March Madness

Being a native of North Carolina, I know a little about “March Madness.” All the ups and downs, breathtaking wins, and crushing last-minute defeats during the ACC tournament. I was a huge fan in the 80’s and an admirer of the late coach Dean Smith.

In A Coach’s Life , published in 1999, Dean Smith writes, “In those days if you didn’t win the ACC tournament, you didn’t go anywhere. Your season was over. You could go undefeated, and still you had to prove yourself all over again in the three-day sudden death ACC tournament,” (p. 88).

He goes on to say, “no other conference except the Southern operated that way,” (Smith, p. 88).

And, also, “one misstep could ruin your whole year,” (Smith, p. 88).

Spiritually speaking, because that’s usually where my mind goes and because Dean Smith made it clear in his autobiography he was a spiritual, god-fearing person, I am glad people still exist that see the error of this policy if applied to other contexts.

In ministry, we often battle a “March Madness” in the spiritual realm. I’ve even seen it in the church, where folks are supportive and respectful and insanely wonderful until their ministers’ or fellow parishioners’ missteps come to light; the “resolution” may be “sudden-death” in the professed Kingdom of God.

When when I was a Graduate Teaching Assistant at ECU, I graded Freshman Composition papers holistically; I learned a lot about being objective, but also fair, from my advisor and some of my professors. We were free to create our own grading system, and I chose the holistic approach. A student who had worked hard all semester but did poorly on tests or a final exam was not at risk for “sudden-death.”

This holistic approach is basically part of my worldview in general.

The reason ministry does not always work out when it is partnered with the world and its contracts is because the world doesn’t always peer through the same lens and value a person in a holistic way; the minister’s response should always be to first seek restoration. To build up. To lead and guide. To deal with missteps honestly and directly.

The church, and ministry in general, is not a game. But some of the lessons are the same.

A minister, like a coach, must sometimes be downright vigilant for his/her people.

Even the late Coach Dean Smith made it clear, “On the court I was a benevolent dictator, but in the spring and summer I hoped I was a servant to some degree, and a counselor,” (p. 114).

I bet that’s how the coach won so many games!

He balanced discipline with kindness and understood there is a season for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

He could not do anything about the game’s “sudden-death” rules, but he certainly didn’t extend that kind of thinking to his players; he believed in holistic coaching–the whole person. Not just when they wore the uniform and made all the right moves and won the game.

(I might even declare that Coach Smith was a “minister” of sports!)

In Ephesians 6, St. Paul refers to the “spiritual forces of evil” that attempt to destroy rather than build.

Many of us in the ministry know this is absolutely true and we must also learn to be vigilant when necessary–and to see the souls under our care holistically.

A balance of law and love is my “coaching” style.

I understand, in the spirit realm, that the “madness” is every month of the year.

Put on the full armor, St. Paul reminds us.

And then some.