What is Your "Happy Number"?

 Pretty well everybody in ministry has a "Happy Number.".  Your "Happy Number" is that number that is either a goal or it is a minimum number for an event..  And, often we have both for events.

When I first came to Arkansas State, I had a number in my head that I felt should be a regular number of students at our large group worship considering the size of the campus and our resources.  Over time, we reached that "Happy Number" and another one formed in my head that we never reached while I was there.

But, in thinking about it, I realized that there was also the minimum "Happy Number".  That is the number that may not be what we had hoped, worked, prayed, or wished to reach....but it is ok.  Our Back-2-School Retreat was a big event every year.  It ran from Friday afternoon to Noon Saturday of the first home football game weekend...unless the football schedule threw us a curve.  After a few years, I had a number in my head that once we reached it in sign-ups, I was happy.  Often, attendance would be larger than that number, but once we reached that number, I was ok and the pressure was off.  There were different "Happy Numbers" for Freshmen Night, Wednesday Lunch, and Thursday Nite Together.  As I think about it, those were "Minimum Happy Numbers" for Lunch and Freshmen Night.

I have confessed in the past to caring about numbers..  So, this lack of spirituality on my part should not be surprising.  But, here is my point, I think all of us in ministry have "Happy Numbers".  It is just whether or not we admit it to ourselves.  And, part of admitting it is to ask three questions:

First, is my "Happy Number" realistic?  Wanting to have a thousand students every week at my event would be great....but that is in no way realistic.  Is my number a realistic number?

Second, is my "Happy Number" challenging in some way or other? I believe we must in some way try to be responsible to the size campus we are on, what are resources are, and the openness on our campus to the Gospel and Christian connections.  Bigger campuses do not necessarily call for a bigger "Happy Number".  In some ways, bigger campuses make it harder to reach more students than smaller campuses.  But, is our "Happy Number" too small?

Third, have I properly adjusted my "Happy Number" as a result of the consequences of the covid related adjustments that were necessary the past two years?  Almost no ministry was able to do normal enlistment or events over the past two years that will take another year or two to work past in many instances.

So, how about you?  What are your "Happy Numbers"?  Do they need to be changed or adjusted in any way for normal years or this crazy abnormal year?  Admit it...I bet I am not the only one with "Happy Numbers".

Arliss Dickerson's book, Tips for College Freshmen, 124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades, is available at amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9