Yes, I’m excited about my Texas Rangers. Here in Dallas, we all are.

But I’m not writing this little series because I’m a fan. I’m writing it because I’m a fan of great college ministries. As I’ve followed the Rangers especially closely these last couple of months, I’ve noticed that there are some storylines there, some characteristics, that would make for a pretty great college ministry “lineup,” too.

I assume that many of these characteristics could equally apply to other good baseball teams. But since this is the team I happen to know and love, they’re my backdrop!

Whether you like (or understand) baseball or not, I think you’ll like (and understand) this series… beginning with the first characteristic:

1. A clear Team Purpose

This is one characteristic of good teams (of any sort): The sense of “going somewhere together,” with that “somewhere” actually defined. If, as occasionally happens, the members of a team actually aim at different purposes right off the bat (pardon the pun), the team obviously falls apart. It’s a mess indeed.

The Texas Rangers have a Team Purpose to win ballgames. Not just the ballclub, “The Texas Rangers.” But the individual members of the Rangers have that goal in mind.

So reason number 1 that the Rangers would make a good college ministry? They’re aiming for the same, clearly defined thing. Together.

Bold Statement: I’m not sure that most college ministries can genuinely say that their members are aiming in the same direction… or that there’s an actual Well Defined Direction at all.

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So even this basic notion of any ol’ team gives us something to think about in our campus ministries. Just wait ’til we get into the nitty gritty of a good team‘s characteristics. I think you’ll like this series. Expect some bold statements.

And if you care about baseball, it might make you enjoy this World Series even more.

[Read Part 2 here.]

The picture isn’t of Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. It’s from the Dolphin tribe of Jacksonville U!

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