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)
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