I have written several times about my observations while playing basketball at the YMCA near my house. This is another of those…
Recently I went to the Y again to play basketball. The usual suspects were there, mostly “streetballers”, guys trying to relive the glory days, and some guys trying to get in cardio to lose weight without the use of a treadmill. (I won’t tell you which group I belong in) Since the local high school teams have finished their seasons there were also several of those players and it was obvious who the HS players were and who the “streetballers” were.
From the first game there was a glaring discrepancy between the two different systems that existed on the court. One system existed on the team of high school players. They had a structure that hasn’t existed in my previous visits to the Y. Each player upon receiving a pass, faked a pass into the paint, made a pass, and cut through to the other side of the floor. They called out when a player was about to set a screen on their teammate. They took good, calculated shots. They were polished. It was a beautiful thing to watch.
They got absolutely KILLED in most games, losing everytime.
The other team didn’t call out screens. They usually laughed if there teammate got picked or fell down. They turned the ball over a few too many times. They attempted passes that were risky at best. They tried to recreate scenes from AND1 videos. They missed on a lot of these attempts, but made more shots than the other team.
This same thing played out again and again throughout the night.
So what?
I tend to strive for polished. I work at a very polished church. While I don’t do everything perfectly, I try to do things well and with excellence. Because I’m demented, as I watched the 2 differing styles I thought about some raw churches and fellow ministers I know. They “make some mistakes” (by some observations). They aren’t polished in many areas, but they are just flat out getting the job done.
My prayer is that I don’t become so polished that I lose the raw. The raw for me was really falling in love with Jesus, which didn’t really happen until college for me, though I was raised in the church. The raw for me was my first few years in student ministry when I made a lot of mistakes I’m sure, but I just loved kids, spent time with them, and constantly looked for ways to get better at my job.
I guess what I’m saying is great systems don’t always mean results. There’s something refreshing about the kind of teams that have fun, and laugh at themselves but know how to make the shots when they need to. While systems can help produce fundamental repetition, sometimes that causes us to miss the talented artists and leaders who struggle inside the lines. Think about this: Who could you reach and empower if….
You went with a 9:00 p.m. service
You’re creative types were able to have office hours from 9pm – 3am
You’re staff meeting turned into a ping pong tournament
Some office days were shirts and skins (ok maybe not that one)
Hopefully you get my point. I just hope I never get satisfied executing within the system only to find myself on the losing end when it’s all said and done.
In my quest to lose a little weight this year I am working out a little more regularly. One of my favorite ways to get some cardio in is playing basketball. At my local YMCA 5 nights a week are open gym nights where anyone can play some pick-up 5 on 5. I’ve been over there a few times with mixed results.
Last night I went and was able to play in a few games before they closed. In the first game I was guarding a guy named “D”. Great guy and I enjoyed talking a little trash with him throughout the night. He was by far one of the fastest guys I’ve ever seen on a court in person. This created problems for me, as my greatest strength is not the swiftness of my feet.
One problem, “D” couldn’t finish. He would blow right by people into the lane and realize he had gotten too far under the basket and have to throw a bad shot up toward the rim. Or he would get a rebound on our end of the court and take it the length of the floor only to dribble it off his foot just before he went up. Or he would make a spin move and attempt to pass it to a teammate streaking to the basket and throw it behind him.
I have never claimed in life or ministry to be the “flashiest” guy. I realize there are student pastors, husbands and fathers that get it right with way more regularity than me. That being said I hope that one thing I offer is consistency. Steadiness. Faithfulness. Those are qualities I admire in others and attempt to live out in my own life. To me this looks like:
- Under promising and over delivering.
- Giving the same effort for an event of 10 that I would 1000.
- Showing my wife affection like I did when we were dating…or more!
- Investing in my kids as much as I do in my job.
- Not creating new visions, ministries, goals, and theologies on a whim because of the latest book, sermon, or conference I’ve enjoyed.
- Starting out like I can hold (thanks to my Peepaw Lanier for this one)
It may look different for you. Just some thoughts from the Y!
Billy Gillespie was fired back in April as the head basketball coach at the University of Kentucky. There has never been a doubt about his ability to coach basketball. The X’s and O’s of the game are his bread and butter. Where he ran into trouble was managing the other demands of his job. According to the people in Lexington he never endeared himself to the fans, he never connected with the boosters/donors, and he alienated the local media. So when times got tough, or things didn’t turn around as fast as some thought it should, the reporters wrote unflattering articles about him, the boosters/donors quit giving money, and the fans starting screaming for his dismissal. Eventually he was gone.
I’ve now been in my job as Director of Student Ministries at Mt. Paran North for 30 months. There are so many layers to my job that it can become overwhelming if I’m not careful.
First and foremost there are the students. This is why I got into student ministry in the first place. It’s the X’s and O’s of my job. I don’t claim to have all the answers or even excel in every area of ministry to students but I sure do love it.
I also have to recruit, train, equip, and oversee an awesome team of volunteer leaders. As our ministry grows, I can’t possibly be to each student what they need me to be, so I have to duplicate myself in the leaders we have, so that they can provide the love, support, encouragement, accountability, and mentoring our students need.
Then there are parents. Each of the students in our ministry come with some type of parental figure. Some have very involved moms and dads. Others have one or the other after a divorce at some point their past, or some other type of broken home scenario. No matter the circumstances, I have to be aware of, build relationships with, and communicate to these individuals.
As a pastor at our church, I am also involved in the other areas of ministry, outside the bounds of student ministry. From time to time I am involved in leading worship on Sundays. Sometimes my Pastor has me speak on Sundays. I have served on search teams for staff vacancies at the highest level of our church. I serve on our Executive Ministry Team and assist in setting the ministry vision and initiatives of our church. I serve on teams and committees for other areas of ministry, offering my voice to issues that help raise the effectiveness of our overall ministry as a church.
I am a department head with 4 people who directly report to me. I have to approve vacation time, sick days, help resolve office tension, help our staff navigate the working relationships within our office, and invest in them as individuals.
I have the incredible honor of serving on several state and national youth ministry boards, and I get to speak at and participate in different events throughout the year.
These are just my responsibilities outside of my home, where I’m a husband and father of 3 little boys.
What am I saying?
Even if I’m good at the X’s and O’s of dealing with students, my leadership can easily fall apart because I’ve neglected these other areas. I’ve heard horror stories of youth pastors who are having success, great results, and growing attendance numbers but have been let go because of poor staff relationships or a couple bad run-ins with parents.
I don’t want to be a good juggler. I don’t want to just throw all the balls into the air and hope none of them fall. I want to be intentional in every layer of leadership. It is my hope that I am becoming a more capable leader, but I must always be aware of the many different arms of leadership that pull at me. I’m looking at ways to get consistent feedback from each of these areas so that I can realize potential problems before they become huge.
Today was a milestone day for us. Cooper played in his first t-ball game. I’m coaching his team and having a blast. Our team name is the Scrappers and we have 9 four year olds. We don’t officially keep score with this age but we killed today.
SVP is one of the few favorites I have at ESPN anymore. And they recently suspended him from his afternoon radio show. If you have time, listen to the clip below. That was enough to warrant suspension. Why? Could it be that ESPN has a multiyear, HUGE money contract with MLB?
This is my personal blog. Most of what is written is my opinion, observation, original thought, or things I find interesting somewhere else. While I am employed by Mt. Paran North, the things expressed here are not endorsed or necessarily accepted by Mt. Paran North or it's leadership. So don't go sue the church because you don't agree with something I write. Just post a comment and tell me I'm an idiot. It'll just be better for all of us.
