Day 161: Excellence at Any Level

I have always been a strong believer in making the most of what you have regarding ministry. It has been my desire to do things the best I can with what I have. When I was a youth pastor, I always tried new ways to raise funds in order to do what I wanted to do. Whether it was with less than impressive equipment…you make do with what you have. I recall using an old tube driven Peavy amp/soundboard with a youth group of 50+ kids. This thing was really a piece of junk but, because it was all the church could afford…we made it the best youth group experience we could. The key was not to complain to the teens about it but rather be thankful for what we had. It was always first and foremost on my mind, what could our youth group could offer that none other could and how we can reach more teens in our area. I was NEVER satisfied with just reaching our own kids in the church.

This same principle applies now that I am a pastor of a church. We started off with a mediocre at best sound system. Without a doubt it worked fine for the time we had it. I would never get down or discouraged because we didn’t have this or that. Rather what I would do is figure out how we could use it best and pray that God would bless us for being a good steward of what we have. In the past five years we have seen some great blessings come and most recently was an upgrade to our sound system. We were blessed with a brand new digital soundboard that I am quite confident will take our worship team to another level. This soundboard will also improve the overall experience of the church service and the recording of our podcasts.

I am firm believer in not complaining about what you have to work with in a church setting. There is nothing wrong with dreaming and making a wish list though. What I think though is that if you are not doing your best with what you have now…you won’t do your best with what you have then. No matter what you have to work with, you can always work at a level of excellence within those means.