A couple years ago I ran across a quote that has given me some good inspiration. It's by John L. Mason, who as far as I can tell is some kind of Christian motivational speaker/author. Anyway, here is the quote:
"Only those who do not expect anything are never disappointed. Only those who never try, never fail. Anyone who is currently achieving anything in life is simultaneously risking failure. 
It is always better to fail in doing something than to excel in doing nothing. A flawed diamond is more valuable than a perfect brick. People who have no failures also have few victories."
I don't make decisions very quickly, because I tend to be a perfectionist. I sort of fear making a second best choice. In some ways this is good, because I usually end up with good results. Unfortunately, it makes me pretty slow at accomplishing anything. And sometimes there's just no way to know what decision to make, and I end up doing nothing. So the thought in this quote helps me to jump in when I don't feel confident in what's best or if I want to try something new.
I have thought of this quote in our New Hope context in a couple of ways:
First of all, in our Shepherd meetings we have to make lots of decisions. To be honest, most of them are minor things, but some are significant to what kind of place our church will be. There have occasionally been issues we've dealt with as a team where we have felt unsure of the best direction--but we're trying to lead confidently and not leave things unaddressed. Hopefully we are helping New Hope to be a flawed diamond rather than a perfect brick. We want our church to make a real difference for God's kingdom here in Yamhill County.
Second, we've purposely encouraged the members of our fellowship family to jump in and minister with their passions rather than wait for programs to be handed down from on high. It's been really neat to see how some of these have been starting up recently, and I pray that God will use each one in a special way. Maybe you have had some ideas of ministries you'd like to start here at New Hope, but then you had doubts about how successful it would really be. Well I say, what's the worst thing that could happen? If you start a ministry that flops, I guarantee that those of us in leadership here won't be shaking our heads or rolling our eyes--we will applaud those who try to do something for God whether it works or not.
A friend of mine worked on staff for a while with Pastor Rick Warren at the mega-sized Saddleback Community Church in Southern California. He told me that every January Rick makes all the church's staff members stand and raise their right hands and make some pledges. And one of those pledges is, "I promise to fail at something once a week". I hope you feel the same freedom to fail, because you may be surprised--maybe God will use your crazy idea to change McMinnville. To quote Mason again, "Everything great started as somebody's daydream."
So what has God been putting on your heart lately? Dream big and act boldly for Him!
"Only those who do not expect anything are never disappointed. Only those who never try, never fail. Anyone who is currently achieving anything in life is simultaneously risking failure. It is always better to fail in doing something than to excel in doing nothing. A flawed diamond is more valuable than a perfect brick. People who have no failures also have few victories."I don't make decisions very quickly, because I tend to be a perfectionist. I sort of fear making a second best choice. In some ways this is good, because I usually end up with good results. Unfortunately, it makes me pretty slow at accomplishing anything. And sometimes there's just no way to know what decision to make, and I end up doing nothing. So the thought in this quote helps me to jump in when I don't feel confident in what's best or if I want to try something new.
I have thought of this quote in our New Hope context in a couple of ways:
First of all, in our Shepherd meetings we have to make lots of decisions. To be honest, most of them are minor things, but some are significant to what kind of place our church will be. There have occasionally been issues we've dealt with as a team where we have felt unsure of the best direction--but we're trying to lead confidently and not leave things unaddressed. Hopefully we are helping New Hope to be a flawed diamond rather than a perfect brick. We want our church to make a real difference for God's kingdom here in Yamhill County.
Second, we've purposely encouraged the members of our fellowship family to jump in and minister with their passions rather than wait for programs to be handed down from on high. It's been really neat to see how some of these have been starting up recently, and I pray that God will use each one in a special way. Maybe you have had some ideas of ministries you'd like to start here at New Hope, but then you had doubts about how successful it would really be. Well I say, what's the worst thing that could happen? If you start a ministry that flops, I guarantee that those of us in leadership here won't be shaking our heads or rolling our eyes--we will applaud those who try to do something for God whether it works or not.
A friend of mine worked on staff for a while with Pastor Rick Warren at the mega-sized Saddleback Community Church in Southern California. He told me that every January Rick makes all the church's staff members stand and raise their right hands and make some pledges. And one of those pledges is, "I promise to fail at something once a week". I hope you feel the same freedom to fail, because you may be surprised--maybe God will use your crazy idea to change McMinnville. To quote Mason again, "Everything great started as somebody's daydream."
So what has God been putting on your heart lately? Dream big and act boldly for Him!
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