Signing Day

Wednesday was National Signing Day for college football teams. To give you an idea of how big of a deal this is in the sports world, ESPN devoted ten hours of nonstop coverage to it. While Wednesday was the big day, it was merely the culmination of countless hours, dozens of months and lots of work by an entire team. Long before the highly talented and sought after players commit to come to a college, coaches, players, faculty and alumni have called, visited, emailed and texted them for months. They come to watch them play, visit their homes, invite them for a visit, feed them and have fun together. They make sure the recruits know why they need the school and why the school needs them. They explain how they will be used and what will be required of them. Why do they go to so much trouble and expense? Because the schools realize their success in the future depends on their work in the present. Players graduate, quit school, turn pro and more athletes have to be brought in to replace them. A team may be successful now, but they have to work hard to maintain success or risk failure. There are dozens of other teams that are trying hard to win their commitment as well. Some colleges are great at recruiting and others are not. Guess which ones are successful?

What does any of this have to do with us? College football recruiting is an interesting parallel to the church, its growth and a congregations ability to succeed in the work of the Lord. A congregation that is a healthy, active, working and growing congregation got there because of work and it will take work to stay that way. People move, die, quit and have to be replaced or the congregation suffers. Whose job is it to fill these openings left by death or departure? The preacher? The elders? The deacons? Bible class teachers? Parents? Youth? In a word, everyone. Who are the recruits? Non-Christians, erring Christians, the lost, the lukewarm. How do we win them? Cards, calls, visits, participating in their lives and inviting them into ours. They need to be taught why they need the church and why the church wants them. They need to be shown how they can be used, what they can do and what will be expected of them, and then they need to be taught how, rather than left to figure it out on their own.

Every coach will tell you that the key to recruiting is relationships and the same is true of evangelism. When people know we genuinely love them and want to be a part of their lives, they are willing to listen to what we have to say and desire to be a part of ours. We have to remember there is no shortage of others who are trying to win them over as well. The sad reality is they may be working harder than we are.