Lessons learned from the San Antonio Spurs

NBA big men learn much at School of Duncan
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2013/03/17/nba-big-men-learn-much-at-school-of-duncan/

This excellent article on Tim Duncan reminds us that our legacy and positive reputation consists of much more than our job performance. Tim takes time during the summer to work out and mentor young NBA and college players and then maintains that mentorship throughout the season. 

We have that example in the Bible as we see Barnabas mentoring Paul and Paul taking Timothy under his wings.  Even in ministry, mentoring another believer is usually not in our job description but it is our duty as a follower of Christ. I found it interesting that for Tim, mentoring others is just a part of who he is, not some organized program imposed on him.  Tim also has no qualms about helping the opposition.  This tells us a lot about the character and values of the Big Fundamental. 

Some other benefits:

Obviously the young players profit.  

The mentor grows also. The best way to learn is to teach.  

The disciple learns the importance of mentorship.

The mentor gains respect among his or her peers. 

The Kingdom is advanced

What other value do you see from mentoring?

Who are you mentoring?

The Art of Discipleship

I was watching the Verge conference when one of the speakers reminded us that discipleship was more about imitation than information.  She explained that we in western culture tend to view discipleship as passing down information to a disciple instead of modeling our lives.  The art of discipleship according to Jesus was living, eating, and ministering together, not just passing along information.  

Today we default to sharing information because it is much easier to teach a Bible study than to take the time to model the life that you want your disciple to emulate.  And when we do imitate our mentors, the things we end up copying are usually not the most important characteristics of a believer. Instead of learning the daily routines of spiritual disciplines and reproducing the idea of service and dying to self, we mimic the outward appearances.  We think we are modeling by learning the motions in worship, how to "speak" the language of a true believer and how to look like one.  You find yourself surrounded by others who dress alike, worship, speak, pray and preach the same way. We feel comfortable in these surroundings but is this really the way it should be, the means to grow in Christ?


Didn't Jesus teach that it was not about the outward appearance but about the heart? Yet, as humans we so often imitate the wrong things, defaulting to the conduct and not the essence of the life of a believer.  Focusing on the outward appearances takes our eyes off of the real stuff of the life of a follower of Christ and on to actions that should not necessarily be copied.  

You see this occur in churches that become cookie-cutter images of other churches. Pastors preach exactly like the pastors of the church they grew up in or the ones they have watched on TV.  They have the same accent, the same mannerisms, and often the same sermons. For years the church taught that if you didn't worship our way, look a certain way, worship this way, you weren't a real Christian.  

Yet, shouldn't your setting, culture, abilities and unique calling as a believer, pastor or church determine your style and strategy. What you should be reproducing is your foundational theology, values, spiritual disciplines and the heart of how you live and go about the ministry. The form of how we do ministry should not be confined to just how we've always done it in the past. The Apostle Paul said "I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some."  We need sound theology wrapped in new ideas and ways to reach people based on the culture of those we seek to reach. We don't need cookie cutter churches and Christians who look and sound alike and hang out only with people who look just like them.  

One of the pastors that I am coaching had an "aha" moment when he realized that the model he was trying to follow taught by his church planting organization wouldn't work in the inner city where he was planting.  He had become frustrated trying to follow a model that is great for a church plant in the suburbs where there are a lot of new homeowners and affluent believers looking for a church but doesn't fit so well when you plant in the inner city and reach mostly unbelievers.  He realized that his context required a unique strategy and he was "freed" to be different. He could take away basic principles but didn't have to follow the exact form.   

We often can limit our own potential when we compare ourselves with others and try to emulate the wrong characteristics.  Whether you are a believer searching for your God-given calling, or a pastor seeking to find God's direction for your church, seek to be unique.  Draw from others the more meaningful things but also develop your own style.

• What aspects of the life of your mentor do you imitate?  
• Is your life worth imitating, the true and important things?  
• What exactly is it that you are passing on to your disciples?  
• Do you feel free to be different as a Christian in the way you dress, worship and minister or do you feel bound by a standard imposed by the church or by other Christians?

