Presence: a Key to Effective Ministry

If you’re not present, you don’t have a chance for ministry. Establishing a presence with the team or individual competitors sets the tone for all the ministry opportunities that could follow. Your regular presence with the players will create an identity for you among the coaches and the competitors. The following points are meant to help you establish a presence with them in the most important places. Once you’ve established your identity through presence, you can have influence with them without even being there.

Your presence at practice is worth more than your presence at competitions. Dozens, hundreds or sometimes thousands of people attend the competitions, to scream, second-guess and support the team. Who comes to watch practice? Only those most highly committed to the team are at practice. If you are there, your presence communicates commitment. The coaches and players are at practice every day and they know exactly who’s there. They also take note of it. There is nothing that builds loyalty and establishes your relationship with the coaches, players and the team as a unit like simply attending practice.

One afternoon while watching a Women’s basketball practice, an assistant coach approached me at courtside. She said, "Coach has something that she’d like to have you pray about." I was thrilled to see anything spiritual come from the head coach, so I asked her to tell me more. "She thinks she cusses too much and wants to stop," was the request. I assured her that I would pray for her about that and I did so. That day was a real turning point in my relationship with that coach and the whole team. That relationship continues to be strong to this day, three head coaches later. The opportunity came to me because I was there at practice.

You don’t have to do anything, but be there. It’s a perfect time to become familiar with those on the team, the coaching staff, the support personnel and more. It need not take lots of time. Most times, my visits to practices are brief and when I’m on the way to somewhere else or at the end of a workday on the way home. To simply observe practice and to pray for those you see is a dynamic ministry that will produce fruit with perseverance.