Playing Offense

Back in the day (way back in the 90’s!) I played high school basketball at Derry Area High School. Yes, I know it’s hard to believe, but it is true! The memories were invaluable. One quote I’ve heard a number of times from various coaches is “The best offense is a good defense”. In leadership, especially church leadership, I would say it’s the opposite.

The best defense is a good offense. It can become so easy as a pastor or church leader to allow the bulk of your time to be spent on defense. Defending your vision. Defending your approach to ministry. Defending why you moved the piano two inches to the left. You’ve been there. If you’re not careful, you’ll spend all your time on defense. I know in basketball, you can have the best defense in the world, but if you can’t put the ball in the hoop all your time on defense is wasted.

In ministry, you can have the best defense in the world to combat the many opponents you’ll face, but if people aren’t experiencing the gospel are you really being a good steward of your time? As I said before, ministry isn’t about defense, it’s about offense. Jesus called us to “…go and make disciples of all nations.” That’s very action-oriented. It’s playing offense. As we’ve come out of the Easter season, I would challenge you to evaluate how your time and energy is being spent.  Are you spending more time on defense or offense?  Are there changes that can be made to make sure you’re putting some of those ‘shooting’ skills into action?

And yes, that is ‘Pistol’ Pete Maravich!