Brand Evangelism with Guy Kawasaki

Whether it’s a Macbook, iPhone, iPad or iPod, our lives most likely touch an Apple product through business, school or personal use. What many people don’t realize is that Guy Kawasaki is one of the men responsible for helping Macintosh become a household name. He was Apple’s Chief Evangelist for four years and introduced Macintosh to developers. He returned to Apple in 1995 as an Apple Fellow. This time, people were predicting that Apple was going to die and it was Kawasaki’s job to revive the Macintosh following. He is currently the Chief Evangelist for Canva, an online graphic design tool which enables the average computer user to become a graphic designer and is a brand ambassador for Mercedes Benz. Risen interviewed Kawasaki last year to talk about why he feels called to empower others and what is the most important thing when it comes to evangelism.

Kawasaki shares why he feels that empowering people is part of his calling and the type of legacy he wants to leave.

“Why do I feel this way? I have no idea. It just became my calling over time. It probably started with Steve Jobs and the Macintosh Division because the goal then was to empower people with a new computer…I want my legacy to be many empowered people. I hope to do this with my writing, speaking and even my social media.”

“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20

Kawasaki reflects on what it was like to attend Billy Graham’s evangelism school, the reception he received when using the word evangelist outside of the Christian culture, and his encouragement to people in ministry after being a brand evangelist for Apple, Canva, and Mercedes Benz.

“It was a highly unusual experience. These folks were real evangelists. I learned a lot from them about how to sell a dream…It was supported and criticized. Some people thought it was a corruption of a Christian concept. Evangelism comes from Greek words that mean ‘bringing the good news.’ Good news is eternal life. But news is also greater creativity and productivity – that was the Macintosh religion…The most important thing in evangelism is the cause itself. It’s easy to evangelize something great. It’s very hard to evangelize mediocrity. What could be a better cause than eternal life?”

Risen Reflections

Empower others. Take time this week to think about the gifts and talents that have been entrusted to you. Think about how you can help others become more skilled at what they do. It could be in their career, a specific trade or craft, or just helping someone through a difficult circumstance in life. Reflect on others that have come alongside you. It could be a coach, teacher, parent or mentor and how they inspired you. You can have that same impact on another person!

Leave a legacy. Each of us will pass away. Our legacy will be what remains after we have gone. Pray and ask God what He wants your legacy to be. Often we can get caught up with what culture deems important and desire for our legacy to be that, rather than what God wants for us. If you have time, ask others who are farther along in their career or life than you what they desire for their legacy. It can be encouraging and challenging to hear how others want to be remembered. It can be helpful to step away from distractions and have a weekend where you can reflect. Take your journal, Bible and pray about the legacy you want to leave.

Be an evangelist. God has entrusted each of us with his gospel. He wants us to share his truth, love and grace with those around us. If your church offers a class on how to share your faith, ask a friend or others from your small group to go with you and take it. There are many ways that we can share our faith and taking a class can teach you how to share it one-on-one, in a group and even how to do an outreach event. Don’t get discouraged if people don’t accept Christ when you share. It often takes a person seven exposures to the Gospel to become a believer. Ask them if they have any questions that you can help answer. Remind them that you may not have all the answers, but you can help them find the answers.

To read our entire interview with Guy Kawasaki, click here.