February 25, 2019 - Crucial For Team Success

One of the things that players often hear coaches stress is the importance of communication! In fact, I was reading an article on USA Basketball’s site (usba.com) that made it of utmost importance to a team’s/player’s success…

“College players talk! They talk on screens. They talk on inbounds plays. They talk when sprinting back in transition D. They thank the passer on an assist. Between the squeaking sneakers and constant chatter...a college court is never silent.

College players listen! They listen when they huddle before free throws. They listen to their coach during time-outs. They listen with their eyes and their ears.

Obviously, these are blanket statements. Not every college player does these things...and some high school players do. However, in both cases, those are the exception rather than the rule…

…When you don't talk on D, your opponent gets easy buckets. When you don't talk on O, things get scrambled.

Bottom line: lack of communication causes breakdowns on both ends of the floor.”

COMMUNICATION IS CRUCIAL TO THE TEAM’S SUCCESS! (And a correlation to the individual player moving beyond high school to the college ranks…)

The same is true off the court!

It is amazing how far it goes to tell a teammate, “My bad!” It is great for team chemistry when we admit our faults. James 5:16 tells us to confess our trespasses/faults to one another and in doing so be healed… this is in the context of the promise a few verses earlier of healing a sick man; but the word for healed here also can be translated to the idea of being made whole… I believe we are being told that for the wellness of the team, we need to communicate when we have fallen short… “My bad!”

What about communication that builds up a teammate that is struggling… “You got this!” “Get ‘em next time!” “It’s all right, we’ll get it back!” We need to spur one another on… encourage… build up… (See Hebrews 10:24… this is one of the mandates of being the church!)

What about asking for help? In basketball, when a player loses the guy he is guarding, he should yell out, “Help!” or “Pick me up!” In life, we need to cry out for help when in need! And in turn, when we see or hear of someone in need we should step in and communicate, “I got ya!” (See Galatians 6:2)

Great teams talk a lot on the court… great churches are made up of honest dialogue that causes us to work together! We need to be authentic… caring… great listeners… and willing to step up to meet needs!

February 18, 2019 - Favorite Coach / Teacher

I often find myself quoting (when preaching or writing theses devotions) the late John Wooden. The reason I do, is not just because of the success he had on the hardwood as a coach and player, but more importantly to garner life wisdom from him. It goes way beyond the All-America status he attained as a player… way beyond the 10 national championships he attained as a coach… it is the lasting impact he made in the lives of his players! I guess you could say I am more moved by John Wooden the teacher than John Wooden the basketball coach…

I see the same type of commitment in church circles to certain teachers that are in the public eye… and I am all for finding solid teachers to learn from; yet, I also find that we can start to lean toward looking to those teachers as the authority instead of the actual Author of the Word!

Typically, when I find myself in a Scriptural debate, I hear things like, “Well so-and-so says…” Again, I am not opposed to that unless the person can’t tell me what the Scripture says. (Years ago, I had a seminary-trained pastor debating the Gospel with me; in the debate I asked him numerous times where he found his points in Scripture… and over and over he failed to give a Scriptural reference.)

I go to many John Wooden books and quotes when I am teaching in the basketball world… I get straight to the trusted source… let’s make sure when it comes to our Biblical stances in life that we go directly to the source!

Psalm 119:33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, and I shall keep it to the end. 34 Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law; indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart. 35 Make me walk in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.

Acts 17:11 …they received the word (teachings) with all readiness (listened to teachers) AND searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.

Teachers are great BUT make sure you always go to the source!

February 11, 2019 - "...and my favorite play is the Alley-Oop!"

One of my favorite things to see on the basketball court is an alley-oop dunk… that time when the players are in their normal set… making solid passes they have worked on in practice… and then it happens: the player with the ball and one of his teammates both see an opening that everyone else is unaware of…

Picture the point guard being outside of the 3-point line and he just lofts a high pass out of the blue (seemingly with no target…) and then there appears another player appearing from out of the blue… flying high above the normal play on the court to catch it and throw it down… AND THE CROWD ERRUPTS!

