I don't want someone to perform surgery on me who hasn't been to medical school and doesn't have a clue about what to do. He may have the nicest smile and pay all his bills, but I don't want him touching me. Ability is definitely important.
We need pastors and church planters with ability. They should have some ability on how to teach and preach the Bible. Is there real content in the message? Do they work hard to communicate well? Let's just say the truth - we've all heard a lot of boring sermons. From Charles Spurgeon:
"If some men were sentenced to hear their own sermons, it would be a righteous judgment upon them; but they would soon cry out with Cain, "My punishment is greater than I can bear."
"Don't just throw the seed at the people! Grind it into flour, bake it into bread, and slice it for them. And it wouldn't hurt to put a little honey on it."
A pastor/church planter should have some ability to get along with people. I called a college a few years ago about an associate for our church. The person at the college said, "I have a young man graduating this year who is very intelligent and speaks three languages, but he doesn't work with people very well." While I appreciated his honesty, I told him that we were working with people there in Delaware and needed someone with that skill.
These are both skills that we can work on and improve. But you can be a great communicator and the life of the party and still fail - if you lack integrity.
One example of lack of integrity - being lazy.
I didn't say feeling lazy. I feel that way a lot and I give in some.
Hard work is required to accomplish anything that matters.
I like what Paul Thompson said at the Home Missions Summit a couple of years ago:
"God won't bless a lazy person."
I'm not really a fan of Stephen King's books, but I like this quote by him:
"Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work."
Ability is important. Integrity is essential.
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