These are the moments in life that give you a chance to be “perfect” (and the kind of moment that God is watching ever so closely!).  And the only thing that can perfect is “the perfect law of liberty”–the law of love.  Please give me a moment to go one step deeper.  We live our lives many times “reaching” for that next day, that next goal, that next something that is on our agenda.  But, where we think we’re headed, is it more important than the very moment at hand?  Being “perfect” isn’t linked to some physical achievement.

Being perfect is loving, right at the very moment when love is called for.

I sat straight up in my chair.  Cleared my eyes, stirred my mind and fully engaged this person that could “do “nothing for me”.  I let them know by how I treated them, asked them questions and “let them in” to my life.  I let them know that they mattered to me, and they mattered to God.  For just a moment, the atmosphere was perfected, and I was perfect….

A lesson learned: your measure of significance may be traced back to what you did with what others may call insignificant.

The overriding reality I’ve witnessed is this. Selfish people have small worlds, little influence and few friends. People with influence and enjoy promotion are those who interpret the world outside of their own needs and give accordingly to others.

A.W. Tozer said, “God dwells in a state of perpetual enthusiasm.  He is delighted with all that is good and lovingly concerned about all that is wrong.   He pursues his labors always in fullness of holy zeal.  No wonder the Spirit came at Pentecost as a sound of a rushing mighty wind and sat in tongues of fire on every person…Whatever else happened at Pentecost, one thing that cannot be missed by the most casual observer was the sudden up-surging of moral enthusiasm.  Those first disciples burned with a steady, inward fire.  They were enthusiastic to the point of complete abandon”. 

I’ve seen them – both large and small, churches and ministries that are founded from one side of the spectrum to the other.  From the outside, looking in, it’s always the “big” ministries that appear to be really knocking the ball out of the park.  The truth is though, sometimes they are and sometimes they aren’t.  Appearances are sometimes just that - and history would defend this point because we’ve witnessed it time and again “mega-churches” go to “nothing” churches and that reality has happened literally, almost overnight.  Furthermore, why do the church-growth experts report that the “shelf-life” of such churches is only about 15 years?  Something is run amuck.  

If we measure everything by size and how bright the lights burn, then we must assume first of all that Jesus’ small following was in the wrong, and that the crowd who hung him on the cross was in “the right”.  It’s a simple point but sometimes we forget—drawing a crowd is not the same as building the church in effective and biblical terms.  Numbers do not guarantee significance.  After you draw the crowd, make sure your efforts continue with building the church.  

Some things to consider: 

1.  Draw a line in the sand.  

Ask people to make a personal commitment to “join” your church.  I encourage a membership process that includes reasonable commitments of those potential members.  I remember asking one mega-church pastor if he had considered such an approach which would help his unusually small and beleaguered “ministry of helps” corps (one of the commitments should be that each member would help involved in the ministry of the church).  The answer was as follows: “….nah, I don’t want to do that…so-and-so tried that and lost 400 people”.  In other words immediate gratification of numbers was worth more than a principle-based community.  

2.   Have a pastor sponsored Leadership 101 class.

A major reason our church grew from 0 – 700 in just six years was the development of our leadership base.  The result was that we had better leaders, less paid staff and a tremendous level of ownership by some extraordinary people.  The church didn’t excel because I was such a splendid leader; it grew because I found greatness in so many other people.  The Scripture says, “Look out amongst you” (Acts 6), it doesn’t say, “call the bible school and hire all your leaders”.  Remember, leaders come in seed form for the most part.  Develop them or suffer.  Pastors, I’d be glad to help you with this concept—just contact me; it won’t cost you a dime.  Nothing.

3. Match Stage Presence with Discipleship Process

It’s imperative that your weekend worship experiences be done with thought in mind and a commitment to excellence.  While I’m not advocating “consumerism Christianity” I am a fan of doing things right and with forethought.  You and your team need to be “on” when people start showing up.  Your media, music and message needs to be powerful and flow together.  

However, the reason that crowds exist without any true personal growth is the efforts stop there in developing people in biblical terms.  In other words, once a crowd has come we must find compelling pathways to assist people in their Word development so they can come to Christ and grow as a mature disciple.  Paul said we “start with milk” but must learn to eat the “meat” of God’s Word. Your church growth may be a little slower, but it will be a lot better!