Recalling my early years in Christian ministry, I am embarrassed to realize how much I invested in something that could have been called "Gordon MacDonald, Inc." It was too much about me and not enough about Jesus and others.

Somewhere along the line, my self-building activities gave way to building an organization, a church-organization. That meant recruiting teams, encouraging leaders, conceiving strategies that would cause a congregation to grow (both spiritually and numerically). Pastoring became a very satisfying experience, and I loved my work … most of the time.

But one weekend, after years of organization building, I awakened to something much better—a sweet spot of ministry, you could say, where it all just seemed right. Rather than building me or even building an organization, I discovered people-building, a ministry with younger Christians who—properly prepared—might go on to be difference-makers in some part of the kingdom.

That awakening happened when ...