Mike 
“Most churches are just one difficult decision away from a breakthrough.” Dan Reiland, executive pastor of 12Stone Church, made this statement in a recent interview for the Carey Nieuwhof podcast. Do you agree?
I’ve thought quite a bit about Dan’s assertion. On one hand, it seems too simple to say that a single decision could have such a huge impact. Then I thought about the breakthrough moments in the church where I was the executive pastor for 11 years. Behind each of those advances was a pivotal decision.
A key staff hire in children’s ministry paved the way to reach many more young families. Intentionally broadening the leadership team beyond the “old guard” brought fresh, innovative perspective to the table. Several years later, we added a second campus, a risky step that didn’t fit any of the existing models for multi-site churches.
But stopping with Dan’s statement may put too much emphasis on that one difficult decision. Jim Collins says great leaders “fire bullets, then cannonballs” (Great by Choice). He explains that what appears to be a breakthrough decision is often preceded by careful research and experimentation. These earlier and smaller “bullets” help the leader fire the “cannon” of the major decision much more accurately.
So how can you be better prepared to make the breakthrough decisions that your church or ministry needs?
- Identify the areas where a breakthrough could occur. You don’t have enough “ammunition” to point in every direction, even if you’re only firing bullets. Time and prayer and conversation are needed to narrow your focus in this way.
- Create an environment where experimentation and learning are the norm. The whole point of firing bullets is to gain insights that can increase the likelihood of success when the time comes to make a difficult decision.
- Examine what keeps you from making those difficult decisions. There may be organizational factors, but quite often the issues are more personal. If you can’t identify the obstacles, you will continue to hesitate to pull the trigger, even when the time is right.
