In Resurrecting Excellence, Jones and Armstrong explore the idea of bringing excellence back as virtue of every believer. They begin by focusing on the gospel and how we must have an attitude of excellence as we proclaim the gospel message to the world. One of the most natural ways to flesh out this type of excellence is in the intersections of our lives. As our lives intersect with God and others, we have opportunities to let excellence shine as we minister to people on God’s behalf. As we minister and fulfill God’s calling on our lives, we must elevate the work we do to a new level of excellence. This type of excellence is a mark on the life of a believer. It will open the door for future ministry. As ministers, our profession is that of a person who has been set apart for full-time vocational ministry. As a result, we must allow excellence to be a sign and marker to the world that we are devoted followers of Christ and have been set aside for this task. Jones and Armstrong also point out that excellence is a byproduct of learning and leading. We must be learning constantly. We must look for opportunities to stretch and grow, and then manifest that growth as we exercise our leadership roles. One area we must be learning and growing constantly in is the way we treasure the gifts of our faith. The disciplines we practice in our own spiritual growth must become the nuggets of gold we treasure and thus grow from. The things we treasure will be measured easily in the way we live our lives and lead our ministries. Overall, this book gave a well-rounded view of how excellence in the life of a believer and leader should look. It really helped me view leadership through a whole new set of lenses.

In society, success and excellence have come to mean the same thing. Many people cannot distinguish between the two. If you were to ask 10 people to define these terms, many of the definitions would be the same or a variation of the same thought. Through my reading, I have determined that as Christians, we need to understand these terms in order to be all that God created us to be.

Success is a term usually imposed upon us by society. It is a way for us to gauge the progress of an individual or organization. Many of the tools we use to evaluate success are subjective and biased. Success to one person may not necessarily be success to another. As believers, we strive for success in our faith. We tend to gauge our Christian walk by comparing ourselves to others, which only leaves us feeling empty and defeated. We cannot compare ourselves to someone else. God created each of us uniquely. There are no carbon copies. We need to strive for excellence rather than success.

Excellence is the process of becoming all God created us to be. For example, if you have a brand new car, you would follow the manufacturer’s guide to servicing your car in order to maximize the effectiveness of the car. It was created to operate under certain conditions. If we want the car to be excellent, we need to operate and maintain it to the specifications we were given. It is the same in our lives as we follow Christ. Jesus came to show us the way to have an abundant, excellent life. We need to follow His guidelines to be able to operate at maximum efficiency. We need to follow Christ the best way we know how in the unique way God has shaped us. When we do this, we will relieve the tension between success and excellence. We were made to live for more than just existence. We were made to be excellent.

We can understand excellence only when truly begin to understand the process of sanctification and what God is trying to do in and through us. Sanctification involves more than a moral reformation of character brought about by the power of the truth. It is the work of the Holy Spirit bringing our lives more and more under the influences of the new principles placed in the soul at salvation. In other words, sanctification is the process of perfecting the work begun at salvation, and it extends to the whole person. It is the special function of the Holy Spirit in the plan of redemption to carry on this work. Faith is instrumental in securing sanctification. It also secures union to Christ and brings the believer into living contact with the truth, where he or she is led to yield to obedience and embrace the promises of God for this life and the one to come.

My motives to excel are derived from a need to please God. I want everything I do to bring honor and glory to Him. I do not have a hidden agenda. I serve to bring Him glory. I believe others can see our motives if we are seeking success for self-glorification. If we are to please God, we must put Him first. The way I look at it, if I do my best to obey and serve God to the best of my ability, I can lay down my head at night and have no regrets.

Excellence has really become a part of who I am. I believe that as Christians we need to be excellent in all we do. The world is looking for any reason to defame the name of God. We do not need to give it any ammunition. I believe as youth pastors, we need to be excellent when it comes to service, integrity, understanding our culture, caring and loving people and setting an example. I am not saying we need to be perfect, but we need to be excellent. When we do things correctly to the best of our abilities and give glory to God. When we mess up, we need to show our students the right way to confess, repent and thank God for His mercy and grace. We need to set the example. We need to lead from the front. The people to whom we minister do not want us to point them to God; they want us to lead them there.