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President's Perspective: Success Requires Failure

President's Perspective: Success Requires Failure

Success requires failure. Accepting that reality required a complete mindset change for me several years ago. Since that shift in my thinking, I’ve seen exponential growth in countless ministries around the world, but failure and learning opportunities remain generously sprinkled in among those successes. Without taking risks—knowing we’d fail occasionally—we’d never have succeeded. Getting comfortable with routinely failing is essential to God’s positioning us to succeed greatly.

Around 50 years ago in Papua New Guinea, a child named Janet was born prematurely. Her mother didn’t know how to care for such a fragile baby. It was at that time, a WGM missionary came into the picture and helped Janet’s mother care for her, saving Janet’s life. Today, Janet leads a local women’s group in her church and is married to one of the area pastors.

In McAllen, Texas, there are people crossing the U.S. border to pursue the hope of a better tomorrow. Some of these people will encounter WGM missionaries Nathanael and Nicole Sommers, who offer a hope greater than the one associated with changing your earthly citizenship—the hope only found in Christ that can radically change the hearts of people.

But what if these missionaries had decided the cynics were right—it’s too risky to go to the mission field. I might fail or not have what it takes to succeed! Maybe they won’t believe me or listen to what I say (Exodus 4:1). See, if they hadn’t gone, they’d never have to tell people how a ministry didn’t work or an idea didn’t pan out. They’d never have to admit failure.

But, if they hadn’t gone, we would not have seen Janet’s son be baptized—a result of seeds being planted by WGM missionaries decades ago; and we wouldn’t have seen the radical way the hope of Christ can transform an immigrant’s life.

The stories in this issue show us people who took bold steps of faith, following God and spreading the hope we find in Him. These are people who didn’t let the fear of failure stop them. They know that without the failures, we’ll never find God’s best for us and for His people.

Dr. Dan Schafer, president

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