Over the past few months, I’ve watched a series of ministry initiatives struggle because they prioritized the “transactional” too much over the “relational”. We work together at “the speed of trust”, but trust is established through relationship. However well intended, when we rush into projects with colleagues, striving to “make something happen” before we have a solid relational foundation, we are inviting trouble. As you can see from this simple graphic, I encourage everyone to focus time on building relationships early in a project, and then ramp up production as the relationships form and flourish. If you find yourself thrust into a project that needs immediate output, I encourage you to weave as much relationship building as possible into the effort.