I was watching a TV show the other day about Milton S. Hershey, founder of the Hershey Chocolate Company.

I found it to be very interesting that, originally, he owned a caramel candy company that had little to do with chocolate.  At a world’s fair, he noticed kids licking all the chocolate off his chocolate covered caramels and then throwing the caramels away.  He declared then and there that caramel was a fad but chocolate was a trend.

He not only thought this but he also acted on it.  He sprung into action and he sold his profitable caramel company and started the Hershey company with the proceeds.  He went on to become one of America’s wealthiest individuals and his products became famous throughout the world!

Why was he so successful?  He knew the difference between a fad and a trend.  In church work, and businesses too, knowing the difference between a fad and a trend is often a matter of life and death.

I’ve seen way too many pastors jump on every fad wagon that comes through town.  It’s sort of sad.  It comes across as desperate when a leader seems to shift his plans with the wind.  If you fad-driven long enough, eventually, your church leadership, and your people, will get tired of all the constant fad-following and they’ll abandon ship, or you.

On the other extreme there are pastors that refuse to accept the obvious and change with the times.  Yes, they ignore fads but they also ignore trends.  They simply refuse to change.  This too can be lethal.

A true leader understands the differences between fads and trends.  He learns to ignore the fads and embrace the trends.