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    Is Past Success the Mortal Enemy of Future Success

    Is Past Success the Mortal Enemy of Future Success

    Pastor Mark Beeson writes:  Maybe past successes challenge future success, but isn't it also true that past successes give you a foundation of experience and skills often demanded by future success?  Isn't it also true that past success often positions you for future success? And isn't it true past victories often inform future strategies?

    Read that again.

    There's a lot in there.

    What's your take.  Have any past successes you've had in ministry helped spur you on to more future success, or actually caused you to retreat in a way that future success weren't possible?

    You can read more thoughts from Mark here...

    Share your stories, if you would...

    Todd

    Comments

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    1. Pat on Wed, January 27, 2010

      I think past successes are comfortable because they’re known and can keep us from going from good to great.  Past successes shouldn’t be ignored, but if they don’t propel us to go beyond where we’ve been in the past, I think we should look forward, not back.

    2. Jan on Wed, January 27, 2010

      And I think that past success can influence your teachability in other ministries.  “I did it that way and it was so successful, so that must mean that all ministry should happen that way.”

      Success is really a relative term in a lot of ways.  And ministry “norms” often change with the community you serve in.
      What we did in our mega church in Southern California isn’t even in the realm of possibility here in Idaho. 

      And I’ve heard speakers come from a large city in the south and propose ministry methods that later the local mnistry personell actually laugh about, because they are so far out in left field.

      That said, we do have a very solid foundation of ministry principles and philosophy that have served us well.  And those came from past successful ministry.

    3. Peter Hamm on Wed, January 27, 2010

      Pst successes that were achieved in unusual ways also give you expectations of future successes that can sometimes be a bigger challenge then everybody knows.

    4. Jan on Sun, January 31, 2010

      I think Peter what you wrote is very significant.  For me that has been a huge struggle, to define success.
      I’ts that whole number deal again.  We hear often that success is not numbers, but let’s face it we book speakers based on it, we respect it and we all define successful ministry as in numerical growth.
      We have wresteled with that here, where we’ve seen some absolutely incredible ministry, yet still don’t have a self sustaining church, and have come to the realization that this hostile to the gospel community really doesn’t want one.
      I think we have been our own worst critics in this and we haven’t still come to any conclusion that sits well.

      I think that’s one thing Paul meant when he said we need to work out our faith with fear and trembling… that’s probably horribly out of context!  But I am finding that we have “worked out our faith” over and over and over again, and aren’t done yet.

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