The great coach of the San Antonio Spurs, Gregg Popovich, gave lucid answers as to what makes a great team. He should know. He has won five NBA championships. He explains how to build a great franchise and what he looks for in players. His answers equally well explain how to build a great church and what he looks for in a Christian leader. By interchanging a basketball team and a church, here’s what he said:
- The leaders of a great church must be HOT. “A synergy has to form between the owner, whoever his president is, whoever the GM is, whoever the coach is. There’s got to be a synergy where there’s a trust. There (are) no walls. Everything is discussed. Everything is fair game. Criticism is welcome, and when you have that, then you have a hell of an organization.” The leaders must be HOT: honest (criticism is welcomed), open (everything is discussed) and transparent (no walls). This is amazingly trinitarian and refreshing! A thriving church must be trinitarian. Imagine a church like the Trinity: “The doctrine of the Trinity reminds us that in God there is neither hierarchy nor inequality, neither division nor competition, but only unity in love and diversity. The Christian community is the image of the icon of the invisible God when its communitarian life mirrors the inclusivity of divine love.” Catherine Mowry LaCugna (God for Us, The Trinity and Christian Life). What I love about UBFriends is that we can freely discuss anything and everything, without malice or bitterness. There is no pulling of rank nor unnecessary censorship. I also like that we are clearly imperfect and quite messy and probably also rather messed up. Or maybe I’m just speaking about myself! But by the grace of God we have freedom in the gospel.
- There is no entitlement. “Because you were born to these parents or this area geographically, or this situation, you deserve more than somebody else? … That’s the most false notion one can imagine. But I think a lot of people forget that. They think that they’re entitled to what they have …” One who feels entitled about anything (“Because I’m a good Christian, you better look up to me and give me what I deserve”) is the one who turns your stomach.
- People are not full of themselves. “We’re looking for character, but what the hell does that mean? We’re looking for people — and I’ve said it many times — [who] have gotten over themselves, and you can tell that pretty quickly. You can talk to somebody for four or five minutes, and you can tell if it’s about them, or if they understand that they’re just a piece of the puzzle. So we look for that.” Those who are full of themselves think that they know what is best for others. They have their own agenda. They impose themselves on others. But those who are not full of themselves welcome those who are different from them. They understand diversity and that others do not have to be like them. Thomas Merton said, “The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves.”
- People can laugh at themselves. “A sense of humor is a huge thing with us. You’ve got to be able to laugh. You’ve got to be able to take a dig, give a dig — that sort of thing.” Those who take themselves so seriously are likely a pain in all the wrong places. But G. K. Chesterton said, “Angels fly because they take themselves lightly.”
- People do not think that they have to be the answer. “And [you have to] feel comfortable in your own skin that you don’t have all the answers.” It’s just too easy to act as though one is a know it all.
- People do not take things personally. “We need people who can handle information and not take it personally because in most of these organizations, there’s a big divide. All of the sudden, the wall goes up between management and coaching and everybody is ready to blame back and forth and that’s the rule rather than the exception. It just happens.” A stifling church is where people lack a sense of humor and take things so seriously that they can’t take a dig.
Popovich would have made a great church leader. Imagine that.
That’s the church I always wished to have. Note that it is not only about the leaders, but as you point out, also about the team, the players. As much as I was disappointed by the leaders, I also was disappointed by many of the members, because they were neither HOT nor cold, just followed their stupid UBF patterns, not daring to challenge the leaders, the organization, the traditions, teachings and practices. Many were cowards; it was convenient to neither question the leaders nor their own world view and inculcated behavioral patterns. They would also not help or have empathy for their fellow members who were abused or expelled. The truth didn’t seem matter to them. (This was my experience in the time of the 3rd reform movement where so much of the abuse and sin was suddenly revealed, and they just didn’t care.) That was a big disappointment for me as I had believed I had been in a club of angels or truth seekers or friends with a common mindset. Now I recognized we never had much in common really. It was an artificial harmony and community, not based on common values, not even based on loving each other, but only oriented towards the organization, its goals and leaders.
