Day -1: Light the Fuse....

All the meetings are over.  The plans have been formulated.  The start up funds have been procured.  The campus pastor has been hired.  The opening worship has been planned.  And even the first sermon has been written.  All that is left to do is light the fuse….

It might be the hardest thing to do in getting something started – starting!  Starting something new is fraught with risk and danger.  Starting something new opens you to criticism, to the possibility of failure, makes you come face-to-face with the real possibility of wasting others’ valuable time and dollars and when it’s all said and done, all you may have accomplished is making a fool of yourself.

It’s little wonder why so many pastors (and so many churches) are stuck – we are afraid of lighting the fuse.

I belong to a denomination that loves to study things.  We form commissions on top of commissions to study the right way to do everything.  We do our best to eliminate any chance of failing before we start something new.  Only problem – we never start anything new!

Our practice has been: Ready – Aim – then(and only then) do we dare fire.

But when starting something new, the theory ought to be – Ready – Fire – (go see where your shot has landed) – then (and only then) do you take take aim...so you can go shoot again!  

If you don’t get started, you will have nothing to adjust. Nothing to fine tune.  There will be no need to take a second (or third or fourth or fifth) shot if you never take the first one. 

Your first 100 days are all about starting things, getting the ball rolling, shaking things up, poking the box, making mistakes, learning from those mistakes and then trying something new (all so you can make new mistakes!)

Sure a life spent curled up in a ball, hiding in the corner, is less risky, but what kind of life is that?

In less then 12 hours, our first worship service at the new campus will be behind us.  So, all I have left to do is go to sleep….but before I do that….let me see if I can find a match….

Something to think about:  What is it going to take for you to start the one thing you have been to afraid to get started?  Why not start it now?