Teams that Don’t Draft Well
If you’re a sports fan like I am, you pay attention to every aspect of the game. You want to know about the offensive game plan and the defensive schemes concocted to stop the offense from moving the ball. You want to know the stats – down to the most obscure detail. The difference between winning and losing is found in those details no one else watches. Talk to any successful coach. They can drown you with details of their team’s plays.
It’s the same way in every sport – soccer, baseball, basketball, football, tennis and golf. And here’s the one area most fans don’t study enough – the draft. The great teams, the ones we end up calling dynasties, are always successful in drafting talented players and picking up discarded players who can bring something to their team. These organizations have an eye for talent. Because they study the statistical details and know what actually matters for wins, they know what to look for in their players. Have you ever noticed the same teams keep winning and winning? That’s because they know how to pick winners.
On the other hand, have you noticed that the same teams keep on losing? If winners can find and develop talent, losing teams can’t. They don’t draft well. They spend too much money on players who never seem to live up to their potential. They trade away good players who end up becoming stars on other teams.
OK, enough sports junkie talk. Here’s why this matters to the local church. Most pastors don’t spend enough time identifying and training their members to become leaders in the church and the kingdom work of redemption. Pastors have an embarrassing track record of hiring staff members. Worse, pastors don’t do a good job of identifying leaders in their congregation. Because the mark of success of pastors is church attendance, most members are asked to come to church and sit. Our congregations are rarely challenged to do anything hard or great for the kingdom. Success for most pastors is attendance.
Church attendance isn’t a kingdom value.
Notice the ministry of Jesus. While we focus on His miracles, Jesus spent most of His time training the twelve. He left them with specific instructions on what they were to do after He returned to His Father. Jesus left His church – trained missional leaders – to carry on His work. Paul trained Timothy and Titus. He left Timothy in Ephesus and sent Titus to Crete. Paul made sure the gospel work would carry on after his death.
Great teams draft well. Great teams recognize and develop leaders. So do great churches. The legacy of our pastors isn’t the number of people who listened to their sermons, but the number of leaders left behind to carry on the mission.
Great teams recognize talent. Great churches do too.
