Craig Groeschel

The first-century church in Jerusalem clearly had it. And they didn't have any fancy accoutrements. So it can't possibly be stained-glass windows, hand-carved cherubs, custom silk tapestries, gold-inlaid hymnals, thousand-pipe organs, marble floors, mile-high steeples, hand-painted ceilings, mahogany pews, giant cast-iron bells, and a three-piece, thousand dollar suit. It doesn't stick any better to a young, hip, shaved-headed pastor with rimmed glasses, a goatee, and tattoos than it does to an older, stately gentleman in a robe. Nor is it spotlights and lasers, video production, satellite dishes, fog machines, shiny gauze backdrops, four-color glossy brochures, sexy billboards, loud "contemporary" music, free donuts, coffee shops, hip bookstores, break dancing or acrobatics, sermon series named after television shows, a retro-modern matching chair and table onstage, or blue jeans and Heelys. It is not being on television, being on the Internet, or being on book and magazine covers. It is real. It is genuine.

As long as you're afraid of intimacy and spiritual partnership, you won't likely experience it. To have it, you have to share it with each other. Just as there's no I in team, there's no it in independence.

Love overcomes obstacles.

A church that has it recognizes that reaching people is not just the pastor's job. It's everyone's job.

As you seek God and he rekindles it in your heart, I believe he is going to speak to you.

If your ministry has become focused on the already-convinced, I'll bet that your ministry doesn't have it.

Ministries without it are usually the ones playing it safe, doing only what is sure to succeed.

I believe that God makes it available to anyone who wants it. I believe he wants to give it to you and your ministry.

Get out of the boat. Face your fears. Fail. Learn. Adjust. Try again. And watch God do more than you can imagine.

Those without it can be two-faced. Those with it are true-faced. There is no substitute for being transparent and real. The more real we are, the more likely we'll experience it.

Your greatest ministry innovation could come from your greatest limitation - if you have a sincere passion to reach and care for people.

To have it, we have to care about those who are far from God.

When two parties compete, one loses. That's why in ministry, those who have it don't compete with one another; they work to complete one another.

The spark of passion ignites the fuel for innovation.

Those with it recognize that God brings it. It is not found in the things the eye can see.

Failing often can help a ministry experience it. Being overly cautious can kill it.

What obstacle are you facing? Ask God for breakthrough thinking. Don't think about small changes. Think radically.

Without-it ministries can be filled with very sincere Bible-believing Christians; unfortunately, they're simply more concerned about themselves than the lost.

Don't get tricked into trusting your spiritual bells and whistles or you might become too slick, lose your edge, then lose it.

Here are a few questions to stir your vision: Why does your organization exist? What can your organization be the best in the world at? If you could do only one thing, what would it be? If you left your organization tomorrow, what would you hope would continue forever? What breaks your heart, keeps you awake at night, wrecks you?