In business, and in sports, it’s easy to know when you’ve
won. Nike can tell if they’ve had a good
year by looking at their financial statements.
A sports team simply needs to look at the scoreboard when the game is
over to determine if they have won or lost.
The numbers tell a story, and numbers don’t lie. When it comes to ministry, however, what do
we look at to determine wins and losses?
What is the bottom line that tells the story of victory or the agony of
defeat with in the church setting?
Upward basketball is winding down its tenth year of ministry
at Salem First Baptist, and to a certain extent, the numbers are quite
revealing. Over 7,000 children have
registered to play. Approximately 2,300
of those children come from homes that have no church affiliation. Nearly 300 decisions to follow Christ have
been made over that span of time. Those
numbers tell a great story, but there is a subplot that is left untold if we
rely solely on this numerical data.
This past week, I had a chance encounter with a gentleman named
Steve that left an indelible imprint on my heart that no numerical metric could
ever convey. His story doesn’t show up
on a spreadsheet, but the few moments I spent with him proclaimed victory as
powerfully as a game-winning three pointer at the sound of the final
buzzer.
Steve was talking to the owner behind the counter as I was
browsing around the store. I overheard
him mention that his daughter had an Upward game coming up, which caused my
ears to perk up! I introduced myself and
told him that I had 3 children involved in Upward as well and I asked him how
his season was going. He proceeded to
tell me that life has been rough for him since his divorce three years
ago. His faith had grown cold over that
time and he wasn’t always a good example to his daughter because he was angry,
bitter and depressed. He stopped
talking about spiritual things with his daughter because he felt like a
hypocrite, and he knew his daughter was worse off because of it. His face lit up as he uttered these words, “I
am so grateful for the Upward ministry because it has gotten both my daughter
and I on track spiritually”. He
proceeded to tell me almost verbatim what his daughter had been learning during
her mid-practice devotion time. He had no
idea that I was the director of the ministry…and I’m glad he didn’t because it
made his story seem so much more authentic.
What does a win look like?
It’s a 5th grade girl who learns about honesty, kindness and
patience from a basketball coach who loves Jesus. It’s a dad who has his faith restored as he
eavesdrops on his daughters Bible lessons week after week in a church gymnasium. It’s a church that gladly invests time and
resources into a basketball ministry that does more than simply transform jumpshots….it
transforms lives.
- Pastor Jeff Poush
