“Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.
About every six or eight weeks, we hold a meeting for potential music team volunteers. This meeting sets the expectations to join our team. Being on the music team at Cross Point is a fun place to serve, but it comes with a cost. We strive to help people understand that cost before they jump in and are overwhelmed.
During our meeting, our band & music director, Matt Warren, usually makes this statement:
“We refuse to be a good enough ministry.”
If you have ever been to a Ritz Carlton hotel, you know that they leak excellence. Everywhere you turn, every touch point, every experience is excellent. They’ve set a standard and refuse to allow anything less than excellence to represent them.
What if when you checked in they gave you a free breakfast voucher that was cut using scissors and printed on the copy machine in the back room? You would probably wonder if it is even valid. I mean, you could eat off the floor at the Ritz! If the bellman handles your bags like they’re fragile and treats you like a dignitary, why would they hand you a black and white, printed, hand cut voucher for breakfast? And at that moment, your opinion about the Ritz – even if you’re not “creative” – would change.
People may not recognize greatness immediately, but they do notice when things are less than.
We would not do a birthday party, plan it all out, order catering, get a Cake Boss cake, and then a day before send out a hand written invitation.
We would not wait until Saturday to figure out what our stage or props are going to be for Sunday.
We would not invite 500 people to a dinner party and forget to order the food.
We can’t settle for being good enough when we know that greatness is achievable.
Jim Collins book, Good To Great, sums it up best:
“Good is the enemy of Great.”
In creative fields, we are commissioned to help keep that bar raised for greatness. It won’t be easy, but it is worth it. Part of our job is to eliminate the obstacles that prevent people from bumping into God. It takes showing up every day, being committed to making things great and knowing that the battle is uphill. It’s daunting, and sometimes we will miss…but promising to stay resolute in the battle is worth the work to represent what we believe is greatness.
So today, don’t settle for Good Enough. Great is waiting and makes a huge difference.
Great sharing.
Excellence is indeed key but more importantly, focused excellence. Unfocused quest for excellence is a recipe for mediocrity.
Walmart gets it so you cannot praise them for service but boy, their excellent preoccupation on keeping the prices low is awesome. Their customers complain about service but they keep coming back because of their low price.
Ritz Carlton is great in service but nobody will say their price is cheap or affordable.
Applied to church, the worship team should focus on preparing their hearts and their giftings (music and leading worship)instead of worrying first about their clothes (of course that needs to be acceptable at least).
Sent my comment prematurely. Preaching, Kids program and all areas should also be clear where do they want to focus in. Think laser not simple sunlight. If this happens, the areas of focus will generate raves and that produces halo effect on the other areas, eventually. Then you can move on to other areas slowly. Think of a well-aimed bullet instead of a shotgun approach.