What Do College Ministers and College Coaches Have in Common?

It would almost seem a rediculous question to ask, "What do College Ministers and college coaches have in common?".  Certainly, not the salaries and public adulation....or maybe sometimes the public criticism.  But, actually I believe there is a great deal in common and things we can learn from college coaches.

1.  Coaching is all about TEACHING athletes to see their strengths and how to utilize those strengths to benefit the team as a whole.  College Ministers must do that every day.  It is the idea understanding spiritual gifts and functioning in community.

2.  RECRUITING is the lifeblood of college coaching.  College Ministers must recruit.  Summers and even Spring for many involves reaching out to new students coming to campus.  I asked a Head College Football Coach who had just been on the job a short time what he had found.  He said, "The talent level is worse than I thought."  There were not student athletes who could do what he needed them to do to be successful.  If you need musicians, are you doing anything specific to reach and connect to musicians?  Or, are you just hoping the Lord will send some your way?

3.  CULTURE is a word lots of coaches use.  The new Women's Basketball Coach at ASU talks about changing the culture.  Culture is "the way of life of groups of people....outlooks, attitudes, values, morals, goals, etc" according to Webster.  Does your ministry have a culture of evangelism, leadership, excellence?  What culture are you trying to instill?

4. A Head Coach is the FACE OF THE PROGRAM.  Whether a College Minister understands it or not, they are the face of that ministry.  People judge the ministry by what they see of the College Minister.  College Ministers must model what they expect from students. College Ministers are the face of the ministry.

5.  Every Head Coach works at installing their SYSTEM.  It is their offense...the way they do things.  There are lots of good and different systems.  But, each successful team understands and works that particular system.  There are different ways to do college ministry right, but each College Minister must have their system which is a result of the campus setting, resources, and their particular strengths and spiritual gifts.  Do you have a system that you are refining and working?

6.  ADJUSTING TO THE TALENT is part of being a successful coach.  Different years students have different particular talents.  When a passing quarterback is injured and the coach must put in one that is not a great passer, they adjust what they run.  In college ministry, there will be years that there are students who have particular strengths; are those being utilized?

7.  The Head Coach ORGANIZES AND LEADS THE STAFF so they are all on the same page.  A College Minister staff might be an Administrative Assistant, a one year intern, a multiple staff or some volunteers.  But, the College Minister is responsible for leading and helping the staff succeed.

Did you see this headline the other day, "College Minister Signs Multi-Year Million Dollar Contract"?  Maybe not, maybe your story is like mine, I came from a smaller campus and a smaller ministry to ASU to work a lot harder and I got a $5.00 a month raise from what I had been making. But, other than that difference, we can learn a lot from college coaches!

Arliss Dickerson is a part time college ministry consultant for Lifeway Christian Resources and is the author of five books on college ministry.  His book, "Doing College Ministry Better" is on sale this week for 99 cents in eBook at amazon.com (type in the title or Arliss Dickerson).