Focus On Your Team. |
Sep 5, 2009 |
As I ponder what concerns me today, I am reminded of what Joe Torre of the Los Angeles Dodgers recently said when asked if he was concerned how other teams in his division were playing. He said this, “I am not really concerned about them, I have a great deal of respect for them, but it’s all about how we play….right now we’ve got to get into a mode of playing more consistently and winning more games…that’s my concern more than who’s running us down.”
Torre’s comments resonate with me as I think back to the teams I played on as a kid. I remember talking with my past teammates and saying things like, “We were a great team because we had a great coach.” “He really pushed us to excellence.” And often we have said things sounding very similar to that great recruiting slogan from the US Army, “He pushed us so that we could be all that we could be.”
His focus was on us…..motivating us from being average to becoming great. He motivated us so that we might reach our potential. He didn’t want us to be mediocre, but he wanted us to fulfill all that God had put within us. His concern was us. We were the team that he was in charge of developing and equipping.
When I look at our Transformational Giving Principle 6 where it says that: The champion, not the organization, is called to be the primary means of advancing the cause within the champion’s sphere of influence, I wonder how well ministries have equipped and prepared their champions to be able to do this. This isn’t about the coach running on the field to play, but equipping those who should be on the field.
As coaches (ministry leaders) are you looking at the potential within each of your champions and providing them opportunities to grow so that they could be effective as they connect? Are you stretching them to be all that God has created them to be in relation to the cause? Do you provide feedback when they need it?
Today I would like to suggest that we should be equipping our champions by providing them ways to connect with the cause, providing challenging opportunities for growth, and providing opportunities for involvement. When we do this we will find that it becomes natural for our champions to share with their friends, family, co-workers, and others they come in contact with each day about the cause they have become so passionate about.
The choice is yours……play the game by yourself or equip your champions to be effective in what they have been called to do!
