Football season is here! It's the best time of the year. Right? I know we live in a football crazy area. We have the Oak Ridge Wildcats, and the Tennessee Volunteers, and both have a fanatic fan base. It's amazing how passionate fans are of their teams. We wear clothes in the colors of our team (pretty much everything I own is Cardinal and Gray). We clear our schedules, and even schedule around games so that people will come to our event. We have fundraisers, pep rallies, and all kinds of special events centered around our favorite team. I, being a Coach and a Pastor, have come to realize something: Coaching and Pastoring are very similar. In football, we evaluate each player to find the position best suited for their talents and abilities. It's very similar to the way we try to "plug in" our members to ministry positions i.e. singers, nursery, youth sponsors, etc. In football, we try to get each player to go "All In" and give their very best for the team on every play. The same for church, we ask all members to be faithful and to give their very best in their attendance and in their giving. With football, we realize that there are times that a player will get banged up or hurt at times. We ask them to push through and to continue on with the fight for your team. In church, we realize that there are times when our members get hurt, or offended, or tired. We ask them to keep fighting the good fight, and to push through the difficult times. In football we have to train, lift weights, and condition ourselves for the long season. If we don't, we end up hurt and disappointed with the results that come without doing those things. If a Christian doesn't study, pray, fellowship, give, it becomes very hard to live a Christian life. We say all the time "It's not easy being a football player—if it was, everyone would do it". I could also say, it's not easy being a Christian. It is a fight for your soul between you and your enemy who is very cunning and evil. Your enemy will use everything possible to keep you from achieving your goal of living a Christian life and going to Heaven. In football, there is nothing like the joy of winning and celebrating a victory after all the work, sweat, tears, and sacrifices. In Church, there's nothing like being in the presence of an Almighty God, and receiving from Him all the blessings and love that we work and desire for each day, and then rejoice when we help or lead another brother or sister who was lost to Him. In the game of life, there are only two teams, whose team are you on?

Keep on Keepin' on,

Phil