Who's Driving The Bus?

One of the greatest dangers in church planting is having your vision co-opted by someone or some other organization. What starts out as a wonderful God given vision, one that fueled your passion and ignited your desire to plant, suddenly is hijacked.  You wake up one day and realize there is someone else driving the bus!  It can happen in a number of ways and most often is a slow process, like the thief who steals from your bank account little by little so you don't notice until you wake up one day and there is little to nothing left.  

In the early 90's I helped start a Metro Bible study in Austin, Texas while I was the Singles Minister at Hyde Park Baptist Church.  I recruited a young man named Todd Phillips to lead the singles weeknight event and speak each week.  Todd was a new believer with an incredible contagious passion for God and a talented and charismatic speaker. Because he was single, he easily connected with other singles and did an incredible job of leading and growing this weeknight ministry from 12 people to over 700 college and single adults in just 3 years. 

The Bible study started out as a vision to reach the lost and unchurched single adult population of Austin.  We called it "a singles sort of get-together thing" and encouraged believers to bring their friends who were not believers to the weeknight event.  The music was upbeat, with secular cover tunes and current contemporary Christian songs and Todd's messages were always relevant, topical and evangelistic.  We emphasized that this was not "a church", and it's purpose was to be a doorway for seekers to be led to Christ and into the local church. We taught that it was the responsibility of the believers who came and brought their non-Christian friends to disciple them and get them into church.   

Over time however our vision began to drift.  The longer we existed the more the Christians complained that the music was not worshipful enough and the messages were not deep enough.  There was this constant whine of "we want deeper Bible study" and many stopped bringing their unchurched friends and they formed cliques from their own church. The longer we met the harder it was to stay the course.   What had been a dynamic weeknight event in which non-beleivers could hear the Gospel in a relevant way, became a club for different church groups of youth, college students and singles.  Eventually it stopped growing and was terminated because it was not doing what it was first created to do.

Looking back now I can see how our vision was hijacked.  Our initial team of leaders understood the vision but as I delegated and handed the leadership over to others, the vision became less clear.  Todd began another Metro in San Antonio and so he brought on others to take on the leadership roles as Todd focused more on the speaking.  As he did, it was easier for the vision to drift.  As the organization grew we failed to hold to the original vision and this great outreach event eventually morphed into an alternative weeknight church meeting.    

There will always be those in your ministry and those from outside who will be licking their chops to steal your vision and replace it with theirs.  Sometimes its an elder, or it could be your most faithful member, biggest giver or even your wife!   When you have a good thing going, there will be a line of people vying for an ear from you to sell you their vision.  If God has given you a clear direction and purpose, you must stay the course!  

What are some ways that you have used to stay on course and keep others from hijacking your vision?  What would you add to the list below.

• Have a clear purpose and vision which communicates not just a slogan but really why you exist. 
• Over communicate it.  Say it so often your people get sick of hearing it.  And make sure they know it.
• Teach it often and illustrate with examples.  Celebrate those who get it and apply it.
• Eliminate anything that does not fit in with your purpose and vision.  
• When training new leaders, make sure they not only know and embrace the vision but embody it!
• Resist the voices and whine of others and the temptation to switch course.
• Trust God!

Have you ever been a part of an organization, business or church which has had its vision hijacked?

What other suggestions do you have to keep a pastor or leader on course?

Before you make any resolutions, find your one thing.

City Slickers is one of the great comedies of the early 90's and one of the most memorable scenes is when Curley (Jack Palance) explains to Mitch (Billy Crystal) what the secret to life was.  He tells Crystal it is this one thing. Watch the scene

That one thing is purpose. And Curley was right, a life lived without purpose is unfulfilling and meaningless.  So before you make any resolutions for 2013, make sure you have a purpose statement and that your resolutions help you fulfill that purpose.  

