On Cracker Barrel

You might have heard from somebody recently that Cracker Barrel has decided to do some massive rebranding. What people seem to be talking about the most is the new logo they will be using, but this rebranding appears to also include a change in their iconic interior. I’ll confess that I do not know the entirety of what it will look like after the change. I do not know what it will mean for their magical store of old candy, sodas, and tchotchkes. I do not know what it means for their menu and your favorite dish that you are worried will disappear. That’s not why we’re here.

It should come as a surprise to no one that perhaps Cracker Barrel is not doing well over the last few years, at least not as well as they used to be doing. Like so many of the chain restaurants that were once the powerhouses of the late 20th Century, Cracker Barrel is no longer the place to go for younger generations. Maybe it’s because of the general economic climate; maybe it’s because of feeling “out-of-date”; maybe it’s a bit of both and more. Regardless, it seems that the leadership of Cracker Barrel decided they needed to make changes to survive, if not thrive, in today’s world. Maybe it will work. Maybe it won’t.

Again, that’s not really why we are here. The question we might ask ourselves instead is, what can we learn from this for Hollywood UMC? Our goal each year might not be profit, but we all have our own metrics-of-choice for how we know we are living out the mission we have undertaken to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world by knowing Jesus and making Jesus known. Maybe for you that is the similar-to-businesses metric of meeting our budget. Maybe your metric-of-choice is increasing attendance on Sunday morning. Maybe your metric-of-choice is a growing Sunday School and Youth Group. Whatever your metric-of-choice is, is Hollywood UMC meeting it?

Back to Cracker Barrel for a minute. What was it that led people to Cracker Barrel in the past? What was it that made people love Cracker Barrel? It might be that it allowed people to remember a time that has passed, a time of general stores and idyllic living. As one article I read this morning taught me, most people do not have the frame of reference for such a time. While I do have some memories from Bushwood and Seventh District, those memories are not what makes me nostalgic when I step into Cracker Barrel. No, that nostalgia is from Cracker Barrel itself. The memories the store takes me back to are 6:00 am breakfasts along the interstate on our way to Myrtle Beach or Florida during summer vacations of my youth. The restaurant pointed to itself. With a shrinking number of the public that has the childhood memories of Cracker Barrel and even fewer people remembering the pre-war general stores, Cracker Barrel seems to have determined they cannot thrive on nostalgia alone.

Likewise, churches often bring a sense of nostalgia — or at least they often claim to. Church buildings are filled with memories - memories of baptisms and youth groups and weddings and funerals. Whether you were born and raised at Hollywood UMC or have joined us more recently, coming into the church might bring back a deluge of memories, perhaps no different than our memories walking into a Cracker Barrel. What do we do then when people don’t have that point of reference to bring about that same nostalgia. Could it be similar to walking into a Cracker Barrel for the first time with no memory of old general stores or old memories of a Cracker Barrel along the interstate?

This is what has been sticking in my brain since I saw the news, at least after I processed my own feelings and grief about it. It’s not a matter of changes MUST be made, but it’s a question of how can Hollywood UMC be positioned to meet its mission statement of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world by knowing Jesus and making Jesus known. Pointless change is just that, but are there faithful and bold changes that might be made to serve in a world that no longer has the reference point of church it once did? How can we function so that we do not simply invoke a reference point of nostalgia of the “good old days,” but lead people to the reference point of Christ? 

People say Cracker Barrel’s changes will lead to its failure (aka its inability to make money). They obviously see it reversed. Not only do they seem to think these changes will allow them to thrive, but to not change is a threat to their continued survival. Time will tell, I guess. For a congregation, every change - and lack of change - is a risk. Maybe it’s a risk to members. Maybe it’s a risk of money. Maybe it’s a risk of reputation. What is never at risk, though, is the work that Christ has done. We stand in the shadow of the cross, free to serve God in this day and age, free to take risks. The question is what risks will we take? I’d love to hear your thoughts.