Epic Fail

A recent article in Leadership magazine told of a pastor who held a conference called "Epic Fail." Having left deflated and discouraged after attending more than one conference where pastors told of their many success stories, this fellow decided to find out how many others felt the same way. He started a website called "Epic Fail" and soon had more than ten thousand viewers. He rented a second story meeting room and more than one hundred people attended his first conference. They shared their sad stories of programs gone bad and frustration toward those who chose not to follow their vision. Oddly, they all felt better and are looking forward to next years conference.

Sadly, the churches and church leaders who only tell of their victories are often hiding their failures from public view. What they may not know is that we are more prone to pull for those who are transparant in their struggles. Looking back over my life I can remember harboring ill will toward pastors and churches that never seemed to have a down Sunday or miss their budget needs. When one pastor called me and related that he was not able to raise enough to build a proposed worship center, I closed my office door and and did a victory dance around my desk. (I later repented in sack cloth and ashes.)

Here are some facts I have learned in my many failures:

    I have learned more about myself in defeat than I ever have when I won,

    Being honest about your failures endears you to your peers,

    Frequent failures make victories more fun,

    Failure is just one more option I have elimintated on my way to what works,

    I would rather try and fail than never try, and finally

    I often find failure means I simply did not define sucess correctly.  

So the next time something doesn't turn out the way you planned, I suggest you ask God what He was trying to teach you in the process. Then write a book, start a webpage and hold a conference. You might be surprised how many people show up.

In His Shadow,

Pastor Ken 

 

Comments

[Sue Williams]

I want you to know I have never responded to a blog because I am not even sure how to get on a blog! But I saw this on FB just now, which I am rarely on :) Must be a God thing because this is such wisdom and encouragement Pastor Ken. It leaped in my spirit immediately. And that is because I have found myself at times in such discouragement when I sit with other people in studies or groups of people and they "seem" to have it all together. What too often happens is we sit and either say nothing or we never get down to really sharing what we have struggled with, where we have gone wrong, what we are "growing" through at the moment, what we have been taught and it leaves the perception then that others just have not had to walk a rugged road therefore having success most of the time. What really has discouraged me then is then is this-where is the ministry opportunity? It does come down to a lack of transparency, afraid of being really real with friends, family, church people and even strangers we meet. It is out of our own "messes" that God turns them around to become such powerful "messages" for others. To encourage, to inspire, to connect with another's struggles and our testimony of our own tests allows people to see the glory of what can come from those rugged walks and times of what appears to be failure. I am thankful that God has given me the courage and desire to be transparent with others. I see how He has allowed me to walk thru many times of failure, hardship, trials of many kinds because it now gives me an opportunity to really connect without being afraid to open up and He uses that to connect and reach others for Him, to minister. And that is sums up what I am studying in James and this week just happens to be around one of my favorite verses: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you now that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." Is perseverance not needed more today than just about anything else? We need to hear testimonies of failures, discouraging times, dark valleys so we can then tell how God has used this in lives for good, for growth, for teaching and maturity. Can you tell that this really resonated here this am for such a time as this? Thanks so much for Epic Fails. And for your willingness to be transparent.