For Christmas, I received, a copy of "Quiet Strength," a memoir written by Tony Dungy, former head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. I liked the title, for I am also pretty quiet, and I liked the author- for whom I have a lot of respect. And in my quest to understand my job as pastor/coach, I thought I might learn something from coach Dungy.
One of the themes repeated in the book is Tony's mantra, "Do what we do!" When the Bucaneers were playing a championship-caliber team, he would encourage his guys to play their game, just as they had practiced, and "do what we do." Whether winning or losing, he encouraged them to "do what we do!" When the team lost, he showed them how they failed to "do what they do."
Dungy built the team with a few founding principles. First, they would play "no frills" football, doing ordinary tasks with extraordinary skill and consistency, rather than rely on big plays and superstar players. Second, they would build the team for long-term growth by making the most of their draft picks, picking up players who would work well within their offensive and defensive schemes, rather than trade for veterans who had played under other systems.
When Dungy and his team lost the NFC championship game in 1999 to the Rams, the Bucs owners made a few personnel changes. Tony was forced to fire Mike Shula, his offensive coordinator, even though he strongly objected. Tony felt like Mike had done an outstanding job of building a strong offense. Mike and Tony shared the same coaching philosophy. When Dungy let Mike go, he felt like he was breaking his philosophy and founding principles that had guided their team's growth. Reflecting back, he writes that letting Shula go was the decision he regrets the most in his coaching career.
Then the general manager acquired Keyshawn Johnson from the Jets in exchange for two first-round draft picks. Another major break from Dungy's founding principles. He writes on page 174, "But I believed we were moving away from some core beliefs as an organization by looking for the quick fix." In other words, the management team was failing to "do what we do."
The mantra, "do what we do" struck a chord with me. I am so often tempted to take shortcuts to make easy fixes. Probably because I am such a people-pleaser, I sometimes let the people around me push me into not "doing what we do."
One of the foundations for our church, which was put in place long before I became pastor, what that we wanted to create a casual and relaxed environment for worship. I played guitar for the worship team and would often refill my coffee before sitting down to listen to the pastor's message. I loved it! Another foundation for our church was that people take priority over programs and buildings. Buildings serve ministries and ministries serve people, and it is NEVER to be the other way around. Those principles were challenged in August of 2001 when we moved from leased space into our current facility. We also purchased brand new chairs to replace the stained and flimsy folding chairs we had used for years. At some point a decision was made to put the coffee and refreshments table in the lobby, accompanied by a sign asking people to keep all food outside of the sanctuary. The real reason? We wanted to keep our new chairs clean. We strayed from our philosophy of creating a casual and relaxed environment for worship. And we paid for it. This opened the door for other decisions to restrict and control the environment for worship.
After you have been around New Vision Church for a while, you probably begin to feel like I often repeat myself. Things like, "faith is personal, but it is not private." That is a foundation that affects our outreach and our personal growth. So I constanly encourage our folks to invite their friends. I constantly invite and encourage our members to join a LIFE group. I constantly remind our people to get to know their neighbors. I often say something like, "this is going to take all of us," and then proceed to invite our members to give of their time to some good cause. Why do I repeat myself? These are the things we do, and we need to constantly remember to "do what we do." When we introduce ourselves to visitors and new people and work to remember their names next time we see them, we are "doing what we do."
Coach Dungy tells his readers that it is okay to change our methods when they don't work, but we have to be careful when we tinker with our basic foundational principles. So if I come across as stubborn and unwilling to change in some area, it is probably because I believe we are dealing with a foundational principle that should not change, but merely needs to be executed better.
Let's "do what we do!"
One of the themes repeated in the book is Tony's mantra, "Do what we do!" When the Bucaneers were playing a championship-caliber team, he would encourage his guys to play their game, just as they had practiced, and "do what we do." Whether winning or losing, he encouraged them to "do what we do!" When the team lost, he showed them how they failed to "do what they do."
Dungy built the team with a few founding principles. First, they would play "no frills" football, doing ordinary tasks with extraordinary skill and consistency, rather than rely on big plays and superstar players. Second, they would build the team for long-term growth by making the most of their draft picks, picking up players who would work well within their offensive and defensive schemes, rather than trade for veterans who had played under other systems.
When Dungy and his team lost the NFC championship game in 1999 to the Rams, the Bucs owners made a few personnel changes. Tony was forced to fire Mike Shula, his offensive coordinator, even though he strongly objected. Tony felt like Mike had done an outstanding job of building a strong offense. Mike and Tony shared the same coaching philosophy. When Dungy let Mike go, he felt like he was breaking his philosophy and founding principles that had guided their team's growth. Reflecting back, he writes that letting Shula go was the decision he regrets the most in his coaching career.
Then the general manager acquired Keyshawn Johnson from the Jets in exchange for two first-round draft picks. Another major break from Dungy's founding principles. He writes on page 174, "But I believed we were moving away from some core beliefs as an organization by looking for the quick fix." In other words, the management team was failing to "do what we do."
The mantra, "do what we do" struck a chord with me. I am so often tempted to take shortcuts to make easy fixes. Probably because I am such a people-pleaser, I sometimes let the people around me push me into not "doing what we do."
One of the foundations for our church, which was put in place long before I became pastor, what that we wanted to create a casual and relaxed environment for worship. I played guitar for the worship team and would often refill my coffee before sitting down to listen to the pastor's message. I loved it! Another foundation for our church was that people take priority over programs and buildings. Buildings serve ministries and ministries serve people, and it is NEVER to be the other way around. Those principles were challenged in August of 2001 when we moved from leased space into our current facility. We also purchased brand new chairs to replace the stained and flimsy folding chairs we had used for years. At some point a decision was made to put the coffee and refreshments table in the lobby, accompanied by a sign asking people to keep all food outside of the sanctuary. The real reason? We wanted to keep our new chairs clean. We strayed from our philosophy of creating a casual and relaxed environment for worship. And we paid for it. This opened the door for other decisions to restrict and control the environment for worship.
After you have been around New Vision Church for a while, you probably begin to feel like I often repeat myself. Things like, "faith is personal, but it is not private." That is a foundation that affects our outreach and our personal growth. So I constanly encourage our folks to invite their friends. I constantly invite and encourage our members to join a LIFE group. I constantly remind our people to get to know their neighbors. I often say something like, "this is going to take all of us," and then proceed to invite our members to give of their time to some good cause. Why do I repeat myself? These are the things we do, and we need to constantly remember to "do what we do." When we introduce ourselves to visitors and new people and work to remember their names next time we see them, we are "doing what we do."
Coach Dungy tells his readers that it is okay to change our methods when they don't work, but we have to be careful when we tinker with our basic foundational principles. So if I come across as stubborn and unwilling to change in some area, it is probably because I believe we are dealing with a foundational principle that should not change, but merely needs to be executed better.
Let's "do what we do!"
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