We recently spent 10 days in Panama City Beach to celebrate our anniversary. We've done this almost every year for probably 20 years now. We have found many great restaurants that serve fresh seafood dinners, and most evenings we'll go to one to eat. I was surprised this year to find that many had closed permanently. Some might say that the Covid shut-down caused that, but you'll never convince me of that. The ones we went to were packed out every night with long lines waiting to get in. These restaurants certainly survived the Covid shut-down. How are they doing so well when other good restaurants down there did not? I think it is leadership. I told my family one evening that any restaurant that can't make it in that beach environment has nothing to blame but poor leadership.
As I've written here many times, everything rises and falls on leadership. Even with all the competition from other excellent restaurants in PCB, with the millions of tourists who go there every year there is no reason that a well managed restaurant cannot do well in that environment.
I look at our nation today and see all the problems that we have. I don't need to list them; you're aware of them. How has this great nation found itself in this condition? The answer is the same...poor leadership. I don't even refer to those holding national office as leaders anymore. They are office holders. They couldn't lead a two person parade let alone a nation. They get re-elected to office because people are too lazy, uninformed, or apathetic to vote them out of office and replace them with people who are truly interested in this country. The same thing can be said of many state and local people holding political office. Look at the states that are struggling and compare them to those that are doing well. The difference will be in the quality of their leadership. The same thing is true of cities. Don't say that the solution to the problem is term limits because we already have term limits. Every two years we have elections so there are plenty of opportunities to vote out those that are taking this country down the drain. All people have to do is study the candidates, see what they've done and vote for those that will be lead this country. If we took our responsibilities as citizens seriously few of those currently in office would still hold that office after their next election.
John Maxwell tells the story of having dinner with the president of a company that bought failing hotels. He asked the president what they did when they bought one of these hotels, and the response was that the first thing they did was fire the managers. Maxwell said he was surprised that they didn't try to talk to the managers or offer them training. When he asked about that the president said if they were any good their hotel wouldn't have failed. They fired the managers and brought in people who would provide the leadership needed to make the hotel successful. Remember this story during our next election.
Churches are no different. Many churches are struggling at the same time that some are doing very well. Again, the difference is in leadership. Leaders who have a vision will effectively lead their organizations. Those without a vision will not. Pastors who are committed to the Word of God and to ministering to their communities will have churches that will follow their example. God will bless such churches. Pastors and church leaders who are stuck doing the same things that haven't worked in 5 decades, who have little commitment to the Scriptures and who lack vision will see their churches continued to decline until they eventually close.
It must also be noted that there are some excellent pastors with great leadership abilities and vision who will find it impossible to lead their current churches out of decline. No matter how hard they work, they will find nothing but resistance from the congregation. Such pastors should realize that the seeds for failure were planted in those churches years earlier, and it is unlikely that those churches will survive. When pastors find themselves in such situations they need to seek God's guidance. Sometimes, given enough time even the most resistant church can be turned around. At other times it might be best to follow the advice Jesus gave His disciples and shake the dust off one's feet and move on to a healthier place. Only after much prayer can that decision be made wisely.
No church will ever close because it lacks ministry opportunities. We are told that a minimum of 80% of every county in the United States is unchurched. We have a huge mission field in our back yards. Whether we reach that mission field is a matter of leadership. Too often, churches get comfortable with the status quo. We may complain occasionally about the lower number of people attending our services, but we don't get upset enough about it to actually do anything. Things will only change when the leaders want it to change and are willing to capture a fresh vision from God for the church which will be supported by the church.
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