Keep Shooting!

KEEP SHOOTING!

Whenever the experts debate the question of who the best basketball player of all time is,
names like Koby Bryant and LaBron James come into play but are quickly dismissed in
deference to the one and only Michael Jordan. There has never been a player like him and
perhaps there never will be.

Maybe you’ve read this Michael Jordan quote: I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my
career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life.”

In ministry it’s easy to focus on the missed shots. You know what I mean; the outreach event
that isn’t as successful as we had hoped, the capital stewardship campaign that comes up a little bit short, the lack of response to an invitation at the end of the sermon or the member who leaves the church because he isn’t “being fed.”

If you’ve missed some shots in your ministry, you’re in good company. Jesus missed a few
shots himself. For example, there was the rich young ruler who walked away. Most of the
people in his home town dismissed him (he’s just a carpenter’s son, you know). And even after
three years, he wasn’t able to make a disciple out of Judas.

So learn from the missed shots, but don’t dwell on them. And remember you don’t have to
make all your shots to have a good game.

Paul said it well in Galatians 6:9, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper
time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
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Or, according to MJV (Michael Jordan Version), “KEEP SHOOTING!”