Doing the Right Things or Doing Things Right?

Church questions without clear answers make my mind kick into overdrive: What are the limits to Equitable Compensation in a missional language barriered situation? Can an affiliate member or an ssociate member be on SPRC? (An associate member can, but not an affiliate - Go figure) Do you have to go to District Board of Church Location and Building when the purchase, etc. of a building exceeds 25% or 10%? Well, I turn to the BOD and get most answers, but sometimes it's a judgment call. The BOD can and should be permissive if it can expedite ministry. I know people expect me as a Conference Parliamentarian to be a "strict constructionist" when it comes to the BOD, but I'd rather do the right things than do things right.

Sounds like heresy among methodical United Methodists, but isn't this what we should be about? Doing the right things is much more important than doing things right. I listened at the Bishop's School this week to Jorge Acevedo of Grace UMC near Ft. Myers, Florida say how it's great to be flexible enough to do cutting edge ministry. He's a good leader. The diffrence between managers and leaders is whether one values doing things right or doing the right things!

That's sort of the crux of the matter, isn't it? God needs us all to be leaders more than managers. To do less is only rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. I look forward to starting Charge Conferences this Sunday and I hope/long to hear how leaders have been leading and everyone has been daring to dream new things and actually do them. I think I'll get sick, really sick, if I hear a "woe is me" attitude or hear a same-old-same-old report. I know that there are people who don't know the transforming power of Jesus all around us. The traffic around Columbia is radically less on Sundays! I look forward to hearing what's happening and how I can help us do the right things more than doing things right.