As you may have heard already, last week every single Starbucks in the world (except for licensed locations like the ones inside of Target) shut down for a few hours. I am SO intrigued by this. And, I think as the church, we can learn a lot from it.

I am currently reading “The Starbucks Experience”. Howard Schultz is committed to the vision of the company and is using the shut down time to remind partners (Starbucks doesn’t have “employees”; only “Partners”) of their first priority to be a “third place” for community, conversation and coffee.

The whole thing has me thinking:

• How well is our church providing a positive “third place” for people?
• How committed are we to making that third place a warm, loving, interactive environment?
• What are we doing to help our “partners” (our volunteers and staff) get the vision of connecting people with God?

Below is his letter to Starbucks’ partners the day prior to the national “closed for training” day. Incredible stuff.

Seattle, February 25, 2008
Howard Schultz Transformation Agenda Communication #8
To: All Partners

From: Howard Schultz

Re: As we embark on Espresso Excellence Training

Aged Sumatra … that’s what I’m drinking as I write you this note. Hands down,

it’s my favorite coffee. Aged for three to five years in a warehouse in Singapore, then shipped as green coffee to our plant in Kent, Washington, and roasted to perfection. The result is a stunning cup of coffee. The velvety mouthful, the full-body of one of our classic Indonesian coffees, and the subtle but ever-present earthiness and spiciness brought to life by our proprietary aging process. It’s rare, it’s exotic, and it’s ours. What a gift … and we get to share it with one another and with our customers.

Tomorrow evening, we will come together in an unprecedented event in our company’s storied history. We will close all of our U.S. company-operated stores to teach, educate and share our love of coffee, and the art of espresso. And in doing so, we will begin to elevate the Starbucks Experience for our customers. We are passionate about our coffee. And we will revisit our standards of quality that are the foundation for the trust that our customers have in our coffee and in all of us.

But, as I think about it, there is another perhaps equally important reason why we have scheduled this training. It’s to celebrate who we are.

We are Starbucks. We should be incredibly proud of what we have built. We are the worldwide leader of specialty coffee. And, believe me when I tell you, we are just getting started. We will overcome the difficult and humbling challenges we face, and will be stronger for it. You have my word on that.

We are Bean Stock, we are Healthcare, and we are also the Cup Fund.

We are at our best when we are entrepreneurial and courageous, push for innovation and reject the status quo. We are leaders not followers–we leave that for others.

We are the third place in the lives of millions of our customers. We are the coffee that brings people together every day around the world to foster conversation and community.

As Starbucks partners, we are bound together by the passion we have for our coffee and the customer experience. More than 170,000 of us stand for quality and an uncompromising ethical standard. We uphold our guiding principles by demonstrating respect and dignity for one another, and for our customers.

Thank you in advance for embracing tomorrow night in the spirit in which it is intended. Have fun, but also make it matter. Learn, teach, and share with your fellow partners.

Celebrate our coffee, one another, and the respect we have for our customers.

Onward,

Howard