In keeping with the draft analogy I want to say; You gotta keep drafting!

Look if you’re organization is worth its salt they know that to keep a great team on the field you have got to keep drafting. There is no telling how those draft picks are going to pan out but that shouldn’t keep you from doing. And so the church has to keep preaching the gospel and as God chooses to bring people to you church through trusting Christ, transferring from another church, or choosing to return to a church from a long absence we have to take those players not knowing how it is going to turn out. So let’s look at the kinds of players drafted, traded for, or picked up on free agency.

When drafting the management and head coach do their homework and really try to connect with potential players but before that call is made to say your are guy ownership has to approve. So in drafting it may appear that management decides with the coaching staff but that is not true. If the owner hasn’t already decided on that player he won’t get drafted. (1 Cor 3:6-9 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.)

Drafted Players: What we has management, coaches, and fellow players look for in drafted players is first a heart to play. They know they have been chosen by great ownership and they want to play for that ownership. They have heard the heart of the owner and the owner wants to win and they want to play for that win. Look God is a great owner and he wants one thing to make his name famous for being the greatest owner and we do that by playing for Him with great joy. (The chief end to man is to glorify God by enjoying him forever.) Second thing you hope for in a drafted player is a willingness to learn, a teachable spirit. Look drafted players have no clue what is going on that is why they are called rookies. And when they come in thinking they are just going to show up and that is it they don’t stay on that franchise very long. So a rookie needs to understand he is a rookie and just come in stay humble and learn. Learn the playbook, learn the working of the organization, get to know the management, coaching staff, and other players you are going to be on the field with daily in practice and in the games.

Traded Players: Part of building a great team is making the right trades but the fact is sometimes these go bad too. Sometimes the teams direction/vision is changing and the player no longer wants to be in that role and so they ask for a trade. Sometime the team agrees that the player has got to go and will make another team better than keeping them on their own team. And frankly sometimes that player is a poison to the team and they need to go period. So in trading the team really wants to make sure they are getting the right type of traded players. Again time will only tell if the trade worked out but in the initial stages you look for certain things from newly traded players. First thing is again making sure they understand the vision they are going to be a part of on this new team. If they don’t like that vision then that is probably not the right team to land with. Once they do arrive you just watch them; watch them interact with other players, their position coach, who are they hanging with on the team, are they teachable, are they willing to do the small things before they get handed bigger assignments. You don’t want to just elevate this new player to team captain if you really don’t know anything about the yet. Yes their reputation does precedes them but they are on your team now so you just have to watch. The bible speaks of not laying hands on people to quickly. Take some time get to know what makes them tick. But ultimately if you want to build a great team you will do some of that with good trades. ( 1 Timothy 5:22 Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure.)

Free Agency: There comes a time in every players career where he is going to decide if he is going to stay with the team that drafted him or he can no longer accomplish all the goals he has at the original team and has to move on. So as you lose free agent players you also pick up free agent players. Again you hope after getting them that you see a real potential there to have them develop into something real special but only time will tell. This is can be a great thing in church life and it can be downright horrible. Great in that you can be doing what you’re doing and God truly hands you some of the best people who are willing to come in and go through the process and not try to validate themselves and tell you how long they have been a Christian and all the positions they have held and how you need to just hand over the keys to the organization now. They just humbly serve, encourage, love, learn, and work hard in elevating Jesus. They look for ways to make the team better not themselves. But on the other side you can get people from free agency who are terrible. It doesn’t take long either to see it. They are bossy in that they know everything, they look for control in all things, and they want that validation quickly. Yeah they stand at the podium when first acquired and say the right things because they want the media on their side and want to appear that they are on board and going to come in and stay quiet in beginning and just learn but all it takes is one game where they don’t get the ball and then it is on! In the church we call them wolves in sheep clothing. (Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Acts 20:29-30 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.)

Like in the beginning I said you have to keep drafting and I mean it! Not everything is going to turn out like we would hope for it to but God has a purpose in everything so you just keep trusting the ownership because he is paying your salary.