When I started in youth ministry, my top priority was to make sure that people felt loved and cared for and that church was a safe place for all people. When I interviewed at churches and then when I cast vision at new ministries, I would be intentional in creating a safe place where people felt cared and loved for. Success was measured by number of people coming and more importantly what people thought and felt. I felt that I had the privilege to be a part of some incredible ministries where students felt safe and were loved and cared for. The Bible was taught, studies and mentorship happened, and advancing opportunities were offered. I felt that I did an excellent job of producing what I was trying to accomplish.
But then my success and ideology had a collision with a truth that has shaped the rest of my ministry and personal life. Within days of beginning my position at my church in Kentucky I was thrown into the deep end of a culture that was all about making everything about Jesus. I was challenged to think through everything I did through the lens of making Jesus famous and the center of everything I did. I know it shouldn’t have been Earth shattering, but it was. I had never been in a culture that was so intentional on accomplishing their vision and that everything they did flowed out of that vision. For months I was scrambling to figure out how to function in such a clear culture, while I was trying to shift my strategy and execution.
Over the next 5 years I grew as a leader, an evangelist, and as a pastor. One of the things that I learned about myself and healthy ministry is that I need to keep the main thing the main thing. My Kentucky church taught me that to get further faster, it is better to keep the main thing the main thing in the ministry that I lead. For the Kentucky church, the main thing was evangelism. So, at all costs we made evangelism, helping people know Jesus, the main thing. Everyone on staff, in leadership, and a regular attender clearly knew what the main thing was for our church and it set us up to move faster and further in our mission. I saw incredible things happen because everyone was focused on the same thing and we rarely got off focus because we were united in vision and purpose.
Over the years, I have seen churches and ministries try to be everything for everybody and for many of those ministries in this culture, that has been a difficult path to go down. I have seen boards argue over carpet color, events, service opportunities, fundraisers, and next staffing choices. I have seen good people and ministries find themselves in conflict and stagnation as they spend countless hours debating on what the right next decision should be. With our current culture in America, I believe that keeping the main thing the main thing is necessary for healthy ministries. I do have a preference that Jesus be the main thing, but I really believe that any ministry can be healthy if they identify their main thing and make everything they do about that thing. When a leader helps provide clarity of the main thing and then works diligently to make sure that decisions, strategies and plans align around that main thing, I believe he or she sets up a ministry to be healthy and successful. Keeping the main thing, the main thing will allow more high capacity people to join in on the mission and provide unity and dependability. Keeping the main thing, the main thing will allow you and your ministry to be known for what you have discerned as what is most important to you.
Since my Kentucky church, I have a renewed clarity as to the main thing that God has wired me for. My main thing is to help people know Jesus and make their next step with Him. I still believe having a safe place where people fill loved and cared for is important but it is not the main thing for me. God used me in some incredible ways in my early days of ministry, but now that I know clearly the main thing that God created me for, I believe He can use me to do great things.
Leader – identify your main thing and work hard at making everything you do about the main thing. When you do that, watch what God will do with you and your ministry.