I loved playing sports when I was a child, and I still love playing. Now as a parent, it more fun watching children play. Well, it is different, but there is a joy accompanied I did not have as a child. There is no greater joy seeing my children score or succeed in some way. However, on the other hand, it is very difficult to see them fail. One thing I repeatedly tell them is “successful people don’t fail, they learn.”

It is also reminiscent of a Michael Jordan commercial where he says, “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed” I’ve missed more than 9,000 . . . Michael Jordan - Forbes Quotes. I know this is very little help in the moment, but when they succeed down the road, they will recognize it is because of some lesson they learned through defeat.

Watching a four or five year old play soccer is filled with mixed emotions. It is by pure chance your child scored, but the excitement is like they won the championship. I remember watching a game and another child scored, and you can imagine the exuberance radiating throughout their body. Smiling from ear to ear, chest puffed out, and running with an embolden confidence. The only issue is this child scored on the wrong goal. As parents, we just say “well at least they are happy.” Even if you know it’s a little off, there is something exciting and contagious about seeing someone believe they are winning.

It reminds me of the moment when I realized, maybe that was me. Maybe I was part of a church that thought they were winning, succeeding, making a difference, but we scored on the wrong goal. Technically, the ball went in the net, but the score did count for the intended team. We were making decisions, but not making disciples. The strange thing is we know this. We know Jesus did not call us to get people to make a decision for Christ, but to make disciples, who continue to make decisions to follow Jesus. But people are so excited to make a decision, but does it count?

Although, I like to think this next point is well-known it is probably lost on people who say, “but it’s working.” According to the person who basically started the current model most churches use, it doesn’t work. Bill Hybels began the church movement known as “seeker sensitive” said, “We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become self feeders.' We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between service, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own” (Willow Creek Repents? | CT Pastors | Christianity Today. Pastor Bill Hybels came to this conclusion after his mega church reviewed the work of an independent study to see if their church was successful, which essentially asked the questions if they were making disciples. The model popularized by Hybels has evolved into “attractional church” but the core “counting” remains the same.

Jesus told us, the church, to make disciples because he will have a kingdom of priests. That’s right, every follower of Jesus, all Christians, are priests and not just the person who talks on stage. Have we told people that? Do we train them to live up to that? John said, “and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests. . . (Revelation 1:6). Peter told the entire church on earth, you are a “royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9). What are we counting? John Doers helps us focus in on what we think matters, by stating, ‘what matters gets measured, and what gets measured gets done” (What Matters).

I recently did a podcast focusing on David and Goliath (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unnaturally-leading-leadership-that-counts/id1482591395?i=1000509215071). Borrowing from insights from Malcom Gladwell’s book David and Goliath, David and Goliath (Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants): Gladwell, Malcolm: 4708364221388: Amazon.com: Books, I discovered how we count shapes what we care about. Gladwell explains many of us got this famous underdog story all wrong. In fact, it is not really an underdog story. Effectively, we count the wrong things. Everyone thought David was crazy because they counted the difference in him and Goliath’s height, military experience, age, and so on.

What you count, reveals what you: Value

What you count, reveals where you find: Security

What you count, reveals what you thing is: Strength

Maybe we keep counting decisions in church only because its something we think we can win. The truth is, that is not all that matters to us. We also count staff, attendance, viewership, and so on… but not disciples. Granted, this is very difficult to count, but it is the only thing God counts. We need to make disciples. we need to renew discipleship #renew-discipleship.