October 31, 2022 - How is my play affecting the team?

Why should we avoid turnovers in a game? It gives the opponent the ball…eliminating our chance to score on that possession…

Why do we try to cut down on the penalty flags being thrown? It hurts our field position either offensively or defensively...

Why do we keep our heads up when dribbling a basketball? We need to be able to see openings… to see our teammates…

Why do we need to learn our part in the plays? If anyone fails to do his part the play falls apart…

I’m asking a lot of “duh” questions… but there is a point. I’ve recently been talking about the team concept we are supposed to have… and how we are supposed to read The Playbook… last week I brought up that even the “examine himself” command in 1 Corinthians 11 is, in context, a command to look at our team relationships…

So, this week, I am taking a different approach to the same topic… instead of how we look at the playbook, how should we look at the stat sheet (in examining ourselves.)

In many ways I wish they would do away with showing individual scoring, but since they do, what if we viewed that column as a look at how I helped or hurt the team… instead of look how good or how bad I was this game…

When looking at turnovers, instead of a look how I stunk it up, a look at where I cost the team a possession…

When I look at a teammate’s stat line that maybe is not good, asking what did I do or not do to affect his game… instead of getting down on him…

When I look at a teammate’s stat line that is good, celebrating and asking how I can help him do even better, knowing that means the team is doing better… instead of being jealous of him…

If it is truly about team, it should change the way we view things. As I was studying in Ephesians this weekend I was trying to look at things from the we-perspective instead of the me-perspective. As I got into the list of some of the individual things I need to be aware of, I was excited to see a pattern…

In Ephesians 4 it is describing what our team should look like… and it gives some basics… don’t lie… handle your anger properly… don’t steal… watch your speech… get rid of bitterness / anger / clamor / evil speaking / malice… a pretty good list to avoid turnovers and penalties… yet I go back to why we should avoid turnovers and penalties… FOR THE GOOD OF THE TEAM!

So let’s take a very quick look at the list:

Vs. 25 Don’t lie… do speak the truth… for we are members of one another (TEAM)

Vs. 26 Don’t sin in your anger… it gives the devil a place in the huddle

Vs. 28 Don’t steal… instead work, so you can give to others

Vs. 29 Don’t speak ugly… only what is good and necessary to the TEAM and imparts GRACE

Vs 31-32 Don’t be bitter, wrathful, angry, etc… be kind to one another (TEAM), tenderhearted, forgiving one another

We tend to say things like don’t lie with the reasoning being it makes you a bad person… when in reality the motivation is ultimately because it hurts the TEAM!

So whether it be learning The Playbook or examining the stat sheet, let’s do it with the primary question being “how does/has my play affect(ed) the TEAM?”

October 24, 2022 - This Team Called The Church

Have you ever messed up in the game? Maybe you missed a shot or made a bad pass… maybe you struck out… maybe you fumbled… you get the picture… It is such a bummer when trying to make a play and you hear the referee blow the whistle… or maybe you complete a play only to turn, see a flag, and have it called back. Or maybe it is simply that you got knocked down or were exhausted… 

And when you messed up, how did your teammates treat you?

I often write about how Jesus treated life’s mess ups… while we were yet sinners, He died for us! (Romans 5:8) But what about our teammates on this team called the church?

Growing up I used to hear that the church was the only army that shoots its wounded… and I must say that once saved, I saw/experienced a lot of ungrace. I would hear the chatter telling us to “be accountable” to one another, but…

Back to the sports picture… I love seeing teammates rush over to help a fallen teammate… I love hearing teammates tell another to “get ‘em next time!”… as I am typing this my mind rushed back to the 3^rd base line dugout at South Little League Park in Evansville, IN… I was somewhere in the 9-12 year old range of when I played there… but I have a vivid memory of heading back to the dugout after striking out and telling the guy on deck to “pick me up.” I LOVE BEING A PART OF A TEAM!

