Messing Me Up-Big Time

April, Tony, and I are involved in a leadership coaching network. As part of that network we meet ever month or so with a group of other leaders that are helping us grow as pastors and church leaders. Everyone needs someone to push them if they are going to become all that God desires them to be.

Last week. Last weekend, one of the leaders (Don)in our network mentally smacked me upside the head and it has been really doing a work on me since. He asked me two very pointed questions that a week later I am still trying to make sense of and process. One of the questions he asked was "Jeff would you be OK with it if God never sent a new person into your ministry here at Real Life?" For me, clearly the answer was no...we need to grow.

But at it's most core level that's a much deeper question than it seems. Because at it's core it means how would you treat those people already in your care. Would you devote your life to them and lead them fearlessly? Would you turn your focus and energy toward developing them? That is the one of the questions I think we are dealing with as a church. Are we as a church and as leaders willing to sell out to the people that we already have? Don made a major point to emphasize his point....he pointed out that Jesus was quite content with a church of 12. Those 12 followed him for 3 years and then he released them into a ministry that would change the world.

If I am being honest I personally struggle with that. Churches need to grow or they will slowly die...that is a simple fact. The question is how you are going to grow the church. Conventional wisdom says you grow the church through marketing and getting your name out there. Jesus wasn't concerned with that. He put his time into 12 guys. We need to put our time into developing those we have. If we do that we won't have to be concerned with changing the world. They will do it for us.