One of our core values here at NewSpring Church is excellence. We feel that God has given us His very best…the least we can do is offer Him ours. (And, according to Malachi 1:6-14, blemished lambs pretty much tick Him off!)
BUT…please keep in mind that excellence is not perfection...it really is giving our best to God and then begging Him to make up the difference…holding to the fact that Zechariah 4:6 is true! We will always strive to go all out to create an incredible weekend experience while all the while acknowledging that if God does not show up then what we are doing is worthless.
People have asked us before, “Do you guys ever mess something up?” My answer is—ALL OF THE TIME! The thing I have discovered is that, in the pursuit of excellence, something is always going to go wrong and you just have to learn to laugh.
For example—several years ago we did a Christmas Eve service in which I literally thought I was going to pass out because we dropped the ball so bad! We had planned for me to give a short talk on our hope being in Christ and then, while I prayed, the band was supposed to come out and, as soon as I said “amen,” were going to begin the song, “My Hope Is You.”
Well, I gave the talk and asked the people to pray. As I began to pray I didn’t hear anyone in the band walking on stage. So…I opened my eyes and looked—and I was THE ONLY ONE on stage...no band!
SO…I did what any pastor would do—I made an announcement in my prayer that went something like, “And God, please bless our band as they come out to play…”
No band…nothing. Panic seriously was setting in…I began to sweat and actually thought, “Do I try to sing?” (THAT would have been awful!) I kept praying AND trying to figure out what the heck was going on.
Finally I said THE line all pastors say, “Every head bowed and every eye closed…and…uh…let’s just sit and reflect on Jesus being our hope as THE BAND that HAS TO BE SOMEWHERE in this building makes it way to the stage.”
I was just about to close the service when the band basically came SPRINTING on stage. My legs felt like Jello and I somehow brought the longest prayer in the history of NewSpring Church to a close and the service went along.
We still don’t know what actually happened…was it that I didn’t communicate clearly that the talk was going to be a little shorter or did I say it and it wasn’t heard—whatever, doesn’t matter—we chalked it up as a major learning experience and moved on.
We are not perfect, we never will be—but we understand that Colossians 3:23-24 says that when we work we should keep in mind that we are working for the Lord, not for men…and I truly believe that if we keep that in mind that we will offer Him nothing less than our absolute best. That means time spent preparing the message. That means time spent rehearsing the music. That means time spent training and equipping the volunteers on discovering their potential in Christ. IT JUST TAKES TIME!
AND…as I have already said—no matter how hard we try—something will always mess up, not because no one cares, but because human beings are involved and we have a tendency to make mistakes. AND when that happens I still believe that God is honored because He knows the heart…and as long as our best is offered then I believe He is pleased.