Switch: Part 3

How do you get people in West Virginia to eat healthier?

(If you missed the first two parts of my reflection on the book Switch, go here and here)

That was the goal for two researchers at WVU. They wanted people to really try and eat a healthier diet, but they knew that simply telling people to eat a healthier diet doesn’t do anything. People don’t understand what it means to eat healthier, so they found a specific focus, a specific behavior to concentrate their efforts on. The result, a war on 2% and whole milk. Milk is great, milk is good for us, milk is also the leading source of saturated fat in a typical American’s diet. By simply switching from whole milk to skim milk, the reduced levels of saturated fat would make an immediate and long term difference in efforts to eat healthier.

So these researchers launched a campaign in a couple of counties with the simple goal of trying to convince people to buy 1% or skim milk instead of whole milk. One ad they used showed that one glass of whole milk has as much saturated fat as five strips of bacon. People took notice. They responded to the specific directions of the campaign and skim milk sales rose, moving from 18% of the market to over 41%.

This whole story is a great illustration of the next part in directing the Rider, that is Scripting the Critical Moves. If you can convince people that change is necessary and worthwhile you have to also help them to know how to change. The more specific and concrete the action, the more likely the change will happen.

How does this apply to spiritual formation. During this season of Lent we have tried to apply this idea by focusing on getting people to start with a commitment of three minutes a day. We handed out Lenten bookmarks that simply have the Jesus Creed and the Lord’s Prayer printed on them. The goal is to grow closer to God in 40 days. The means? Begin by spending one minute, three times a day praying through the bookmark. And spend one of those minutes, together, with your family praying.

The hope with this is simple. If we can get our people to intentionally focus on God three times a day, even for a minute, especially as a family unit, they will in fact grow closer to Christ. That minute is a gateway to hearing and responding to the voice of God. Our prayer is that giving people tangible steps towards Christ will unveil the possibilities of a deeper relationship with him.

Now all we need is some sort of concrete illustration involving bacon!