Leadership Thoughts: Quotes I Shared with My Basketball Team Twenty-Five Years Ago

Dear Friends,

Twenty-five years ago, I had the privilege of becoming the first  school chaplain,  and first athletic director of Calvary Christian Academy in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The school was born from a congregation of 16,000 where I was one of 22 pastors. 

From humble beginnings in 2000 when the school started  with 200 students, the school has now grown to become the largest Christian School in the country with an enrollment of almost 3000 students. 

From the school’s beginning when I coached our first basketball team of 8th graders who played on an outdoor court while the first gym was being constructed, the school has  excelled athletically winning a number of  state championships in baseball, basketball and track and field. In the last few years, our basketball team was ranked among the top five schools nationally among all public and private schools in the county. Now with three gyms, and a 7-million-dollar field house, the school’s enrollment continues to grow both athletically and academically.

In each of the last three years I have had the privilege of spending a week at the school visiting coaches and teachers, some who are still there while I was teaching and coaching.  I still marvel at the growth and development of the school, but the quality that impresses me the most about the school is their continued commitment to developing the spiritual and moral character of every student. 

As I reflected on my eight years as pastor, teacher, coach, chaplain and athletic director, I thought of some of the values I sought to instill in my teams and in my family of athletic coaches.

Yesterday I pulled out a book of quotes that I would often share and discuss with my players at the beginning of each and every practice. Yes, I worked hard to develop their basketball abilities, but more importantly I was fully committed, as are the schools' coaches today, to the development of their moral and spiritual character. 

As I thumbed through some of the quotes from that book, I thought a few of them might be helpful to you as you teach and coach your own children and grandchildren. When I recorded the sources of the quotes, I included them, but unfortunately, I didn't always write them down.

 

            Some of the Quotes from My Personal Notebook

“The best way to inspire change is to be the change you want to see.”

“Act the way you'd like to be, and soon you'll be the way you act.” 

 “Only the guy who isn't rowing has time to rock the boat.”

“The only thing that walks back from the grave and refuses to be buried is the character of a man”.

“Character consists of what you do on the 3rd and 4th tries.” Senator Dan Coats

“It is not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.” Walt Disney

“Live in such a way that you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.” Will Rogers.

“The secret of success is to start from scratch and keep on scratching.”

“You can't make another person feel important, if you secretly think he is a nobody”. 

“Place a ten on everyone's forehead.” 

“Treat people as the most important people in the world, and you will communicate that they are somebody to you.” 

“Consider it a wasted day when you have not learned something new or peered into the mystery of God's grace and wisdom.” William Barclay

“Pass credit while the sweat is still on their brow.”

“Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit”. Vince Lombardi

“To ignore evil is to be a partner in it.” Martin Luther King

“Character consists of what you do on the 3rd and 4th tries.” James Michener.

“Flatter me, and I may not believe you, criticize me and he may not like you,  ignore me, and I may not forgive you, but encourage me,  and I will never forget you.” 

“A clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.” Chinese proverb 

“Kind words are short and easy to speak, but their echoes are endless.”  Mother Teresa.

“Touch a person's heart before you ask them for their hand.”

“Believing in people before they prove themselves is the key to motivating people to reach their potential.”

“Don't be a tombstone encourager; encourage them now.”

Yours in faith and friendship,

Tom

Leadership Thought: The Two Greatest Obstacles to Sharing Our Faith

Dear Friends.

Two of the greatest obstacles to evangelism are fear and the absence of love.

Too often we are afraid to share the gospel because we fear we might offend the person. We are afraid of impacting our relationship. What if our friend not only rejects the gospel, but rejects us as well, and so out of fear we avoid the risk of speaking about Jesus.

The other reason is love. If our motive for sharing our faith is not based on a genuine love, the person will know it and may not be interested in hearing anything we have to say. This is the great danger of cold calling and street witnessing. If you don't have any prior relationship with the person to whom you are sharing your faith, the person will feel used, just an object who is simply another scalp for your spiritual belt.

Friendship evangelism provides a healthy context for your witnessing. If the person is your friend, and knows you care, he/she will be more willing to listen to what you have to share.

While fear is a great detriment to evangelism, I believe that lack of love is an even greater barrier to evangelism.

World famous magician  Penn Jillette possesses a unique perspective on evangelism.

Gillette, who proclaims to be a proud atheist, says he doesn't respect Christians who don't witness to their faith.

"If you believe that there's a heaven and hell and people could be going to hell and not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think that it's not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward...How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?  I mean, If I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you, and you didn't believe it-but that truck was bearing down on you- there's a certain point where I tackle you, and this is more important than that.” Before You Share Your Faith, 5 Ways to be Evangelism, Matt Smethurst, pp. 53-54.

Whether as believers we refuse to share our faith for fear of impacting a relationship, or because we really don’t love people enough to tell them how they can possess eternal life, we stand guilty before the One who commanded His disciples “to go into all the world and proclaim the gospel.”

May God forgive us when our lips are sealed, and our hearts remain frozen.

Yours in faith and friendship,

Tom

Leadership Thought: For Those Serious about Serving Others

Dear Friends, 

It is true that leadership has more to do with service then status, for "humble work becomes holy work when it's done for God."

As part of our hospitality ministry when I served on staff at Calvary Chapel, Fort Lauderdale, the pastors would meet to pray before the services. We would pray something like this: "Lord help us have your eyes, ears, and heart that we might see, and hear, and feel as you see, hear, and feel and help us to be available for whatever ministry you might have in store for us this day." 

And so often, as we would go forth in the spirit of this prayer, God would surprise us by providing opportunities to minister to people in ways we had never anticipated. Whether praying with a person at the altar after service, helping someone who had lost some money in the soda machine, or walking with the visitor rather than directing them to the sanctuary or the nursery, we would discover that serving in such menial ways would often open the door for greater ministry. 

Saint John of the Cross, a 16th century mystic said it so well: "A Christian should always remember the value of his good works is not based on their number and excellence, (and I would add their outward significance) but on the love of God which prompts him to do these things. Little things become big things when they are done in the spirit of love."

When I think of people in the Bible who possessed servant's heart, I think of a little-known servant named Onesiphorus. Paul is in prison and his good friend Onesiphorus is searching for him. Paul writes, "May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me" (2 Timothy 1:16-18). 

As I read these verses, I could almost feel the beat of Onesiphorus's heart as he searched hard for his good friend.  Some translations use the words, "eagerly searched," which convey the idea of intensity and determination. He was not to be thwarted in his effort to find his beloved friend and prisoner, Paul.

I close with the words of D. L. Moody who wrote: "A good many are kept out of service for Christ because they are trying to do some great thing. Let us be willing to do little things. And let us remember that nothing is small in which God is the source."

So, grab your towel and basin and begin serving. It might not be washing feet, but instead it might be something as simple as holding a hand, shedding a tear, making a meal, or offering a listening ear. Show me just such a person, and I will show you a person with a servant's heart, and one who brings great joy to the Master.

Yours in faith and friendship,

Tom

P.S. "If I cannot do great things for God, I can do small things in a great way." James Freeman Clarke