If you are thinking “I know all this.”  Then let me ask you which you get more excited about.  Go ahead, no one is listening, be honest.  Do you get more excited about a day with a big attendance and a sermon that was really good or about a quiet and little known story of someone who took just a small step toward Jesus?  I think when leaders are honest about it that’s a tough question, because everyday pressures pull us away from cultivating fruit.

Are these things mutually exclusive?  No.  Big buildings and changed-lives can absolutely go together.  My point is that they won’t go together if you don’t fight with everything you have to make it so.  With your brokenness and Jesus strength, with your gifts and the Holy Spirit’s power, give your leadership to lessen the difference between success and fruit.  Think about these questions. Where does your time and energy go?  What gets you excited? What discourages you?  What keeps you awake at night?  What fires up your congregation?  What de-motivates them? Your answers to these questions will give you insight to the issue of success or fruit in your church.

Success or fruit -- semantics or reality?  That’s for you and God to wrestle down.  My prayer is that we all wrestle this and give ourselves to the things that last.