Minutes ago I got out of our church staff meeting and my heart hurts. I am so tired of hearing the words, “church growth” when we talk of our church mission. I don’t want to hear the words “attendance” or “numbers” anymore as we discuss the health of our church. It’s getting old to listen to my pastor reference “growing churches” or better, “fast-growing churches” as he convinces the staff on a course of action. Today we talked for more than an hour about recruiting volunteers without even a reference to our need to be dependent on God. I had to mention prayer as the first step in the recruitment process. I guess it just didn’t fit into the 7 steps to effective recruiting outline that my pastor presented. I love these guys and my heart hurts for them. Obviously they don’t get it. They don’t get that Jesus is more interested in their attention to him than their success for him. My heart longs to be around churhc leaders that see success through Christ’s eyes, instead of through Rick Warren’s eyes or Outreach magazine’s eyes. The more I study the words of Christ, the more I realize the difference between the two. How did we get here? And the better question is, how does a new generation of church leaders move the church in a new, yet ancient, direction?