Email: Influentials
—— Forwarded Message
From: RYAM999@aol.com
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 04:21:15 EST
To: erwin@mosaic.org
Erwin,
The marketing research organization Roper has been tracking ten percent of the population for the past five decades. These “Influentials” are considered as the thought leaders, trendsetters and bellwethers for America. Interestingly Roper has found that this early majority group has a track record of usually being 2-5 years ahead of the consumer, political and social curves. (The Influentials by Ed Keller and Jon Berry) This pacesetter groups is not early adopter. Instead, the Influentials have the social clout with others to carry the idea forward.
Influentials know more people, have a wide range of interests, and a greater depth of knowledge. They are trusted individuals who offer information and advice in a world of change. Influentials seem to embody the Connectors, Mavens, and Salespeople characteristics explained in Gladwell’s Tipping Point.
Roper points out that word of mouth has been the most powerful influence in advertising for many years. However, in the past three decades word of mouth influence has increased even more. Americans now rely less on specialized experts and depend on specialized generalists who do not have a vested interest in the information. By more than a two to one margin, Americans prefer word of mouth to advertising for websites, health improvement, saving and investing money, restaurants, vacation and hotels.
The Influentials are local grassroots activists with high belief in growth and change.. Their responsibility and initiative leads them to actions such as complaining about a product deficiency or writing letters to support causes..
Influentials are more connected to others. They belong to more than twice as many community groups as the rest of the population (seven as opposed to three). Their advantage is not just belonging to more groups. Their ideas are better because they are in constant dialogue with people of differing viewpoints. Thinking through opposing viewpoints give them greater credibility with others.
Influentials, who are at the center of the information hub, have multiple sources of information. People are their primary source of information. They are more highly educated and their number one hobby is reading. They have the answers or know where to get the answer.
The book Influentials affirms our Awaken Humanity strategy. Our activity in community causes will help us win the favor of other Influentials. Connecting our passionate people to Influentials in the workplace and neighborhood will also help expand the influence of Christ.
The final observation is that the Influentials fall into the friend, sage and warrior groups.
I have been coming across a lot of these connections lately
Influentials make the society, culture and marketplace run. Roper screens these people on the basis of their involvement in local affairs.
The Influentials
Ed Keller and Jon Berry
The Free Press
2003 New York
(not a “Must-Read”)
QUESTIONS
Could I meaningfully expand my network and influence by joining a community organization?
Who is the Influencer that I should be connecting with? What are they trying to do that either I or my small group can help with?
Do I need to expand my information base?
Is there a local community cause that I could get involved with that would further the cause of Christ?
The people I observe who are Influentials have an intangible compelling factor that others don’t have. They generally don’t “try to be an expert”, or “try to get to know as many people as possible” or “try to even persuade others toward a certain agenda”. They’ve simply become the kind of person that naturally persuades others, is naturally liked by those around them, and people actually want to know them. yes, they pursue others and their own mission with intentionality, but the truth is that they have become a compelling person and that’s why they have a large social network, a voice in people’s lives that deeply impacts them, and people around them listen to their advice and wisdom b/c the life they are living prove that their wisdom for life works.
Hey Mosaic Catalysts,
I love the idea, and the necessity of reaching the influentials. Is there a better way to spread the gospel than finding those who already have a voice in today’s world? Probably not. However, I do have a concern. By stating, publicly, that you are targeting people of influence, the Yelo, I believe you are giving greater value to a segment of humanity. It appears as if you are saying the urban poor, the single mom, and the Bible scholar are of less value as they may not have the ear of today’s culture. While I know this is not at the heart of what you are communicating, I believe that it is inferred. I know that Erwin spent many years with the Urban poor, and I know that he has a heart for all of the world, influence or not, so I wonder why this has been publicly communicated. The Gospel is for all, and the Church should communicate it as such. I hope this to be the heart of your movement. Perhaps I just want to be a voice of caution as I am a supportive bystander of your movement.
Glory to God for all that you do in Los Angeles.
Charlie,
Such a great question! The most innovative and influential are not only the rich and wealthy. In fact, influencers can be from any background or any ethnicity or any socioeconomic group.
A couple of examples include Matthew 10 when Jesus sends the disciples out to find the “persons of peace” and dust their feet off once they found someone not interested in their message. Furthermore, we see that a person of peace like the jailer in Acts 16 has the capacity to help his entire household (”oikos”) come to Christ.
A secular example would include Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point. He mentions how many of the fastest moving fads actually begin among the urban poor. He cites the Hush Puppies craze from the 1980s as an example.
Finally, we actually believe each person has “yelo” inside of them. In other words, God created us with uniqueness and the possibility of excelling in different areas. Some of us may be innovative with ideas whereas others are innovative when it comes to organizing things or relating to people. We actually hold a one day training called “yelo” which seeks to help people discover their God-given uniqueness and ultimately to discover their most effective ways to serve the world. Through this experience we have had several people discover even more - a relationship with Christ. Go to http://yelo.awaken.org/ for more details.
Hope that helps!
Eric Bryant
Navigator, Mosaic
Thank you for responding.
I was sharing simply to point out that it appears as if you are are after a 26 year old, single, artistic who can live life as a “Barbarian”. While say a married, 36 year old, struggling with addiction issues is of less value to your community.
