The Starbucks "Stunt"...or was it?

Greetings and Salutations,

As some of you no doubt know, there was a period of time last week when the foundations of the coffee world were shaken (and perhaps even stirred). Tomorrow will mark one week after Starbucks, who singly-handedly reinvented how Americans approach coffee, closed all 7100 of their stores for about 3 hours. This was done so that the coffee masters, the baristas, could be retrained. Now most of the media made one of two very incorrect assumptions about this statement. Some fell into the first trap of thinking this retraining had to do with the mechanics and systems...as if there was a new piece of equipment that everyone was learning how to use. Nope. Some (the punditry mainly) tried to dismiss it as a public relations "stunt". Now it may have had some public relations elements to it, but not in the shallow, circus-sideshow way that the media elites would have you believe.
So, what was this closing really about? It was about passion. Specifically, it was about the founder and (once again) CEO Howard Schultz energizing the baristas and helping them to become passionate about coffee again. If the baristas fall in love with coffee again, then they will be coffee evangelists, and the company will once again be the caffeinated juggernaut it was. There is no better formula for success than being passionate about your product or service.
I wonder, as the church body are we Christians passionate about our faith lives? Maybe we should close every church in America one Sunday morning and get some retraining on how to share our love for Christ will others...I think I'll go get a Starbucks skinny latte while I think about that.

Peace!,
Kevin

PS The pic is the original Starbucks logo, still viewable at the first store in Seattle (which I've been to :) )...its a twin-tailed siren...