Why You Should Come to PALCO August 23rd and Bring a Friend or Two

I’ve never really appreciated 1,000 piece puzzles. To my pragmatic mind, such trivial pursuits are a waste of time, money, and energy. (In other words, I lack the patience, persistence, and creativity to put one together!) My mother, however, regularly undertakes the task of constructing the most difficult puzzles and—through sheer moxie and fastidiousness—puts every single piece in its proper place until the puzzle is completed.

I’ve noticed that my mom always starts a puzzle project by placing the box cover of the puzzle in plain view so she can continually consult it. Why? Because the cover has the picture of what the completed puzzle will look like in the end. Throughout the entire process, the big picture on the box cover is her constant guide and compass. Eventually, my mom puts the last puzzle piece in its place and ends up with the finished product. She knows she is finished; there are no pieces left over, and the completed puzzle looks exactly like the picture on the cover of the box.

As a ministry leader, you are in the process of putting together a 1,000 piece puzzle called “your ministry.” Isn’t it time you tried to figure out specifically what God wants the box cover of your ministry to look like?

Ah, but taking the time and energy to determine what God wants the big picture of your ministry to look like sounds like a lot of work… doesn’t it?

If you DON’T take the time to figure out what God wants the box cover of your ministry puzzle to look like, you will continue to labor every week not knowing if you’re making any progress. Sure, you’ll conduct a lot of activities in your “program”—but there’s a huge difference between keeping people busy in programmatic activities and making progress toward God’s vision for your ministry.

Here’s a thought: BEFORE you re-launch your ministry this fall, why not try to clearly define what you think God wants you to accomplish through your ministry? (Hint: Can you say, "making disciplemakers"?) Like I said, it’s just a thought. And it IS work.

However, the alternative to doing some God-directed strategic planning for your ministry is to continue doing good—but random—activities and hope that your hodgepodge approach of putting a piece of the ministry puzzle here and a piece there will, in the end, produce a picture that is complete and beautiful.

Yeah… right.

This is exactly why you should come to PALCO on August 23rd and bring a friend or two with you. Why not register RIGHT NOW? Complete details are here. (After you click, scroll down to previous post.)