Chasing Excellence

I spent my morning yesterday with a gifted lady from our church planning, dreaming, and laying out some plans for transforming a space in our church into a place of connection, fellowship, and where we in leadership can spend time with guests, visitors, and members. One thing she said stood out more than anything else:

"I want it to look like someone cares."

Guys, if you're leading in the church, you've been given Christ's Bride to take care of. You're responsible for God's children. You're shepherding people going through the pains of a fallen world. You're stewarding resources people trust to your leadership. You're regularly teaching God's Word. You're giving your best time and energy towards God's work.

So do it with excellence. Do it because you care.

Excellence isn't perfection. You'll never be perfect, nothing will ever go off without some mishaps. You'll lose your place in your message, your voice will crack during a solo, you'll lock the keys in the church van (or lose them in a waterfall!). Something will happen. But chasing excellence means you're limiting the opportunity for those things to happen.

Excellence is a reflection of our worship. When I went on a mission trip one time, some on our crew decided to slack off and goof around on the work. Our contact for the project shared a verse that still resonates: "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men" (Colossians 3:23). Our pursuit of excellence comes from being joyfully found in Christ and responding to that with our best efforts. He deserves nothing less.

Excellence requires investment. It's National Signing Day today, and across the country 17 year olds will put on hats saying what college they'll attend. Extra emphasis will be put on the ones who come in highly regarded. What separates these extremely talented players from each other? The investment into the sport. They care more, they're willing to sacrifice more, they're willing to do more reps. As a leader, are you willing to invest more? Or are you along