Greater than Average

I used to work for a large company as a business to business salesman.  In the beginning, the company was very relaxed in their approach to managing employees.  They really didn’t care what I did during the workday as long as I sold more than the minimum quota (which wasn’t a lot) by the end of the month.  I was able to plan my own workday, schedule my own appointments, and make phone calls to customers whenever I wanted.  In that environment I outperformed all of my co-workers. I dominated.  I sold 300% of my minimum goals almost every month.  I did well because I had the freedom to do my job as it came natural to me.  I owned my production.

Then the company restructured their organizational efforts. Everything changed. New executives, new upper-level managers, new management styles, and new expectations.  In an attempt to be “better,” the company went overboard with restrictions on us sales guys. They began multiple campaigns to force us into a cookie-cutter daily routine that they thought would work for everyone.

They began to enforce minimum expectations.  They began managing us tightly, ensuring that every day we made 40 phone calls, and put 2 appointments on our “shared calendar.” Additional tedious activities were added to the list that everyone was already cringing over. When sales people didn’t meet these standards, they would be rebuked, forced to work on Saturdays, and “cut-off” from receiving sales leads.

Here’s the point.  The company was so focused on the minimum expectations, that they neglected to inspire the sales people to be greater than average. All they wanted was average.  If you were average, they were happy.  In fact, the best way to ensure job security was to be average, and meet the minimums. I begged them, “Don’t force us to merely measure up, inspire us to be greater.”

Unfortunately, I believe the church has bought into a similar mindset as the company where I worked.  The church has become an environment where you can show up, learn the minimum expectations (usually a nicely phrased prayer for salvation) and then go home to live your average Christian life with an average marriage and an average impact on the world.  Eventually, you die an average death and your average preacher will preach an average funeral so your average family can go on with their comfortably average life….and so on.

The other day I was in the YMCA locker room and someone asked, “what is the least I have to believe to still be a Christian.”  I didn’t answer it the way he expected.  There is a rich young ruler who asked Jesus the same question. You can read Jesus’ answer here.  Jesus also told a story about a man who sold everything to buy a field with treasure in it. Read that verse here.

It is sad, but the church has come to a place where we just want to draw people in with our fancy marketing campaigns and then tell them the minimum they have to do to get to heaven.  We care more about the number of people who attend our church, than the number of people who give everything for the cause of Christ.

One of my dreams for Generation 1:9 is to become a ministry that inspires teenagers to sell EVERYTHING for the treasure, Jesus.  I refuse to teach the minimums, because Jesus wants their ALL.

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