By Mic Thurber
You must have no interest whatsoever in the world of sports not to know that the Denver Nuggets basketball team won its first-ever championship this week. The Nuggets Nation fan base finally gets to celebrate this victory in their 47th year of existence. That’s a long time to wait!
Of course, owners and managers change over the years, but the current ownership team and management personnel adopted a strategy that they hope will bring them more than just a one-off winning experience. They want to come back to the finals many more times in the future.
What did they do that they feel gives them this potential?
In the modern sports world, player personnel are not often loyal to a team for the life of their playing years. Few and far between are the Bull Russells, Magic Johnsons, Jerry Wests, and Oscar Robertsons. Many teams are quite willing to lure big-name talent from other teams to stock up enough superstars to win.
I like what our Nuggets did. They found a couple of players–Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murry, to be exact—and then added some young, talented other players and let them grow together into the champions they became this week. They built their team for the long haul.
I was interested in hearing their coach allude to this in several of the interviews with him that followed their victory. And I was also very impressed by the unusually cohesive team spirit that they demonstrated. Their comments always included praise and support for the other players on the team, often saying that it took each of them to win.
If they manage to keep this spirit and this same talented group of players, my hunch is that they will be a force to be reckoned with for years to come.
So, can we learn anything from them? Let’s see:
We often want fast results from our work. Sometimes those who don’t yet fully know Christ hesitate or are slower than we wish they would be about accepting the truth we have to share with them. But maybe we should be in it for the long haul instead. Patience, prayer, fellowship, loving, and reaching out all should be a part of our long-haul strategy. The Holy Spirit doesn’t necessarily work on our timetable! So, let’s build things that will last and leave the results to the Lord.
You don’t need superstars to win. Now, it’s certainly ok to bring in an evangelist to help bring some folks across the finish line. But I happen to believe that when the members of a local church are active in their community, intent on witnessing, and loving the people around them, they will be all the Lord needs to bring new folks into the church. You just need to commit and stay with it!
Love and visibly support one another. Just as the Nuggets were quick to lift each other up, we can do even better. After all, Jesus Himself said our love for each other was what would really mark us as His. My reading of the last few verses of Acts tells me that when the people of God love and take care of each other, then He will feel safe in sending new people our way. And when they come, God can trust that we will love and take care of them by making them full members of the family.
Who’d have thought we might have something to learn from watching some grown men play a kid’s game?!
—Mic Thurber is the RMC president. Photo from Unsplash.
