When only the best will do

Former President Jimmy Carter was a Lieutenant in the Navy when he decided to apply to the nuclear submarine program. He was required to meet with Admiral Hyman Rickover who was in charge of that program. During the interview Carter was asked about his grades at the US Navy Academy. Carter proclaimed he was in the top 10 percent of his class. Rickover then asked Carter, "Did you do your best?" Carter truthfully answered no, to which Rickover responded "Why not?" and then turned back to his desk. The interview was over, and Carter, shaken, left the room. He was selected for the nuclear submarine program, but he never forgot that question and the impact it made on him. 

I doubt that few, if any, of us could truthfully say we've always done our best at anything. I can see many times in my own life when I've been satisfied to just complete the task. Forget about doing my best, I just want to get it over. Good enough is good enough.

The problem with that is that good is often the enemy of the best. We sometimes think that we have to choose between the good and the bad, but that's not the case. The real option is often between the good and the best. We settle for good when we should be striving for the best.

In what I consider the best leadership book, Good to Great, Jim Collins writes in the first chapter

We don't have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don't have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just easy to settle for a good life. The vast majority of companies never become great, precisely, because the vast majority become quite good - and that is their main problem.

In the margin beside that paragraph I wrote, "The same is true of churches." The vast majority of churches I've worked with over the years are satisfied with being good. They are content to offer the same ministries they've always offered without giving any thought about doing something different. Preparing the budget is easy because they only have to add a little to the line items to reflect projected utility increases and any increase in the pastor's salary. Little thought is often given to budgeting for new ministries that might reach new people. Most self-identified highly evangelistic churches do not reflect that mindset in their budget.

Most churches are satisfied with doing good things without ever reflecting on if they are doing the best things. Without a fresh, clear vision of God concerning their ministry, they have no way of identifying the best things they should be doing, and most churches lack such a vision. Without a roadmap taking the church to a new place, they remain content to repeat what they've done for the past few generations. As Dr. Phil might ask, "How's that working out for you?"

I do not challenge churches to be perfect, but to do their best. Do everything with excellence. If you want to do something, but it cannot be done at this time with excellence, then don't do it. The timing is not right. You cannot build a church on mediocrity. 1 Corinthians 10: 31 tells us, "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." God asks us for our best in all we do.

Let's refuse to settle for the good. Pursue the best in everything. Maybe, in an attempt to do everything with excellence, you will find you have to do fewer things. That's OK. Just do what you do with excellence. If you do, in time you will be able to do more.