FEATURE: AFRICAN-AMERICAN FAITH LEADERS
Keep the Main
Thing the Main Thing
By Andre Butler
I’ve had the honor of being a Pastor for over 20
years. One of the things that I’ve learned is how
easy it is to get so caught up in doing ‘ministry’
that you forget the main thing in ministry. If
you’re in leadership, you probably know what
I mean. Budgets, systems, employees, member
care, and so much more can seemingly conspire
to shift your focus from why you got involved in
the first place. For me, the reason why I do what
I do is to reach people far from God. I want to
help as many people as possible miss hell and
gain Heaven. I’m not so sure that was always
the case. The quote to the left represented a bit
of philosophical switch for me. I grew up in a
movement that emphasized the supernatural.
For me, the reason why I do what I do
is to reach people far from God. I want
to help as many people as possible miss
hell and gain Heaven.
Moves of the Holy Spirit and Miracles were
normal parts of my church experience. And
they still are. However, at some point, God
helped me to evaluate what is the purpose of
these moments and miracles. Was it just so that
people who are already going to heaven could
enjoy God and the life that he had given them
in Jesus or to help people who hadn’t found
Jesus to do so. He pointed me to Luke 15 where
Jesus highlighted the heart of God toward
those who are far from him emphasizing that
there is more joy in Heaven over 1 sinner being
saved then 99 who are already saved.
With that in my heart, and with his direction,
I left a large established mega church and
planted a new church in Downtown DETROIT
with the goal of reaching people far from
God. That became my main thing. Everything
that we do at Faith Xperience Church is done
with this goal in mind. Don’t get me wrong,
we still have miracles (we’ve had a number
of people supernaturally healed for example)
and moves of the Holy Spirit but these are
not the goal in and of themselves. They are
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