Setting Goals
I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step (1 Corinthians 9:26, NLT).
Dear Friends,
Some critics have said that Campus Crusade for Christ has not always met its very ambitious goals in the past.
That may be true, but I believe it is always good to set goals. If you shoot at nothing, you are certain to hit it. If you don’t have any goals, you’re not going to achieve anything worthwhile for the glory of God.
We have always been a goal-setting movement, and I have always believed in big plans, because small plans do not influence the minds and hearts of men and women. Also, God is glorified when we bear much fruit (John 15:8), and I know that it is God who works in me to will and to act according to His good purpose (Philippians 2:13).
We have not always seen our goals fulfilled, however. For example, we set a goal of attracting 100,000 people to EXPLO ’72 in Dallas. “Only” 85,000 showed up, which still made it the biggest event of its kind in history. Actually, more than 200,000 attended a special musical event on the last day. Approximately ten times more people participated in EXPLO ’72 than in any other similar Christian training event. Yet some of the newspapers said it was a failure because we didn’t achieve our goal!
Friends have cautioned me against goal-setting because they think falling short of announced targets makes me look stupid. I am not worried about what people think. I want to please the Lord, so I do what He tells me to do. And God has led us to set many goals and prayer targets from the beginning of this ministry.
There is no doubt in my mind that our goals, whether we achieve them or not, have helped bring additional millions of people to Christ. So I am happy to undertake great and ambitious things for God even at the risk of failure and being criticized by others.
Goal setting involves aiming. You have to have a target at which to aim. The opposite of aiming is aimlessness. Paul said, “Aim for perfection” (2 Corinthians 13:11, NIV). Let us aim for perfection in all that we do for the Lord and He will take care of the results.
I do not believe our Lord will rebuke me for aiming at 100,000 at EXPLO ’72 and only getting 85,000. But He might not be pleased if we only aimed and planned for 50,000 and missed those extra 35,000 He wanted to reach.
Yours for helping to fulfill the Great Commission each year until our Lord returns,
Bill Bright
About the Author
The late Dr. Bill Bright was Founder and President/Chairman Emeritus of Campus Crusade for Christ, an organization which began as a campus ministry in 1951 and now has more than 27,000 full-time staff and up to 500,000 trained volunteer staff in 196 countries in areas representing 99.6 percent of the world’s population. In the past 50 years, Campus Crusade for Christ has seen approximately 6 billion exposures to the gospel worldwide. The film, “JESUS,” which Bright conceived and funded through Campus Crusade for Christ, is the most widely translated and viewed film of any type ever produced. Since its use began in 1980, the film has been translated into 839 languages and viewed or listened to by over 5.7 billion people in 228 countries. Dr. Bright was also the author of more than fifty books. Dr. Bright recently co-founded Global Pastors Network to “Touch, Teach and Train” a group of 5 million new house churches around the world 24/7/365 at http://www.globalpastorsnetwork.org.
Copyright (c) 2003, Bill Bright. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
