"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died, and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised." 2 Corinthians 5:14 - 15
"Good is the enemy of great." Jim Collins, Good to Great
I have been a student of leadership studies since 1985. I have taken formal classes, formal trainings, studied awards that recognize leadership, and have read informally (on my own) about leadership during that time. As my studies developed and furthered, I began to notice you dissect the world through that lens. I say that because I watched high school football on Fox Sports Southwest last week to see how my old high school team did. I could only watch through the lens of leadership as they played and then did postgame interviews.
Galena Park North Shore, or North Shore for us alums, won handily on their way to what is predicted by Dave Campbell's annual magazine and others as another championship season. Should the Mustangs win this year in their 6A division, it will be a three-peat and five since 2003. When I went to North Shore, we could hardly field a winning team. Their best record came in my junior year when they went 5-5, bookended by two 2-8 seasons.
Winning is not just performance, but it is a by-product of culture. Winning starts with mindset and attitude which is shaped by the culture of a program. How does that look and sound at North Shore? When the game was over, Fox interviewed their blue-chip receiver (several blue-chips I might add) and asked about his incredible game. His answer went something like this: "You know, we have a great team, and it was a team effort. The QB (a blue-chip as well) and the line deserve all the credit. I'm blessed to be part of such a great program. Coach always tells us...." You get the idea, and as he spoke, I thought, "North Shore has an incredible coach who can get kids to say things like that with almost a natural sound." They sounded the same way last year when they won the championship and were interviewed. Great team. Great sacrifice. Not me. Like to thank the team.
The coach, to his credit, sent a player home last year before the big game (running back signed with an SEC standout if I'm not mistaken) for violating team rules. The coach met with the team and asked their input before his decision, along with the district staff (I know many of them) and the player's parents. The team didn't miss a beat. They won easily. THAT sends a signal that no one is indispensable or irreplaceable. THAT puts the team on focus about what's important. The team is most important. No individual is the team or above the rules of the team. THAT is mindset and culture. The coach doesn't settle for yesterday's performance or a player's individual stardom, that is reflected in settling for good and not pursuing great as Collins notes.
A winning culture has a passion for excellence, not just winning. Read about John Wooden, the all-time winning coach in NCAA basketball with UCLA and you read about culture, excellence and winning.
This serves as a lead in to Pastor's sermon yesterday, part of a series on "People," this sermon focused on "A Divine Passion for Souls." The early church, and the early Lutheran church under C.F.W. Walther, the first president of the LCMS in the 1800s, had a passion for Christ and winning souls for God. Pastor talked about it from the perspective of Paul in Corinthians, whose passion boiled down to the passage at the start, "For the love of Christ controls us...." A great church is passionate and has the culture centered around that love of Christ. It seeks excellence in sharing the gospel. Pastor spoke of working together with Dan and staff on creating ideas that further the gospel through our efforts as a church, but a winning program doesn't just include ministry staff, nor is the burden for excellence theirs alone. The passion and excellence in ministry is a mindset and culture that brings the entire body of Christ, as it did in the early church and the early LCMS. The pastors and staff shape that culture and add value to that culture, as do the lay leaders, but the passion and the excellence is reflected in day-to-day activity and action for the members of the body.
As a friend from Uganda on Facebook asked me last week, "Hello my beloved friend in Texas, what are you going to do to the glory of God today?" I've never been asked that before, but perhaps that should be our morning prayer each and every day and maybe we should ask each other that daily. Let that be our prayer this week, that each day we seek to bring glory to God through our thoughts, words, prayers and actions.
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