What makes a Leader?

I’m a college football junkie.  If I were a member of Congress I would sponsor legislation requiring college football 12/365!  Marginal college football news is major news for some of us.  I could talk college football all day every day. 

But before those of you who don’t share my passion for pigskin turn the page I want to draw a lesson from the game for everyone – even those who don’t love it.  The lesson is found in the recent NFL Draft.  I like Pro Football; I love college football.  This means I tend to look at professional football through the lens of the college game.  I am interested in what motivates pro owners to spend thousands on a young man based on his performance in college.  Among the many variables considered in forecasting professional prospects is performance under pressure at the college level.

Think about quarterbacks. Quarterbacks playing for an elite team may fail to develop the skills necessary to succeed at a higher level since they were so protected.  Did USC produce quality NFL quarterbacks during the height of their program? You could ask the same about Florida State and Miami. In these cases you can observe that dynasty programs may produce distinctive quarterbacks during their early periods, before having overwhelming advantages.  Jim Kelly, Bernie Kosar, Vinny Testaverde, Brad Johnson, and Carson Palmer come to mind. On the other hand, quarterbacks from elite football programs tend to fail.  Witness Steve Walsh, Craig Erickson, Gino Torretta, Matt Leinart, John David Booty, and Mark Sanchez.    

Moral of the story?  Tough times produce tough men and women who can lead in tough times.  Tough times demand an ethic acquired only in other tough times.  The ugliness of life can certainly make us ugly but it can also make us beautiful.  Hardness may weaken us to such an extent that we will never recover.  It may, however, prep us for even greater hardness.  The fire may destroy us, but then again, it may temper us for greatness. 

The first century B. C. freed slave, Publilius Syrus, known for his maxims said it well: "Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm."  The pilot who steadies the helm in high seas is typically the one who has been blistered by wind driven brine before.

If this principle is true it can certainly be found in our Bible.  It can!  “Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so I would not exalt myself.  Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away from me.  But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’  Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.  So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, catastrophes, persecutions, and in pressures, because of Christ.  For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12: 7 – 10).

This post appeared originally as a column in The Daily Press.

We Should Own Stock in Liberty University... Well Maybe We Do!

My daughter, Jessica Autry Byrnside, graduated Saturday from the Liberty University School of Education with her Masters of Teaching in Special Education.  This makes two LU degrees for her and 13 for the family.  In another year we expect the family total to climb to 16.  All five of our children have undergaduate degrees from Liberty as do the spouses of the three who are married.  My oldest son holds a Masters of Divinity from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and his wife has three (count 'em) masters from Liberty.  My youngest son expects to complete his Masters of Counseling next May at the same time his fiance receives two undergraduate degrees from LU.

Do we own stock in Liberty?  Well maybe it is the other way around!  Perhaps Liberty owns stock in us!  The University has invested heavily in our lives and I pray for many returns.  Let's pray that Jerry's original vision is fulfilled in the Autry family and champions have been trained for Christ and that they change the world one degree at a time!

Sloppy Church

Let’s face it: church life is sloppy!  Not because our Lord is sloppy but because life is sloppy.  It has always been that way.  Paul famously said, “Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or anyone practicing homosexuality, no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom”  (1 Cor. 6: 9 – 10).  Had he stopped right there we might make an argument that there are a whole lot of non-sloppy churches.  Permit Paul to finish his thought: “And some of you used to be like this” (1 Cor. 6: 11).  Imagine that – a church full of formerly flagrant sinners!  The very idea!

Arguably the sloppiest church and city in New Testament times, Corinth was a cesspool of every imaginable sin and a number of unimaginable ones.  In Paul’s time they had coined the term “to Corinthinize” which meant to engage in public acts of the most degrading sins. You name the embarrassing sin and it was found in abundance on the streets of Corinth.  Any church in Corinth doing anything approaching real life ministry was bound to be populated with these morally awkward people.  When Paul came “announcing the testimony of God….with a powerful demonstration by the Spirit” (1 Cor. 2: 1, 4) many were pulled from the pit dripping with the raw sewage of sensual sin.

There are two kinds of churches, not “Sloppy” and “Non-sloppy” but “I Admit We Are Sloppy” and “I Pretend We Are Not Sloppy.”   Every church is sloppy.  Some are sloppy by design; others are sloppy by default.  Some churches are strategically seeking to reach the lost and the least and are knowingly filling their building with souls broken hard by deep, devastating sins.  Other churches are just as passionate about steering clear of any and all social and spiritual rejects in an effort to insure a membership of the “right kind of people.”

Problem is: The mystery of iniquity works everywhere and as long as you have people you will have sin.  In fact the more people you have the more types of sin you have.  One church admits it wants said people while the other church hides the fact it already has such people.

Give me Church A that openly acknowledges the power of God to lift the depraved and damaged over Church B that pretends no such critters are found among their number when people about town know otherwise.

In our drifting and soon to be drowning culture, Paul’s list of “undesirables” is becoming the new normal.  My mantra for such a sensual season is C. T. Studd’s:  “Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.”

Lest we become disheartened over the predicament of the church let’s tack on the exciting finish of Paul’s Corinthian thought: “But you were washed… sanctified… justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6: 11). Yes!