The Numbers Game

As a pastor, I certainly know what it means to play the numbers game. Generally the first question I get asked (especially by other ministers) is, "How many members do you have?" The second question is, "How many are you running on Sunday?"

Running on Sunday? Um, I don't know. We don't count people, and I sure hope we're not running them off.

There's just something about numbers that intrigues us. It's the standard measure in American life. "How much money do you make?" is the question, not "Do you enjoy what you do for a living?" Now as hard as that is for ministers, I would imagine the temptation to let numbers be the marker of your success is even higher in the business world. Gibson Direct talks about keeping a good perspective on the numbers game.

After spending 28 years in the publishing business, I find it easy to become jaded. After a while, publishing becomes simply numbers on a page. How many can we sell? What are the markets for this book? Who will endorse it?...

“The question was not, ‘How many books would sell?’—’Or would this work make the best-seller list?’ Rather, the central concern was that it be used by our Father to awaken His people to their peril. Here our faith could not repose in any publisher, editor, sales strategy, bookstore or publicity.” Click here to read more....Click here to read more.

Gibson Direct blogs about business and life and how faith intersects both of them.

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