Confession: There is seldom a day when I don’t encounter someone who really should’ve done a better job. I’m not being judgmental, just truthful.

See if you agree with any of these:

— Quality of fast food: It can be done better.
— News media confusion: It can be done better.
— Political system: It can be done better.
— Taxes: It can be done better.
— Cleanliness of most hotel rooms: It DEFINITELY can be done better.
— Air travel: It can be done better…actually much, much, much better.

This list could keep going for pages. But no matter your particular view on our society, I’ll bet most of us could agree on some of these.

But what about some things a little closer to home? As I work in the production field with a serious bend towards audio, I’ll pick on my own fraternity.

Try these on for size:

— Your team: I’ll bet they can do better.
— Your church service: HA! We all know it can be done better.
— The organizational system you work under: Crap yes, it can be done better!
— How about your mix? Ouch. I hear a lot of mixes. Trust me, ours can all be better.

The following verse is so important to this topic. You’ll read it in our blogs often. You’ll hear us speak it often. Most importantly, you’ll feel it amongst our teams. Is it because we’re so cool? Not hardly. Quite simply, it’s because we can always do better.

In Colossians 3:22–25, Paul advises this (I prefer The Message translation):

“Servants, do what you’re told by your earthly masters. And don’t just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you’ll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you’re serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t cover up bad work.”

For the work we craft for this church and the people we encounter, this verse speaks into almost every facet of what we do.

As an example, allow me to continue picking on something close to my heart.

I attend a lot of mainstream concerts. Truth be known, most of them sound pretty rough. And the majority of them sound just terrible. TERRIBLE. They can DEFINITELY do better. And they should do better when they’re charging the prices they charge, right? Whew.

But why is it like this?

— Can they not hear?
— Was the room too hard to get a decent mix in?
— Maybe the band didn’t do a soundcheck?
— Perhaps they just don’t care?

Give me a break already. These are all just excuses. Quite simply, they can do better.

In today’s day and age, even the most simple touring rigs offer a myriad of tools to help us achieve success. In fact, it’s rare to find a church these days that doesn’t have the same, if not better, gear than most of these tours! As I said before, they can do better.

In as simple terms as I can relay, here’s the charge to all of us:

— Step it up.
— Use the resources at your command to make things better.
— Reach out for help.
— Do some research.
— Copy someone else who is doing it better.
— Whatever’s in front of you, get on it.

God equipped us with smarts. He equipped us with creativity. He will bring the right thoughts and people into our paths to help find success. Finish each event strong, always better than the last one.

But never forget to keep this at the center: You can always do better.