work that has a positive impact on the world.  People using their gifts for the sake of others.  Real daily intimacy with God and the Highest Power of the Universe.  All those intentions we discover in the Genesis story.                                                                                      

How will East Church show the world God’s intentions?  Well, there are many ways we currently do so, but here are three areas we need to address and give our full attention in the coming months; not later, but sooner; not someday, but this day, not whenever; but ASAP.  We need to offer worship that in style and content celebrates diversity.  We need to commit ourselves to education and spiritual formation that is comprehensive for all ages. We need to model stewardship that is sacrificial.

Those, I believe, are God’s intentions.  And I suspect we already have an inkling in that direction.  We know it’s time to do so, to build upon the incredible ministries already here. That’s why we house the homeless.  That’s why we send eleven adults to New Orleans.  That’s why our young people will head to Minnesota in June.  That’s why we sit on the floor with our kids in Children’s Worship centers.  That’s why we take care of this building.  That’s why we gather around those who are sick and sad.  That’s why we sit in Bible studies and discussion groups.  That’s why we gave away $63,000 last year to mission causes.  That’s why we paint walls at the ICCF house.  That’s why we plant springtime flowers in the courtyard.  We do this and so much more because we believe God intends such things. Now the time to shift into overdrive.                                                                       

By the way, even though Western Union missed a golden opportunity back in 1876, today it is a Fortune 500 company with $4 billion in sales.  Which proves the point that glory days are not just seen in rear view mirrors.  That could be said of East, too. I invite you downstairs today as we continue the discussion.