Counteracting the Perils of Ministry Success

I want God’s best for you, my friend. But I’ll be honest, I fear for you.

Why? You are gifted. You have the ears of your congregation. They hang on your words. They love and trust you. So what’s the problem? One of the most vulnerable times in your ministry is a season of success.

In a chapel service at Dallas Theological Seminary, I spoke on how to counteract the perils of achievement in ministry—especially early achievement. It’s straight talk that just might be exactly what you need to hear. Today. At this very moment.

So may I request of you? Give me the next half hour and allow me to share with you through this video how you can truly succeed in ministry.

—Chuck

Can One Person Make a Difference?

In our vastly populated, impersonal world, it is easy to underestimate the significance of one. With so many people, most of whom seem so much more capable, more gifted, more prosperous, more important than we, who are we to think our part amounts to much? I’m just one person, who cannot make much difference.

That’s the way most folks think. They really do!

Aren’t you glad Patrick Henry didn’t? And Henry Ford? And Martin Luther King, Jr.? And Walt Disney? And Martin Luther? And Winston Churchill? And Jackie Robinson? And Irving Berlin? And Abraham Lincoln? And Charles Wesley? And Dwight L. Moody? And Corrie ten Boom?

“But it’s a different world today,” you say. Back then, there was room for an individual to emerge and stand out in a crowd, but now, there’s no way!”

Wrong. God has always underscored individual involvement . . . still does.

  • How many did it take to help the victim who got mugged on the Jericho Road? One Good Samaritan.
  • How many were chosen by God to confront Pharaoh and lead the Exodus? One.
  • How many sheep got lost and became the object of concern to the shepherd? One.
  • How many were needed to confront adulterous David and bring him to his knees in full repentance? One.
  • How many prophets were called to stand before wicked King Ahab and predict a drought? One.
  • How many did the Lord use to get the attention of the land of Israel and prepare the way for Messiah? One.

Never underestimate the power of one! And that one just may be you.

—Chuck