The Come Back Effect By Jason Young And Jonathan MalmSample

Day Seven

Seeking Excellence

Scripture: Colossians 3:24

Many of the people visiting your church are getting their first glimpse of Jesus. Will that first glimpse be of excellence or of mediocrity?

In every detail of the church experience, we need to reject being “just okay.” Excellence in the come back effect is: 

• Humble. If you’re full of pride, you won’t be willing to listen to input. 
• Neverending. In the pursuit of excellence, you’ll never fully arrive. 
• Relentlessly focused on continuous improvement rather than keeping sacred cows. Sacred cows become untouchable assumptions that get in the way of progress. They’re things like: 

– processes that were set up by a personal hero

– approaches you saw at that first church where you became a Christ follower, so they feel sacred to you

– obtrusive décor that was donated by a founding member of the church 

• Always thinking about culture. If you aren’t focused on maintaining a culture of excellence, you will always see a drift away from excellence. 
• Focused on both the guest and the volunteer. A volunteer usually treats the guest with the same care shown to them. 

As you seek to reject “just okay” in your ministry and reach for excellence, ask yourself the following three questions. Apply them to those five areas. Then ask these questions as you continue to improve your people and your processes. 

1. What’s worth starting? Should you implement a new process or find new tools to help you achieve excellence in the come back effect? 

2. What’s worth fixing? Is there a process that isn’t functioning properly that merely needs a tweak or a reorganization to make it work the way it was meant to? 

3. What’s worth ending? If there is something distracting from excellence, it’s important to stop it. Is there a policy that gets in the way of your volunteers providing excellent care? Is there something unnecessary that’s done in a mediocre way that would be best if your team didn’t do? 

The true measure of excellence won’t be found in one week. True excellence is a long-term move toward better processes, even if there are occasional deviations from that trend. 

Excellence is not easy. It’s inconvenient. But it’s worth the effort to demonstrate the love of God to those he has entrusted to our care. 

What are three ways you could improve excellence in caring for your team and guests?