I don't know if you are paying attention or if you care, but my Chicago White Sox are on the verge of winning the World Series. I have been a Sox fan since the spring of 1973 when my family moved from Davenport, Iowa to the suburbs of Chicago. On a cool Saturday afternoon in early May some of the White Sox rookies came and gave a clinic at a strip mall near my house in Addison, Illinois. I was eight years old and I had never met a big league player before so it was quite a thrill to meet Bucky Dent, Jay Johnstone, Terry Forster, and Rich "Goose" Gossage. I have been a White Sox fan ever since and I have to tell you that it is not always easy being a White Sox fan in Chicago. You see, the Cubs are Chicago's darlings with the quaint little ballpark and the white collar fans. They play up on the north side where things are "nice".
When you cross Madison Ave. and head south in the city of Chicago things change. The economy changes, the neighborhoods are vastly different and honestly it is not so "nice" in some places. The White Sox are the step children in Chicago. Much like the Los Angeles Angels of Placentia...er Anaheim here in the southland. (Just kidding. Please no bitter replys from the Angels fans.) In Chicagoland the Cubs rule or they did rule, but now everything has changed. The Sox are about to do for their owner Jerry Reinsdorf and for the city what his other team, the Bulls, used to do for it and for him. Give them and him a world championship. It will be very sweet if they can close it out. (See...this is a Sox fan trying to believe, but not wanting to jinx it!)
I must tell you that I love this team! Not just the Sox, but this group that makes up the White Sox. From their manage Ozzie Guillen all the way down to the last guy on the roster they provide a wonderful example of leadership and teamwork. Ozzie leads the team by serving and teaching and cheering and rebuking. Man, do these guys follow. And the players just seem to pick each other up time after time. It dawned on me last night at about 11:10 PM our time (during the 14th inning of the longest World Series game ever) that we can learn a lot about ministry teams from these guys. There is a love, a bond, and a passion for excellence that is infectious on this team. I pray for the exact same characteristics in our ministries. We want loving, honest, and passionate leaders in our ministries. I want to be that type of leader in our church and on my ministry teams. I am sure that you feel the same way. I want to be on ministry teams where, because none of us are perfect, we pick each other up, we have each other's back, and we encourage one another and we raise the level of play on our team.
As I have watched the playoffs the last couple of weeks it has seemed to me that the White Sox are having the most fun. Yea, I know that everything is always more fun when the breaks are going your way and you are winning, but I think they are just having fun playing baseball together. When ministry goes well it is a lot of fun too. Bill Hybels always says, "There is nothing better than doing God's bidding with people that you love." And listen...we have so much more to live for than baseball! Being a part of a team that is honoring to God and serving with people that you love is way more fun and rewarding than baseball.
So..."Play Ball!"
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