While watching some of the recent draft I began to think about the similarities in drafting and building the right team to plant a church that can turn out many different types of victories. So here are some of the types of positions you need on your church plant if you want build a great team.

Great Ownership-If you are truly going to build the right type of team that is going to be competitive for years to come you have to start with a great owner. One who sets the bar and you know without a shadow of a doubt they are calling all the shots. So if your planting a church you have got to know from the get go the owner who is controlling everything is Jesus Christ. He is the Senior Pastor of the church from the get go and he is setting the pace, paying the salaries, determining the direction, casting the vision, and always overseeing the operations even when you don’ think he is around. (Hebrews 3:1, 1 Peter 5:4, Colossians 1:4, 2:20, Matthew 16:18, Revelation 2:5)

Solid Management-If you are going to build anything especially a team you want management that is going to give their lives to the process. They have considered the cost and have a passion to get the job done. They are constantly sitting down with the ownership and hearing where the lead wants to go and using that vision and relationship to draw up a plan that they believe in their division will create huge momentum. In the church this is your elders/pastors who are supposed to be locked in with Jesus and using His word to create vision and show the mission constantly. (1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9)

Strong Head Coach-This guy now days in the NFL many times is management and the on the field coach. He is the one who teaches the playbook. He is drawing up the overall schemes with general manager and then passes that over to his offensive/defensive coordinators who in turn show this playbook to position coaches, who then give it to all players out on the practice field and in the games. So too in a church this works in that the pastor is called to stand before the organization and preach the mission and vision, he meets with the rest of the church staff/leadership to cast vision over and over. The staff/leadership over various areas meet with their teams and make sure everyone is on the same page preaching the same mission/vision. (1 Timothy 4:6-16)

Cohesive Coaching Staff-The players many times are not as connected to the head coach in the day to day. They are connected to their position coach. If you are a linebacker you are tight with the linebacker coach; this is the one who sits down with you and goes over the playbook with you making sure you know the right places to be and the right assignments to carry out in the game. But each coach has to know that his part has got to be executed for a team to perform at the level they will need to get the W. So coaches meeting are important to understand what the main goal is and how to teach their position to carry out the goal. (Ephesians 4:11-16)

Sold Out Players-You can have great ownership, solid management, strong head coach and the best coaching staff in America, but if the players don’t buy into the vision and don’t show up for practice and execute this team will be average at best. Once they are drafted they have to get into camp, meet the organization, start studying the playbook and sell out to their team. You got to have the same thing in your church as well. Once we choose to connect with a church and buy into their vision to execute the mission for Jesus Christ you have to sell out. You must be all in because that is what the owner Jesus Christ asks of us. Luke 9:57-62 “As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”