Garner Consulting, LLC

I don't usually get into the whole class-envy thing...but doesn't a $72,500 mobile phone seem a bit excessive? How about a $1.3 million version? More surprising, though, is not that someone would create such a thing. More extreme is that this ultra-luxury mobile phone market is now into the billion dollar range world-wide, with hundreds of thousands of units being sold at a minimum of $6,500 each.

Maybe it's because I did some year-end giving of sewing machines, water filters, and breeding animals to some of the world's poorest people -- while knowing I'm still doing pathetically little -- that makes me a bit cynical about this "market segment." How much is just "too much?"

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Lord of the Blings: Nokia's Diamond-Studded Subsidiary

By Mark Scott
Business Week Online
12/29/07 4:00 AM PT

The prices for even the most technologically advanced smartphones on the market amount to little more than pocket change for the world's mega-rich. Nokia's high-end Vertu brand goes after buyers who think high-tech is nice, but diamonds and gold are even better. The company finishes its phones with precious metals and stones, commanding prices as high as $72,500. Some of its competitors go even further.

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The biggest purveyor of cell-phone bling is Vertu. This British subsidiary of mobile phone giant Nokia (NYSE: NOK) makes phones costing from US$6,500 to $72,500. Even the lower-priced models boast fine materials such as Italian leather and 18-carat gold, while top-of-the-line units are studded with hundreds of diamonds and other precious stones. Every phone has access to a concierge service that can help you, say, charter a private jet to the Bahamas.

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British telecom consultancy Strategy Analytics...reckons Vertu sells about 200,000 handsets a year at an average $8,000 each. That works out to a cool $1.6 billion, nearly 3 percent of Nokia's $58 billion revenues.

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Already companies such as Switzerland's GoldVish and Russia's Gresso offer handsets with diamond finishings and solid gold cases that run into the thousands of dollars. The prize for the most expensive phone, though, goes to Russian data-protection company Ancort, whose platinum-covered, diamond-studded Crypto smartphone sells for $1.3 million.

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Full article: http://www.technewsworld.com/story/60975.html

Promo video and schedule link. http://www.ihop.org/Group/Group.aspx?id=1000016459

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Willow Creek Repents?

Few would disagree that Willow Creek Community Church has been one of the most influential churches in America over the last thirty years. Willow, through its association, has promoted a vision of church that is big, programmatic, and comprehensive. This vision has been heavily influenced by the methods of secular business. James Twitchell, in his new book Shopping for God, reports that outside Bill Hybels’ office hangs a poster that says: “What is our business? Who is our customer? What does the customer consider value?” Directly or indirectly, this philosophy of ministry—church should be a big box with programs for people at every level of spiritual maturity to consume and engage—has impacted every evangelical church in the country.

So what happens when leaders of Willow Creek stand up and say, “We made a mistake”?

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If you’d like to get a synopsis of the research you can watch a video with Greg Hawkins here. And Bill Hybels’ reactions, recorded at last summer’s Leadership Summit, can be seen here.

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Having put all of their eggs into the program-driven church basket you can understand their shock when the research revealed that “Increasing levels of participation in these sets of activities does NOT predict whether someone’s becoming more of a disciple of Christ. It does NOT predict whether they love God more or they love people more.”

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In other words, spiritual growth doesn’t happen best by becoming dependent on elaborate church programs but through the age old spiritual practices of prayer, bible reading, and relationships. And, ironically, these basic disciplines do not require multi-million dollar facilities and hundreds of staff to manage.

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Full article: http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2007/10/willow_creek_re.html

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/nov2006/id20061110_328875.htm?link_position=link1

"The more words that are spoken, the more smoke there is in the air. And who is any better off?"

Ecclesiastes 6:11 from "The Message" paraphrase version of the Bible.

So, don't smoke...it'll kill your message and frustrate your market.

Grab 'em in less than 3 seconds. 

Religion vs. Spiritual Reality article from Dennis Peacocke -- As I have repeatedly said over the years, “religion” poses more of a threat to both Christianity and the secular world than all the heroin in the world. “Religion” originates from Satan and is his special H-bomb targeting mankind. It can generally be defined as man-centered, soulish energy which creates systems of right-wrong “truth” that put the burden of transcendence on man's disciplines apart from God. All such “religion” is false, whether it focuses on developing higher consciousness or worshipping anyone or anything other than mankind’s true Creator. It imprisons those who are trapped in its power, and presents a false and distorted picture of the true God to those genuinely searching for Him. Beyond that, “religion” creates straw-man caricatures of true spiritual reality which are easily ridiculed and stereotyped by even the feeblest of cynical intellects. The Bible itself even has to call attention to the clear distinction...

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The following is an excerpt from a newsletter I receive from Graham Cooke. Excellent picture. ----> Several years ago, I had a dream that was impossible to forget. In it, I found myself on a battlefield. My army and I had already fought one battle, but a second conflict was about to begin. The ground was covered with bodies, blood, wounded warriors, and discarded weapons: it was like a scene from The Lord of the Rings. I looked at my troops and saw that we survivors were a pitiful group. All of us were exhausted and hurt. Our armor was broken and wrecked. I had cuts all over my body and was so tired that I could barely lift my sword. Across the field, I could see another legion of the enemy forming ranks. They stood there, glaring at us, trying to intimidate us with their strength and power. I was directly opposite from one soldier who towered over me; he must have been eighteen feet tall. I had a crick in my neck from looking up at him.

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