I hear you Chris. But I wonder if you can put the onus of responsibility on the members, since the members have been basically conditioned and programmed to “just obey,” and “don’t question,” and “don’t touch the Lord’s anointed.” If you do, you’ll be cursed like Ham or become leprous like Miriam!
“I wonder if you can put the onus of responsibility on the members…”
In my opinion, the onus must be split across leaders and followers. The burden of the cult label is born across the ubf organization.
The leaders have the burden of accountability.
The members have the burden of legitimacy.
And former members have the burden of exposure. Those of us who saw/experienced/know about abuse have the burden of exposing such abuse.
“…the 3rd reform movement where so much of the abuse and sin was suddenly revealed, and they just didn’t care…”
Yes, this sounds really really bad. But when you’re in the box where conformity is impressed upon you and drummed into you day in and day out, your mind adapts to regard that as normal.
Anyone who dares to buck the trend is spoken negatively about, sometimes explicitly and almost always implicitly.
Unless you’re a maverick with thick skin who couldn’t care less about what others say or think about you, the easiest course of action is to submissively and passively accept the status quo.
I’m not saying that’s right, I’m just saying that’s how it is.
“Unless you’re a maverick with thick skin who couldn’t care less about what others say or think about you, the easiest course of action is to submissively and passively accept the status quo.”
Ben, It is not just the mavericks and thick skinned and those who couldn’t care less….It is all who are used and abused who must, must, must stand up, at all costs, to stop what is happening to themselves and their loved ones and to all those in this evil cult UBF.
I surely am not a maverick or thick skinned and I really do care what others think of me, but I had to stand up and fight, for my sake and my children’s sake and now for the sake of all who may ignorantly get caught up in the deceitful clutches of UBF. I tell anyone who wants to know my story the full name of this organization, University Bible Fellowship, so that they can avoid it and help their friends and loved ones avoid it.
Sure, Ben, ordinary members of a cult like group bear less of the responsibility, and leaders bear much more. Of course there are all the cult mind control mechanisms that make it difficult for the members to break out, and members are cut off from critical information. However, even after all the information was out and even after having talked with individual members personally, giving them all the information, certain UBF members still didn’t care. I know that the free will in such a group is restricted, and that the conscience gets twisted. But somewhere deep inside, the people still have a conscience and a brain. You can’t completely discharge them from any responsibility. Also, UBF is not any cult, but a group that is obsessed with Bible study and loving God. Therefore the carelessness and ignorance of UBF members seems to be more culpable to me, because they should know better, because they were exposed to the word of God, even if misinterpreted and twisted by the leaders. All the time we talked about how much we loved God, how much we wanted to endure for Him and be persecuted and how much we wanted to live according to the truth etc. but then they were not willing to bear a little inconvience when challenging their leaders or their own worldview, and they were not interested in hearing the truth at all. Something did not fit together for me.
Also, Brian is right in that ex members also bear a responsibility. I saw to many members who just left, lived happily ever after, but did nothing to warn others. Sure, there are very thin-skinned people who barely escaped, with trauma and nightmares even years after leaving. I can understand that these don’t want to be reminded of UBF. But I’m glad for all who left UBF and wrote a testimony about their experience in one form or another.
As is often the case, Chris, I’m not disagreeing with you, especially this: “even after having talked with individual members personally, giving them all the information, certain UBF members still didn’t care.”
There may be many reasons for this:
1. Some people don’t want to bother.
2. Some members don’t believe it is their place to challenge the hierarchy.
3. As stated before, it has been drummed into many members that you simply trust your leader whom God has appointed.
4. They don’t like the heat from disapproving people, including their own family, parents, friends, friend’s parents, spouses, etc.
5. They already have too much invested into UBF.
6. They don’t know what else to do outside of their comfortable status quo in ubf.
I’m sure there are countless more reasons. I don’t like nor agree with the above. And yes we are all responsible. But until the core subliminal teachings begin to change, most members are like the herd that simply (and blindly) follows the crowd or “God’s servant.”
