Zappos is a growing company with a unique culture, an innovative marketing style, and a brilliant reputation.  Compared to most young upstart companies, it’s pretty amazing what they’ve accomplished.

In 10 years Zappos has grown from “nothing” into a billion dollar industry leader, no small feat if you’re just selling shoes!  When this happens in business, it’s no accident.  When a company is doing this well following their launch they’re worth studying.

Given, the Church is obviously not a “business” that can be governed by “best” practices.   But that being said, can your church learn anything from Zappos?  In fact, is it possible that Zappos may be activating spiritual principles and successful because of it? And if more churches were doing the same we could see greater things accomplished? Zappos has been fruitful, and multiplied.  How’d they do that?

According to the company, it’s pretty simple.  They’re able to define their core values in 10 sentences.  See the following….

Zappos Core Values

As we grow as a company, it has become more and more important to explicitly define the Zappos core values from which we develop our culture, our brand, and our business strategies. These are the ten core values that we live by:

1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

I don’t know about you but I can think of scriptures that most of these values reflect.  Do you see any scriptural foundations in Zappos core values?

It’s likely that having a clear vision, mission & set of core values might be what sets your church apart…. or not.  Clear definition creates intense focus, momentum & effectiveness.  Think of ambient lighting versus a laser beam.

Can your church state it’s core values?

Introducing ChurchMetrics from ChurchMetrics on Vimeo.

A few posts ago, I showed you Return on Ministry.  Here’s another brand new (beta) measurement tool, ChurchMetrics.  Intuitive navigation makes a great user interface for this new app.  You can check history, track trends and access current data, all for free.  Track everything from attendance to baptisms, from giving to salvations.

ChurchMetrics is a new service brought to you by LifeChurch.tv and yes, of course, there’s a mobile version.  What good is data if you can’t get to it whenever you want?