Casey Stengel said, "Getting good players is easy. Gettin' 'em to play together is the hard part."
A group is made up of people are in close proximity but do not have a oneness of mind or purpose. An example of a group would be a number of people larger than three, who try to push a giant rock through incoordinated, individual effort. The rock seldom moves or it moves in an unpredictable and often wrong direction.
A team, however, is made up of a group of individuals who have a single goal (or shared goals) and who coordinate their efforts to achieve that goal. They all push together in the same direction until the rock moves where they desired it to be!
One of the teams that is mentioned in the Bible is the team of disciples Jesus picked. There are some principles we can learn from the selection Jesus made:
1. Uniformity in opinion is not a requirement.
2. Difference of opinion in political orientation is acceptable.
3. High levels of education are not mandated as requirements for every member of a team.
4. Strong personalities make good teammates.
5. Sometimes teammates let us down and disappoint us.
6. Teammates are allowed to have disagreements.
7. Team leaders need patience in leading.
8. Teams need a break from the stress of reaching the goal.
9. Not all teammates have the same strengths.
10. Teams that function best put the team over selfish desires.
How many teams are you on right now? Marriage, raising a family, work, local church, fellow Christians... Philippians 2:1-4, offers the best advice I know of for winning teams:
"In humility, consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others."
Somewhere, this very day, you have various teammates on numerous teams, counting on you! I hope you represent your Lord well on all of them!
I prayed for you today, toward that end! :-)
Brent
