Shoe Manufacturer

Picture a large manufacturing plant in your town or city that produces shoes. The management has invested great sums of money and many man-hours into the plant to produce the finest shoes possible. Money has been spent on salaries for the employees, machinery for shoe making, and materials from which the shoes are to be made. The plant is now in operation with hundreds of workers scurrying to and fro. Machines are running full blast, and activity is at a maximum.

One day the president asks the production manager, “How many shoes have we produced so far?”

“None,” the manager answers.

“None?” the president exclaims. “How long have we been in operation?”

“Two years.”

“Two years? And still no shoes?”

“That’s right,” the manager says, “No shoes, but we are really busy. In fact, we have been so busy that we are all nearly tired out. We’ve been very active at our jobs.”

The management would probably be very concerned, fire somebody, try to find out what the problem was.

If we now put a cross on top of that building and transform it into the church on the corner—your church, we find much activity going on. Men and women are working hard. The budget is higher this year than ever before. The objective, however, is to produce disciples. Has all that money and man-hour in your church gone into the production of disciples for Jesus Christ'

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