AI has a hard time with words, but you get the gist...
From a reader:
I used to call it the Joe Tkach Blunder. Now the world calls it the Cracker Barrel Blunder. Here is a quote from the link below about the Cracker Barrel rebranding:They created an update that was somewhat ill-conceived, and it felt like a betrayal to their core customers," O'Keefe said, adding that the rebrand violated what he considers to be the most important rule of rebranding: to understand the internal culture driven by a brand's most loyal fans. O'Keefe added: "Not the ones you're trying to win that you don't have, but the ones that you already have that care about you, because you betray them at your own risk.I think CGI may understand the quandary they are in. I wonder if they comprehend that they are spiritually obligated to jettison erroneous doctrines such as British Israelism and headline theology, but can't because they know they will suffer the same fate as Cracker Barrel and WCG under Tkach. Both Cracker Barrel and WCG thought they could attract new fans with their changes while retaining their current base. Both failed miserably.
The Tyler leadership is indeed between a rock and a hard place. I think they might actually understand the predicament they are in and are cognizant of how Bill Watson is chomping at the bit to take advantage of it at every opportunity.
Let's not forget the "New" Coke. Consumers voted against that one, big time!
ReplyDeleteLeaders are always driven to expand. That's the measuring stick by which the shareholders hold them accountable. How to expand without losing the core is always a roll of the dice. NASCAR had some great success with this during the early 2,000's, but the core often resisted the governing body's efforts to gentrify. Non-Southerner Jeff Gordon received a lot of boos, even after he began his phenomenal run of wins and championships, and there was mass disgust as the Stars and Bars was banned from the track. But, expand it did, and then the success was followed by a serious contraction for an entire subset of reasons.
I don't know how I feel about the Cracker Barrel situation. I hardly ever dine out. The only time I get to enjoy Cracker Barrel is usually when my best bud, my ex-brother-in-law who was born and raised in Alabama comes to town. It's his favorite, and when we dine there, it's a comfortable place to visit and conversate. What I wonder about is the extent of influence the president's comments had on the way the changes were mass-rejected. Let's face it. He does resonate a lot of power through his spoken words. Last time I witnessed this type of influence was when I was regularly making the classic car auction circuit. Any Porsche owned by Jerry Seinfeld sold for way over assessed value, by thousands of dollars! Jay Leno also has that value-adding quality.
We'll see if the added publicity Cracker Barrel has now received gives them a bump. If worst comes to worst, next time Bro comes to town, there's always Chili's!
BB
Backwards on President Trump and Cracker Barrel. Customers rejected it, then he supported them, then CB repented.
DeleteWhen it comes to re-branding, imagine if Tkach and company had carved out a “Hebrews 4 Exception” and retained the weekly Sabbath. Everything else the same in the 1995 sermon, just that little “remains.” Then retain some permutation of. “Church of God” in the name change. Then maybe throw in lip service to the Decalogue as a law code (why not?).
DeleteCould they have retained more people while at the same time getting mainstream acceptance?
Hey BB, down under we never heard of Cracker Barrel or Chili’s, only the stable KFC, Mac of course, and Burger King. My first BigMac was in Germany, in Munich. I was with two Canadian guys, we had just flown in from Israel where I was living to explore the Vaterland. Had a ball and also my first taste of MacDonalds. Loved it ever since. Shortly afterwards we visited Dachau concentration camp. Sobering indeed. We were quiet for the rest of the day. Maybe Cracker Jack with come down under one day. American culture dominates down here, at least we will never go hungry lol. Lessons to be learned in all this. The mother church changed its core values and look what occurred. And the rest is history. We Kiwis love motor racing and NASCAR too. Anyway keep well, cheers.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't call hanging on to traditional values as looking back.
ReplyDelete2 Thessalonians 2:15 "So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter."
Btw, the Dixie Chicks band never recovered from criticizing George W. Bush in 2003. There are times to keep one's mouth shut.
