Dominican Republic Baseball Missions Trip

As many of you know, last March I went on a missions trip with the baseball team I help coach at Valor Christian High School to the Dominican Republic. Through Score International we were able to stay on their complex in Juan Dolio and put on baseball camps, play pick-up games and share the gospel with young baseball players in the Santo Domingo and San Juan areas.

Baseball is so prominent in the DR because it's viewed as the only thing that will deliver them from poverty. If there's anywhere in the world where baseball is the language to spread the gospel, the Dominican is it. So of course, my heart and passion toward the Dominican Republic is something that hasn't faded in the months since our return. You can hear more and see pictures from the trip in the sermon I preached in April at the Christian Church of Broomfield.

I'm excited to let you know that, along with Hitstreak co-worker, Valor coach and All Out Student Ministry volunteer Brian Bonn, I will be going back to the DR for a Baseball Outreach Missions trip from November 14th-18th. If you would like to help support me in this trip, there are two ways that would be appreciated. The first is prayer and encouragement. If you would like to commit to praying for the people of the Dominican Republic and our trip, then please let me know on my facebook page or reply to this email if you're not on facebook. Secondly, would you consider financially helping me be part of this mission trip? The cost of this trip is $1,200. Any amount you could contribute would be appreciated. Click here to make a donation.

Your support, encouragement, and prayers are appreciated. I will be blogging about the trip, so please check out my blog for updates. Thank you so much and God bless!

In Him,

Justin Dillard

Youth Ministry and the West Coast Offense

"Walsh took an unusual view of quarterbacks: he thought they were only as good as the system they played in."

Michael Lewis, The Blind Side

Bill Walsh changed the game of football when he was an offensive coordinator of the AFL expansion Cincinnati Bengals. His job was to design a successful offense with a weak-armed quarterback named Virgil Carter. Without the ability to throw downfield, Walsh implemented plays that used more of the field horizontally with 3 receivers who ran short routes timed precisely to the steps of the quarterback. These short timed passes, if executed properly, could be completed against any defense. "In 1971, Virgil Carter, who never completed as many as half of his passes, somehow led the entire league in completion percentage (62.2) and bumped his yards per attempt from 5.9 to 7.3." This system was the beginning of what is now known as the West Coast offense.

Bill Walsh went on to be the head coach of the 1980's San Francisco 49ers dynasty. In his time there, he took a quarterback who was too small with a weak arm named Joe Montana and a backup quarterback that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn't even want named Steve Young and won Super Bowls as they went on to be Hall of Famers. So what does this have to do with youth ministry?

Oftentimes ministries run into problems when a dynamic, well-liked leader is at the forefront and the ministry is based around that person. Instead, ministries, much like the West Coast offense, should place the emphasis on a sustainable system first, then fill in the right personnel to make things happen, and finally rely on effective execution of a common vision. Many times, this order is reversed in some way, which leads to the early exit of many talented youth workers (see Ryan Leaf).

System

"The virtues [the West Coast offense] exalted above all others were precision, consistency, and predictability. Walsh had created the contraption to compensate for the deficiencies of his quarterback..."

Bill Walsh created a system that worked no matter who was running it. In youth ministry, we are constantly experiencing turnover in volunteers as well as paid youth pastors. So why operate in such a way that the whole system changes whenever the people change, especially when it occurs so frequently? That's the makeup for an incredibly unstable climate.

Plus, when we build systems that are built around individuals (as youth pastors, we tend to build around ourselves) then the pressure seems to burn out the individuals as well as place outrageous expectations on whoever their successor may be. Rather than building a system that requires a fleet footed, rocket-armed quarterback (which are incredibly rare and hard to come by), Walsh built systems that require a quarterback who has "guile, nimbleness, and an ability to throw accurately, as long as he didn't have to throw far."

So instead of building systems that require talents that few have, build systems that require skills that can be learned.

Personnel

"The intangibles were nice, thought Walsh, but they weren't the reason quarterbacks succeeded or failed."

It means that the system is better when incredibly talented people are a part of it, but it's not reliant on them. As we look throughout scripture, God uses very ordinary people that would have never stood a chance in the NFL to do works of biblical proportions. Yet we require our people to be a mix of Billy Graham, Dr. Phil and James Dean (or whoever the kids think is cool these days). So we need systems that set people who love God and love kids up to be successful. We need systems that would make a star out of Virgil Carter, so when Joe Montana comes it's an added bonus.

However, having the pieces to the puzzle and a picture of what it's supposed to look like is just the beginning. Equally important is the third step in the formula.

Execution

"The performance of a quarterback must be manipulated," said Walsh. "To a degree coaching can make a quarterback, and it certainly is the most important factor for his success. The design of the team's offense is the key to a quarterback's performance. One must be tuned to the other."

Even the right people in the right system are set up to fail if they aren't poured into and given freedom to work within the system. This requires a leader; someone who sets out to not only place individuals in a position to be successful, but also orchestrates all individuals to work together as one. No matter how talented someone may be, one person can never be as stable, efficient, effective or successful as a group of people moving together in the same direction.

