Put me in Coach!

 

 "In football they have a huddle. The goal of the huddle is to give you thirty seconds to call the play —that is why they give you a huddle. At a professional football game, there may be 60,000 people watching you huddle; they don’t mind you taking thirty seconds to call the play. They understand that you have to get organized. You have to know where you are going to go, the ends need to know where they are going to go, the quarterback needs to know where he is going to go, and the backs need to know where they are going to go. A huddle is a necessary part of playing the game. But let me inform you, if you do not already know, 60,000 people do not pay $20 a ticket to watch you huddle. See, people don’t come to football games to watch the huddle. They want to see if their team can overcome the opposition who is daring them to snap the ball and move down the field to score. What they want to know is does your practice work? Now what Christians often do is get high on their huddles. We gather together on Sunday morning and Sunday nights and Wednesday nights and we go nuts over the huddle! We say, “Boy did we have a huddle!! My quarterback can call plays better than your quarterback.” And boy do we go off on the huddle. But what people don’t seem to understand is, that the huddle is so that we can play the game. The effectiveness of your church cannot be measured by how well you do on Sunday morning. … The test of the church is what it does in the marketplace. What we need today is churches that are representative of Jesus Christ not only when gathered but when disseminated.” (Dr. Tony Evans. “The Power of God’s People.” Sermon, 1987 – Church Growth Conference, Prestonwood Baptist Church, Dallas, TX).

What perspective Dr. Evans gives here regarding church growth. You may not agree with him doctrinally, but this illustration gives a valuable perspective to the Christian regarding this topic.

My church is experiencing tremendous growth, not only numerically, but in outreach ministries as well. Here are a few: nursing home ministry; jail ministry; The Young Lions’ Club; choir; special music; visitation ministries; bus ministries; Sunday school outings; weekly services; Mission’s Conference; Anniversary/Tent Revival Week, Vacation Bible School, fair ministry, building maintenance and new construction (remodeling of the foyer/bathrooms and playground construction); Ottawa County Christian Academy (includes daily instruction, summer preparation and all administrative duties); web site maintenance; grounds keeping;  audio/visual ministry; nursery and toddler departments; junior church; Sunday school; newsletter ministry; Ladies Fellowships; Teens for Christ; Youth Group, Youth Congress, church fellowships, holiday programs and special services... Need I say more?

Our church has been growing because we’ve been busy in the “marketplace” trying to “disseminate” the Gospel! Our church, for its size, has a tremendous amount to offer. These offerings would not be possible if it weren’t for the great effort put forth by those in the “huddle.” Every player in the huddle plays an important role in each successful play. Are you in the huddle? If so, what are you doing to personally impact the game.

For illustration sake, let’s call all our offerings or programs our “plays.” If the same group of players (church workers) participates in every “play,” then it will be certain they will fatigue and tire out. The stress of being over-involved may exhaust them to the point of quitting. A good teammate will sub in for his fellow laborer and tag team the work load. There used to be a poster in our church that read, “Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something.” My church and others like it will only continue growing if more “players” get in the game by going from the huddle (church attendance) to the play (personal involvement) with the goal of making an impact.

The goal is not to build a mega-church, rather it is to see everyone go from the huddle to the play. The huddle is important, for it is there we are given direction; but our team (church) will never advance the ball (grow) if we stagnate in the huddle. Remember the objective: to win... souls that is. And the only way to win is to get in the game.□

This article was taken published with permission from The Earnest Contender, Volume 26, Issue 4. The Earnest Contender is a publication ministry of Grace Baptist Church in Oak Harbor, OH.