April 26, 2021 - DON’T PASS TO SOMEONE THAT ISN’T LOOKING!

Many moons ago my buddy Bill had a band he called “God’s Little Sheriff”; basically he was playing off the idea of so many Christian adults/leaders that we were around in the church that seemed more concerned with regulating our behavior than where our hearts were… people that told us God loved us, with scowls on their faces. When I trusted Christ as my savior, it was following a clear presentation of what God had done for me! I truly believed that God showed His love to me by sending Jesus to die in my place (See Romans 5:8)… I believed (and still do) He was (is) on my side! 

Yet quickly after hearing and responding to the Gospel, the churches/leaders I was involved with over the rest of my youth seemed to turn… I didn’t always get the feeling that they were “on my side.” I definitely did not look forward to hearing from most of them… they seemed to just want to pound on us about the stuff we were “doing wrong” and their version of what to “do right” seemed to just be “don’t do wrong!”

As I have gotten older, I realize that in their minds they were simply trying to steer us right… they wanted us to avoid the bad consequences of bad choices. Yet, I don’t remember many encouragers in my youth. (And to be honest, I am sure there were many times I simply didn’t want to listen.)

Yes, it is true that we are told in Scripture to hold each other accountable. Hebrews 10 tells us to “consider one another” (vs 24)… to keep each other in our sites. It also tells us “to exhort one another” (vs 25).

Yet, we are “to consider one another IN ORDER to stir up love and good works…” And we are to “exhort” which means to encourage… or to call to one’s side. The picture here is of being teammates that want each other to “play the game well.”

Let me put it into our typical sports analogies… I’m not encouraging to my teammates if all I tell them is what they shouldn’t do… I never cheer, “Don’t double dribble! Don’t travel! Don’t make bad passes! Don’t miss shots! I want to stir up and encourage the right stuff, not just the avoidance of the wrong stuff…

If your teammate doesn’t know you are on his side, he won’t be looking for a “pass” from you! Have you ever thrown something to someone that wasn’t looking and accidently hit them with it? Even though it may be something good and needed, it still initially makes the person that got hit upset. Correction and encouragement come across much better when we are looking to our teammates for it, when we know we are on each other’s side! This is TEAMWORK!

I struggled with leaders when I was young because, even when they were trying to look out for my best, their demeanors didn’t make me feel like they were on my side/team… and the bottom line:

BOTTOM LINE: DON’T PASS TO SOMEONE THAT ISN’T LOOKING!

April 19, 2021 - I Don't Travel... Double Dribble... Make Bad Passes... Take Bad Shots (at least not often)

I was doing an evaluation today of a young basketball player that I am starting to train. I went into it not knowing anything about his skill set or athleticism, just that he loves basketball… playing it and watching it. 

When I had some preliminary discussions with the player, he admitted that he wasn’t the biggest, strongest, fastest, or even most skilled at his middle school. I proceeded to explain one of my mantras… that “fundamentals are the anchor that holds in storms!” In other words, if one has a strong fundamental set, he can still compete against physically superior competition.

As I observed him warming up / shooting around, I noticed something that is true of the vast majority of young players I deal with… he never worked on anything with his off hand. He is a “righty” and did not do more than an occasional dribble with his left hand. I explained to him that as a coach I would simply tell my player to guard him on his right side and thus eliminate his ability to make a difference in the game… this kid that loves the game would simply be a bystander.

As we began working on some basic skills, I was incredibly surprised! I expected to see a player whose off-hand motor skills were awkward and would need a lot of work to train; instead I found a kid that could dribble, pass, and shoot with his left hand… just in a slower fashion than with his right…

Basically, I explained to him that if he had a desire to be a good player he had no excuse to not work on his weak hand… and that he was lying to himself if he claims he wants to be good and ignores what I shared with him. (I must admit I was excited to know that our future training was starting from a good spot!)

This reminded me of some truth I share often, especially when training (discipling) middle school and high school students… I remind them that at their age, I really don’t need to spend of lot of time on the “thou shalt nots” of life… they are old enough to know that. Yet somehow when the church thinks of training the impression that is often given is that one is spiritual if he avoids the bad stuff. But that is only a part of the truth…

James 4:17 says, “therefore, to him who KNOWS to DO GOOD and DOES NOT DO it, to him it is SIN.”

Did you see that? We tend to always think of “sin” as the bad nasties… sins of commission; here James reminds us that ignoring the good is a sin of omission.

The word for “KNOWS” is the idea of a person who is aware or perceives something with his eyes… one that recognizes an opportunity to do “GOOD”…

“GOOD” has the idea of something that is excellent or surpassing or something that is better! It is doing the right thing because it’s the right thing!

When we are aware of opportunities to do good… to get better… it is “SIN”… it is missing the mark!!!

Bottom line is if I ask a player if he or she is good, I don’t expect an answer like, “Yes, I don’t travel or double dribble or make bad passes or take bad shots…” I don’t get a list of what they are NOT DOING, I hear what they are GOOD at DOING!