I suggest to begin by truly learning what the humility of Christ genuinely and practically means.
I once suggested to a group of older leaders that the CORE VALUE of UBF should be humility. But it was not met with too much enthusiasm, or any enthusiasm for that matter!
Right now, the the CORE VALUE of UBF should be repentance in ashes with tears and an overdose of eagerness to make things right and alarm at the sins they committed for over 50 years.
I agree with Chris, what you describe here Ben is the kind of church I always wanted. Does such a church exist in America?
“Popovich would have made a great church leader. Imagine that.”
Exactly. This is why I no longer attend any church. It is safer and happier outside the church. Corporations do more for the overall well-being of Americans than the churches do.
American Protestant Christianity has failed, and fractured into a thousand painful splinters. I say it is because they have held onto a false gospel. They have additionally fallen into all 7 of Jesus’ woes in Matthew 23. They think evangelism means recruitment, which Jesus says is evil.
American Protestants define the gospel this way (when you put all their messages together)… they say the gospel is:
a) Jesus died for your sins, in your place, taking the wrath you deserved.
b) If you believe Jesus died for your sins, and admit you are a worthless sinner, you become a new creation. This means that you then get the following benefits and responsibilities:
— You will not experience the wrath of God (unless you commit one of the 7 or 8 grave sins).
— You must obey the teachings of Jesus, which take the Old Covenant laws and increase them in number and raise them to a higher level.
— You get power from Jesus to obey His higher laws.
— If you fail to obey the higher laws, you will receive protection from the church as long as you didn’t commit any of the 7 or 8 grave sins.
— If you did commit one of the 7 or 8 grave sins, and don’t repent before you die, you go to hell.
This false gospel has rendered American Protestant Christianity useless in our generation and has also given rise to the conservative extremist religion that is running rampant in America today and embracing extreme anti-Christ politics.
Brian, it seems that you might fall into the category of NONES. My limited understanding is that they have become so disillusioned with the church such that they might perhaps have the most strongly anti-church sentiments among Christians.
It might perhaps be akin to those who have been so wounded and hurt and betrayed by their own family that they no longer wish to have much of anything to do with their own family.
So I guess that would be understandable. As I had shared in a previous article, I wrote that the problem with churches is that it has people!: http://www.ubfriends.org/2010/11/04/why-do-we-have-divisions/
Ben, I am not a “none” (anti-church, anti-God) I am a “done” (done with church, not with God).
Meet the Dones
I label my “done” faith as Adonaian faith:
http://adonaian.net
Ooops, sorry I mixed up DONES with NONES!
Admin note: I had to change the image for this article since it was a linked image to another website. We have to use images stored on our domain 🙂
How to build a great church? This is a really really important question. I think running a corporation is much easier than running a church (and ultimately it is God who runs the church, not us.) But I like Popovich’s points of the necessity of honesty and humility and a sense of humor. The soft skills are just as important as the hard skills, especially in sports. Attitude/mindset is so vital; it determines victory or defeat. Without a growing mindset improvement is extremely difficult.
In our local churches we also have to address these soft skills, emotional health, spiritual formation. I think those traits are more evidence of God’s work than numbers ever will be. But how do we encourage transformation? One thing, I’m learning is that in ministry God is trying to save one person, me. I’m also learning that discipleship happens in fellowship, at the table, doing life together.
There’s a lot of complaints about churches, how they don’t grow or how people are tired/bored. I hear that a lot. It’s made me realize that this is a very necessary question/issue that needs to be addressed.
Something I learned from Dan Gilert. The path to greatness goes through goodness. Don’t talk about greatness if you are not friends with goodness. Don’t talk about greatness if you cannot learn from failure. Be good over and over, fail over and over, and then you will be great.
“America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” Alexis de Tocqueville.
So simple, yet profound. This is excellent, MJ, thanks!:
“One thing, I’m learning is that in ministry God is trying to save one person, me. I’m also learning that discipleship happens in fellowship, at the table, doing life together.”
Leadership by Pop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBZTPtENQCY