Pastor Steven Furtick

There’s a well-known quote in the marketing and business world from Steve Jobs about the importance of getting your ideas out the door.

Real artists ship.

Jobs isn’t just speaking of people who paint, draw, sculpt, or make music. It’s anyone who has the responsibility for creating anything. Products. Services. Reports. Even sermons.

Real artists don’t delay their creation’s release in an attempt to make it perfect. They put in the work and get it as close as they can, and then release it. The most significant ideas in the world are the ones that have been shipped. Not the ones that are perfect. And that’s because no idea is ever perfect.

This is a difficult but necessary truth for anyone who creates. But pastors probably need to embrace it the most. We more than anyone have the tendency to obsess over every facet of the creative work we ship every Sunday and think it needs to be perfect to be effective. I know this better than anyone. There have been countless times when I’ve finished a sermon and wished I could have worked on it more. Brought it closer to perfection.

But at some point you have to put your ideas out there.

Every sermon you have or will ever preach could be improved. Every illustration could be a little tighter. And you could always have a deeper understanding and grasp of the passage you’re preaching.

But you have to understand that when it comes time to ship your sermon what matters is not the perfection of your main point. Or your illustrations. Or your introduction or conclusion.

It’s the perfection of God’s promise that His Word will never return void.

I’m not saying you don’t need to put in hard work ahead of time. Real artists work. And then ship. But there does come a point when you have to realize that God has never depended on your perfect preaching to save lives any more than He has your perfect obedience to save yourself. And He never will.

The Word is perfect. The Gospel is perfect. Your plan and ability to present it are not.

But we have faith that God can more than make up the difference. The same God who used a stuttering shepherd as His mouthpiece before the most powerful man in the world can use us as well. The same God who took twelve ordinary men with no background in public speaking and used them to begin a movement that changed the world can use us too.

Pastors, Sunday is just a few days away. Take some more time and prepare.
Master the text. Strengthen your presentation. Pray for anointing.

Your sermon isn’t going to be perfect. But God doesn’t need it to be to use it.
So when Sunday comes, don’t hesitate. Ship your sermon.

Next Thursday, Leadership Network is hosting a phenomenal conference called The Nines. For nine straight hours you’re going to get to learn from over 100 of the top church and business leaders as they share the biggest game changers they’ve ever experienced.

And the best part is that it’s free, so you don’t have to pay anything. And completely online, so you don’t have to go anywhere.

When I was asked to be a part of this event, I had a little difficulty choosing which game changer to land on. Just four years in, I’ve experienced a lot of moments and ideas that have shifted paradigms and come to define our church.

So I made two recordings. I feel great about the one I sent in, but I also wanted to give you the other video because I’m convinced it’s a message that churches and their leaders need to embrace and practice now more than ever.

After you’ve watched the video, take a second and go register for The Nines. Even if you can only make it for a couple of hours, you’re not wasting any money and you’re still going to receive teaching that has the potential to be a game changer in your own leadership.

A few weeks ago I tweeted a challenge to leaders that received a lot of positive feedback:

Leaders: Don’t apologize for expecting excellence. God deserves it, and people are capable of it. Call it out.

The impetus for it came from my observation that some leaders are afraid or embarrassed to expect excellence as a normal product from the people they lead. Usually it’s because they don’t want to appear to be demanding or demeaning. Apparently it’s an affront to expect a lot out of a person.

But it’s actually just the opposite. It honors them.

The highest compliment you can give to those you lead is to demand the best from them. Low standards do not communicate appreciation. They communicate contempt for someone’s ability and potential. Once you have stopped challenging someone to do more, you have stopped believing in them. And you have effectively stunted their ability to grow in their God-given gifts and calling.

It’s the responsibility of the leader not only to cast vision, but also to make sure that those serving under the vision are maximizing their gifts in support of it. An indispensable tool that every leader must learn to develop then is the ability to speak life into potential. Call it out. And the best way to call it out is by maintaining a high standard. People don’t grow by being allowed to live in mediocrity.

So leaders: Don’t apologize for expecting excellence. God deserves it, and people are capable of it. Call it out.

You’re not being demeaning by holding your people to a high standard. The real affront would be to allow someone to work at a level that doesn’t correspond to the potential for greatness that God has put in them.

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This past weekend we saw one of the most powerful moves of God at Elevation yet. 581 people saved in just two days. We celebrate and stand in awe of a massive outpouring of God’s power and salvation. But 581 is more than just a big number for us. What makes that number really incredible is that behind it are 581 names. And behind every name there’s a story of a person whose life was redeemed and changed forever.

A foreign exchange student from France who happened to come and was saved.
Six students who found life together after a couple of their friends invited them to church.
A couple in their 60s who both accepted Christ.

I think of the greatest temptations any church faces is depersonalizing the miracles it so desperately longs to see. There is nothing wrong with praying for God to move in unprecedented ways. We shouldn’t settle for small goals when we have a God who is capable of the impossible. But we do not need to forget that God’s miracles involve people. And these are real people with real needs and real situations.

When you look through the gospels, the amount and character of the miracles of Jesus is staggering. But what may be more staggering is that when you look at each one in its context, Jesus’ concern is not with the grandeur of the miracle itself. But with the fact that His power is impacting and transforming the life of an individual.

Jesus sees a woman in a funeral procession who has just lost her only son. So He raises him from the dead. Jesus sees a bent over, ostracized woman while preaching in a synagogue. So he straightens her up. A blind man asks for his sight. And so Jesus restores it. It wasn’t just about the miracle itself. It was about the life that was impacted because of the miracle.

We’re never going to stop praying that God’s power will demonstrate itself in ways we’ve never seen before. We will always pray that God would continue to save hundreds and thousands during our weekend worship experiences. But that’s because we know that there are hundreds and thousands of unique people with unique stories and unique needs who need the same power of Jesus to flow through their lives.

We’re ultimately praying for God to save the life of an individual. To heal one person. To meet the needs of one man. To transform the life of one woman.

And then repeat this event hundreds of times.

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