Mission True vs. Drift
I mentioned in a recent blog a book that I read called Mission Drift. it is an excellent book that profiles organizations that have either been successful in staying true to their missions over time or had gone the other way and experienced drift. I’d love to do a whole series on this but I know that it would be a little more business oriented than the purposes of this blog so I am just going to summarize the key points this week that we can apply personally and as families.
Mission True is defined as follows:
They know why they exist and protect their core at all costs. They remain faithful in what God has entrusted them to do. Their values and purposes (heart and soul) do not change.
The organizations that stayed true to their missions all had common characteristics. Here are some of the key ones that I believe all have direct application to us:
They believe that the Gospel is their greatest asset. We all have gifts and abilities but our ultimate dependence is on Christ, His message and what He did for us.
They are willing to make hard decisions that protect and advance their mission. We have to be willing to make tough choices at times that may be unpopular and counter-cultural.
They are fully aware of the possibility of drift and put in safeguards to prevent it. We all need self-imposed boundaries in our lives and for our families.
They have great clarity in their mission. The more clear your mission is, the more real it will be to you and the easier it will be to stay on course.
They understand their top priorities and are able to weed out things that compete with their focus on them. Sometimes we have to let things go that may not necessarily be bad but compete with our focus on our highest priorities.
They establish the culture in their lives and families as opposed to it being done for them. Drift easily occurs if we aren’t the ones setting the tone that is in line with our mission. We establish our own rituals and practices.
They surround themselves with people who respect their mission and are like-minded. This is not to say that we don’t have friends who are unbelievers and are willing to invest in other people’s lives that may be very different from us. This is really about our support system that comes from Christian brothers and sisters.
They pursue excellence in their work. We are all called biblically to do our best in the work that God has provided for us.
They are boldly willing to share and live out their mission before others. However, we also have to know that not everyone will respect your grind because they don’t share your same mission or vision.
I love all of these. There are probably a couple that register with you right now that may need some attention in your life. Think and pray about something that you can do this week to get back on track in those areas.
P.S. I am excited about a new series that we are going to start next week for the rest of the Summer - Lessons from JH.
Stay hungry,
Big E