More or Less, Catalyst09 continued

Rob Bell is one of those guys that I really like to pay attention to. He speaks the way he writes. I like that. For some reason, I get lost in a dialogue when I start to listen to an author for the first time, and he doesn’t “sound” like what I was expecting. Rob isn’t like that. If you have ever read any of his books, be assured that he speaks about the same way.

Rob’s lecture at the Catalyst conference really got me thinking. Again, you have to remember that he is speaking to 13,000 ministry leaders. His initial question was, “is bigger better?” For the majority of those in attendance the initial reaction (and mine included) was, “YES!” Every ministry I have been a part of had always had a bullet in the goals and objectives section that had to with growth. That is just what you do. Ministries are supposed to grow. If they are not growing, then they are not healthy. And for reason, I have always put a numerical value (attendance) on this action. Rob doesn’t do that.

He said things like:
Sometimes crowds thin. John 6:60 - “…this is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?” John 6:66 -“…many of His disciples turned away and deserted Him.” I don’t like this teaching. I want my ministry to grow, numerically. Rob used this scripture to show that God is more interested in healthy ministries, than ones based on numbers.
Do what God asks of you, NOT based on popularity. Sometimes, being right is not very popular. And when that happens, the crowds will thin. Guaranteed.
God will never ask, “Why were you not more like Moses?” He is going to ask, “Why were you not more like you?” We forget this sometimes, don’t we? We know the teachings, but for some reason we still compare ourselves to prophets, elders, teachers, preachers, etc. God wants to know what I did with my life. I need to stop worrying about how I don’t measure up to whom ever, and use that wasted energy on doing His will through me!
God tells us to do this; this thing right here, right now. We shouldn’t get focused on growing it. When He is ready, then He will give us something else. That is what we need to be focused on; understanding when He says, “here try this now.”

Whatever it is that you are doing right now, focus on that, and do it well. That is what you were made for.