Pastor Steven Furtick

My generation of church leadership will have a hard time ever understanding how good we have it.  Mainly because we have no frame of reference to appreciate the freedoms we enjoy.

Elevation is a staff led church.  When we meet about a decision, we’re also able to make the decision.  There are sufficient checks and balances (the ultimate oversight rests with an external board), but when it comes to the day-to-day ministry, the staff runs the show.

One of my mentors/heroes was a pastor at a traditional deacon-led Southern Baptist church for over 10 years.  He salivates over how much freedom our staff has to actually lead this church.  He tells me horror stories about having to beg the chairman to allocate $1000 of the $500,000 budget for evangelism.
Meanwhile, we’re able to spend every dime of our budget for the purpose of evangelism (ultimately).
He had to spend 3 months one time getting permission to move furniture in the sanctuary to accommodate his vision for altar calls.
We launched our second campus in less than 30 days.  No church vote.

We’ve got it good, boys.

But trying to explain this to those of us who have never had to maneuver our way through dysfunctional deacons meetings is like trying to explain the stress of paying bills to my 3 year old.

We are blessed to begin every day with a blue sky.  The only limit to our ingenuity is our imagination.

We start every drive in the red zone.  The only limit to our effectiveness is our ability to execute.

In the words of Thomas Paine:
“What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly.”

I hope my generation gets that we’ve got it really, really good.