Last week I ended by stating that I would share a “beautiful reminder I heard at a conference” of what this TEAM orientation should look like. The speaker, Ed Underwood, made a comment that perked up my ears… I heard him share this at a previous conference as well… but this time my mind was really fixated from my recent studies on the idea of TEAM. Ed stated, “I don’t believe in accountability!” (or something along those lines…) Well of course that catches people’s attention, as it goes against what all of us have probably heard throughout our lives. But his explanation showed why this has often led to the church appearing to “shoot its wounded.” Ed stated that accountability is more like everyone having a referee’s whistle to blow when others mess up. He stated he wanted guys to block for him to help keep him out of trouble… guys to extend a helping hand when he did fall… guys to fill in and give him a break when he was in need… HE WANTED TEAMMATES NOT REFEREES! He chooses to not call that accountability, but instead “protective love.”

As I was studying the past few days for a message I preached yesterday, I found myself in Ephesians 4, and the first descriptors I found that to describe what it looks like to “walk worthy” were “lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:2-3) To walk worthy begins with what kind of teammates we are!

And I know that some of you wannabe referees are thinking, “yeah but we still have to stand for truth and call out error and…” Can I be very blunt in this huddle, (I asked permission but I’m gonna do it even if you said no)? Everyone needs to be quiet in the huddle for a minute and let the Word speak! I just shared how it is described in  Ephesians 4… but then I turned to 1 Corinthians 11 as I knew I was leading into a time to celebrate the Lord’s Supper at the end of my message… and instead it became a HUGE part of my message.

All of my Christian life I have been encouraged, and encouraged others, to make sure and examine oneself in order to partake in a worthy manner (1 Corinthians 11:27-32); even the added headers in the Bible state “Examine Yourself.” So of course, I always viewed that as a command to try to acknowledge where I had messed up in my “play.” BUT IN CONTEXT the examination is to examine how I have messed up in treating my teammates! Before the discussion of the Lord’s Supper the discussion is about divisions and factions among the team… and after the discussion of the Lord’s Supper it gives directions to “wait for one another.” (1 Corinthians 11:33b) I looked up the word “wait,” and it means to receive or accept one another! It is not a chronological command but a showing grace command! And for those that still cant get over the lack of dealing with the bad stuff, Paul told the Corinthians that he, as the coach (leader) would address that stuff when he got there…

Bottom line is that the team called Church tends to have way too many coaches and not enough players when it comes to dealing with issues… just play the game and show some protective love to your teammates!

“Grace is the face love wears when it meets imperfection!” Ed Underwood

October 17, 2022 - Reading The Playbook Correctly

As a player, I loved looking at the playbook and seeing what plays were designed for me… when I was getting the ball and getting to score… it bolstered my pride and also made me know the coach believed in me.

I have often taught from that second perspective, reminding believers that the Coach believes in us and loves us and has planned on our behalf… Yet there is a danger in just focusing on that idea. As a player it could lead to pride, especially if there were a lot of plays designed that way AND if we get caught up in the notion that the one who scores is the star.

What if a player only studied the playbook to see what personal gain there is… ignoring the plays where he is responsible to set the pick or maybe even be a decoy… or maybe it is a play designed for when he is not even in the game? In these plays it is important to not miss an assignment… or even to just be an encourager from the bench remembering that the team practiced together to prepare one another for this play.

What if we started reading The Playbook with the idea of focusing on the team instead of as an individual? I think we will find that MANY of the passages we tend to read as geared toward the individual are actually team-centered…

Abraham was blessed as an individual in that there would become a great nation (team) [Genesis 12:2]… there is the oft-quoted Jeremiah 29:11 where there is the promise that God has “thoughts of peace” and a promise of “a future and a hope”… yet this was a promise to Israel (the team) not to the individuals (in fact it was on a 70+-year delay… read vs 10)…

And then one of my favorites is Ephesians 2:10: For we (plural, the team) are His workmanship (singular, one masterpiece or work of art), created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Let’s read The Playbook and look at life with the idea of how we work together as one in Christ! Let’s read it for “we not me!” Let’s make the team the star of the show… (next week I plan to share a beautiful reminder I heard at a conference about how we live and serve together as a team…)

October 10, 2022 - The Foundation

I’m sitting in a hotel room in Ft Worth, TX in the midst of the Free Grace Alliance International Conference… the theme this year is: What difference does it make? (Referring to a proper understanding and teaching of grace...) 

