Keeping, not Reaching
If you're more concerned about keeping the people you have in your church or ministry rather than reaching people who don't know Jesus, you're playing defense. You shouldn't be trying to alienate people on purpose, but we can't be constantly be trying to keep everyone from leaving by keeping them happy. The people we aren't reaching should worry us a whole lot more than the people who have left or might leave.
Pleasing, not Growing
Your job is not to please people (no matter what they might tell you). Your job is to help them to grow, and that's going to displease people from time to time. By all means, be loving, be gentle, and never forget that you need grace and forgiveness as much as anyone else (1 Timothy 1:15). But being nice doesn't mean that you can't be truthful. Be focused on what the people you lead need rather than what they think they want to hear.
Maintaining, not Risking
When we experience times when things are clicking and people are being transformed, it's tempting to figure out what we're doing and just keep doing that. If you've got something that's going well and reaching people, by all means milk if for all it's worth. But when you find a program or strategy that works, chances are that there will be a time when it stops working. Breakthroughs in ministry usually require a good dose of risk, and so we can never stop risking. If we do, then it might be that we're just holding on something that used to work.
