I've worked in media at a church for almost fifteen years and we have made just about every boneheaded mistake possible. I have personally made horrible typos, I have sometimes created bland art, lousy video, flat websites. I have missed deadlines.
The team at the church has had at various times mediocre administration, self-serving individuals, lapses in focus, petty infighting, and feuds with people working at cross-purposes.
God seems to be completely unaffected by all of this. When He decides to speak to someone, he does it in spite of all our screwups. We have often come off of a weekend bloodied and battered, with nothing having gone right, and we'll get a note from someone in the service thanking us for speaking into their lives, for bringing them into the presence of God. I don't believe we have any such power. It may be that God blinds people and deafens them to what we are doing and speaks to them directly sometimes.
And still we aim at excellence, even though it doesn't seem to make a difference, like Milton said, "God doth not need either man's work or his own gifts..."
So why bother if there is no strong correlation between our effort and the results? Because God made us for something, and the better we do that thing the more pleased He is. And when I'm doing what I'm designed for, the more fulfilled I am.
So there's another tension- excellence vs. trust.
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