Summary: If you've heard me say it once you've heard me say it a hundred times: Everything in ministry comes down to relationship. From start to finish, it's all about relationship.

If you've heard me say it once you've heard me say it a hundred times: Everything in ministry comes down to relationship. From start to finish, it's all about relationship. I think this is true for a bank teller. I think this is true for a doctor. It was definitely true when I was a teacher. How much more is relationship key to ministry!

There is a trap, however, in ministry. It is the trap of “Nuts and Bolts”. Ministry, like all other jobs, has lots and lots of minor details. Let’s call those the nuts and bolts. We can get so focused on the machinery of ministry that we miss out on the entire point of ministry: PEOPLE. Yes, there's a lot of paper to be pushed, but the purpose of pushing that paper is to set up relationships with people. We want to make the paper pushing processes easier so that I am available for relationships.

We live in two worlds if you are in ministry. Process and People. But I want you, as a ministry leader, to not get so focused on the processes that you forget people. The purpose is relationship building.

We are here to be shepherds. We are here to be pastors. Never forget that people have spiritual emergencies in their lives. I want us to have margin to deal with the most important thing, which is people. Listen, it's our job to establish relationship with people.

Everything is about relationship building. Certainly we have got to know how to push the papers, but the purpose of the papers is to make margin for the people.