The Best Team Ever, Ever

Guiding Prayer For Our Season of Fasting: 

Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom,the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Myself in Truth

Holy Father, challenge me to live in communion not just with with you, but with others as well, knowing that without harmony in my relationships, I cannot have harmony in you.

Nurtured and Nurturing 

Jesus Christ, Son of God, help our families to work as teams. May we rejoice with one another, love one another and support one another in your name.

The Gathered

Holy Spirit, may our love for and joy in one another spill over into every relationship and aspect of our lives, creating a true community of faith. Amen

Love in Action: Romans 12:9-16

"9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited."

The Best Team Ever, Ever

I have had the pleasure of watching from the sidelines as my husband has coached cross country for the last seven years.  Gavin is not a "go get'em" kind of coach.  He focuses on encouraging kids and proper running technique, but he's not going to be the one who talks about his glory days, or shouts at the kids when they aren't performing up to potential.  It just isn't his personality.  He will, however, run beside them every step of the way (if he isn't injured).

This can create issues at times because sometimes, when kids don't know his experience as a runner, they don't have respect for it.  The truth is, Gavin has been running practically his whole life.  His father was a runner and when he was young, Gavin would run with him.  He tried cricket and rugby in middle school, but quickly learned that his passion was for running. He ran and placed well in middle school, high school and as a collegiate athlete. Yeah, I married a jock, but you'd never know it unless you specifically asked him about his running experience.  You might guess it based on his waistline and long legs that my daughter thankfully inherited, but Gavin just will not brag.  I on the other hand will tell you that I was pretty darn good at volleyball, soccer and softball in high school and that I rocked on my dodgeball team in seminary (we were called "The Quick and the Dead").  But in general, these days I don't choose to run unless there is a large animal chasing me.

I have noticed through the years, and in my experience on teams, that the best teams are the ones having fun together.  I have been on teams that sang Garth Brooks and Queen ("We will Rock You" and "We are the Champions") to the top of our lungs on the way to games and laughed together and won games together, and I have been on teams who were competitive amongst themselves and harbored grudges and lost big time.

I have seen this be true on Gavin's teams as well.  For two years straight he had a girls team with the potential to go to state championships but who were competitive amongst one each other, traveled and socialized in cliques and pretty much had the philosophy of every runner for themselves.  Sometimes, if they couldn't win, they simply wouldn't finish the race. Some would even fake injury if they they thought they were being blown away by a teammate or the competition.  

One team Captain even took it upon herself to change the warm up and practice routine because she didn't approve of Gavin's choices.  She had no idea of his purpose or method behind the practice that he had created. She also didn't know that he had ever been anything more than a amateur runner.  She couldn't draw from his collegiate experience because she didn't trust him. Her distrust and hunger for power poisoned the whole team's morale.

When I heard of what she had done, and that half of the team had followed her, I had steam coming from my ears.  I told Gavin that they needed to know who he was and what he had done as a runner. They needed to respect him.  But that wasn't his way.  He thought that they should respect him simply because he was their coach and an adult. He didn't feel he needed to brag, nag or beg for it. 

They were competitive and uncoachable and the result was that they lost. Big Time.

This year, his girl's team captain loves to run and she loves her teammates.  She was ready to organize t-shirts and a team facebook page well before the season started. Within the first couple weeks of practice, she had already had a sleepover with the girls team at her house and the boys captain, learning from her example, did the same.  This past Saturday night they called Gavin so they could sing him a campfire song at the cookout that the boys and girls team were having together.  The teammates trust and admire their captains and the captains respect Gavin as their coach.  The result: THEY WIN.  They are placed third in their region and have a great chance to make it to the state championships both as individuals and as a team!   

Trust, friendship and humility can make a team want to move mountains for one another. Rejoicing in one another's successes makes them all victorious. Every player will tell you that they are on the best team ever, not because of their success, but because they are having fun together.

The same thing that will kill a team's chances for success will also kill a church.  Hunger for power, jealousy and distrust of one another will poison the whole congregation.

But the same can be said of success.  Those congregations who trust Jesus as their leader and genuinely live the love for and joy in one another that Jesus taught, will succeed. When we rejoice in one another's successes and cry with one another when one of us hurts, trust and community are being built. When Churches focus on loving one another and sharing their love of Jesus with everyone, they grow because love and joy are contagious.  

Let's grow together. Let's be coachable. Let's wins souls to Christ through our irresistible love and joy. Let's have some fun.