Dear Friends in Christ, I've just finished reading a book called The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni. Lencioni is founder and president of the Table Group, a management consulting firm specializing in organizational health and executive team development. I was privileged to hear him speak at a conference in Atlanta last year. The premise of the book is simply this:

"The single greatest advantage any company can achieve is organizational health. Yet it is ignored by most leaders even though it is simple, free, and available to anyone who wants it." Lencioni says you build health through cohesive trust among the leaders, clarity of vision and purpose, and by over-communicating. I believe this is true for the success and faithfulness of any/every organization, including the church. Of course, this takes time. But once it begins happening it creates momentum. One of the anecdotes he uses in reference to team-building is worth mentioning. After a recent loss, a thirteen-year-old boy on my son's soccer team said to me, "Well, I don't feel like I lost." "Really?" I asked him. "How do you figure?" He proudly announced, "Well, I'm a forward, and we forwards did our part by scoring three goals. It's really the defense that lost the game because they gave up too many goals. They're the losers."

Dr.  Davis  Chappell

I kindly pointed out to him how absurd his reasoning was, not only because there is only one score for the team, but because every player on the field plays defense, though perhaps on different parts of the field. Even a forward plays a role in preventing the other team from scoring by making it difficult for the opponent's defense to organize an attack. To be fair, the kid smiled and acknowledged the ridiculousness of his original remark. It reminds me of Paul's analogy of the church as a body. Some are forwards and some are defenders. Some are hands and some are feet. Some are ears and some are eyes. But regardless of the role we play, we are a team. We win and lose together. We laugh and weep together. We agree and disagree together. We live and love together. In a world that seems so divided, I'm grateful to be a part of a team wherein all the usual distinctions become irrelevant. "Here, there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28). Finally, it was good to welcome new members Dustin, Dorothy, Sidney, Dayton, John Bradford and Miles Smith; Brent, Andrea and Bennett Goodman; and Rosetta Bartley. Welcome to our church community. The peace of Christ be with you all! Davis