Daniel Henderson. Glorious Finish: Keeping Your Eye on the Prize of Eternity in a Time if Pastoral Failings. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2020. pp. 220.
Henderson's conviction is contagious. His words are timely. With over two decades in local church ministry from church plants to mega churches, Henderson is your guide to discovering God-honoring motivations, principles, and practices to get you to the finish line of life and ministry with Christ-exalting perseverance. Whether you've been in the ministry for 20 weeks or 20 years, you need to read this. You and your pastor need to read this book. Henderson helps readers to cast their eyes on the scorekeeper and scoreboard of heaven. My biggest takeaway in a word: Perspective.
"The final accounting of our ministry will not be the 'size' of ministry we forged but the 'sort' of ministry we shaped. This final assessment will not be based merely on what we did, but why we did it, how we did it, and for whom" (37).
The book is broken down into four parts:
Reasons - The "Why" - The motivations that drive our life and service
Rhythms - The "What" - Spiritual pursuits that keep us rooted in eternal reality
Results - The "How" - Choices we make about our engagement in ministry
Rewards - The "Where" - The destination established by our choices (adapted from pp. 199)
Part 1: Reasons
How firm is your foundation for ministry? Why do you do what you do each week? What is your calling?
"A fresh vision for His glory in and through you on earth, and your participation in His eternal glory in heaven, can reshape why you do what you do" (36).
Ministry leaders are bombarded with emails, conferences, books, and so forth that are baited with crisis and urgency "the next critical thing you need," "5 secrets to unlock," and "3 landmines you're about to step on." In the urgency, as I've experienced, we can quickly forget the reasons and focus so heavily on the results.
For example, see this stream of emails sent to my inbox from just one said, leadership guru.
The name and face have been hidden to protect the guilty. Do you see anything in there reminding these ministry leaders why they entered the ministry in the first place? By the way, this is June 2020. If you haven't noticed, ministry is hard during a global pandemic. I have since unsubscribed from said leadership guru's emails. Henderson's book helped bring this action step, which is actually more related to the next part, Rhythms.
Part 2: Rhythms
Henderson challenges the reader to start everything with worship.
"Our practical enjoyment of the glory of God, then, must shape our daily choices at the root of all life and ministry. . . . This must lead us to a daily resolve to start each day, and infuse all of ministry, with an authentic and foundational rhythm of biblical worship" (51).
"The foundational habitual pattern that sets the trajectory for either a glorious finish or a dishonorable disqualification is the daily choice between worship and neglect" (57).
Do your rhythms, pastor, start with email? My email never starts me off on the right track. In fact, the plethora of emails like the ones given above often fills my heart with fear, which is the opposite of faith.
The biggest question in part 2: Am I more concerned with doing for God than having an "appetite to be with Him" (60)?
Once again, this comes back to the foundation of reasons. Why am I doing what I do? Henderson's own convicting realization presses the point home:
"I eventually started praying with a primary motivation for 'revival' only to realize that I was focusing on the outcome rather than the Source. I was seeking revival from God to the neglect of seeking God for revival.
The lesson I learned in prayer, and one that has powerfully shaped and sustained my walk with God, is that the only enduring motive for prayer is that he is worthy to be sought" (30).
Part 3: Results
What does this all mean for results? Inattention to results is problematic. One pastor friend of mine says often that the ministry is often a place where you find people who are workaholics or lazy. The former emphasizes and fixates on earthly results. The latter cares not for results whatsoever, whether they be eternal or earthly. Neither option is tenable.
Henderson says,
"The same eye that is riveted on the prize of eternal life and everlasting joy drips with a tear of anguish over the eternal judgment of those apart from Christ" (97).
As that relates to current events (COVID-19, George Floyd, racial tensions throughout America), we must keep our eye on eternity but not to the callousness of our hearts to the lost, hurting, or the oppressed. Yet despite all of our ills, we must remember our greatest problem is not a health pandemic nor a race problem, it is a sin problem.
Part 4: Rewards
The final part brings us to the subject of reward. Henderson reminds us that the destination of our reward is contingent on which "scoreboard" we focus on, the one here on earth or in heaven (162).
"Not everything that is front-page Christian news here on earth will even hit the radar in heaven" (167).
"There is no place for the Christian leader to let up, slowdown, or fiddle around in the race to eternity" (175).
Final Word
The most impactful chapter for me was chapter 7, "Integrity Vs. Compartmentalization."
First, the chapter opens with a quote from G.K Chesterton, which is never a bad start, "Morality, like art, consists of drawing a line somewhere" (116).
Second, my response to pages 128-29 was to consider my legacy. What is the substance of it? My sermons my be online for the remainder of this life, but that does not equate to leaving a legacy that counts in glory. Longevity on the internet does not translate into longevity in the ministry. Integrity gives value for eternity, not just this temporal world.
"We will be in heaven but our integrity extends beyond our sermons and social media profile. More importantly, the glorious finish of a life of integrity is rewarded in the endless worship of eternity" (129).
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