Friday, April 27, 2018

80/20 Principle


For many years I have heard people in the church say, “80% of the work gets done by 20% of the people.” I always heard it as an axiom, not as a true mathematical principle. I recently read a book titled, The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch in which he dives deeply into the veracity of the 80/20 (Pareto) principle. While it was pretty easy to get lost in the mathematical weeds, I found it to be quite helpful in a few ways. A few of the thoughts I drew from the book are listed below.


The author talked both of 80/20 analysis and 80/20 thinking. Rather than reducing all of life into mathematical formulas, he talks about applying the principle to all of life.

The big idea is that, most of the time, 80% of outcomes are produced by only 20% of inputs. The select few will be most productive for almost any enterprise. Here are some examples that you may consider in your life and ministry.
·        20% of your relationships probably produce 80% of the fruit of your ministry.
·        20% of your time spent in ministry will likely produce 80% of your effectiveness.
·        20% of your donors will contribute 80% of the funds for your ministry. (I did some analysis of this and it came out 20/76.)
·        20% of your leisure time and activities probably produce 80% of the joy you experience.

What’s the point? If it is true that 20% of inputs contribute 80% of productivity, let’s be great at that 20%! Invest even more deeply in those 20% most fruitful relationships. Be excellent in your 20% most productive time slots and activities. Be very intentional in developing relationships with those top 20% donors. Be 100% present in the 20% of your family time and leisure that produces great joy. You may even want to cut out your least productive 20% in order to invest even more in the 20% most productive.

Friday, April 20, 2018

Sports Chaplaincy 101 Videos


Our friends and colleagues at Cede Network (@CedeNetwork  http://cedesports.org/network/) have uploaded a series of excellent, brief (most around two minutes), videos titled, Sports Chaplaincy 101. Each of the videos addresses one of a wide variety of subjects like: What is the origin of chaplaincy? What is the process of becoming a sports chaplain? How do I serve an injured player? How do I serve as a chaplain to an individual athlete? What is the role of a chaplain in a multicultural setting? How do you walk with a player through bereavement? How should I collaborate with other chaplains and field professionals?



Please take a few minutes to browse through these videos. I trust that some, or all, will enhance your service of sportspeople. There will surely be more uploaded in coming days. Thank you, Richard Gamble and Cede Network.











Friday, April 13, 2018

Second Sports Chaplaincy Summit


From 15-17 March of 2018, I was privileged to participate in the second Sports Chaplaincy Summit in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. Those in attendance represented sports chaplaincy ministries from around the world and the academic community. We were hosted by Cede Network and Joe Gibbs Racing (http://cedesports.org/network/ http://joegibbsracing.com/). Bob Dyar and Richard Gamble hosted leaders from Illinois, Colorado, Washington, and Tennessee in the USA, Australia, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and England. We were joined electronically by a colleague from South Africa as well.

Our time together included a tour of the Billy Graham museum, delicious meals together, nights spent in the homes of local friends and Cede Sports board members, reports, updates, and important deliberations regarding the continuing development of sports chaplaincy ministries around the globe. This form of ministry is growing in many parts of the world and our team aims to facilitate its growth and to give assistance to those leading its development.


Please watch for more information on how this will develop and how you may become engaged in the process. In the short term, you may register with Cede Sports and their world-wide registry of sport chaplains. This service, free of charge, enables sports chaplains to connect with others, for fellowship, for development, and to connect sportspeople traveling to other parts of the world with other with sports chaplains who can serve them. Click this link to access the Cede Network registry page - http://cedesports.org/network/registry-access/
* Photo courtesy of Warren Evans of Sports Chaplaincy United Kingdom.

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Humboldt Broncos - Ministry in Grief


On 6 April, the Humboldt Broncos club of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League experienced a tragic bus crash. The experience crushed the team, the community, and the entire world of junior hockey. In the midst of their pain and grief, their team chaplain served very faithfully. His authentic, grief filled, Christ honoring talk at the memorial service is at the link below. Please take a few minutes to watch it and to learn from this excellent model of serving in crisis.