It’s that time of year when Saturday mornings are for soccer – at least according to the long line of minivan’s and SUV’s at my neighborhood park.   If you’re a church planter in need of leaders (what church planter isn’t) let me suggest you might find your answer there.

• The coach knows the vast majority of the stars of Saturday morning soccer videos won’t become star players, but they are all still invited to practice and to play.  The only way to find out which kids will excel is to give them all a chance to play.
• The coaches highest priority is passing on a love the game.  If these 5 years olds don’t develop a love for the game they won’t be playing when they are 15, no matter how good they are or could be.  The best way to keep players in the game is to teach them to love it.
• The coach focuses on skills not strategy.  Soccer strategy for five years olds doesn’t get any more complicated than knowing which net our team is trying to kick the ball into – they don’t always get that right.  The basic skills – receiving, passing and scoring – are constant from Pee Wee all the way to the World Cup.  The highest level of play is achieved by mastering the basics.

For some reason we continue to believe that leadership is taught in a classroom on a whiteboard.  If you really want leaders who love the game and know how to play it well, maybe you should invite everyone out to the park next Saturday and let them have a ball.