I think the reaction that is coming out has very little to do with the injury and everything to do with how he has treated the media, fans, and teammates. To say Cutler isn’t tough or can’t take a hit is borderline insane. He took more hits and sacks this year than any QB in the league. Besides that, he played at Vandy. The boy can take a hit.

What he can’t seem to do is realize that there are other people in the world and that leadership is larger than what happens between the chalk.

If Cutler had stayed engaged, helped the other QB’s read coverages, call in plays, or even cheered a little, the reaction would have been next to nothing. But he didn’t. Instead he pouted, sulked, disengaged, and generally acted like that 5 year old kid that was made to eat his vegetables. THAT is the real issue with Cutler and will continue to be for the rest of his career unless there is some major attitude changes in him.

I’m coaching a 5th-6th grade girls basketball team this year and one of my players – while extremely talented – can get so distracted the first time one thing goes wrong. A bad call, a teammate not running the right play, getting fouled and not getting a call — all can send this girl into the Dark Zone. And I’m trying to help her see – hey, this is life. Stuff happens. Things break. It isn’t fair, it’s never going to be fair. Winners find ways to overcome, to deal with the situation in a redemptive way. Losers complain, pout, and generally make things worse.

I think Cutler was really hurt. I think the decision to pull him was out of his hands and in the hands of the doctors and trainers. But the decision to sit and pout and basically act like a 4-year old was his and his alone.

And that is what I think really ought to be critiqued.

And let me start by saying that we are not sure exactly WHAT we are in the middle of. We’ve had 16 professions of faith this year – that we know of. We baptized 10 people last Sunday night. Our student ministry is busting at the seams. Our children’s ministry is revamping Sunday morning and AWANA this year. We have new adult Life Groups forming. Upward is larger than it’s ever been. It’s easy to see why I am so amped about the future.

However, no amount of success will overcome a lack of a meaningful relationship. And these relationships hinge on our follow-up and follow-through.

With all of the positives we’re seeing, the truth is we’ve dropped the ball a couple of times this year as well. Folks not getting connected with a ministry or a person that they’ve asked about, a forgotten email, text, or phone call. Is it really a big deal in the grand scheme of things?

Yes.

Let me make it personal – I’ve dropped the ball. I’ve made promises to call or email someone, to catch up for breakfast or lunch and then a couple of days turns into a week which turns into a month which turns into one awkward conversation when we have it.

And the missed opportunity is huge. If a man who up to this point has had no spiritual interest at all makes an effort to ask about a life group or a bible study, that’s a spiritual marker for him. For us to miss that marker by not following through — we’ve stunted his growth. We’ve missed the chance to advance his walk when he WANTED to advance his walk.

Now, the good news is people are seeing what Jesus is doing and want to be a part of it. But if we, as leaders, can’t figure out how to move them off the bench into the action, we are in deep weeds. No, that’s understating it – we are sinking the ship as she sails. We CAN NOT afford to fail in this area because follow-through is the foundation of developing and deepening other meaningful relationships.

Personally, I’ve been convicted lately of saying the words “I’ve been busy.” I am not going to use those words anymore. The truth is we are all busy and we all make time to do what we really want to do. When I say those words to someone what I’m really saying is this – “I am to busy for you.”

And that’s something I just can’t imagine Jesus would say. And if you are a spiritual leader, you don’t have the right to say it either.

Every missed follow-through opportunity – an email, a call, a text, a missed connection with the right person – is a church saying “We’re to busy for you.”

If you are a spiritual leader, here are some practical, simple steps that we can do to make sure we don’t drop the ball on follow-through…

1. Get stuff in WRITING. Don’t trust your mind to remember a conversation in the middle of a busy Sunday morning. Write it all down – contact info, the question, the need. Then do the next thing…

2. Do the legwork. Immediately if possible. If the issue isn’t your area of expertise or knowledge, GREAT!!! Tell them that then connect them to the right person. Face to face is best. Voice to voice is good. Email to email is fine but FOLLOW UP to make sure it happens.

3. The 24 hour rule. Nobody should have to wait longer than 24 hours for a response. Even if that response is — “Great question, I don’t know the answer. Can I do some research and get back to you in a day or two?”

4. Demand the same accountability of your leaders. If you are a leader of other leaders, make sure they understand the importance of follow through. Then hold each other accountable.

I’m a risk-taker. So if we try an idea and it doesn’t work – I can live with it. We’ll change it the next time. In fact, sometimes failure on an event can often be the seedbed for an awesome event later.

But not with follow-through. We can NOT fail at this.

Anyone who has ever played basketball knows the starting 5 will only get you so far. The long term success of a season and a program depends on those beyond the starting five. Attrition happens. “That is the sound of inevitability, Mr. Anderson.” (Yes — I had to get a Matrix quote in somewhere.) There will be injuries, ineligibility, sickness, lack of performance, and who knows what else that will knock people out of the starting positions.

Every coach knows this. What separates the great ones from the not-so-great ones is how they prepare for this reality. The great ones develop and invest in more than just those starters. They are relentless in the development of every one of their players. Systems, offenses, defenses, training programs may change from year to year but what doesn’t change is their non-compromising focus on developing players. They know that a culture like that takes years to develop. They also know that if they didn’t develop other players, their program could fade into mediocrity or worse – oblivion – in just one season.

Think about it…the teams that are historically good -Duke, Kansas, North Carolina – have coaches that have established a system that is totally focused on developing players. The wins come as a result of developing players. They are intentional about it. They eat, drink, and sleep player development.

