the Monday Morning Debrief: What we can learn from Mickelson?

Yesterday, Phil Mickelson won the British Open.  For a man who has won over 40 tournaments, including 4 previous Major championships, this was a complete shock to many people.  Why?  Because Mickelson rarely performs well in the British Open.  It is just not a tournament that lines up well with his strengths as a golfer. Links golf, which is what the British Open is, is a different style of gold and has just not something Phil has performed well in normally.  However, Mickelson didn’t just perform well to win the British Open yesterday.  He dominated.  He shot a 66 (-5) for the day when everyone else wilted under the pressure.  It was an amazing day for him.

So what can we, Student Ministers, learn from Phil’s 5th major championship?

No matter who you are and what your gifts are as a minister we have to work on our overall game.  See, for years, Phil was NEVER good at the British Open.  He finished 2nd once but otherwise was a non-factor in previous British Opens.  But instead of just accepting the fact that the British Open was something he was not “good” at, he continued to work on his game.  He worked to become great at it.  That meant he spent longer time in Scotland and England as he learned how to perfect his game so that he could become good at these style tournaments. And it paid off with a huge victory yesterday.

In the same way, we are gifted in such ways that we excel in certain areas of ministry.  Maybe we are great at relating to students.  Or, we really know how to prepare and deliver a message.  But, we may be weak in communication to parents or organizational things.  Instead of saying that, “I’m not good at this and never will be”, work to perfect your game.  Work to become better.

Read books or blogs, take a training or seminary course, whatever it is that you need to do to become better in your weaker areas, do it.  You may never be great at it, but the mindset of, “I’m just going to focus on my strengths” will never make you an all-around complete minister.  You will just be average.

So, right now, TAKE A MINUTE and do a little self-evaluation.  What are you good at and what are you not?  With the things that you are not great at, what can you do this week to start improving in those areas?  Our decision to become good at our weak areas doesn’t just affect us.  It affects the students we minister to, the volunteer leaders we lead and ultimately the kingdom of Heaven.  We owe it to all these people and the Lord to work our hardest at becoming the best overall minister we can be.

Thoughts? Experiences?  Post a comment so that we can all learn from each other and benefit.