The other day one of our staff was vacuuming the carpet in the worship area.   I noticed that the vacuum was not picking up anything from the carpet.   The staff member was working hard and earnestly.  He was making all the right motions, but not picking up anything.  He felt his job was to cover the entire worship area carpet with strokes of the vacuum cleaner.  If that had been the object of the assignment he would have been doing a good job.  The truth is the object of the task was to clean the carpet.  He was just going through the motions.

Have you ever found yourself just going through the motions?  Sometimes you don’t realize it until you look back and see that your objective was not being accomplished.  Ministry without evaluation is running the risk of being unproductive and not knowing it.  That is why we constantly have to see if what we are doing is producing the desired effect.  Ministry team meetings, staff meetings, reports, and even time alone give us opportunity to evaluate.  It is a task we can never neglect.

Our BCM ministry needs that same scrutiny.  Let’s look at what we are doing.  Why are we doing it?  Is it accomplishing the task?  Ministry teams, Bible Studies, NoonDay, 7:59, and all the other events we plan can just be going through the motions if it isn’t accomplishing the goal of impacting lives for Christ.

I started listening to Adrian Rogers shortly before his death.  His influence continues in my life through taped programs aired on the radio.  I generally leave my house for the campus at 8am.  That is when the program airs.  If you see me setting in front of the BCM in the early morning it is because I am finishing listening to the program.  I find myself quoting from him quite often.  His illustrations sometimes get stolen by me because they could be said of my life as well.  He stresses the importance of knowing God.  He tells us there is a difference between knowing God and knowing about God.

Dr. Rogers carried a card that had information about his wife Joyce.  It had her dress size, shoe size, birthday, wedding date, and other personal information.  He said we could look at that card and know about Joyce but we would not know Joyce.  Sometimes we can study the Bible, read theology books, listen to preaching and know about God, but not know God.  The vacuum cleaner is running.  It is being pushed across the carpet but the floor is still dirty.