In an article entitled, "Excellence in Ministry" I shared some thoughts about excellence and its relationship to the Anointing.  I said that excellence will help to make your ministry more readily received by the people you are ministering to. If you have not already done so, I would encourage you to read that article before you read this one. I want to share with you some more about excellence and the Anointing.

One interesting thing about excellence and its relationship to the Anointing is how the world views both.  The world doesn't understand the Anointing.  They may sense it, but they don't understand what it is.  But they do understand excellence.  They can tell when something has been done in a spirit and attitude of excellence.  This is another reason that I say that the Anointing, in and of itself, is not enough for effective ministry.  It must be accompanied by excellence to fulfill its potential.

Having stated my thoughts on excellence and the Anointing, let me define these two terms so that we are all on the same page:

Anointing - The Power of God that is infused into the Believer to carry out the work of the ministry.  It is the yoke-destroying, burden-lifting Power of the Holy Spirit that God wants us to walk in.  There are different types of Anointings for different needs.  There are also varying degrees of these Anointings that Believers can walk in.  But ultimately, it is the Power of God at work in us that enables us to carry out His work in the earth.   

Excellence - Doing everything you can to ensure that every aspect of your ministry is able to be easily received by the people you are ministering to.  Excellence requires us to give our best to God and His people.  To carry out His work to the best of our ability, all the while asking for His ability to be at work in us.  Excellence allows the Anointing that is on your ministry to flow into the people you minister to because they more readily receive it.  It is then (when they receive it) that we will see their yokes destroyed and their burdens lifted, thus giving God the glory because of His Power to save, deliver, and heal.

When you think about it, excellence just boils down to one thing...attention to detail.  When you are doing everything you can do to make sure every aspect of your ministry is able to be well received, it really means that you just took the time and effort to work out the little bugs.  In most ministries (not all) the big bugs are pretty much non-existent.  But it's when we tackle the seemingly "insignificant" things that people take notice.

How is your praise and worship team dressed?  Are all the men's ties on straight?  Are their shoes shined?  Is there a run in one of your singers' hose?  If your church uses overhead transparencies for displaying song lyrics, does your overhead operator put the transparencies on straight?  Are all of the words spelled correctly?  Are all of the words in your church bulletin spelled correctly?  Is the grammar correct?  If your Pastor prays for people after he preaches, does he put in a breath mint before praying for them?  After all, preaching (and singing) can give you bad breath.  Is there anything about your ministry that can allow distraction?  If there is, take care of it!  That's what excellence is all about...having enough attention to detail to take care of the "little" things that can become a distraction to people.

I've said this before and I'll say it again...(and please don't write me any letters)...excellence in ministry is important because most people are petty.  I've heard of people leaving churches because they didn't like the color of the wallpaper in the bathroom, or because the platform was decorated with plastic flowers instead of real ones.  The littlest things can keep people from entering into worship.  It's usually the stupid, petty things that people leave churches over.  The problem is that most of the time we're willing to let them go, saying that if people want to leave over something that petty, we're better off without them.  What God wants is for us to meet them where they are at, just like He met us where we were at when He saved us. 

Pay attention to the "little" things in your ministry.  You can bet that other people are.  After all, God's Word tells us to be all things to all people.  Your attention to detail will make your ministry more readily received by your congregation.  Instill this need for excellence in your team.  Excellence is contagious.  I can guarantee it will spread to the other areas of ministry in your church.  Our churches should be setting standards of excellence for the world to follow, not the other way around.   Be blessed!