 I exist to...(purpose statement), therefore I must...(resolutions)

Don't take only Curley's word for it.  God believes in it's importance also. Look at how God instructed the Israelites after they were set free from Egypt.  In Deuteronomy 6:5, God gives the Israelites their purpose statement, their one thing through Moses.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Notice that God not only gives them their purpose, but instructs them to make this statement a prominent part of their daily lives by placing it in significant places, including on their bodies.  God wanted this statement of purpose to be everywhere they looked so they would be reminded of their purpose constantly.  Jesus reminded the Pharisee of this purpose when asked what was the greatest commandment in Matt. 22:36.

I recall when I worked for a radio station in Austin, I walked in on a Jewish co-worker one morning. He had a small box tied on his forehead attached with leather cords around his head.  He explained that this was called a phylactery, a small box in which was placed scripture from Deuteronomy 6.  Jews still take the words in Deuteronomy literally and wear them on their left arm and head.

Moses reminds the Israelites at the end of the 6th chapter that they had once been slaves in Egypt but now they are free and because of that freedom, they now had a new purpose that comes from God.  This is the picture of what he wants to do for us also when we exchange our lives for Christ.  Let us take that purpose and make our one thing so that we will always be reminded to live out that purpose.  Having our family purpose statement prominently placed helps our children to know what their purpose is and that it comes from God.  

What is your one thing?  Your purpose statement?  Does it come from God?  Is it uniquely you?  Is it placed in prominent locations so that you know it by heart and can tell anyone who asks you that I exist to...

God has given us a great model in helping us to define our one thing. So, before you make any resolutions, find your one thing and live it!  

For more on the importance of purpose go to:  

The Power of Purpose

Mastering The Art Of Living

Exiting the prison yard after a couple of hours spent with 56 inmates in a faith based dorm, I felt energized and had a great sense of accomplishment.  As I entered the small holding pen that separates the free world from the one of captivity, there was an elderly lady who was in a wheelchair with a Bible in her lap.  My pride and sense of accomplishment quickly vanished as I was suddenly brought back to earth, humbled that someone of that age would be serving God in a prison.  

A couple weeks later as I was leaving I once again saw the woman entering the prison.  This time a guitar was in her lap along with the Bible. I introduced myself and told her how impressed I was that she was ministering in the prison.  She explained that she considered herself and her husband missionaries to the prison. She said she was 87 years old and they had been ministering in the prisons for 17 years!
That brings a whole new concept to retirement.  What a contrast to the American idea of retirement, to cease all work, spend all of our savings, relaxing, traveling, having fun and enjoying life.  Even though this couple's idea of life in the "retirement" phase was entirely different, I'd say they were still having fun and enjoying life to the fullest.

Thinking of this couple brings to mind one of my favorite quotes . "The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he’s always doing both.”  - James A. Michener
Unfortunately, few people get to live on this level, where their work and faith is their passion and play.  We miss out because we compartmentalize our lives into work, play, vacation, worship so much that we fail to realize that a life that has worship at its center of everything we do, will be a life lived to the fullest.  Worship can be our work and play, our labor and leisure, our pursuit of information and love.  When one loves God and lives for Him, and his or her joy is centered around blessing others,  then just like this elderly couple, one will have mastered the art of living!  

Avoiding The Riptides of Life

A few years ago I had the opportunity to return to southern California where I spent my teenage years.  I was attending a ministry conference and our hotel was on the ocean. During a break in the conference, I rented a boogie board and hit the beach to catch some waves.  I swam out about 50 yards from the beach and floated in the swells waiting for just the right wave to take me in.  I hadn't been out for very long when I saw a lifeguard swimming toward me.  When he got within shouting distance, he hollered, "do you know what you are doing?'

I remember looking around to see who he was talking to.  Surely not me.  After all I grew up in southern California. I've been to the beach many times and although I'm not a surfer, I have body surfed many times and used a boogie board from time to time.  

He shouted the question again, do you know what you are doing"?  Now I realized he was directing the question to me.  All I could think to answer was, uh, I guess not.  I couldn't imagine what I was doing wrong just floating on a boogie board waiting to catch a wave. 

The lifeguard drew closer and explained, "you are in a riptide and I need to get you out.  I'm going to throw you this rope, just grab on and I'll pull you out."

