Prior to Christmas I met for coffee with the
manager and COO of the minor league baseball team I serve to discuss the past
season and the season to come. I asked lots of questions, probed for answers to
the team’s underachievement, and was very pleased that he trusts me enough to
discuss so many matters of great importance to him. He is certainly not a
believer in Christ, but he trusts me for such discussions. The 2018 season will
be the seventh of my serving the club. Below are some of the observations we
made and discussed.
There were a number of changes in the starting
lineup from 2016 to 2017. There were even more changes to the bench and the
pitching staff. That led to a loss of culture and a loss of team leadership, on
the field and in the clubhouse.
There were changes in all the coaching staff
roles, and their poor fit for the club also contributed to the loss of culture.
The manager wrongly assumed that the returning
veteran players would step into team leadership roles and enculturate their
teammates into the team’s way of doing baseball. As we talked, I mentioned that
the introverted nature of these two veterans probably short-circuited their
leadership potential. Whereas the manager expected these players to be the ones
who would hang around the clubhouse after games to encourage, celebrate,
console, or challenge, they were the first two out the door. I told the manager
they had been at the ballpark for eight or more hours by that time and their
relational tanks were probably empty. They wanted to get away to some solitude.
He nodded his ascent and I could tell he was processing this leadership factor.
We also talked about the fact that all his
players are now Millennials and the challenge that presents to managers and
coaches of his (my) generation. I mentioned that I had observed the importance
of having Millennials on the coaching staff and how that is working to great
effect on college football staffs. We talked about the former player and team
captain who is returning as hitting coach, as well as the two other offers he
has out for the 2016 season’s bullpen coach, and the 2016 starting catcher to
return as pitching coach. All are Millennials and may have a unique way of
relating to Millennial players in ways that are more challenging to Baby Boomer
leaders.
You may wonder, where is the ministry in this
conversation? I would reply, it is everywhere. The manager has told me, very
directly, about the hardness in his heart toward the Lord due to the death of
both parents when he was quite young, growing up in an Italian Roman Catholic
family. I have been building relationship with this man for six years and I am
gaining his trust. I have given him good materials to read that both enhance
his leadership of the club and inform his heart of the Lord’s truth, grace, and
love. I have walked with him through his cancer scare and with his wife through
hers. Ministry is woven into the fabric of each interaction I have with him,
whether in person, via text message, email, or in the form of a book.
May I challenge you to look beyond the most
traditional, pragmatic, and blunt ministry methods, to be more creative, more
relational, and more deeply impactful by loving people extravagantly, and serving
them selflessly.