Bill Watson, Adrian Davis, and company play to that old time religion. They swallowed Herbert Armstrong's theology hook, line, and sinker; and they actively resist anyone who tries to correct mistakes or modify heretical doctrines. Even worse, they understand that their audience is very white, and very conservative both morally and politically.
ReplyDeleteThe more enlightened folks in Tyler and their allies have always been at a disadvantage in trying to correct the ship and appeal to a wider audience. Moreover, Bill and his allies have always tried to present Tyler as being disconnected from the membership and their values and too susceptible to "liberal" ideas, and the influence of those pointy-headed intellectuals! Bill is the master of passive-aggressive. He relentlessly preaches his beliefs, while carefully presenting himself as loyal to the CGI organization.
Nevertheless, in the face of Vance Stinson's, Mike James, and Jeff Reed's efforts to get out from under the baggage of Armstrongism, Bill has quietly begun collecting the tithes of his supporters - diverting funds that should be going to Tyler to his own coffers to support the message of him and his allies. He has effectively carved out an organization for himself within CGI - members that are loyal only to him and his messaging. Like his favorite president (Trump), Watson is a cruel authoritarian who has embraced some bat-sh-t crazy ideas.
So he's got an undeclared splinter in progress. Historically, splintering has been the only way to institute change, starting with the mother ship, and working it's way through all of the ACOGs. The changes just can't be made to fundamental doctrines such as the sabbath, holy days, tithing, clean meats, BI, and the Armstrong prophecy model. If you disagree with doctrine or policy, you are not going to succeed in changing them, so in matters of conscience, the only alternative is to walk away.
ReplyDeleteTkach and company weren’t trying to draw new people. Remember, they were forced to come out early by Earl Williams.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteFinally, a Church name that has not been taken. "The Worldwide Cracker Barrel Church of God"!
That is funny...
Delete"Barrel" in English is basically another way of saying ekklesia (as in "a barrel of monkeys" -- a group or congregation of them). So "Barrel Church" is redundant. So if it's a church for white "Israelites" it could properly be called the "Cracker Barrel of God."
DeleteThe nature of the Church, the Body of Christ, is more nuanced than just membership numbers would convey. The Body of Christ consists of people who were chosen before the foundation of the Cosmos and are predestined to salvation (Ephesians 1). They are referred to as the Elect. They will be in the First Resurrection. I disagree with Barth on this doctrine. Barth sees everyone as being Elect in Christ. Whoever appropriates salvation becomes Elect. While I believe that Election is in Christ for those who belong to that category, there is nevertheless a pre-determined set of people who comprise the Elect. The Non-elect will be in the Second Resurrection and experience afterlife evangelism.
ReplyDeleteWe have a tendency to overlay this Election scenario with earthly economics. We analyze church membership dynamics with principles from marketing taught in business schools. It doesn’t work that way. It may seem that way on the surface but it is not the underlying causation. God determines who is in the Body of Christ and gives these people to Jesus (John 6:39).
But I acknowledge that this process is not Calvinistic determinism. It is not an issue of Irresistible Grace. The New Testament is full of admonitions to Christians about not falling away. Peter in 2 Peter 1:10, treats election as something than needs to be maintained by our diligence. After all, the generation of Jews that Christ came to were elect but the great majority rejected him and will be in the Second Resurrection. So, effective marketing may be of some value to denominational growth but it does not affect salvation in the long run.
So, when the theological transformation took place in the WCG under the Joe and Joe, Jr., nobody fell to the wayside and lost salvation because of mishandled marketing. The view that such a disaster could happen is to neglect the overarching influence of God himself on the Ekklesia. God deals with people in their circumstances. I would not have done the transition in the same way as the Tkaches. I would have placed more emphasis on the actual, personal wounding that people experienced rather than the simple dissemination of a new theology and a mass, published apology. I know the absence of this affected me for years. But who am I to say.
This is a bigger topic than I have time to write about. But my two cents …
Scout
The simple answer is to "Preach the Word... in season, and out of season" (2 Timothy 4:2).
ReplyDeleteThat should work. It did about 2,000 years ago.
How you "dress it up" might bring an even bigger response. But therein lies the rub.