Friday Night Lights :)

Have you ever stopped to think about how risky it is to be a coach? I was sitting here thinking about all the NFL teams who are (or were recently) looking for a new coach. The Raiders, Cowboys, 49’ers, Broncos, Browns, and Panthers to name a few. All of these coaches had at least one thing in common this season: despite their efforts, their best just wasn’t good enough….for someone. Their best wasn’t good enough for their fans. Their best wasn’t good enough for their team. Their best wasn’t good enough for the owner of their organization. And, ultimately, their best wasn’t good enough to keep their job. This particular season their best seemed to call in the Donald Trump of the NFL to walk in, point the finger, look them in the eye, only to bless them with those words, “YOU’RE FIRED!”

Hey, trust me, I get it. I’m a fan myself. Changes need to be made when the desired results aren’t being achieved. But, then I got to thinking.  Why is it that one team can be so ready to kick the coach out the door, while another team can’t wait to pick him up?! It made me dig a little deeper into the actual responsibilities of a coach. First of all, we hold the coach to a higher standard of excellence because we consider him (or her..but we are going to use “him” just because I want toJ) an “expert” in his field. We “trust” him, so to speak, to make ALL the RIGHT decisions and take our team ALL THE WAY!!  We view them as experts in the areas of rules, strategies, and techniques….and play (and player) calling. And technically, by experience they are experts (and if you look at their paychecks you’ll see that somebody REALLY does believe it! Ha!). But ultimately, coaches prepare athletes for competition. They spend their lives dedicated to helping a team, individually and collectively, to play the game to the best of their ability.

In order for a team to exist, you have to have players. Therefore you would think that a coach would first pick out his team. Nope. When I think of a coach, the first thing I think of is strategy. Before a coach can even begin to choose the “right” players for the team….he has to map out his strategy. He has to be able to visualize where he IS right now and where he is GOING.  In order to do that, he will not only put into play his real life experiences with the game, but his knowledge of the sport as well. You can’t coach football if you don’t know how to play the game. A successful coach knows….there’s always more to learn. They educate themselves. They study the playbook. They surround themselves with people who ARE where they want to be. They learn from the best of the best. They watch the strategies of other coaches to identify possible tactics they can graft into their own to make it stronger. They learn from past mistakes they have made and from mistakes other coaches have made. In order to be a successful coach you have to be a risk taker. You have to have the guts to risk everything for the sake of your team. I must say, I have always admired coaches.

The vision is put into place. Now it’s time for the coach to pick the BEST players for the team. I’m going to tell you…..this isn’t always easy! It isn’t easy for a number of reasons, but mostly because as a coach trying to build a winning team….the team has to be balanced.  Take a look at the world around you and see how balanced it is as a whole, let alone trying to find balance in 53 men who are skilled enough to play in the NFL  The coach has to go and scout out prospective recruits himself and/or send out scouts to go watch players on other teams for him. BUT, whoever the coach sends out to help aid him in the scouting process must also have a DEEP understanding of his vision! The coach isn’t going to choose someone to go out looking for his championship team who isn’t knowledgeable, trustworthy, resourceful, dependable, viable,…..or 150% ON BOARD WITH HIS VISION FOR THE TEAM!! Which means a coach MUST have the ABILITY to ENROLL PEOPLE INTO HIS DREAM FOR THE TEAM! This is huge! He has to be able to express his vision clear enough to where it attracts the talent he NEEDS for that championship. He has to be able to recognize that talent in potential recruits. He has to be able to distinguish between those who may just be, by the luck of the draw, having a good season (in the music industry it’s known as a “one hit wonder” J) and those who truly have the athletic ability mixed with talent. And OH how hard it must be for a coach when they find someone who has it ALL athletically, but is completely VOID in the behavior department. You know the type. He’s the one who is always in a fight with someone whether it be the coach, fans, team mates, or opposing team. He’s the one who always has to have the last word (or punch) and just doesn’t know when to shut up. He’s the one who should be extremely thankful he is on the field making millions releasing testosterone because he would never be able to keep a job off the field due to the fact he doesn’t respect authority (let alone himself or others). He’s the one with the sense of entitlement…..but BOY does he have mad skills on the field!! That has to be tough on a coach.

The team has been put into place! Now, this is where the coach takes those he believed in his heart were a winning team, and does his best to UNIFY them.  During the recruiting process it “appeared” to him that these chosen ones were the best of the best for his team. The coach takes his vision to the locker room and onto the field. He pours out his time, his life, and his heart into this team. He spends countless hours imparting his deep knowledge of the game into them. In addition, the coach has to pay attention in detail to the skills of each individual player in order to help them work out plays and strategies that BEST SUIT their talent. This may come with opposition from the player who feels they are more talented in another area. But regardless, the coach sometimes will have to substitute players in order to achieve the most favorable team chemistry and success.

