Recently I was talking with a minister who had just returned from a missions trip.

"What did you accomplish?" I asked.

"Well, the most important thing I did with the small churches in difficult situations," he said, "was give them permission to succeed."

That was an interesting thought. He must have sensed they saw themselves as losers. Their ministry was supposed to be tough, and they couldn't expect more than meager results. He realized they needed to raise their sights, to see the opportunities for success.

His remark brought to mind a story about one of the gifted golfers on the LPGA tour. This woman, a Christian, possessed enormous talent but couldn't get in the win column. In frustration, she went to a Christian counselor who discovered a surprising thing: subconsciously she didn't think of Christians as winners. She had been raised in a strict home where she was taught that Christians are passive, they lose more comfortably than they win, they're volunteer martyrs. As a result, she ...