I am not saying that they are neglected, but it is very clear that your church has a target market. I would hope that you truly believe that “yelo” is inside eveyr individual and that you continue to target humanity and not simply LA’s hollywood crowd. I do not believe, from an outsiders perspective, that you practice the belief that influence is inside all…or at least that is rarely communicated in public sources.
Thanks again for your quick reply.
Thank you for your comments Charles. Your point is well taken. As you said, the intent was not to value certain human lives in relationship to others. Influentials are not more important than others, but rather Influentials are just as important as others.
Mosaic is trying to reach the entire city of Los Angeles. All parts of the city need to be represented in our congregation for us to accomplish this goal. Proportionately, Mosaic is over represented by college students and those in people in their twenties. We are underrepresented in a large number of other categories. We must reach people in these categories to reach the city.
Historically, Mosaic members are highly relational – love community – and have high interests in studying and learning. In this past this did not translate into active outreach. Instead we had high community among ourselves and great Bible knowledge. We have been underrepresented in the “doing” area. Pastor Erwin has been moving our congregation to a more “activist” organization—“being doers of the word and not hearers only”. Also he has encouraged us to be involved in humanitarian causes and not focused solely on evangelical events. We are developing in those areas, but still have few “activists” in our midst. Our congregation may have the same percentage of registered voters than the appalling number in the average church (10%). Looking at the national figures leads one to conclude that activists are hugely under represented in the church. The cultural direction of our nation has been guided by those who have been willing to step up on participate. Mosaic wants to be involved in influencing our culture.
Unfortunately the poor have a better chance of hearing the gospel from Mosaic in Los Angeles than someone who is influential. Mosaic is represented by a number of members who have jobs working with the poor, including my wife Susan. Women can join Kim McManus on one of her Sunday visits to the women on skid row. Or, one can join one of our small groups who volunteer time to feed, clothe and minister to the poor.
If you want to help reach the children and youth of South Los Angeles, you can work with Yvonne Napoleon and other Mosaic members through the Neo Underground Railroad (www.2therailroad.org). Or if you heart is for the youth of East Los Angeles, you can connect with Eileen Lu who directs the Illuminate ministry through Mosaic.
The problem for Mosaic is that we not been as effective with the influentials as we have with the poor, and even the single mom and Bible scholar. Sadly the impact of evangelicals on American culture has been diminishing. Smaller and more activist segments of our society have exerted a disproportionate influence on our culture.
Rick,
Well said and correctly stated.
It is true that as an outsider one would think that Mosaic targets the “influentials”, which it does in theory but in practice it reaches as you said the “poor” and the “young”. Over the past few years I have seen a handful of “influentials” come aboard to serve alongside, which I think is a good thing.
Here is another observation, those that scrutinize Mosaic and call it “caution” may have never really been around or seen societies that truly cater to the “influentials” or what some circles may call “elitists”. No matter how one may want to look at it or deem these circles, in the end they truly are “influentials” and “elitists”. They not only know it, they live it and don’t sit around theorizing about how to influence, lead, inspire or become future trend-setters they just are. In the words of Bruce Lee, “Don’t think about kicking or punching but be kicking, may it be an extension of your leg or arm, an extension of your mind.” Essentially, an influencer acts and reacts with an intrinsic impulse that causes a domino affect, rarely, do they go into the task or revolutionary idea with that in mind, it is natural and reflexive.
On a more personal note I think being apart of church as long as I was, helped to form many good ideas and visions, but never actually being outside of the church only led me to tunnel vision and segregated me from the world. Talking about “how to reach the world” and “strategizing” is worlds apart from actually walking and doing it. When I left the mental parameters of the Christian institution and the religious rhetoric, is the day I came alive and actually started doing and rubbing shoulders with the “influentials”, not only of Los Angeles but of the world.
Here are two different examples of “influentials” in the art world, one who was “poor” and the other who was “rich”.
Vincent William Van Gogh, perhaps one of the worlds most influential figures in the history of art, painted over 800 paintings in his lifetime and only sold one painting, to his younger brother. Van Gogh lived as a vagabond, both physically and mentally and never had money. The art world scoffed at his work and he could never get a decent exhibition, other than his brother’s gallery. However, his work forever influenced and changed the art world, being one of the first contemporary artists before it was contemporary. (You might also want to read how he was kicked out of the missionary organization he served under for living amongst the people, as Jesus would have. Now there is another trend-setting position.)
The other example is Andy Warhol, perhaps one of the most important and influential figures to come out of the twentieth century. He set out to make a mockery of the art world because he was tired of the rhetoric that it was producing at the time and he wanted to see a shift of thinking, what is art? He merged his commercial art background with fine art and took everyday items and made them into icons that has really revolutionized the way one views objects and relates to them. Warhol, differs from Van Gogh in radical ways, for one he was embraced during his lifetime and he loved it, he soaked in the lime light and he knew what he wanted from the start. Just think “Campbell Soup” and that automatically should conjure up images in your mind, if it doesn’t then one should explore more about him, because really most of the art today in and out of the church has been heavily influenced by his work.
The bottom line, is the point I think you are making, to be an “influential” is not just about status or an economic bracket. It is the ideas and actions one has set forth to accomplish no matter the cost, nor is important that the individual knows that he is an “influential”. What matters is that the people around them are being influenced and want to follow or at least mimic the “influentials” actions.