At Adventure, we admit failure. In fact, we encourage people to risk it in ministry. If they're never failing, they aren't taking risks, and that means they're not changing — and if there's no change, there's no hope of growth. (This is hard for me because I’m a perfectionist. In fact, even admitting being a perfectionist is a challenge because to confess perfectionism is to confess being imperfect – something tough for a perfectionist!) :)
I look back on our launch in 1998 and think how many things we totally screwed up, but those same mistakes ultimately added to our strength and our appeal later on.
One of the funnier things was that we hand delivered cook-out invitations to 2500 homes, giving two dates and locations to choose from, and promised people friendly conversation with no obligation. We prepared for the onslaught.
The first night, five people showed up, all in one family, and it was the wife of a pastor who was coming to cheer us on.
The second night, we moved our cookout to a new spot. Three people come (one family). The whole idea was a strategic failure.
Yet that pastor's family who came by that first night was a contact that 7 years later would give us the opportunity to love and minister to 40+ inner city kids from broken homes who needed - now have - a loving church home.
The three who came the second night, was a family who owned a direct mail company. They offered to handle our direct mail at only the cost of the postage — a savings of several thousand dollars for us!
Over the years, we’ve done more things that failed than succeeded, yet none of those positive things would’ve happened had we not been willing to risk failure.
We frequently tell the stories of our failures, and we laugh (some are simply hilarious). But what has often appeared to be a failure at the time has turned into a success later on. Because of that willingness to fail or let people fail, we've done some unique things you won’t find in many other congregations.
The bottom line: New requires risk. While not all change is progress, all progress involves change and risk. Risk requires the opportunity to fail, to change, and to try again. If you’re a perfectionist like me, get over it. Success requires the possibility of imperfections – and lots of them.
4 comments:
Tony,
A friend in my network of friends forwarded your blog to me. I am a fellow church-planter as well and hearing from you that failure is just part of the growth process, and indeed an essential part at times, is terribly relieving. Thank you.
I have heard of a college Bible professor telling his students, "I do not fear your failure; I fear your success". I understand now the comment.
Thanks Tony
Shaun, if you're not failing at some things, you're not succeeding at others. Hang in there, dude. We've all been there - but some of us are simply honest about it. :)
If you ever wanna chat, shoot me your number and we'll talk on my nickel.
In the immortal words of Red Green, "Remember: I'm pulling for you! We're all in this together!" :)
Tony -- thanks for this post. It so resonates with me. I likewise am in the early stages of church planting, and your story of the cook-out ("slighted dinner invitations" : ) sounds like one we had this last summer -- only five people. But like you say, who knows what might come of that. Great post. Thanks.
Randy, that was almost 13 years ago for us - and while it looked bad at the time, in retrospect, I can see it was a good thing. Standing there in that park that night, I would have never guessed where we'd be today.
It's worth it. :)
Like I told Shaun, if you ever wanna chat, shoot me your number and we can talk on my nickel. I remember those early days well and how alone it could sometimes feel when there was no one (or few) around who really understood.
Post a Comment