A Definition of Excellence

A couple weeks ago in our weekly MCM Pastor’s meeting at Panera we were talking about who we are as a movement of churches and what characterizes us. One of the characteristics of MCM we identified is we believe in always pulling for the underdog. Giving that church planter or pastor or leader a chance when no one else will.

One of the things that came up in relation to that, though, is how do we achieve excellence in ministry while still being ‘for the underdog’? As I’ve been thinking this through below are some thoughts:

In asking that question, there is first an assumption that the underdog is of lesser quality than the ‘A-List’ leader, which isn’t always true. Also, as leaders we can most often have a distorted definition of excellence. My definition of excellence is this: Exceeding realistic expectations with the resources you have.

One person that would often achieve this was one of my favorite TV characters – MacGyver. He took the resources in front of him and exceeded expectations.

For a church plant or a church of 75-100 to even possibly compete with the level of ‘excellence’ of a Willow Creek or Lifechurch.tv isn’t realistic. A church that size doesn’t have the same volunteer base, the same resources or even necessarily the same target audience.

If you are pastoring a church and feel as if you can’t measure up. Rethink your definition of excellence. Don’t gripe that you don’t have Chris Tomlin leading worship for you, exceed the realistic expectations with the resources you have!