Some players just have a way of seeing things… possibilities… that others cannot see. As a coach I at times defended passes that flew out of bounds with seemingly no target… because I realized the guy making the pass saw something his teammate didn’t see. In that case it appears as a turnover on the passer… but, the problem was the teammate not cutting where he was supposed to.

I listened to a message yesterday that dealt with the “Feeding of the 5000” account found in Scripture: John 6:5 Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great, multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?”

Jesus and the disciples saw a ministry/life dilemma… a need that had the lane clogged up with no apparent open passes… Philip saw a monetary restriction as feeding the multitude would cost more than they had (he saw the budget)… Andrew saw a boy with a little bit of food, but saw the insufficiency of what was on hand (he saw the bank account)… the disciples had sight, but no vision!

Jesus saw the possibilities and knew that the Father would provide when we follow the vision of ministry… follow His will. And we know the story, they fed the multitude until they were full, and even had enough left over to fill 12 baskets with the fragments.

As a coach, I teach for us to make good passes to open teammates, the way we had planned; but we also need to allow for court vision that sees possibilities beyond the norm. What vision has God given you in ministry? If it is truly from Him… in line with His will… that pass is open! (And if it fails, it may be because your teammates failed to have the same vision…)

I will confess that this week’s devotion comes from a very personal place of seeing a vision of a need being met for our ministry… being ready to make the pass in order to convert… but also realizing we need teammates that cut to the right place. I am going to be throwing up an alley-oop trusting there is a slam dunk on the other end!

But I want the same for you! Tell us about your vision… let’s see how we can help you convert it…

Helen Keller said, “It’s a terrible thing to see, and have no vision!”

“Basketball is my favorite sport, I like the way they dribble up and down the court… I like slam dunks, take it to the hoop, and my favorite play is the alley-oop…” (Kurtis Blow)

February 4, 2019 - Making The Team Stronger (Handling Dissension)

Recently in the news, there was a report about the Philadelphia Eagles star quarterback Carson Wentz. After the second straight year of him facing some injuries and watching his backup perform very well, reporters couldn’t wait to stir up some controversy. In the report, unnamed sources from the team were supporting the backup QB and calling out Wentz for being “egotistical,” “selfish,” “uncompromising,” and “showing favoritism.” Following the report, many named sources came out supporting Wentz and

Obviously, this can cause dissension in the locker room… no matter what, the outside world sees the Eagles as divided… and “if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” (Mark 3:25)

I am writing about this for a couple of reasons…

1.       In over 30 years of being involved in ministry, I have seen a lot of dissension in the church… and Jesus was clear that the way the outside world will know we are His disciples is through how we are in the “locker room” (the church.) (SEE John 13:34-35)

2.       The second is because to the lessons we can learn from how Carson Wentz handled the situation…

In a report I read today Wentz had an opportunity to blast the unnamed sources and try to clear his name… after all those cowardly anonymous players shouldn’t have been bad mouthing him… should have talked to Wentz, not reporters… should have…

Wentz decided not to dwell on the “should haves” and “should have nots” and instead was quoted as saying, “It's never fun to read, but to an extent, you look at it and be like, 'Well, if someone did have this perception of me, why? What have I done wrong? What can I get better at?'" he said. "I realize I have my shortcomings. Yes, I can be selfish. I think we all have selfishness inside of us. There's human elements to that, that I really look at and say, 'Well, I can get better.'"

Wentz longs for team unity and is willing to start by letting go of the need to fix others… and instead looking in the mirror to fix self and be the best teammate he can be!

Be responsible for you!!! 1 John 4:21 says, “And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.”

Matthew 6:12 goes as far as directly linking our practical, relational forgiveness with the Father to our willingness to let go of the “should haves” and “should have nots” in others… You are familiar with the verse, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” That word for “debt” is literally “what is owed’ or metaphorically “any offence.”  

Bottom line this week: if you have been wronged… Get over it! Focus on how you can make the team stronger!