PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

May 26, 2019

THE TEN TIME RULE

Over my more than fifty years of ministry I have tried to practice what I call “Ten Time Rule.”  If you want someone to respond to a request to attend a meeting or a program, generally you have to ask at least ten times.  This is especially true if the program or meeting is not one the person regularly attends.  For the most part only asking once will end in disappointment.

There is some basis for my “Ten Time Rule.”  Many years ago I read a study about advertising in newspapers.  The study showed that if a business wanted to promote a special and only had a fixed amount to spend, they did better by putting in the newspaper a number of small ads rather than putting in one or two large ones.

Most protestant churches have the announcements near the beginning of the service.  Sometimes they have to do with signing-up for an event or attending a dinner or program after the service.  It is not uncommon for many worshipers to have the request which was made at the beginning of the service slip their minds.  Having been a part of a congregation for the last eleven years I know that I have fallen into this pattern.  Over the years I fell into the practice of mentioning just before the Benediction a program or dinner that was to follow or remind the congregation to sign-up for an event.  This practice seemed to get a better response.

When I have a regularly scheduled doctor, dentist, or eye appointment I will usually receive either a phone call or an e-mail most often the day before reminding me of the appointment.  People in the medical profession have learned that without a reminder many people will forget their appointment, especially when it is a six month or longer check-up.

Much of our daily, weekly, and monthly activities are dictated by routine.  We do many of them without much thought.  They have become automatic which means that we do not have to spend much time thinking about them.  Unfortunately, our routines can be hard to interrupt with something new or novel, like a meeting, program, or an event that is not normally on our calendar.  It can take a lot to break into our established routines.  New ideas get swallowed up in our ingrained way of thinking.  It is no surprise that it might take ten times to make real inroads into our routines.

As Jesus and His disciples begin His final journey to Holy City, Jesus tells his followers “that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” (Mat. 16:21b)  He repeats His prediction two more times before they reach Jerusalem.  Never-the-less the disciples seem surprised and confused when Jesus is arrested and at first have a hard time believing that Jesus has risen from the dead on Sunday.  The events of Holy Week did not fit into the general understanding of the Messiah being a political ruler who would free the Jewish people from the oppression of the Romans.  It was only at Pentecost, forty days after the resurrection, that they finally got it.

Marketing of programs, ideas, or events is a tough market.  It would be easy to say that people should remember.  But we do not.  Success is easiest when one follows the “Ten Time Rule.”