This is a Guest Post by Tim Briggs.

Being in ministry for five years, I’ve heard the term “excellence in ministry” thrown around frequently, especially in regards to technology.  I’ve been disappointed to learn though that the term for many is translated to mean “extravagance in ministry.”  In other words, people really mean they want the best, most expensive, and most luxurious.  Is that what excellence really means though?

Certainly, this term is polarizing and has different meanings for different people but what does the Bible say about the topic?

At the end of 1 Corinthians 12, Paul speaks about the “most excellent way.”  He says, “Are all apostles?  Are all prophets?  Are all teachers?  Do all work miracles?  Do all have gifts of healing?  Do all speak in tongues?  Do all interpret?  But eagerly desire the greater gifts.  And now I will show you the most excellent way.”

What is the most excellent way?  Love.

“If I speak in tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.”  The next few verses echo this same sentiment.

In Colossians 3:23, Paul says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for me…”  I’m not a Biblical scholar by any means but meditating on these verses leads me to believe that doing something with excellence refers to how we do things.  It does not mean perfection.  It does not mean the best.  Rather, it refers to our effort.

I’ve been working for a ministry called Church Sports Outreach for 2 years now.  My official title is Director of Technology & Ministry Integration (TMI).

Yes, I’m the TMI guy (insert joke here).

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago we were looking to redesign our website.  We’re a small ministry operating in difficult economic times and as we strive to be excellent in ministry, we simply can’t afford to be extravagant.  Sure, we could have paid thousands and thousands of dollars to hire a developer to design a site but that’s just not reasonable for us (no offense to any web developers out there!).

So, I paid $50 for a Wordpress template.

I worked diligently for a couple of weeks adapting and customizing the site searching for the right Wordpress plugins and designing the right graphics.  We spent time as a team storyboarding and planning videos that would communicate our love for the local church.

The result?  It’s not the flashiest website, and it’s certainly not the most expensive, but I feel we have a stylish, functional, and efficient website.  We did the best we could with what we had.  Extravagant?  No.  Excellently done?  Well, I can honestly say that “we worked at it with all our hearts, as if we working for the Lord.”