If momentum is ever going to develop, there has to be unity, singleness of purpose, oneness in goal and objective - in other words, momentum develops when people are striving together for the faith of the gospel.
The Bible asks how two can possibly walk together "except they be agreed" (Amos 3:3). That does not mean we are always going to share the same opinion; but at minimum, there ought to be the kind of dialog which promotes new ideas and creative thought and generates new ways of doing things.
The Hebrew word translated agreed in Amos 3:3 means "concord and harmony." How can two walk together except there be concord and harmony and singleness of purpose, unless they be striving together for the faith of the gospel?
The popular idea in much of our secular world today is "Do your own thing. Focus on your agenda or your career. If your thing isn't getting tended to, you can always go on strike."
You go to work at some places and it seems as though no one cares; everyone is just putting in their time: "Here we are for another day." There might be a little strife and division over here, Mary Jane is complaining about her boss doing this or not doing that over there and someone else is griping about something else.
Saint of God, there is no room in an organization for any kind of divisive influence if that organization is going to do what God has called it to do.
Nipping Strife
As a leader, you cannot allow one tiny inch's worth of strife to develop in those following you. Nip it in the bud when it rears its head; deal with it right then. Sit down with the parties involved in the divisiveness or strife and say, "Hey! We can't let this happen. I understand you have a concern about this or that or you feel this or that didn't go well. That's fine. Let's talk about it and work it out.
"You need to understand that the Bible says this is something we cannot allow. We cannot allow this kind of divisiveness to occur in this organization. We have to deal with it. And if this has produced such a deep-seated resentment in you that you cannot settle this issue in your heart, you're going to have to find another place to work. I hope that's not the case. I want to address your concern, but you need to understand that there is nothing worth our allowing this kind of influence to remain. You're going to have to deal with it."
The atmosphere that enables momentum to happen is one in which everyone is pulling together: having singleness of heart, singleness of mind, striving together for a common vision. We can do whatever needs to be done. We can do it because the Bible says we can.
It may be a challenge to our flesh, but we can do all things through Christ. (Phil. 4:11.) That kind of attitude creates the atmosphere needed for the organization to stay alive and thrive.
Seeing Results
When people see the results of their efforts, it is like kindling a match. Begin saying, "Yes, we've been talking about pulling together, striving together. He's been saying we can do it, and now we know we can. Look what happened. Look at the results we are getting!"
The ball starts rolling, and this supernatural thing called momentum begins to occur. It is a supernatural thing because when momentum is generated it seems that everything just works better. Morale is high, and turnover is low. Needs are met, goals are realized and problems are solved when momentum is part of the ministry thrust.
However, that same momentum will die when individuals begin to once again "do their own thing" and operate outside of the collective effort and God's mandate.
How many occasions have we known exactly what the mandate of God was, but to accommodate our own agendas or desires - our flesh - we have juggled that mandate?
Ministries juggle in a lot of ways. For example, some supposedly full-gospel churches have said, "Well, the baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues is a pretty dicey subject. We are just not going to make that a real centerpiece of our ministry. We don't want to scare anybody away." What are they doing? They are juggling the mandate of God.
We juggle in a lot of ways to accommodate our own insecurities, our own agendas, our own flesh. We juggle socially and say, "Well, you know, a lot of young people experiment sexually before marriage.
Anyway, how can you really know you're compatible with someone if you don't sleep with that person?" We juggle the life right out of a woman's womb with abortion and call it a choice. We juggle the mandate of God and wonder why the curse comes.
When someone in your organization or ministry begins to threaten your momentum by juggling the mandate of God, do the same thing Joshua did as recorded in the book of Joshua. He made it a public affair in front of his whole following. "We blew it. We made a mistake. And we're going to eradicate this problem forever," he said.
Don't try to sweep your or others' mistakes under the rug. When you have made a mistake, come clean. I am not suggesting you lay out in front of your organization every little thing you have ever done wrong. That's not wisdom. But when you have made a mistake that has affected the progress of the group, then you have to be as deliberate in dealing with it as Joshua was.
You have to stand before your people and say, "This is what happened. I take responsibility for it. It has created problems for us as a whole, and here is what we are going to do to change it, right now, today." The result for Joshua was that he got back on track. Momentum was restored, and Israel won twenty-eight consecutive victories!
Taking responsibility for and eradicating problems as they arise affects the momentum of your organization. And momentum has everything to do with your success.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishing
Mac Hammond is the senior pastor of Living Word, a large and growing church in Brooklyn Park (a suburb of Minneapolis), Minnesota. He is the host of the Winner’s Minute, which is seen locally in the Minneapolis area on KMSP Channel 9 at 6:44 a.m. and 11:11 a.m. He is also the host of the Winner's Way broadcast and author of several internationally distributed books. Mac is broadly acclaimed for his ability to apply the principles of the Bible to practical situations and the challenges of daily living.