I just finished putting together a few slides for a short presentation I am sharing tomorrow morning about InBounds Ministries… I was given 3-minutes, and right now many reading this are laughing hysterically as they know I would have trouble just giving my name in 3 minutes, as they know I would want to give some illustration about it… and after 20+ years of these weekly devos, would want it to have a sports twist… so for those that read this Monday night or Tuesday morning, lift a prayer for not only clarity but also brevity…

Yet the question that is the theme, is the foundational, FUNdaMENTAL core of what makes us not only a part of God’s team, but also what makes us effective players on God’s team! If we do not get the proper view of grace, we will start every “play” in the Christian life from the wrong place… and thus the “play” will break down! If we fail at the FUNdaMENTALs, no matter how good of athletes we are, we won’t be able to be successful in the game…

Imagine with me a guy that runs faster and jumps higher than everyone else, does that mean he will be the best basketball player? No way, what if he can’t dribble, pass, or shoot… what if he doesn’t understand how to play defense… or even more absurd, what if he has no clue which basket to shoot at…

Our confidence… our assurance… our motivation… our joy… our peace all rest in the GRACE and GOODNESS of our God. Getting on the team is not about our performance for Him, but His performance for us… not our obedience to Him, but His “obedience, to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8)… BY GRACE ALONE, THROUGH FAITH ALONE, IN CHRIST ALONE!

[Old hymn: My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness”]

We not only get salvation by FAITH in the finished work of Christ that was because of His GRACE, but we also then live according to that same idea of trust (FAITH) in His goodness and GRACE!

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by FAITH in Jesus Christ… (Galatians 2:16a)

…and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by FAITH in the Son of God who loved me and GAVE Himself for me. I do not set aside the GRACE of God… (Galatians 2:20b-21a)

God’s GRACE makes all the difference in the world…

October 3, 2022 - Defining Coaching Success

Most of the time when we talk about great coaches, we measure their success by championships won… or maybe how many players they are sending to the next level. I know when people talk to me about my coaching background, the thing that catches their attention is when I talk about the guys I got to coach that went on to play D1 ball, even though on many of them, I had little to no part in actually getting them there. I would venture to say that I actually did a better job coaching in some of our losses… times wheh we were completely outmanned and still competed and made the opponents have to work hard for a “W”!

Then there is the approach, in defining coaching success, which I have written about on occasions based upon a quote from Coach Alonso Stagg when a reporter mentioned the great year his team had… he responded: “I won’t know for another 20 years or so if you are right.” He recognized that it was more important to build life transforming character into his players that to just win ball games. And I admit I love seeing former players, students, youth group members, etc. that are honoring the Lord with their lives… and feeling like I may have had a small part in that.

This week my mind shifts to a different way of looking at coaching success… it is based upon time I have been spending reflecting and evaluating our ministry over the years and balancing it with who I am now (as an old geezer.) One’s “coaching tree” tells a lot about one’s success. It is important to pour into others that will carry on the “work.” A coaching tree involves having assistants that go on to be head coaches…

There are often stories about pro or college coaches’ coaching trees… I looked up one article in prepping for this week that had the author’s rankings of greatest college basketball coaching trees… He mentioned many coaches I would have thought of right off the top of my head, but not sure I would have landed on his “number 1” choice… Larry Brown. Coach Brown spent time in both the college and pro basketball world and has left a trail of great coaches. The article shares a quartet of assistants that Larry had while he coaches at Kansas over a 5-year span. During that time KU won a national championship and averaged 27 wins per year. The writer said, “It’s no wonder the Jayhawks won… They had the best collection of instructors imaginable.”

I think the lesson to learn here, (as I grow older and have often stated I love “coaching the coaches”), is that maximum impact comes from replicating oneself… but of course oneself has to be worth replicating.

Paul said this to Timothy: Hold fast the pattern of SOUND words which, you have heard from me in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was COMMITTED to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. (2 Timothy 1:13-14)

SOUND: Free from a mixture of error… if you are going to replicate, it needs to be based on truth!

COMMITTED: Something that is deposited… entrusted… and to be conscientiously delivered unto others… there is intentionality in this process!

I love the way vs 14 is worded in the NASB as Paul exhorts Timothy: Guard,… the TREASURE which has been ENTRUSTED to you.

Do you have anyone you are pouring into? Is your coaching tree branching out? Will your ministry keep going when you grow old?

[I will be sharing this week some plans we have to intensify our efforts to replicate leadership]