It’s easy to see this same principle play out in the local church. Churches that ‘get it’ and are making a long-term impact on their community are churches that are relentless on developing people. They turn their whole organization upside down to help develop people. The programs are just tools, the focus is on developing people.

Every single aspect of a church’s vision depends on developing people. Every single goal and idea is dependent upon this concept.

Think I’m wrong? Think that’s an overstatement? Have you read the Great Commission lately? This concept should not be a huge shock to most of us. The collision of the Great Commission and the Great Commandment is exactly what I’m talking about – making disciples because we love them. Developing people because we love them. Because God loves them. I mean, seriously, this should NOT be this much of a stretch to understand.

Yet, it obviously is. How many churches wishes they had more leaders? More spiritually deep people? How many churches are running their programs with a great starting 5 but no bench whatsoever?

I’m in the same boat, so don’t read this like I’m the expert. Far from it. So for the next 30 days, I’m going to try to flesh out this idea, try to find some handles on this concept and maybe in the process figure out what are some practical steps that we can take to create a culture where we focus on developing people more than anything else.

This isn’t just a mental exercise for me either. I’m a pastor of a church that is in this boat. We have some of the most incredible volunteer leaders on the planet. The problem is there is no one really beyond the starters.

And it’s true that means we are in deep weeds if anything should happen to them. Or they get tired. Or God calls them to do something else. But that’s not really a good reason to develop people. That’s a self-focused kind of reason that ultimately fails. It ends up being guilt.

It’s important to start thinking about this and start doing something about it because to NOT to is to reject the Great Commission. To not start developing people is an utter failure in making disciples. And making disciples is different than running a great program.

It’s possible to run a great program and never make a disciple. It’s real easy to confuse the two…and I think that is where I’ll start tomorrow.

The Ongoing Safari of Beyond The Starting 5
Running the Program or Developing People
I Can See Clearly Now…
Obstacles and Developing People In The Church
The Starting Blocks of Beyond The Starting 5
I’m Looking For A Raft
RAFT, Part 2

These were some of the thoughts shared this morning…

The same people that sang praises and Hosannas would sing Crucify in 6 days. Easy to blame fickleness on culture but these people weren’t just ‘culture.’ They were ‘believers’ of a sort, believers that Messiah had come and the time was now. Their expectations obviously weren’t met, hence the rejection of Jesus later in the week but the temptation to ‘revolt’ when my expectation isn’t met is there for me as well. Sometimes…often times…it is a good thing my expectation isn’t met. In the words of C.S. Lewis – I dream too small at times.

Jesus’ first order of business after the hype was the Temple Courts, not Pilate. This had to be the ultimate failed expectation of the crowd – Jesus going to clear the Temple Courts instead of the governmental office, Pilate, and the army. The Temple was home of worship, ‘good’ leaders, ‘moral’ leaders, their only sacred space in a world that had been taken over by the Romans. Why pick on the Temple leaders? Revolution was going to be different, not political or exterior but interior, spiritual, deeper, more dangerous than just kicking out Rome.

Jesus knew what he was going to do but waited one night before He did it. He curses the fig tree (more on that later) then goes to the Temple, sees that it was late and decided to come back in the morning. So Jesus whipping the Temple Courts into shape wasn’t a reactionary moment but a planned, thoughtfully bold move to rebuke and teach.

The cursing of the fig tree was visible reminder to the disciples of what is expected of them as leaders. Produce fruit. Doesn’t matter that the tree was in season or not, it was supposed to have shown some kind of hope to bear fruit. The Pharisees are linked to this tree – looks aren’t important – fruit is. The only way to produce fruit is to stay connected to the vine.

Faith and forgiveness are linked…somehow. Why does Jesus link his teaching on faith that moved mountains to forgiveness? What is the connection? Do our prayers lack power not so much because we lack faith but because we haven’t practiced forgiveness? As leaders, we will constantly deal with people failing to meet our expectations as well as us failing to meet theirs. Only way that situation is redeemable and fruit can be made in the middle of it is we have a culture of forgiveness. Maybe my prayer as a leader lacks power because I haven’t let go of some ‘injustice’ or failed expectation.

There is a time to be thoughtfully bold. Jesus moved boldy but not recklessly. It was a calculated risk. There was no other action he could have done to better communicate the kind of revolution he was really starting – one of the heart, not of policy. There was no better course of action to completely and utterly shatter the expectations of those following. Three things that strike me about clearing the Temple Courts. First, it was timely. Start of Passover Week, high crowds, high teaching moment. Second, it was bold.

But those two alone aren’t enough. It was morally right. That’s the key – it was the right thing to do, knocking down unnecessary barriers for those to get to God.

Loving this journey with the crew.

Did you know that he and has family have a tradition that when they go out to eat, they pick out another family in the restaurant and pay for their meal? True story – his family was eating out during Super Bowl week last year and they picked this family, paid for their meal. Soon afterward, a very large black man came over to Kurt and said “I can’t believe you’ve done this. You are so gracious. I really look forward to playing you on Sunday.” He was a player on the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The point I’m trying to make is this – it’s not just about the system, people matter. Can you imagine the state of the Arizona Cardinals without Warner? Leinart running that same team is a complete disaster. The Cardinals become the Seahawks without Warner and unless something major happens between now and the draft – like say McNabb moving in – the Cardinals can enjoy the bottom of the NFC West again.

And Warner did this with two franchises – made them better because he was there. There is a certain coach in Denver that I hope gets this — the system will only be as good as the players in it. And the same is true for any organization. The system is only as good as the people.

I’ll miss Kurt. He was one heck of a competitor.