It was management expert Peter Drucker who coined the popular phrase “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” But this principle has a history that dates Peter Drucker by some 2,000 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus said in Matthew 18:12-14, \u201cIf a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won\u2019t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn\u2019t wander away! In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father\u2019s will that even one of these little ones should perish.”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The question begs: How did the shepherd know<\/em> that one of his one hundred sheep was missing? The answer is obvious: He counted!<\/em> That shepherd loved his sheep, and not wanting to lose a single one, he kept inventory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This passage, though not originally written for pastors, is nevertheless instructive for pastors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As pastors, we must take stock of the spiritual condition of the flock that God has entrusted to our care. They are not our<\/em> sheep, rather they have been entrusted to us to steward and one day we’ll give an account to God on the kind of job we did. Hebrews 13:17 says the job of a pastor is to watch out for the souls of those within their congregations and that one day they will give an account for the kind of job they did. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Well how can we know the condition of their soul? When it comes to their physical<\/em> health, all we need is to utilize a stethoscope, or measure their blood pressure with one of those arm bands, or give them an x-ray or MRI. But how can we know where our people are at with their spiritual<\/em> health? <\/p>\n\n\n\n We can know by tracking key metrics. For example…<\/p>\n\n\n\n If they are sharing their faith then the number of first-time guests should be up, right? (as should total attendance)<\/p>\n\n\n\n If they are engaging in biblical community, so that as iron sharpens iron, one person can sharpen another, then growth group participation numbers should be growing, right? <\/p>\n\n\n\n How can we know if someone’s heart is growing towards God and the things of God? Well, Jesus said in Matthew 6:21, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” So we could track giving to get a gauge on where someone’s heart is, right? <\/p>\n\n\n\n How do we know if someone is following in the footsteps of Jesus, who told us in John 13 “As I have served you, so you must serve one another”? Well, we could track the number of people serving in the church, right? <\/p>\n\n\n\n I could go on, but I think you get the point. Tracking stats gives us a gauge at how we’re doing at making disciples. The data informs us where we’re winning and where we need improvement. But if we’re not tracking, how can we know? <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It was management expert Peter Drucker who coined the popular phrase “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” But this principle has a history that dates Peter Drucker by some 2,000 years. Jesus said in Matthew 18:12-14, \u201cIf a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-679","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Mike","author_link":"https:\/\/withskillfulhands.com\/index.php\/author\/mike\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/withskillfulhands.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/withskillfulhands.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/withskillfulhands.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/withskillfulhands.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/withskillfulhands.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/withskillfulhands.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1149,"href":"https:\/\/withskillfulhands.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679\/revisions\/1149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/withskillfulhands.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/withskillfulhands.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/withskillfulhands.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}