Ain't Just Words

The Toronto Star had an article this past week about the upcoming Raptors season in the NBA. Last year, Sam Mitchell was the rookie head coach and it showed. He had to "hug some players and kick some others in the butt...This time around, though, the Raptors coach is pretty sure he's going to do the right thing to the right guy."

Most notably, Rafer Alston imploded part way through the season and threatened to quit the NBA entirely. Presumably the coach used a little too much tough love with him (like the suspension that was given) when he needed to use more encouragement. Too late to fix that problem now that Rafer is gone - though I suppose that does fix it in a way.

It's interesting to see the coach showing some personal growth in such a public way, though that is the nature of sports journalism. It reminds of my own experience with the youth worship team at Faith (FCCC) back in the day. I thought that I was an excellent leader and teacher. In my mind I was practical, motivating and properly focused on the spiritual aspect of worship. In the minds of the youth, I seemed demanding, oblivious and stubborn.

I led the youth worship team for what, two years? After the first year, Leonard Terry (our pastor) preached a series on communication and I clued into the fact that my perception of my leadership and communication skills did not match the youth's perspective. By far, the biggest change for me was that I realized that I needed to encourage the youth a whole lot more. I always thought that they were doing an excellent job and that they were progressing nicely but I rarely said that to them.

Some of the youth really didn't appreciate my leadership, to put it nicely. The side effect was that it gave many of them the chance to mature themselves. Can we submit to an authority that we don't like? Can we follow a leader with whom we do not always agree? What if others are making negative comments, how do we handle that situation? I taught the youth a lot during that time and unfortunately some of it was through a negative example, but fortunately many of them still developed regardless.

I've said for a long time that we can't grow too much as Christians until we take on leadership roles ourselves in some capacity. That was certainly true for me. I look back on my growth during that leadership time as the one experience that impacted me the most in my life. I've had innumerable learning experiences during my twenty-seven years on this planet, of course, but I point to that time as my key epiphany.

So to any of the members of the old youth worship team that may read this, I offer my thanks to you. I love the time that I shared with you all and I appreciate all that you have given to me. I pray that my communication with others and that my current and future leadership would be as encouraging and inspiring as possible.