20/20 vision

When David Janney came to candidate at Purcellville Baptist Church 16 years ago, that Sunday morning instead of working on his sermon he found a church directory and prayed over every name. There weren't many-the church was on the verge of a split and attendance had shrunk to about 50. Although his sermon wasn't as polished as it usually was, the church was very responsive and eight people surrendered their lives to Jesus.

Janney told his wife that was God's call.

The board agreed, and now the church has grown into a congregation of over 1,000. The most important part of being a pastor is one-on-one ministry, he says. By the time we spoke at 10:00 a.m., he had already gone for a run with a man from church, and had breakfast with a potential elder.

When he first arrived, Janney was at a loss for ways to keep the church intact, so each morning and evening he started praying for everybody by name. He thought his prayers would change the people he was praying for, but what he didn't expect was that his prayers would change his own heart. He said God gave him a shepherd's heart and the church survived without splitting up.

"The numbers that are important to me are: Firstly, who have we led to Christ personally?" he said, "Secondly, who are we discipling. Thirdly, what leaders have we raised up? It's taken me about 10 years to figure that out."

Janney believes that large churches often plateau. People attend because they like the service and the many programs offered to them, but Janney believes the questions to ask are: are people staying and are they growing?

"If all we're doing is trying to offer something better than the next best church, we have the loyalty of Wal-Mart customers," he said. "Because as soon as a Super Target is built across the street, they leave."

He believes the most important part of shepherding a large church body is pouring into the elders and other pastors in the church.

"The key to shepherding is you have to train and equip other people to shepherd," Janney said. "We ask people: Who is your Joshua? Who is your Timothy?"

While it's impossible for pastors of large churches to connect with everyone in the congregation, Janney believes it's important to reach out to the people God places in his path.

One of his favorite stories is that of a young man who attended the church through his high school years. Years later, after he was married, he told Pastor Janney that the most important time in his life was when Janney invited him to accompany him to pick up furniture in Pennsylvania. During the two-hour drive and lunch together, they chatted about the boy's spiritual walk, discussed how to stay pure as a young man, and talked about fun things.

Because he knows it's easy for large churches to lose their vision, he says the church needs to have 20/20 vision. Acts 20:20, that is. Janney has learned to live by that verse.

"You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house." (Acts 20:20)

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