A Call to Excellence

I recently attended a meeting for all of the ministry coordinators at church. This was was the second such meeting that we have had since moving into our building. We started the meeting with a throw back to what the first meeting had covered. During the first meeting we talked about the vision of our church and Pastor Glen really hit home how we are called to excellence and how as a church that wants to attract more people we really need to focus on being excellent in all areas of the church. This first meeting really began to challenge me because if I am going to run a ministry in the church and hold it to a higher standard then I am going to have to hold myself to that same standard. Well, during the second meeting we started by reading one of the scriptures that dealt with excellence:

1 The queen of Sheba heard about how famous Solomon was. She also heard about how he served and worshiped the Lord. So she came to test him with hard questions.
2 She arrived in Jerusalem with a very large group of attendants. Her camels were carrying spices, huge amounts of gold, and valuable jewels. She came to Solomon and asked him about everything she wanted to know.
3 Solomon answered all of her questions. There wasn't anything that was too hard for the king to explain to her.
4 So the queen of Sheba saw how very wise Solomon was. She saw the palace he had built. 5 She saw the food that was on his table. She saw his officials sitting there. She saw the robes of the servants who waited on everyone. She saw his wine tasters. And she saw the burnt offerings Solomon sacrificed at the Lord's temple. She could hardly believe everything she had seen.
6 She said to the king, "Back in my own country I heard a report about you. I heard about how much you had accomplished. I also heard about how wise you are. Everything I heard is true. 7 But I didn't believe those things. So I came to see for myself. And now I believe it! You are twice as wise and wealthy as people say you are. The report I heard doesn't even begin to tell the whole story about you.
8 "How happy your men must be! How happy your officials must be! They always get to serve you and hear the wise things you say.
9 "May the Lord your God be praised. He must take great delight in you. He placed you on the throne of Israel. The Lord will love Israel for all time to come. That's why he has made you king. He knows that you will do what is fair and right."
10 She gave the king four and a half tons of gold. She also gave him huge amounts of spices and valuable jewels. No one would ever bring to King Solomon as many spices as the queen of Sheba gave him.

1Kings 10:1-10

As we were reading I was thinking how much better the world would be if our leaders understood how to set an example of excellence. How they would really impress people if they were able to honor their commitments and live a life of integrity. What would it take to see that happen? The only thing I know to do is to require excellence of myself.