Get good at doing good!!! Let’s have an active faith!

April 12, 2021 - The Fundamental Core of the Game

As I browsed through some things on the internet tonight, I came across an article about the current state of college basketball. Back quite a few years ago when I was still active in the coaching world, I would talk often with college coaches about what type of players they were looking for…

Back many moons ago a team was pieced together by specific parts (i.e. a point guard… shooting guards… power players… etc.); yet things started changing and coaches started scouting for players that were simply “long and athletic.” We then started hearing the phrase “position-less basketball” and offenses started spreading out trying to create openings for the athletes to get to the goal… resulting in a lot of exciting slam dunks… and unfortunately a lot of players that focused on that instead of the fundamentals of the game. (Side note: in spite of this new approach, I continued pounding the fundamentals in practices and in camps/clinics… often stating that “fundamentals are the anchor that will hold in the storm.” Strong fundamentals will always allow a player to compete successfully, even against opponents that are more athletic.)

We are now seeing another shift in the game, as players that maybe realized they weren’t going to run the fastest or jump the highest developed yet another shift in philosophy and started taking advantage of the 3-point line… now we see the game back to emphasizing shooting skills, etc. We see some of these new stars stepping over half-court as a threat to launch shots.

The article I was reading talked about how teams like the national champion Baylor Bears breezed through the tourney having the best 3-point shooting team by percentage in the country. Kentucky coach John Calipari was quoted as saying the “guys that were drafted in the first 10 picks seven to eight years ago would be second round picks because they can’t shoot the ball.”

But it was another quote from Calipari that made the article jump out at me and spurred writing about it… he stated, “BUT NOW, if you can have great skills – dribbling, passing, shooting – your skills start negating all the other stuff.”

BUT NOW? He states this as though it is a new concept… I simply think he was stating what I said before (and what my coaches always reminded us)… “fundamentals are the anchor…” Success always has a solid core foundation! No matter how fancy/exciting the stuff is that is built on top of it, it will eventually come crashing down if the foundation is suspect…

We just returned from our ministry’s Clarion Call Tour and I emphasized a foundation of GRACE throughout… it is God’s goodness that not only is the foundational truth for our justification, but also our sanctification. In Titus 2:1, Paul instructs Titus to “Speak the things which are proper for SOUND DOCTRINE…” Later in verse 11 he emphasizes GRACE as the motivating truth/foundation for the instructions to follow…

God’s GRACE is the anchor (the fundamental core truth) that will hold in the storms of life!!! Everything we do as believers must be built upon it…

April 5, 2021 - JJ and Victor

Many, many, moons ago when I was still lacing up the shoes to play, I had some friends that were my regular running mates… and inevitably we would find ourselves pitted against one another in church league games, etc. We loved playing together and competing against one another. I thought about a couple of those guys tonight as I was having a discussion with a high school-aged young man about ministry philosophy…

I’ll start with a quick story about my hoops buddies, (who also are my GREAT friends apart from the basketball court)…

One was my friend Victor; Vic, at the time, was fairly new to the game of basketball but insanely skilled, could run all day long. He was somewhat of a late bloomer that didn’t play high school ball but became a great athlete and a lethal scorer in adult leagues, drawing many to question not just where he played high school, but also wondering where he played college ball. Vic could shoot the lights out!

The other is my friend JJ. JJ was one of my teammates in high school and we played together all the time… whether it be at a gym or in his back yard. JJ was not tall… was not fast… didn’t jump high… BUT was great at knowing how to get position and could use either hand well when shooting.

I remember being home from college on a break and talking to JJ, who was about to face Vic in a church league tournament game. By this time, Victor was known to be a very high scorer... and remember, cold run all day! JJ, on the other hand, could score but, as stated before, not known for his athleticism and thus knew it was going to be a big task to face Victor and his perpetual “motor” that kept him running.

Both guys were my friends, but I found it fun to share some strategy with JJ. (I always fancied myself a coach.) I pointed out, at the time remember Vic was fairly new to the game, that Victor was a great shooter, but that he ran the same looping cut all game long to get to his favorite spots. I simply told JJ that even though he couldn’t run as fast or as long as Victor, that he didn’t have to… all he had to do was take a shorter straight route and meet Victor at his favorite spots. JJ did just that and his team ended up beating Vic’s team that night. (As a positive result, Vic started learning more ways to score and became a GREAT player.)

All of that story to get to what I shared with the young man tonight… we were not talking about basketball, but about ministry. I shared with him my philosophy that “our message is NEVER-changing, but our methods are EVER-changing!” Ministry demands that we understand what we are “up against” and adjust.

JJ adjusted that night and held Victor under his scoring average… Victor adjusted after that night and greatly increased his scoring average. (None of us were to keen on having to guard Vic after that.)

When the Apostle Paul talks about being “all things to all men, that he might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22), he was not in any way stating that he changed his message to people… BUT he did change his methods of sharing that message!

Serve the Gospel to others in an attractive way… within a framework they understand.

“Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.” (1 Corinthians 9:23)