Young Leaders

How many of you when you think about young people immediately have negative thoughts? How many of you think their work ethic is lacking? How many think their level of respect is well below the standard? My guess is that many feel this way.

I was asked to speak this morning before school to a group of student-athletes at Sylvania Northview High School (my alma mater). These kids gather together every Tuesday morning at 7:00 to honor God. They make up the school's huddle for Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

As I was interacting with this group, it dawned on me. These students are light years ahead of where I was at their age. I mean, there really is no comparison.

At that age, I was so concerned about what everyone thought of me. I knew nothing of God. I knew nothing about respecting and loving others. Here they are meeting early in the morning, to honor Christ. I'm sure they catch some flack from other students, yet they get together anyway. They are showing that they play to an audience of One. They are true leaders.

I am sure they asked me to come in to share something with them from my past experiences that might have a positive impact on them. I hope that happened. But I know for sure that they had an impact on me!

One thing I was reminded of is that I need to not be so quick to judge others, especially those younger than me. I don't know about you but that encourages me today and gives me great hope about the next generation!

Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

1 Timothy 4:12

Leaders & Cheerleaders

I get a magazine each month called Sharing the Victory which is put out by Fellowship of Christian Athletes. It is a great read with some very inspiring and encouraging articles. This month was no exception.

This month's cover story is about the record-setting quarterback of the New Orleans Saints, Drew Brees. I highly recommend the article.

Les Steckel, FCA's President talked about Brees and the power of encouragement in his Coach's Corner segment of the magazine which I thought I'd share:

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say something a little controversial. I think Drew Brees is underpaid.

It’s OK if you disagree with that statement. I think I’m a little biased having coached NFL quarterbacks for so many years and seeing the amount of pressure and scrutiny they endured. Guys like Brees—true leaders in every sense of the word—have a certain kind of pressure on them that most of us will never understand. So, in my opinion, when you find a leader who is able to handle extremely high-pressure and split-second situations with such skill and grace, he (or she) is worth a big price tag.

In my travels, I often get one statement from those I meet: “So, tell me about leadership, Coach.”

As far as leadership in my own life, as a former officer in the United States Marine Corps, I personally follow the 11 leadership principles they teach. Some of those include knowing yourself and seeking self-improvement, setting an example, training your men as a team, and keeping the troops informed. But one other trait I’ve noticed in great leaders—particularly through sports—is that they are also the best cheerleaders.

Watch Drew Brees on the field before a game. He’s out there leading his team in a chant to get them fired up and ready to play. On more than one occasion this season, as you’ll read about in this month’s cover story, the Saints have been down by large margins and Brees has led them to comeback victories. How? By keeping his team encouraged and instilling in them the confidence they needed to rally and win.

“We can be powerful reminders to those around us of God’s power and the fact that He works for our good in all situations.”What a powerful lesson to apply to our lives as we begin 2010. Each of us is called to some form of leadership. Whether that is in our business, our classroom, our home, our sport or our ministry, we all are called to lead and govern in some way, even if it is small. How can we do that in a way that effectively inspires others and shows them the love of Christ? One way is for us to begin taking the words of the Apostle Paul seriously when he says to encourage and build each other up (1 Thessalonians 5:11).

Think about the people in your own life who have inspired and encouraged you through difficult situations. How great and wonderful it is to hear a timely “atta boy” or “you can do it” just when you need it the most. I imagine that all the players in a huddle with Drew Brees feel 10 times more capable of doing their jobs on the field after he has reminded them that they are skillful and talented athletes. As Christians, we can do the same thing for our brothers and sisters by encouraging them with truth from Scripture and by reminding them of who they are in Christ and what He is capable of doing through their trials. We can be powerful reminders to those around us of God’s power and the fact that He works for our good in all situations.

I want to challenge you this month to examine your own leadership skills in the area of encouragement. Try following the example of Drew Brees—one of the most effective Christian leaders in the game of football—and be a cheerleader and encourager for those you lead. Bless them by speaking the powerful truth of Christ into their lives and assuring them that, through His power and strength, they can achieve His great purposes. Who knows? You might find yourself being encouraged in the process.

Tony Dungy on Integrity

One of my favorite people in all of sports is Tony Dungy. I have so much respect for him - the way he leads, the way he treats others and the way he has overcome adversity. I was so pleased to see an article in the monthly magazine put out by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in which Tony shared his thoughts on FCA's core values. I will be sharing these thoughts throughout this week.

Integrity

To me, integrity is what you are all about. It’s what is inside of you. And what’s inside is going to come out when it gets to a critical situation. In my opinion, that’s the difference between a championship team and a good team. It’s the difference between a person you really want to follow and one who is just another person in your life. With people of integrity, you know what you are going to get because that person is the same way all the time; situations don’t change them.

How integrity factors into my role as a coach:From a leadership standpoint, I want to display integrity with my players. They have to be able to count on me to be the same, no matter what. If I tell them something about my personal life and I don’t follow through on it, how can they believe anything I try to teach them on the field? To have that trust and have them follow me as a leader, they have to believe in me. Integrity goes hand-in-hand with trust. You can’t have a good player-coach relationship or a good staff relationship without trust.

The importance of a Christian’s integrity:It is very important for a Christian athlete or a Christian coach to model integrity because once I have gone out there and said, “I am a Christian. Here are the principles I live by”—if I do anything that undermines that, it hurts the cause of Christ. Once people know I am a Christian, I can’t afford to walk differently than I believe because everybody is going to see—especially in a coaching position when eyes are on you all the time.

How I handle a breach of integrity, both internally and externally:It is tough on me when I don’t follow through with what I say I’m going to do because I know that eventually it’s going to come to light and not only make my job tougher, but more than that, it’s going to cause people to question what Christianity is about. With others, I try to be a little more forgiving. It’s the world that we live in, and sometimes that’s going to happen. I try to forgive people because that’s what Christ is all about.

Tomorrow we will discuss SERVING.