Youth Football has started

I will pick up with my study of the First Missional Church in Acts with my next post. I just had to post something about youth football practice that has started in Tallmadge.

Seth, my youngest son started his first season in pads last week. It is so funny seeing him in full pads. His pants come down to almost his ankles. It is not so bad because the pads almost completely cover his legs.

After the first day of full contact we were walking back to the cat together. he had this big smile on his face. I asked him why he was smiling. Proudly he said, "I made some kid cry." I did not see it, but evidently he had the ball and ran over some kid who was his same size. He then looked up at me and said, "I think i broke his freakin' neck." Yes, we have watched the longest yard together (T.V. version, with parents skipping some parts thanks to DVR).

Tonight I was watching practice. There is always a problem with youth football. The coaches kids usually play the skilled positions whether they are the best at that position or not. The problem with this is that it is not very good leadership. Collins in "Good to Great," says that great organizations get the right people on the right seat on the bus. This seldom happens in youth football, which can be a problem.

Last year, Cole's team would have been much better had they played some of the bigger kids on the line. Instead they had some kids in the backfield trying to run with a small line in front of them. Yesterday, they had Seth practicing with the line. He is small and the third fastest kid on the team even though he is one of the youngest. I don't expect him to start, but he should at least be put in a position where he is going to be most effective.

The first mistake is not having the right people in the right place. The second mistake is the reason for the first. They place people in position not according to their ability, but according to who they are. It's frustrating, but a great example of how the most churches operate.

Most churches do not put the right people on the right seat on the bus, they put people in positions based on the wrong motives. Like youth football, it makes the church less effective. It seems to me the most logical decision is to use the right person for the job, rather than allow our bias to dictate who goes serves where.