My timing was off. I've seen pastors do this with votes on building programs or adding staff. Failure teaches us to see the parts, not just the whole. And, after all, when we all finally retire and review our life of ministry, we'll not remember the big successes anyway. It will be the individual people down through the years whom we helped and whose lives were changed.
Some failures happen because of the size of the task.
Yet these tasks are worthwhile anyway. With such tasks, the romance is in trying even though failing. More important than our failure may be determining what we failed trying to do. Failure can tell us we've got the wrong job. Some jobs don't fit some leaders.