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Until now, my series on why the 2010 Texas Rangers would make a great college ministry has been pretty easy to swallow: a clear Team Purpose, good Stories and thought-out strategy, fun and traditions. Most of us would probably say we’d love to add those (if we don’t already have ‘em) or build on what we’ve got in those areas.
But today’s is a bit different.
It’s not so easy to be objective about this one, since it’s about us – the college ministers. Yet it’s one characteristic that most shows me that the Rangers would make an excellent college ministry.
It’s their manager, Ron Washington.
Down-to-earth. Far from flashy. Passionate about the work itself. People-loving. Plain-talking. Sincere. Unpretentious. Invested – emotionally – in every play. Very human. Loved by those he leads. Loved by those he works for. Upbeat, even in the tough spots.
It’s easy to imagine these as characteristics a college minister could have. But I’m not sure we consider this type of college minister to perhaps be an ideal, or at least somebody to learn from.
Instead, we might guess Big Personality is our best chances to build a strong college ministry. After all, we know that one flashy, extroverted guy (who’s also an excellent speaker) who has built a pretty enormous ministry.
Others would place priority on Keeping Things Moving. We run “good college ministry plays,” look for Best Practices, and think in the now.
For other college ministers, having a Big Vision is what matters most. We know what we’ve seen others do, and we don’t see any reason we can’t achieve those numbers / activities / levels of recognition.
Or we might tend to lean hard on Process. Our only concern is tweaking the movement, systems, connections, and other gears that will build a ministry we can be proud of.
In many cases, our choices in this matter stem from our personalities. And clearly, there are ingredients of all of ‘em that can be really helpful. Plus, God has built many great college ministries with college ministers who lean too hard toward one (or more) of these ways.
But the way we “manage” doesn’t have to be governed by our personalities. We can be better at what we do.
After meeting hundreds of college ministers around the country, I can say this: I hope we’ll have more and more “Ron Washington” college ministers. Because I think they’re one kind that’s pretty well suited to building a really impactful, a really long-lasting, a really healthy college ministry. That kind of college minister is one who
- Cares deeply about the actual work of college ministry
- Thinks deeply about the work of college ministry
- Invests deeply in the work of college ministry
- Loves deeply within his or her world of college ministry.
The big news locally has been a 7-year-old who dressed up like Wash for Halloween. It’s an odd choice when he’s clearly far less “celebrity” than any of his players – just a short, balding, older gentleman who’s in his first manager position ever. When he heard about that kid’s costume, Washington offered this reflection:
“You know, the kid must love baseball, and he must love energy. He must love caring. And that’s my personality.”
That struck me as a pretty profound way to capture Washington’s personality: “caring.” He doesn’t simply mean “liking the game of baseball,” “loving my players,” or “caring that we win.” He means that he cares about the work. He throws himself – in thought and energy – into the work itself.
If even on this single axis we all took a step forward, something special would happen in our field.
[For more, read about Washington and his story here. See my whole series here.]
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Picture provided by Cacophony / Wikipedia under the license here.
“It’s very flattering,” Washington said on Friday. “You know, the kid must love baseball, and he must love energy. He must love caring. And that’s my personality. And it’s nice that there could be someone that wants to imitate Ron Washington. I never in all my wildest dreams thought that. He might want to imitate some other star. I certainly don’t consider myself a star; I’m just a baseball man. But it’s nice that that young kid could watch a baseball game and want to be Ron Washington. That means a lot.”
Yesterday, I started posting why the 2010 Texas Rangers might make a really great college ministry. As all of us here in Dallas look forward to Game 1 tonight, here are two more reasons… and don’t be surprised if you hear about some of this from the announcers this week.
2. Good stories
One ingredient that would make the Texas Rangers a cool campus ministry is some really great personal stories. Hopefully you’re well familiar with Josh Hamilton’s spiritual testimony; it’s available for all the world (and your college students) to see at I Am Second.
But there’s also reliever Alexi Ogando, who had a long, painful road to baseball after being caught up in a fake-marriage / sex trafficking scam in his native Dominican Republic. You can read that story here.
Colby Lewis, who won two games over the Yankees last week, has a neat story of disillusionment, Japan, and baseball-redemption, too.
And I could go on.
The point is: Great stories (we often call them “testimonies”) make for great college ministries. Of course, when it comes to our ministries, I moreso mean the spiritual kind. But this is a metaphor, remember.
3. Strategy
Another reason the Rangers would make a great college ministry is that they don’t believe that games are won only in the games.
Read that again.
But for many college ministries, this philosophy would require a monumental shift.
The “talk of the town” around here includes General Manager Jon Daniels and the rest of the Rangers “front office” staff. For years they have purposely built a team, and the fruits can (finally) be seen this year. They employed a multi-year strategy – which along the way meant things like:
- caring deeply about nurturing not just present players but upcoming players
- building a strong “farm system” – making sure lots of guys are being raised up to play in the big leagues someday
- thinking systematically and longitudinally about success
- balancing success on the field now with working toward greater success later
- and even making moves that hurt the team in the short term but fit the long term strategy
Any of those three things can be (and should be) applied to college ministry.
In fact, I’d go as far as to say this: If we’re not working strategically and longitudinally, then our college ministries aren’t as good as they could have been. If we’re only “pursuing the win” in the game presently on the field, we aren’t going to be as impactful next year or next decade as we might have been.
It’s just one more reason these Rangers would make a pretty super college ministry.
[Post #3 in the series is next!]
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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.
The picture isn’t of Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. It’s from the Dolphin tribe of Jacksonville U!
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