Here’s a question for my friends in church leadership: if your church were a public company and you were an investor, would you buy it’s stock?

What does your answer say about the decisions you need to make?

Have the courage to make the hard decisions. It’ll be worth it. The Kingdom IS that important.

Sorry for the gross title, but it sucked you into reading, so…….

Proverbs 26:11 says “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.” I’ve seen alot of that lately.

Recently we awarded employees significant pay raises—as much as 36%—- and offered them an upward path which they initially accepted, only to have them walk off without even giving notice a couple of months later. They returned to lesser jobs in places of limited opportunity. Why? Mostly because they were comfortable in the lesser place, while the opportunity to live a better life required them to stretch a bit. One commented on how our town of 3000 people was “just to big city” for her.

Really?

But I supposed the kicker for me was when the adopted daughter of a friend of mine reached age 18, got pregnant, graduated high school, and proceeded to go find her birth mother and move back in with the woman who’d abused and abandoned her rather that with the adoptive parents who’d given her everything a kid could want. (Interestingly enough, the community she moved back to was the same one as the employee in the above paragraph.)

The dog returns to its vomit.

In both of these situations, the people involved were shown a path forward to a new life of progress, prosperity, and opportunity; clearly a better life by all measurements. And in both situations they tasted the opportunity, enjoyed it, and then turned back to their old ways. The dog returned to the vomit.

Why?

The answer came blazing into my mind as my friend told about her adopted pregnant daughter. The dog returns to its vomit, because it sees itself as a dog.

When we see ourselves as worthy of better, we turn our backs on the puke of our past. But if we somehow believe we aren’t worthy of anything more than that rancid past, we return to it, eat it, and then wonder why our breath is always bad.

What’s that old saying? “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”

Is there any chance you keep returning to your vomit, because you’ve never seen yourself as worthy of more?

II Corinthians 5:17 says “If any person is in Christ he is a new creation, the old has passed away and all things have become new.”

You can say goodbye to the past. You don’t have to revisit that failure, or simply that thing that never worked. You can pick up and move forward. All you have to do, is believe what God says “…the old has passed and all thing have become new.”

Don’t eat the puke anymore. You’re better than that.

Last Sunday I had multiple occasions where people I didn’t know came up to me at church and asked me questions as if I’m the pastor. I’m not. I have no official capacity or role. I’m just a guy in the crowd, but last week several people needing pastoring decided they’d get it from me.

I was pondering that seemingly odd occurrence with a friend who said “Well, you know why, don’t you?” No. I don’t. So tell me. He said “You look the part. Look at the gray hair. And then, you are the most overt guy greeting everyone at the front door. You are effectively “the face” of our church.”

Oh really?

One of the great complaints heard over and over about our church is that it isn’t friendly; that you can attend there and no one speaks to you. So a few months ago a friend and I decided we’d fix that. Neither of us have a title, or role, or official position. We’re just guys in the crowd. But we decided that we were going to do what we could to change the atmosphere at our church and we both started standing at the front door, holding it open, greeting people, patting backs, kissing babies, telling people we were glad to see them, and generally striving to make people feel at home.

It’s been fun to watch the metamorphosis over the past few months. Originally people acted like we were weird and they refused eye contact. But they warmed up and began to speak. Then some offered handshakes (which I don’t personally prefer). And now, the front door to our church is kind of a big love fest. Many people shout greetings from afar. There is back slapping, and big smiles adorn many faces. I think our efforts have made a difference in the countenance and attitude of the worshippers; one that subconsciously sets them up to better engage with God and hear from Him in the worship experience.

“You are the face” of our church. Hmmm. I don’t know. I’m just trying to be a friendly guy at the front door. But I got to thinking about it, and I kinda like the designation. When Obama goes to another country he becomes “the face” of the United States. When he’s not present, our ambassador in the country is the “official face” of the U.S.

Yes, yes. I am the face, not of our church, but of Jesus. And furthermore, I intend to be the face. In fact, I think everybody ought to show up intentionally planning to be the face. I think you and I should look for opportunities to be the face. Wherever our foot steps, it should be the objective of a Jesus follower to “Be the Face in that Place.” At work. At school. In the neighborhood. At the club. At the funeral home. In the grocery store. Let’s be intentional about being the face in that place.

“We are therefore ambassadors for Christ….” (I Corinthians 5:20)

You can’t fulfill a dream until you first define it. The power for fulfillment is born from the seed of definition.

Let me explain: if you say you want to be good at something, what does that mean? What does “good at” mean? What’s the definition?

Perhaps you want “to be successful.” What does that mean? What’s the definition of “successful?” You have to define the thing first.

I have some church leader friends who have a catchy slogan about what they want to do—-their vision for their church. But when you ask them to define it, they give you a blank stare. They are not prepared for God to bless them with achievement of their vision. How will they know what to do in order to fulfill their vision if they can’t define what the fulfilled vision looks like?

The power to define, is the first step in fulfilling your dream.

Slow down. Think clearly. Write it down. Then proceed with the steps that will yield results.

I’ve recently needed to buy a lot of technology hardware  and it seems one of the only places left to do that is Best Buy, so off I go. Often. And there begins the tale.

On two occasions I’ve walked into Best Buy to be slowly and casually greeted by a guy who wants my name so he can “add me to the list.” I don’t want to be on a list, and I don’t want to give my name. I want to buy what I came for. But this is their new process, so…..I give in. “Jose,” I tell them.

I then watch. Standing in the aisle less than 15 feet from me is the store manager—the guy with his picture on the wall up front. He’s talking with another guy wearing a Best Buy logo. On the other side is the guy who is responsible for the department I am standing in. He’s got a clipboard, too. And he’s talking to a blue-shirted Best Buy guy standing behind a register. They are enjoying one another’s company.

There are various Best Buy people walking around. They don’t look at me. They don’t speak. And they don’t seem headed anywhere in a hurry.

I stand and wait. I’ve stood at the iPad display for ten minutes at this point, and the store doesn’t seem to be busy.

Here comes a “lesser manager” and I flag him down. I tell him my problem. Instead of getting me the iPad I need so I can be on my way, he goes to find someone else to help me. He chats up the department manager. Nobody moves.

The name-taker guy finally walks back through and sees me standing there frustrated, comes up to tell me somebody will be with me in a minute. I protest, and in response, he gets a ladder, climbs high, gets me what I needed, and two minutes later I’m on my way. I’ve spent $750.

This isn’t a diatribe against Best Buy, though they deserve it. This is the second time in a row I’ve had this experience in their store, and something similar happens roughly annually. Instead, this is about salesmanship.

Yesterday I had a representative of Infusionsoft—a CRM software company—tell me he “wasn’t trying to sell me anything.” I replied “Perhaps that’s the problem. I’m trying to buy something and you aren’t helping me, so maybe we could get someone who IS trying to sell.”

The point is simply this: whatever your title, whatever your department, whatever your role, YOU ARE IN SALES. Helping your company’s customer get what they need quickly, is everybody’s job. Serving the people who are doing business with your company is everybody’s job.

When the customer is in the room, and you are busy jawing with your buddy who also works there, you are demonstrating that you aren’t serious about helping your customer or your company. The customer comes first. Help him!

So…..throw your clipboard away. Quit goofing off with your fellow clerks. Quit walking around looking busy. Look customers in the eye. Greet them. Smile! Ask how you can help them. And then quickly get them what they need.

Everybody is in the sales! If you aren’t, you’ll eventually be in the unemployment line.