The Only Measurement of a Pastor's Success

Good morning, Reader,

I am excited to announce the podcast is coming back!!!

Yesterday I sat down and recorded the first episode in months, and I can't wait to get it in your hands. It was nice to get behind the mic again, sit in front of the camera, and deliver a new episode. I have been doing some retooling of the podcast, reevaluating a lot of pieces for you and the rest of the community, and have made some hard decisions about the future. So, be looking for a new episode next week!!!

Preparing for the new episode, I started to think about how much value we put on Sunday morning attendance. I know when I go to a conference or gathering of pastors, the question that inevitably comes up at some point is "How big is your church?"

In fact, a few weeks ago I was at a gathering of pastors and engaged in a conversation with a pastor who had just retired out in California, and I purposely didn't ask the question. But, once it became clear I wasn't going to ask, he randomly threw it into the conversation. It was a relatively large congregation that he had pastored, anything over 500 is large considering most churches hover between 50-250 people.

It made me ask myself, why do we feel this need to validate our ministries, and in many cases ourselves, by the number of people who attend? And don't for a second think I am asking this question from a highly enlightened place. I have done the same thing myself, sharing the number of people in my ministries, the number of people I have led, or the number of people I am overseeing and managing.

In some contexts this is necessary, but in conversations where the size of our attendance isn't a relevant piece of information, why do we ask for it or offer it up as a method of validation?

More importantly, why do we tie our validation as pastors and ministry leaders to the size of our attendance?

What I have learned in ministry is that the number is never large enough to satisfy us. When you reach a particular attendance level, you want to grow more.

Attendance only indicates that we can gather a crowd. Are you called to gather a crowd? Or are you called to disciple others? Are you called to lead a church of thousands, or are you called to share the Gospel with those who are in need?

The only measure of success you need as a pastor is, how fully you have fulfilled the calling God has placed on your life.

Whatever God has called us to do, we should be doing that to our fullest ability and to the max capacity we can. For some of us, it means big crowds and large events and a spotlight on us with a degree of name recognition. For others of us, that means we serve in obscurity with a small number of people making a huge impact. My calling can't be compared to yours, Reader, so my results can't be compared to yours either.

Instead, we should be encouraging one another to reach greatness within our callings, and be thankful we get to be part of what God is doing in our little corners of the world.

So, today, as you are wrapping up the week and preparing for this coming Sunday morning, I want to encourage you. Whether you are preaching on Sunday to 50 people or 3500 people, please know that what you are doing matters. All you have to worry about is how much you are in step with the calling God has placed on your life.

I am privileged to be called to serve you, Reader, even if you were the only one in this community. I would be honored to support you in the calling God has placed on your life.

Have an amazing Friday,