Does Not Exist to Give You a Job

It brings me back to this: What is the highest priority? I've been a pastor here for 34 years, and I see a primary responsibility to constantly, constantly, constantly bring the church back to outreach. We are not here for ourselves. We are here for others. To the people in the church, I have to say, "You are here for the people that are not yet in the church." I say to our staff (probably too often!), "The organization does not exist to give you a job. You work here to fulfill the purpose of Jesus Christ for this organization. If at some point you can't do that, it's not that we're mad at you or you're a bad person. It's that we've got to go on, because we've got to stay focused on what we're all about." That's my job.

- Leith Anderson, as quoted in Cutting Edge, Winter 2011