A lesson from the Kingdome: Stick with the purpose

I grew up in the greater Seattle/Tacoma area and have spent my whole life here.  I love this place!  One thing that made it fun growing up here was having the opportunity every now and then to go see either the Mariners (when they were good) and the Seahawks (when they were…never mind) play in the Kingdome.  The Kingdome was “King Counties Multipurpose Domed Stadium”.  And therein lied the problem.  They tried to design it to do EVERYTHING and thus it became not really good at anything.  So in March of 2000, while I was in college, they imploded the beloved Kingdome.

I have heard Josh Jamison, our middle school youth pastor here at Eastridge Church say, “…It’s kinda like the Kingdome…” on multiple occasions.  It usually comes up when we are trying to make something that needs to have ONE purpose, but we decided to make it have multiple purposes.

What a great reminder.  Stick with the purpose!  Often we try to make everything fit into one thing.  But the truth is that certain things function and operate better when they have a clear focus and purpose!  Don’t be guilty of trying to make everything you do in ministry fulfill every purpose there is. (ex. We are going to do this event for the purpose of outreach, discipleship, fellowship, solitude, gift development, new believer equipping, missions, Biblical languages training and of course fun.)

I do believe there is overlap.  I think we will do things that serve dual purposes.  But keep it focused.  Be intentional with WHAT you do and WHY you do it.  When we try to make ONE THING accomplish EVERYTHING it often can end up like the Kingdome…flattened.