This year, I celebrate completing 35 years of vocational ministry — 19 in local churches and 16 in the Assemblies of God national office. 

Much about ministry has changed over the decades. I no longer wear a suit and tie to church. When I preach, listeners are more likely to follow along on an app than a printed Bible. And as I teach my Sunday School class, people use their phones to fact-check me in real time. 

One thing has remained constant, however. Ministers are always on the lookout for “one weird trick” to do their job better. 

Online ads started using that phrase years ago to promote non-surgical, non-pharmaceutical cures for common ills. The pitch might say something like, “This man discovered one weird trick that cures diabetes. Doctors hate him!” 

Such ads are designed to generate clicks. And because something in the human brain loves the idea of one weird trick, many users take the bait. 

People want shortcuts to health — anything but the long, hard slog of dealing with a chronic illness. 

Ministers dislike long, hard slogs as much as everyone else, so it’s not surprising we search for one weird trick too. 

During the 1990s, I heard a speaker at a church-growth conference talk extensively about the importance of clean restrooms. It wasn’t his only advice. Churches also needed shorter sermons, contemporary music, good signage, comfortable theater chairs, and ample parking spaces if they were to grow. 

As a former church janitor, I’m all for clean bathrooms. But no one ever came to Jesus because of minty-fresh toilet bowls. They’re nice, but not essential to revival. 

The one-weird-trick approach to church growth isn’t new. Paul faced similar advice in his day from Corinthian Christians underwhelmed by his ministry. 

“Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom,” Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:22. It seems the Corinthians felt Paul deficient in both categories. 

This is evident in Paul’s ironic use of the terms “power” and “wisdom” in the verses that immediately follow: “We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (verses 23–24). 

Power and wisdom seem infinitely preferable to clean restrooms and big parking lots, at least to this Pentecostal. “Signs and wonders” characterized the ministries of both Jesus and the Early Church, after all (Acts 2:22,43). These concerns seem more exalted than mundane worries about facilities. 

But power and wisdom, as the Corinthians were trying to use them, were still one weird trick. Powerful miracles rendered suffering unnecessary. Rhetorical wisdom elevated the speaker socially. 

If you brought your friends to church, would you rather listen to a good speaker like Apollos (Acts 18:24–28), or an “unimpressive” and “untrained” one like Paul (2 Corinthians 10:10; 11:6)? That question divided the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 3:1–4). 

Underlying the debate, however, was the Cross itself. In the ancient world, crucifixion was a shameful way to die. 

According to the Roman orator Cicero, “The very word ‘cross’ should be far removed not only from the person of a Roman citizen but from his thoughts, his eyes and his ears.” 

Paul, quoting the Torah, stated the matter more succinctly: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole” (Galatians 3:13; cf. Deuteronomy 21:23). 

The Corinthians were not offended by Paul’s ineloquence. They were put off by the clarity of his cross-centered gospel. 

No wonder Paul described the gospel as a stumbling block! It can seem weak and foolish. 

Worse, in the eyes of people who long for a comfortable lifestyle, imitating Christ requires the loss of certain privileges. Didn’t Jesus say, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24)? 

The whole purpose of one weird trick is to avoid that kind of suffering. Yet there is no salvation without the Cross. There is no discipleship without the Cross. Only through the Cross do we come to the end of ourselves and turn our eyes to the Savior. 

People often make resolutions at the start of a new year. As one minister to others, let me offer this advice: Clean your church restrooms. Make sure there is adequate seating in the sanctuary. Pray for miracles. Preach with skill. 

But above all, take Paul’s words to heart: “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). 

That has always been the only way to lead a healthy, growing church. 

P.S. This article appears in the Winter 2026 issue of Influence magazine is cross-posted here by permission.