The Monday Morning Debrief: the All-Around Leader

Yesterday Rafael Nadal just won his 6th French Open Tennis title (10th total Major Tennis Championship).  Now, if you do not know tennis or Rafael Nadal then this means nothing to you.  But if you have the slightest idea of him or tennis, then you’d know that this is just par for the course for Nadal.  Nadal is a great tennis player – currently the #1 player in the world.  No one seems to be able to beat him, not even former great and future hall of famer Roger Federer.

What sticks out most about Nadal is that even though he is an amazing player, he is particularly good at clay court tennis surfaces.  Again if you do not know tennis at all, this probably means nothing to you.  But tennis is played on different surfaces and clay is one of the more difficult ones to play on.  Nadal is probably the best player on clay court surfaces in this era of tennis.

So how does Nadal’s greatness apply to ministry?  Rafael Nadal was always a really good clay court player.  He could always win those tournaments. But the other surfaces (hard and grass) he was not as good on…at first.  Eventually he became great on them – you don’t become the #1 player in the world by being good on just 1 surface.

In the same way, you may have gotten into ministry for 1 reason or another.  Or you have been affirmed in 1 way or another for something you do really well in ministry.  For instance, I was always told that I was really good relationally with students (probably because my maturity level is pretty low).

The reality is, as good (or great) we may be in one particular area of ministry, we cannot rest or be satisfied on just that. We have to work hard to become an all-around great leader in order to be the most effective for Christ that we can be.  Had I just relied solely on my relational skills, I would have missed the opportunity to make an impact on youth in different areas of ministry.  When I first started youth ministry my speaking/teaching ability was not as good as it is today.  Now, I’m no professional speaker still but I am much better and more effective at speaking.  I had to work at it becoming more effective in that area.

So what about you?  TAKE A MINUTE right now and examine where you are at currently in ministry.  What are you good or great at? Also, what area of ministry are you poor at or need improving.  If you desire to be great in ministry and make a lasting impact, we have to continue to improve our overall game.  We can’t just rest and rely on what we are good at.  We have to continue to improve ourselves.  Again, take some time and write down areas of improvement and then develop a plan on how you can become better in that area.  Maybe it is taking a class or shadowing someone else.  Whatever it may be, we owe it to the Lord and the students to improve ourselves.

Thoughts?  Post a comment so we can all benefit.