How do you define success?

This discussion thread started me to thinking about how you define "success" in terms of a church? Is it missional activity? Is it the number of people in attendance on Sunday morning? Is it the number of people converting to Christianity? Is it lives changed? Is it......?

I lean toward the school of thought that Christ will transform lives and the fruit of that transformation will manifest itself in the way the individual sees the world around him/her and interacts with the lost and hurting world in which we live. If they adopt the attitude that they have their "fire insurance" and don't really have to do anything else, that may not be the poster child you want to use in your success stories.

What do you think? I'd love to hear how you define success for a church. Post a comment and let's talk.

Egads! I am getting old

I suddenly realized last night that I am getting old. It was a brief epiphany while watching a show that I had TiVo'd. It was one of those PBS fundraising week specials, the Roy Orbison and Friends - A Black and White night which was the special last night. I'll confess that I love Roy Orbison's music. But here I am at 11:15 p.m. watching Roy, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt et al do their thing when I should be in bed because the alarm will be going off at 5:45 a.m. I hate the PBS fundraising specials, especially the obvious Baby Boomer-targeted ones. But I couldn't pull myself away from "Ooby Dooby" and the other songs.

I must be getting old when I start to get transfixed by the Boomer stuff on PBS. This is not a good sign for me.