In my previous article I wrote about Jim Collins' lasting bestseller in both the business world and the general world of book literature. "Good to Great" looked at characteristics of businesses that had transitioned from average or mediocrity to greatness.

Using strict screening criteria, Collins and his research team discovered 11 Fortune 500 companies that made this very difficult but rewarding move to greatness.

Several months ago, I assembled my own research team to discover churches that had moved from good to great. Since I do not at this point want to reveal all of the key issues in my upcoming book, I will not discuss the process or the churches that made our own statistical cut. I will, however, preview some of the characteristics of the pastors that led their churches from good to great. In this article, I focus on the characteristic of the outward focus of good-to-great pastors.

On the surface, it would seem that all pastors and church leaders would have an outward focus. After all, Jesus' Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20 makes the outward focus explicitly clear. We are to go and make disciples of all nations. And Jesus' last words before His ascension were a mandate for the outward focus. We are to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and, ultimately, to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

The biblical case for the outward focus is thus clear and convincing. So why do so many church leaders spend so much time in maintenance activities? Why are they not engaging the world with the gospel of Christ? When in their ministries did they make the change from outward focus to maintenance?

Our study of pastors and other church leaders found two broad categories of leaders. The first and most common group was the "good" leaders. They did the daily activities of ministry. They visited those in the hospital; they counseled many each week; they worked on sermons and Bible studies; and they did routine office maintenance. But they made little effort to focus outwardly.

The second group, the good-to-great leaders, made certain that all of the activities above were covered, but they did not allow themselves to be saturated in inwardly-focused ministries. They reserved large blocks of time for the preparation of sermons, for prayer, and for evangelistic and outreach ministries.

Interestingly, none of the good-to-great church leaders can remember how they drifted toward more maintenance ministries. "I just woke up one day I realized that my entire day was always consumed with maintenance ministry," recalled a pastor from Arizona. "I don't how it happened, but I did learn that if you aren't intentional about reaching out and doing evangelism, you will be doing nothing but keeping the organization going."

We thus discovered two factors that were essential in moving a pastor and his church from good to great. First, they had a "wake-up call" about their ministries and their lives. They realized that had drifted into a maintenance mode, and they were dissatisfied with their lives and their ministries.

Second, they did something about their predicament. They started giving higher priority to evangelism in their lives and in their churches. They made a deliberate and intentional commitment to become outwardly focused. The change was not easy, but the new ministry and new focus was exceedingly rewarding.