OK, so it’s a holiday weekend. I watched some European soccer on TV yesterday afternoon, and then a couple of episodes from Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives while awaiting dinner.
The old reality show Restaurant Impossible has been renewed. Someone writes the producers and asks for help. Chef Robert and his team swoop into town and evaluate the problem.
They revise and simplify the menu;
Organize the kitchen;
Organize and motivate the servers;
Clean and beautify the physical interior;
Install good business practices such as cost control;
And work with the owner/manager–especially on attitude change and people skills.
The crew packs up leaving behind happy and motivated people with a formula that should make a profit for some time.
Six months later, many of those recipients of Chef Robert’s grace have reverted back to their old ways and gone out of business.
Sometimes people change; sometimes they don’t.
Same in spiritual matters. Sometimes people listen to the preacher and are baptized into a changed life. Six months later, they’re the same old person they used to be.
Changing requires a set of practices (habits) that we can follow intentionally until they are instilled deep within and we’ve left that old person behind.
Chef Robert can only stay a week. That’s not long enough to help the owner begin to work those practices into their lives.
Same with churches. Sometimes they don’t stick with the new person long enough to instill practices that truly change lives.
Faith Venture 
Leave a Reply