The Relational Mission

I must admit that baseball is my favorite sport. Sometimes I wonder if circumstances had been different if I could have made it in the sport. But alas, I am just an admirer of the game and those who stumble along to excel at this difficult game. Recently, I realized how the game of baseball is a kind of parable for how the Kingdom of God is manifest. Here are some reasons: Baseball games happen almost every day, as opposed to less frequently in most other sports. It's not about huge up times followed by long periods of down times. Baseball is comprised of tons of small, almost imperceivable actions stacked on top of one another. Games are won and lost based on these small things, not on big huge, spectacular moments. Success in baseball depends upon those who can deal with failure the best. Think about it: if a hitter is successful 1/3 of the time, he will be in the Hall of Fame. Baseball allows individuals to stand out and contribute their unique talents in obvious ways. ...

Last week, I was in a conversation about implementing some new ideas in a church. A leader stated, "Well, let's just do it and figure it out along the way." And while on the job training is always going to happen, I realized in that moment just how much we do this in the church. I want to return to the baseball theme that I have been using as an analogy over the last couple of months. The equivalent in baseball would be the coaches and players showing up on opening day and not doing any preparation beforehand. No coaches meetings. Now Spring Training. The assumption is what really matters is what happens each night during the game. I'd like to suggest that most of the success on the field of baseball has more to do with what happens behind the scenes than what happens during the games. I'm not just talking about practicing either. I'm talking about the coaches' meetings, the front office meetings, and the position player meetings. I'm referring to ...