I look back all the time on the lessons I learned from football. Here are a few:
1. The TEAM comes First. The more you focus on helping others the better it becomes for you. Be a servant leader. If you are a pastor or staff member, helping the whole staff honor God should supersede any personal goals. When the team wins, everyone gets the credit, but when the team loses, individual achievements really don’t matter. I learned this from watching Bear Bryant: A great leader takes more blame than he deserves and gives more credit to others than they deserve.
2. Value SACRIFICE. If all being on a football team involved was showing up and playing a game every week, half the guys in school would want to play. No, to play the game, you have to pay the price. Hours of sweating during two-a-days in the August sun, off-season conditioning, grueling drills, wind sprints, on and on the sacrifice goes. Afternoons in the fall are surrendered to practice. Ministry is not about finding your niche so much as it is pursuing godliness. This involves great sacrifice over time.
3. STAY FOCUSED on the Goal. Our team’s goal, make no mistake, was to WIN. Our coach never began a season saying, “Our goal this year is to be 0 and 10.” We never started a week of practice with the goal of losing. Excuses were never allowed. In ministry we have to be careful about how we define “winning” by overly focusing on some things to the neglect of others. But let’s be clear—the goal of a team is never mediocrity, and neither should being average satisfy a minister. Winning people to Christ and building disciples should remain our priority.
4. EVALUATION Helps. Every Monday we watched film as a team. Our coach loved to say, “The big eye won’t lie.” If an assignment was blown, all could see. If a great play was made, all observed. Effective ministry requires ongoing evaluation. But the evaluation should always be focused on making people better rather than tearing them down. We need people in our lives to coach us, to evaluate us, to push us daily.
5. Be a GOOD SPORT (i.e., have character). Learn what is important and what isn’t. Don’t confuse personal preference with things that really matter. In football things like hustle, preparation and teamwork rule—personal feelings do not. I honestly learned some virtues in a locker room (OK, there were plenty of vices there too!) I did not learn at church, such as treating each other with respect regardless of the color of their skin. The coach has the right to ride a player’s back if he loafs. In ministry, we tend to take ourselves too seriously, but fail to take the gospel seriously enough. We need to reverse those two and lighten up! We should rejoice in the success of others and be grateful for any measure of grace God gives us.
6. Leave NOTHING on the Field. A good football player never quits. Great teams play until the final whistle. Too many ministers spend more time preparing for retirement than reaching the lost, too much time magnifying themselves than the Jesus they should be preaching. Ministry properly done is exhausting work, and we should give it our best effort, particularly when we teach the Word. I still apply this mentally when I preach or teach. When I am finished, I am exhausted, but it is a good feeling to know I have given my best to communicate the Word of God.
7. A GOOD COACH Helps. Great football programs on any level are marked by great coaches. The “coach” of a local church is the pastor. Everything rises or falls on leadership.
8. RISK and Be Rewarded. The players that make the greatest impact are typically those who risk the most. Football games are often won or lost by playmakers—those who at a critical moment step up and deliver. As a minister of the gospel, your willingness to trust God and take risks of faith will mark much of your life’s trajectory. You can’t get injured watching a game from the couch. You can definitely get hurt playing the game, but the thrill is worth the risk.