So the question is this: with the right system and the right personnel, do you have the leader to put them together? The quarterback doesn't make that happen, the head coach does. He designs the system, picks the people who can run it and then he shows them how to do it. Without the vision and direction and the person to lead it, talent turns into Jamarcus Russell.

Here's the thing. This isn't football. We work in a profession where lives are changed and souls are on the line. With stakes this high, do we operate like a backyard game with plays drawn in the dirt, or are we running a West Coast offense that is designed and built for success?

All quotes are taken from the "Death of a Lineman" chapter of The Blind Side by Michael Lewis.

Love Complete

Here is my first ever podcast. This is from my sermon on 3/21/10.

Powderburn 2010

To Save a Life

I went and saw "To Save a Life" today. Can't wait to take the group this Wednesday, January 27th to the 5pm showing at the Promenade for a very special Milkshakes with Mikki. Don't miss it!

For this reason, make every effort...

"His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

For this reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if any of you do not have them, you are nearsighted and blind, and you have forgotten that you have been cleansed from your past sins.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1:3-11

What do you spend of your time and energy working toward? Is it school and trying to get good grades? Is it work and trying to make money? Is it relationships? Sports? (Dare I say) video games?!?! When I look back at the goals or accomplishments that I've focused my efforts on, very few of them actually exist still today. Now, as I try to look toward the future, I'm don't know exactly where I'm going or what I'm doing. I have an idea, but things change. However, when I look to the future, I have a crystal clear picture of the man I want to be. The husband and father I want to be. I know exactly what kind of Christian I want to be. Maybe more so, the Christian I don't want to be.

Simon Peter is telling us in this passage that we are to "make every effort" in developing our character. Often times, we focus on accomplishments and we push our character aside. You can probably think of someone in your life that did this and achieved neither the accomplishment nor character. A perfect example is someone who focuses all their energy in "finding the right person" instead of becoming the right person. Then when they find the right guy or girl, the right guy or girl has no interest in being with them.

Verse 3 tells us that "His divine power (or the Holy Spirit) has given us everything we need for a godly life” and when we participate in the divine nature, we escape "the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." For this reason, make every effort. Because we have the Holy Spirit in us and we have the potential to live a godly life apart from the corruption of the world, make every effort to build your character. If we do, we "will never stumble, and we will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

Dear God, am I doing this right?

When you pray, only one of three things will happen: God will either say "yes", "no" or "maybe/later". Do you ever wonder why some people seem to hear nothing but "yes" while others hear nothing but "no"? If you do, you're not the only one to ever think about that. There are many people who try to figure out the exact words, in the right order, in the proper posture at the appropriate time to maximize the efficiency of their prayers. Was prayer meant to be a ritual? Do you ever wish you could just walk up to Jesus and ask Him how to pray?

You're in luck. In Luke chapter 11, we get to learn from Jesus how to pray.

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his desciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say: " 'Our Father in heaven, holy is your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.' " Luke 11:1-4

Instead of copying Jesus' prayer, we need to understand what he's saying in his prayer so we can have a powerful prayer life. The first thing that Jesus begins his prayer with is Our Father in heaven. He doesn't start by saying, "Almighty God and creator of the universe" which God is. He says "Our Father". He's talking to someone that he has an intimate relationship with. He's talking to someone that he loves, not just someone he can get something from.

Next Jesus says, holy is your name. Jesus is conceding that God is holy and if we're going to have an intimate relationship with a Holy God, then there are going to be some moral implications. When we go to God in prayer typically, we want him to care about us, but we don't want him to care about our character. To have a powerful prayer life, we need to allow God to invade every aspect of our lives.

Then Jesus switches gears and says your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Here Jesus is recognizing that God's kingdom is big and his will is in action. In fact God's story has been a freight train through the history of the world, including now forward. As for us, we're either on that train or we're not. Our lives are either aligned with Him or they're not. Our prayers are either in God's will or they're not. If they are, then we may get a lot of "yes' " from God. But if we hear a lot of "no's", then we need to get back in alignment with Him.

Give us each day our daily bread. We may live very comfortably in our country where we don't have to worry about where we'll sleep tonight or how we'll eat, but Jesus is saying that our dependence needs to remain in God. That being in God's presence is a daily occurrence, not just one day a week (most weeks).

Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. This is a reminder that we receive grace from God. We're all sinners deserving of death. God doesn't want us to go to him with a "look how good I'm doing attitude." We're not to look at others like we're smarter, better, or more righteous than anyone. Sin is sin and we're all sinners. But we receive grace from God so that we can have a relationship with Him. That grace came at a price, and we should recognize and remember that by going to God in humility. And when we receive His grace, we should give the same grace away to others.

If you forgive others. If you choose love over bitterness, generosity over greed, servanthood over self-centeredness. If you choose to pray not for what God can do for you but what God can do through you. You will begin to live a life that is powerful. And your prayer life will not only change you, but the world around you. You can live in intimate communication with God. That is Jesus' invitation to you when he taught you how to pray.