Blogging, Ministry Growth & Ambition

July 7, 2011 in Leadership, Ministry, Movement Building with 7 Comments

Part 1 of a series on Godly Ambition

“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

I Peter 5:5

 

I came across that verse in my quiet time last week and somehow for the first time I deeply considered that God might actually be actively opposed to the things I’m doing for Him.

Because the things I’m doing for His name devolve quickly toward what I’m doing for my name.

 

Specifically I’ve really wrestled with making a name for myself in 2 areas:

Blogging and Directing a college ministry.

I haven’t seen too many Christian bloggers write about pride, but I guarantee every blogger struggles with it. Because one thing blogging (and Twitter/Facebook) will do to you is make you incredibly narcissistic and concerned about “Brand You”. How many people are following me? How many are reading my blog? How do I extend my “reach”?

The pure motive of why I care about my blog and extending its reach is seeking to share resources/ideas and get invaluable feedback on ministry/leadership. It’s poor stewardship of my time (taking the time to write) if only 3 people read every post. And the more voices that can weigh in on any topic, the better off all of us are.

But is it inherently prideful to care about extending your influence?

 

In leading a college ministry, our goal is to build a big enough movement so that every student on campus hears about Christ from a friend. That’s no small ambition. We’re striving to have 1000 college students involved and aligned to reach the campus for Christ.

How do you seek to build something of that size without slipping into building a Cru-kingdom or Tim-kingdom?

 

So what does it look like for you?

How do you strive for excellence, success, and growth in ministry while remaining humble and God-honoring?

 

photo courtesy of www.dafyd.me.uk 

  • Jordan Eoff

    This is a great topic. My “life verse” is 1 Corinthians 15:10 which keeps things in perspective for me: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”

  • http://twitter.com/BVirtue Brian Virtue

    one thought has to do with how increased influence plays out. If we keep ourselves at the center of what we perceive to be our influence, we’re going to struggle more and think more in terms of personal branding or trying to quantify our influence (strikes me as similar to David counting his army and people when God told him not to). If we see influence as being through other people, where our focus is reproducing people who are having the right kind of influence, I think we become less of of the attraction. I love John the Baptist’s perspective when he saw that his best “influence” was to become less while Jesus became “more.” I can’t help but think a fundamental posture we have to take is to work to become less in people’s lives as they become more (in a setting them up for success manner). We have to be people though that are ok when success happens without us and that sometimes is hard to do.

    Topic really worth coming back to for me and all of us on a consistent basis. Thanks for writing.

  • Greg Sauer

    Thankfully, God works through us even when (always) our motives are mixed.

  • Anonymous

    For sure – otherwise we’d all be screwed!

    When I first came on staff I remember a campus director telling me, “God will only bless you as much as he can trust you with His glory”. I strongly disagree with that statement – mostly because I am living proof that God does bless you (in ministry/life/etc) even though I constantly steal His glory.

  • Anonymous

    Good thoughts Brian. It’s funny, I often think of that example from David when we’re gathering stats for the year – struggling with whether I’m “counting my army” for my name’s sake or for pure motives (or because I have to for my job!).

    I really like “a fundamental posture we have to take is to work to become less in people’s lives as they become more (in a setting them up for success manner)”

  • Anonymous

    Great verse Jordan – you’re a great example of someone who works/strives hard in ministry with Godly ambition, but always seeking to keep that verse/truth in mind (that it is by God’s grace).

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