Don’t be afraid of failing

Did you know that McDonald’s, one of the most successful fast food chains in history, once had a McLobster?  Yep, they did.  They also tried the McPizza.  Oh yeah!  How about this…did you know they once had the McDLT?  Oh yeah, I definitely remember that one back in the mid ’80s.  These are just 3 examples of 12 menu items McDonalds tried out and had an epic fail on.  For a list on the other 9, click here.

So why do I bring up McDonald’s failures?  I bring it up as encouragement that we should never stop trying new things in ministry.  Sure McDonalds failed trying these new menu items out on all of us, but had they never tried, they may have never known if they would have worked or not.  For instance, what if McDonalds never tried Chicken McNuggets?  I am old enough to remember when those first came out too and I am glad they did.  The McNuggets have been a huge success for them.

So in ministry, don’t be afraid of trying new things.  A few years ago, when I was the Youth Pastor at Cedar Run, we tried a 5th Quarter.  We had never done that before and it was a risk.  But it worked!  Doing 5th Quarter enabled us to reach out better to the community and brought in more students into the church – students that we may have never known.

TAKE A MINUTE right now and think through some new things you could try out this year.  Don’t be scared of failing because it is through taking some risks and the failures that we really find the successes.  Seek God’s wisdom and discernment and try something out and see if it sticks.