The ETTR Rule.

I don't think He's just not that into you was a great movie. But one of the main ideas has come back to me. "You are not the exception, you are the rule." There are people out there who have amazing love stories, but they are the exception, so don't pin all your hopes on the exception. Be realistic.

In particular, I want my church to be a vibrant cool growing church like ****. But the number of VCG churches is quite small compared to all the regular churches... the VCG churches are the Exception, my church is the Rule. The Exception churches are unique, and you can't imitate them directly. But it's not so bad to be in the Rule group. I found this article helpful.

"mega-whatevers are the exception, not the rule; and that the church has survived throughout the ages not just - or even primarily - because of the high profile firework displays of the great and the good, but because of the day to day faithfulness of the mundane, anonymous, non-descript people who constitute most of the church, and who do the grunt work and the tedious jobs that need to be done."

Remember The Exception To The Rule Rule.