General Baptist National Missions Blog

Failing Forward

August 25, 2008

Failure? Can we say that word? Isn’t it anti-spiritual to use failure when we speak about the things of God? While we may not come right out and say it, we think it. We use different phrases and words to candy-coat something that didn’t work out well. Like; “We will never know this side of eternity.” Or “We will never really know how many lives have been touched by what we did.” Maybe we will even say “Well that is just they way things will be as the end draws near.” It seems to me that in our attempt to super-spiritualize or rename a flat out failure, we miss the lessons that we might have learned through simply admitting, “We failed!”

Why do we fight so hard to keep from admitting failure? I believe that we have somehow we feel that we have to save God from embarrassment.  The question you have to ask this: What would be worse, trying and failing, or never trying at all? What do you think God would celebrate? A quick look at parable of the talents will give us the answer. God never called us to be successful, rather He called us to be obedient. That great theologian, Woody Allen said, “If your not failing every now and again, it’s a sure sign you are not trying anything very innovative.”

Why all this talk about failure? Because church planting and failure are almost synonymous with one another. Church planting is rife with failure. In fact, failure can become the church planters greatest friend, if they leverage their failure. But it is in that failure that you learn the greatest lessons.  Robert F. Kennedy once said, “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” We tend to think that failure is to be avoided at all costs, but often our greatest success is birthed through our failure. If you are never failing, you are probably not achieving anything of any great value either.

Posted 8/25/2008 in Church Planting

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Imagine if...

August 7, 2008

I have always considered myself a bit of an adrenaline junkie. In my sophomore year of college I went on a trip during a j-term, with my science class.  Our eventual destination was the Baja of California. There we would study the tide pools of the Pacific Ocean. On our drive to the Baja we made several stops. One of those stops was in the Chiricahua mountain range in the Southeastern part of Arizona. While there, the group leader decided to take us to an operating copper mine. This particular mine had a long winding road for travelers to follow to the top. I thought that trail was for sissies and so I decided to climb straight up the face of the mountain and beat the rest of the group to the top, at least that was the plan.  

Several hours later I found myself in a precarious place. I considered myself a pretty good rock climber but I had come to a crossroads. I was perched on a straight, smooth ledge looking down about 500 hundred feet. The only way up was to move along the sheer-faced rock until I was able to reach a ledge that was about four inches out of my reach. I had tried several times to reach the lip but found myself sliding back down. I tried to climb back down a ways and soon discovered that going up was easier than going down. So, I made a decision, one that didn’t really hit home until I reached the top of the mountain and realized that the whole group had been watching and praying for me. I climbed up as high as I could get, bent my knees, and in one giant burst of energy jumped for the ridge that was just out of reach. Let me pause for a moment and remind you that youth, and brains do not always go hand in hand.  Fortunately, youth had an advantage for me that day. I reached the ledge, climbed up and over it to the top of the mountain. That leap took a lot of faith and good deal of foolishness. When I reached the top the teacher first congratulated me for making it to the top and then proceeded to scold me for being such an idiot.

Jesus was notorious for gathering huge crowds. One day as he was teaching he found himself in the midst of five thousand hungry followers. He used this event to test the faith of his disciples. As the crowds pressed in, the disciples asked Jesus to send them all away. Jesus responded, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” (Matt 14:16) Okay, just stop for a moment and think about the humor in this moment. Thousand press in, the disciples want them gone, and Jesus says, “Feed them.” Can you imagine the what they might be thinking? I’m sure a few of them thought Jesus was simply misinformed. How could they do something so great with so little? One of them interrupts Jesus and says, “Excuse me Jesus. I know math and five loaves and two small fish is barley enough for one person. This is all we have. Where are we going to find enough food to feed everyone?” They challenged Jesus to consider the great sacrifice it would take to feed everyone. It was a logistical nightmare, and massive impossibility.

Jesus responded “bring them to me.” He broke the bread, bless the food and everyone was fed! I want you to notice one simple thing. Jesus didn’t ask them to give the masses what they didn’t have. He asked them to simply give what they had. Jesus took what they had and multiplied it. Realize that God’s desire to feed the crowd was greater than the disciples desire. Jesus, in his desire, asked them to sacrifice what they had, no matter how big or small, and then he preformed a miracle and met the needs of the crowd.

Imagine with me for a moment what might happen if we gave God what we have and trusted him to do the rest. You say, “But the task is just to big! Bringing hope and salvation to this world is a massive job. There is no way we can meet everyone’s need.” Interestingly enough Jesus never asked us to do what we cannot do. Rather, he asked us to do our part and He will do the rest. Imagine what might happen if we stopped looking at the enormity of the task, took that leap of faith, and gave what we have for the sake of the gospel. It not about doing what you can't do, but what God can do if we give him what we have.

Posted 8/7/2008 in Stephen Gray

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