WHY I WANT TO PARTNER WITH YOU & THE CHURCH...

Arguably the most effective sports leader of all time, John Wooden, Coach of the UCLA Basketball Bruins, wrote the book on developing a mindset of growth and effectiveness. 

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​His words, wisdom, and winsome way are captured in books, videos, and quotes for us to utilize today, more than a decade after his passing and almost 50 years after his retirement as coach at UCLA. His last year coaching, 1975, culminated with his leading the Bruins to their 10th NCAA Championship in twelve years.

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At 94, three decades after retiring, he made himself available to be a coaching assistant to provide support, evaluation, and wisdom from his experience. He was unpretentious, unshakable, and undeterred in his mission, and his mission in life was not to win basketball championships but to develop men through his context of basketball competition.

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​You are also called to be a developer. I love what Paul shares in his letter to the Corinthians when he calls us both a garden and a building.

• -Gardens are a labor of cultivation where human effort supplies a partnership with the uncontrollable and produces something life-giving in taste, nutrition, beauty, and wonder.

• -A building is a calculated project that requires foresight, gathering of material, sequencing of tasks, and attention to detail to provide covering, capacity, and communing space. It is the culmination of a vision, both of design and function.

We are now encouraged, trained, and coached to develop organizations focusing on metrics not addressed by the founder/Lord of the Church himself. To me, that strikes a discordant reality. ​Some might define the outcome of this 40-year shift from Biblical formation to organizational formation as disastrous.

 

We are privileged to have larger churches than at any time in history. These larger churches have a challenge to keep from simply being a gathering hub or communication portals rather than spirit-saturated communities. Our design is to create cultivated gardens and disciples who are the presence, personality, and power of Jesus in our communities. That is a tall task. A church of any size must make this their priority. 
 

What was/is the goal of Paul’s picture in Ephesians 4.13? ‘[That [the Body] might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [complete and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ’s perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him. (Amplified Bible, Classic Edition)
 

Yes, the goal is to be the presence of the Lord on earth so His will can be done here as it originates in heaven.

​​That is where John Wooden comes in. He shares this wise insight, "Failure isn't fatal, but failure to change might be." 

 

​Let’s partner to develop the kind of discipleship, and Jesus people, that God has given you a vision for. Contact me immediately, there's not a day to waste. As my Mom always told me, 'To fail to plan is to plan to fail.'