Transcript
Achievement is dangerous when it begins to dominate the work and the culture of a ministry community. God giving` us the ability to achieve things for the gospel is a beautiful thing, but achievement can be a dangerous thing. Achievement is dangerous when it becomes our definition of a qualified leader. Achievement is dangerous when it makes us afraid to admit failure. Achievement is dangerous when it silences members of the leadership team. Achievement is dangerous when it becomes our definition of success.
When You Serve Well and Do Not Get Credit
Look, if you have served God well, if you've been a tender, gentle servant leader, if you've loved God above all else, and you've loved your people as God has called you to love them, and you don't get huge fruit, read my lips. You're not a failure. That's ministry success. But if you have an achievement culture, you look at that guy and you say something's wrong with that guy. And so, achievement tends to push forward brash, loud, strong personality, hard-driving people, and that's just not the definition of a leader in scripture.
I think of Jesus who looked at the multitude and wept, saying they were distressed and scattered sheep without a shepherd. And I think I mean, this is the crowd that a few weeks later would cry, "Crucify Him." There's a way in which that crowd was in the way of what Jesus was trying to accomplish, but He loved them and His response to them was incredibly tender. Achievement must not be the highest value of a ministry community. If it is, all kinds of bad things will happen as a result.
