I am currently flying home from the Faith Rx’D camp in Denver, Colorado. After camps like this one where we are marrying a traditional Christian camp with a traditional fitness camp, I always find myself reflecting on the weight of the weekend. I especially find myself thinking and praying about the weight of what we talked about, the messages preached, and the idea that Christians are mandated by God to be good at whatever it is they set their minds to. This truth is found in the Biblical figures who were especially good at their skills (David, Noah, etc). This truth also resonates in the reality of who we were created to be like and whose image we were created in.
I will give a full summary tomorrow of the highlights for the camp and the primary lessons God taught me. However, one of the greatest lessons learned from the weekend is the truth that no matter what position you hold, God is always teaching you something. I went into the camp as the Training Camp Director. This position made it hard to battle the necessity I had to always be looking to the next event or the next piece of the schedule. Yet, God managed to slow me down in staff meetings and during session talks to teach me more than I had planned on learning. Good leaders are always taking time to learn from the environments they are in, the lessons being taught around them, and specifically from the people they are leading. One of the attendees this weekend spoke some pretty profound truth to me and to the camp about how we were not created to be normal. We fight as parents, spouses, and athletes to fit in and be normal. This camper’s words that we are not normal NOR were we created to be so settled hard on my heart. It’s this desire for normalcy in my life that often can drive a fear of rejection and an ashamedness of the Gospel.
“Well if I talk to that person about Jesus they will think I’m strange and won’t talk to me ever again.”
OR
“If I talk about Jesus to my athletes, clients, or coaches they may classify me as one of those weird Christian dudes who is always trying to convert people.” (Not necessarily a bad thing)
Those excuses that I love to create and make for myself spawn from a desire to be a normal coach with normal relationships who is never rejected or pushed away by anyone. This campers words that we are not normal and that Christ’s work was not normal managed to challenge me in a way I had no expected.
The bottomline: If good leaders listen intently to the people they are leading, they might just learn something.