 The coach is only one man, and there comes a time when he needs help in the discipleship of his team! Therefore he has an Assistant Coach and the team is also broken down into Offense, Defense, and Special Teams. Each of these squads has a coach and if need be….those coaches have assistant coaches to help them as well. The Head Coach is one who knows how to delegate responsibility. And just like the scouting and recruiting of the “team” itself, the Head Coach scouts his assistant coaches in the same manner, putting them in the place where they will most benefit the team, yielding the best results.

But wait! A coach’s job doesn’t stop there! He not only has to prepare the team physically and strategically, he has to prepare them mentally. The players have to be prepared mentally for competition.  A player can have all the skills in the world, but if he isn’t prepared mentally he won’t be on his “A” game.  He will make mistake after mistake because his mind was elsewhere and his eye wasn’t on the ball (no pun intended. Hee hee).

As I was thinking about coaches tonight, I realized that coaching is a high pressure, high stress job in which there is little security. Everybody knows that the same team isn’t going to win the Super bowl every year, nor even make it to the playoffs every year. When every component of a successful team is put into place and everyone is, for the most part, on the same page, the team could very well have a winning season and hopefully contracts will be renewed and we’ll see each other next year. But, if everyone is not on the same page, talent is lacking or positioned incorrectly, authority is undermined, attitudes are wrong (the coach(es) included!!), and of course if injuries occur, the chances of the team being successful in that season decrease dramatically. A coach can only be successful if he has team players. A group of like-minded people who are going in the same direction as the vision he has for them.  When the team is winning, the coach is winning. Throughout my random Friday night football thoughts I realized that…….advancement for coaches ultimately depends upon the success of the team.  If the team wasn’t successful (which, yes it could have been from bad coaching too but that’s a whole other topic of discussion ha!)….then no matter how hard the coach tried, his best just wasn’t good enough. But, from a distance, another team had been observing the (now jobless) coach's drive, potential, knowledge, skill, hard work, and passion. You know what they say....one man's trash is another man's treasure. The coach is picked up by another team, all elements in place, and BAM! CHAMPIONS!!

We could draw a parallel between being a coach (or leader) with being a military General, the CEO of a large company, the manager of a smaller business….or being the Pastor of a church. Think back at ALL of the responsibilities of a coach that I discussed (not to mention the ones I didn’t) and now think of the pressure our Pastor's must face on a daily basis. Our Pastor is like our spiritual coach. He/she has to shepherd the flock, feed and water us, guide us, teach us, and prepare us for spiritual battle! He/she has totally dedicated their life to assisting in developing future leaders (discipleship), so that we can go into the world also and make disciples!  They are committed to God and to the church. They develop mentoring relationships as opportunities allow. They are not only active in the spiritual growth of the congregation, but in the personal and spiritual growth of the church staff and volunteers as well. They are devoted, willing, and faithful people (long term….not just when they feel like it). They work with VERY diverse groups of people. They have to vision cast, motivate, and lead. They are the ones who lay our foundation (Christ crucified) so that we can continue building our lives on that very foundation. They too, are human and cannot do it all, therefore they must delegate….and think of how sensitive to the Spirit they must be in order to put the right people in the right place within the church. They have dedicated their life to praying for YOU (the church!). They listen constantly to our aches, pains, and problems. They listen to our criticism. They lead a bunch of lost sheep. They take a chance pouring into our lives in HOPES that we will also do OUR PART to grow and to make a difference in this dark world.  I haven’t even put a dent in what our Pastor’s do on a daily basis for the kingdom of God…..but they do all that and SO much more…..while still trying to pray, worship, study, deal with their own problems, have family time and time for themselves….and more importantly, in the midst of ALL OF THAT….they have to somehow be able to drown all of us and the world out in order to be able to hear from God so they can lead the church in the direction God is wanting to take it. We have to be teachable, coach-able, and trainable. We have to educate ourselves outside of Sunday morning church. We have to be a people that lift up our men and women of God instead of tearing them down. And just like the coaches…the advancement of the church, the advancement of Christ into a dying world ultimately depends upon the success (or willingness) of the team (church body). One of the best things we can do for our (earthly) Spiritual Coaches is to pray for them. I challenge you to lift your Pastor up in prayer EVERY day. He/she pours into our lives spiritually EVERY DAY whether you know it or not….and we need to be grateful enough for them to, in turn, ask our Father to fill their spiritual cup back up ♥