Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
Teams are everywhere…
Think about it. There are groups of people all around us working together to achieve a certain goal. From sports to trades. From the military to the medical field. There are groups of people who work together to create change, make an impact, and take part in something bigger than themselves.
But why?
A healthy team is an extension of a community, and every human being was created for community. We were not created to function as lone rangers! Teams allow us to fill a certain role but free us from filling every role. While multi-tasking is great, there are certain things that we do that someone could do a little better. For example, I can do the laundry, but my wife does it better. She makes sure that our laundry doesn’t come out the size of children’s clothes. Teams allow us to identify and use our gifts to serve others. Good stewardship often requires letting go of something so that someone else can do it better.
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace. 1 Peter 4:10 ESV
My journey to team…
I used to carry an unhealthy view of team, and well, leadership in general. Honestly, I only thought team mattered if you were competing for the Super Bowl or Olympic Gold. I felt that I always had to be busy doing something or I was wasting time. My programming was that I would just do everything.
Within ministry, I felt that it was my duty to shoulder every aspect of it in order to make others’ lives easier. Plus, I liked being in control. What I didn’t realize is that this was a very unhealthy outlook and I was screaming straight towards burnout.
A crucial Stay Forth coaching season allowed me the opportunity to zoom out and take stock of everything I was doing and how messy it all was. I realized that while I could do multiple things and fill many roles, I learned that good stewardship of my God-given gifts meant that I didn’t need to tackle every aspect of every “thing” I was involved in. instead of being a lone ranger and hoarding my Talents (Matt 25:14-30) I needed to invest them in others for the sake of the Kingdom.
Welcome to Stay Forth…
The vision and mission of Stay Forth changed my leadership and my life forever. Having journeyed from unhealth to health I saw the importance of a practical team where its members could use their individual gifts for good kingdom work. I wanted to use my gifts to help others experience healthy leadership first hand. We talk about this a lot at Stay Forth, and it’s not just another verse to us…
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10