Success

In his book, The Halo Effect, Phil Rosenzweig fires a broadside at the current business leadership bestsellers which promise that, if followed, will make any business a success. Books such as In Search of Excellence, Built to Last, and Good to Great have sold by the millions and remained perpetually on the best seller lists. Numerous pastors and church leaders have devoured their pages looking for secrets to success. Interestingly, Rosenzweig demonstrates how bottom line numbers cause us to view company practices in a positive light, hence the “halo effect.” If a company has growing profits and expanding business, its management, corporate culture and customer focus are invariably rated as outstanding. Then, authors such as Peters or Collins write books describing what these companies did so others can copy them and presumably achieve similar results.

Rosenzweig argues compellingly that success is much more complex and less certain than the bestselling books suggest. He shows, for example, how when sales are up, a CEO’s leadership is viewed as creative and empowering. However, when sales dip, the same leadership style is viewed as dictatorial and close minded. The seduction of numbers causes us to view everything else that is done in an organization in a positive or negative light. We also tend to accept simplistic explanations for success: good leadership, strong corporate culture and the like. He suggests that it is wrong to promise people that by merely following a formula, they, too, can achieve numerical success.

This message is of course, highly applicable to the church. We can presume that if numbers are up at a church, it must be the result of God’s blessing. As a result, leaders from other churches immediately begin to study and copy the methodology of the “successful” congregation without ever understanding what actually led to their growth in the first place. Just as Rosenzweig encourages business leaders to discover what would lead to success in their unique environment and under their unique circumstances, so church leaders cannot abdicate their responsibility to seek God’s direction for their church. Jesus said He would build His church and He alone knows how to build your church so it glorifies God.

Travel

This past month was full of rewarding ministry. My father and I had the privilege of teaching spiritual leadership to D.Min students at Denver Seminary. We always enjoy thinking through challenges with those who are in the midst of church ministry. I also preached at First Baptist Church in McComb, Mississippi as well as in Taylors, SC. I spoke to a great group of Korean American young adults at the Global Leadership Development Institute in Costa Mesa, California. There are over 4100 Korean churches across America and they are fervently praying for revival in America. I also spoke to the annual convention of the Association of Christian Schools International in Colorado Springs. How encouraging to see these leaders seeking to develop their schools in a way that will prepare a new generation of Christian leaders and apologists. I also enjoyed speaking at a prayer breakfast for a major food distribution company at their annual meeting in Chicago. God is at work on many fronts in our world today!

I’d appreciate your prayers in August. I’ll be speaking at a major event to encourage ministry to military families in Estes Park, Colorado as well as speaking to a pastors’ meeting in Bostic, NC and preaching revival services in Ellenboro, NC and Dalton, GA. I’ll also be doing some leadership training at my church at Taylors First Baptist in South Carolina.

I sense, as do many others, that North America needs God’s people to rise to a new and higher level of commitment and service for Christ. These are critical days for God’s kingdom. Guard your walk with God carefully and serve Him well.

Posted by Richard Blackaby at 1:44 pm