First, I have FINALLY posted my salsa recipe here. Bookmark it!
Troy and I and 7 others from our congregation went to ZOE Texas this weekend. I have so much to say about that, but one particular thought keeps flashing in my brain. Randy Harris was talking about what makes a missional church, a healthy church, a functional church. I think he was talking about that elusive word 'evangelism' (really, I was listening, but I heard a LOT, and a LOT that was good, but a LOT on the same subject -- I don't remember how he got to this point, but I can't forget the point). He finally said, "I know I don't get to go back and do it all again, but if I did -- if I could do it all over again, I would do more with fewer. I would go deeper in with fewer people and hold them accountable. I would invite them to join me on my walk -- going deeper in. Then I would tell them to do that with 4 or 5 other people."
Doing more with fewer. He also pulled out that Jesus spent his energies on 12 -- and still had one betray him. (And, because he is Randy Harris, pointed out a youth minister he knows who claims he must be doing really well since his youth group is down to 12 people and one of them wants to kill him! :-) Certainly not the American way -- we are more prone to do less with more, Super-sizing and bulk-buying our way into uselessness. But I think he may be onto something.
This morning a guest preacher told the story of the book, "Twelve Mighty Orphans". It's more about their coach than the orphans -- a rag-tag team of kids that Rusty Russell trained into a championship football team that never won the championship. As he was unfolding the story, Troy leaned to me and whispered, "He did more with fewer."
More with fewer. What do you think?
