Comments on: Excellence

By: Scott McClellan

Scott McClellan — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:18:41 +0000

All good points, Brandon. Perhaps what I’m advocating is an awareness of the difference between creative/technical/artistic excellence and communicative/spiritual excellence.

In other words, let’s pursue excellence in communicating the gospel first. Sometimes, that will mean something super-artsy. Other times, that’ll mean getting out of the way. Effective communication, not award-winning excellence, becomes the goal.

By: Brandon Cox

Brandon Cox — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:05:56 +0000

I get what you’re saying, and agree that the “product” isn’t always right, but I still see in a majority of churches, especially in my own tradition, the tendency to do less than excellent because “it’s just the church.” We can build it out of cheap paneling, print in plain black and white, and leave the instruments out of tune. It is just church afterall – why not save money? So I’m hoping people read your article to keep the balance, but that the idea of excellence continues to grow too.

By: Charlie Matz

Charlie Matz — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:37:50 +0000

Scott,
Right on. One of the main problems I see occuring in the local church, in regards to excellence, is a result of high turnover. When you spend a lot of time at a trade, or a lifestyle, or a position… you get to learn many things that mold you into “mature”. Mature people know when to push and pull and how to “dance” with all the tools they have. Excellence is as much the “dance” as anything. Most churches have “newer” people at “artistic positions” (I’m quoting in order to hold certain terms loosely) and those people usually go to conferences to learn the newest most “excellent” way to do things. Can you imagine if other trades operated like this? It would be annoying and chaos. We wouldn’t trust anyone to do a “professional job”. Churches and Christians need to learn to “stay” and work hard and get some years under their belt before they can become excellent. Better yet, before they even know what it is.

By: Danielle Hartland

Danielle Hartland — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:32:07 +0000

I’ve been thinking along these lines, too. Sometimes I have to snap myself out of it and remember what I’m doing and why (and for WHO).

Hey, might make a good mag theme!

By: Barton Damer

Barton Damer — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:13:28 +0000

I agree but wrestle with this thought… IF you are the person/people creating the media, it is very possible that your goal is to worship the Lord with all that you have. While many may see it as a show, others view it as an enormous amount of work that goes into glorifying a God that is worth the effort. Only the Lord knows the heart of the team creating the experience. Obviously there is a problem when they are surfing the net stressed about what other churches are doing and how they can keep up. But what about the team that is naturally gifted and compelled to worship with those talents? It would be a shame if they were not doing what they were gifted to do. Regardless, switching it up and stripping the production down on occasion is highly recommended for the sake of variety.

By: Nick Charalambous

Nick Charalambous — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:27:25 +0000

I was thinking some of the same things just last week, specifically that if excellence becomes the goal, when is it excellent enough to remove the obstacles to seeing Jesus, and when is excellence actually producing obstacles (both in the experience of it, and in the fact that it’s draining resources from other activities.) It’s a great line of thinking …