I grabbed on and he swam toward the shore pulling me in.  I never knew I was in any danger, even though I had drifted quite a ways away from where I went in.  Later as I thought about the incident, I realized that this was a great illustration of life and a great teaching moment.  

Seldom does one fall quickly into spiritual lethargy, pornography, divorce, financial or emotional bankruptcy.  It's almost always a slow drift without us even knowing that we are in trouble until we start to sink.

To rescue us from the riptides of life, we desperately need a lifeguard, someone close to us that can recognize the trouble we are about to fall prey to.  What if we had that one person, that lifeguard that could speak truth to us when we venture into unsafe waters, that person who would tell us the truth no matter how much it hurts, "do you know what you are doing?!"

Think of the thousands of lives that could have been saved from drug abuse, financial ruin or divorce if the fallen had an accountability partner, coach, counselor or advisor? 

Riptides of life are inevitable, but we don't have to be victims.  

• We all need a lifeguard, a mentor, coach or running partner who we can be brutally honest with.  Better to have one of each.  

• We are accountable only to the areas in which we allow someone to hold us accountable.  Therefore we must be open to advice and actually listen.  We must surrender our pride, humble ourselves enough to allow others to help us and be willing to grab on to the rope when offered.

• We need to be grounded in faith, on the biblical values and standards to know when we are straying.  If we can keep our eye on Jesus as Hebrews 12:2 says, we can survive many of the riptides of life that can destroy us physically, emotionally and spiritually. Spiritual, financial and practical mentors, friends and coaches can help us keep on course, if we allow them access to our lives.  

The Power of Purpose

I've had two close friends and ministry colleagues pass away recently from diseases which they both endured for several years.  Both went through the difficult ordeal of hospitalization and then hospice.  I knew that hospice was usually the place patients went before they died but I didn't fully understand the significance and purpose of hospice.  I learned through my two friends ordeal that the purpose of a hospice is totally different from a hospital.  In a hospital the doctors and nurses naturally do every thing possible to keep patients alive and heal them. However, the purpose of a hospice is NOT to keep the patient alive but to prepare the patient for death and to make their last days as comfortable as possible.  

That purpose dictates what the treatment or lack of treatment is. The caretakers in a hospice will not be constantly monitoring the patient during the day and the middle of the night, waking them up, poking and prodding.  Medication and intravenous tubes are not necessary in a hospice except for that which eases the pain. Everything is done to make the patient's last days as pain free and comfortable as possible. And this is very difficult for a loved one to comprehend because the decision to take their loved one to a hospice is in effect saying that the end of life is very near and we have given up the goal of recovery, in essence pulling the life support from the patient.

It occurred to me that this was one of the most powerful examples of how purpose dictates what we do.  The rooms in a hospice and hospital look much the same but what happens in those rooms is the difference between life and death literally based on the purpose of those rooms.  

It is the same for any organization.  Having a stated purpose determines the actions of the members or the employees.  If there is no stated purpose, no overall vision to guide and direct the employees or members to pursue, then each person is left to discern what that purpose is and the actions and decisions can be considerably different from those which the organization desires.  When the employees embody the company's mission then every move is filtered through that stated purpose.

How we view our personal purpose in life also makes all the difference in the world how we live our lives.  Do I live for self or to a higher calling?  For both my friends, Steve Stoner and Teresa Devlin, their legacy is great and long lasting because their purpose in life was to live for Christ.   Many of your decisions will be drastically affected even to the point of life or death because of your purpose.  That is why it is so important to live for a purpose in life that is more than just living for self. And equally important is to teach your children to do so also.  It doesn't happen naturally.  You must intentionally work so that your purpose becomes integrated into your life, family, company and church. 

Do you have a personal mission or purpose statement?
Does my purpose reflect my relationship with Jesus Christ?
Can you quote a life verse from the Bible that guides your life?

Does your family have a mission statement?  Can your children quote it?  What do you do to instill that purpose into their lives?  Into your church or business?