During our most recent Kidmin1124 radio show, I mentioned something about maintaining a standard of excellence.  This is something I say occasionally (not regularly) and don’t even really think about it much anymore.  Apparently, it struck a nerve with the mysterious @thefakekidmin.  He has written a blog post about what bothers him about that statement and I thought it was only fair that I respond in kind.  I would like you to know that I am not offended by his post, because he doesn’t really know me.  He is only responding to a phrase he heard me utter in passing, not to me personally.  However, I thought I would explain what I mean when I say “standard of excellence.”

Some back story.  I grew up in a small church in a small town.  Through the years, I had my share of teachers and “children’s church” leaders and I appreciate the effort they put into serving.  When I moved to Bible college, I ended up in a large megachurch (which was directly against my original intent, but it’s a God thing).  I found myself serving in a church that had twice as many kids as my childhood church had people.  I also saw how excellent things were.  I’ll admit, I was jealous of what these kids had for church.  If I had grown up in a church like this, would more of my peers still be serving God? [the answer to this is a lot more than a simple yes or no, but I it is something I consider.]

At some point, I felt God telling me that he wanted me to bring that same level of quality and excitement to the small towns that would not otherwise get it.  And that’s what I did.  After I graduated college, I moved to a town even smaller than the one I grew up in, to a church that had zero kids and few resources.  And we worked with one thought in mind, whether we have one kid or a thousand, we are going to give our very best.  We will not settle for less than giving our all in everything.  Do we miss this mark? Yes. Do I miss this mark? Too many times.  But at least I know what that mark is.

Our kids’ church area (which is actually just a corner of the fellowship hall) is a great place for kids to worship and learn and we spent less than a hundred dollars originally.  It looks really great and you wouldn’t guess at a glance that is all we spent.  I designed our logo while I was still in college, but I did it with a standard of excellence and I’m still proud of it to this day (which is a great feat because I am neither a designer nor an artist).  We have seen most of our church growth as a direct result of the way we do things with excellence, because it shows that we care. 

When I say standard of excellence, maybe thefakekidmin is imagining a chart on which I rank my leaders by whether or not they accomplish certain things.  That would be the corporate America thing to do.  I assure you, there is no chart.  There is just a desire to maintain a standard of excellence that is solely based on doing the best YOU can do.  I do not judge people based on what I can do, but based on what they can do. 

The first post I ever wrote for this blog deals with this topic, so you know it’s a passion of mine.

What do you think?  I’d love for you to leave a comment below or join the conversation on his post (you should really check out my comment as I couldn’t squeeze it into this post).  Or, for a more private conversation, use the contact me form and put “Standard of excellence” in the subject.