Lessons from the Pittsburgh Pirates

Friday night I attended my second Pirates game of the season and needless to say , they’ve both been disappointing. The Pirates are currently tied for the record with 15 straight losing seasons. As frustrating as that can be for fans, there are a few lessons we can learn in the church world from the Pirates:

• Everything rises and falls with leadership. Leaders of an organization will set the tone for the future. A leader’s priorities will become the organization’s priorities.
• A venue will bring an initial wave of people, but ultimately it’s vision that will keep them. And with that, not only vision, but clarity of vision in an organization.
• No matter how good you look or how well you promote something, nothing replaces excellence. Trust me, having promo that looks good is a big deal to me, but it’s really worthless and kind of misleading if the promo is not backed with quality & excellence.
• Consult other successful churches in your area…they probably know something that could help you out! (sidenote: How can the worst organization in professional sports not learn anything from one of the greatest organizations in professional sports when they’re in the same city?)
• Change will rarely take place without the refocusing of an organization’s purpose. (win games vs. make money / build crowds vs. change lives).