I kind of pride myself on not being one of those guys that tries to be all athletic and act like I know every little detail of what a coach should do in a given scenario because I played pee-wee football in first grade. In fact, when it comes to being athletic I’m pretty much, well, terrible.

But…there have been a few glorious moments of exception. First was my lone year on my school’s swim team as a senior in high school. That’s right, I was district champion in the backstroke.

BAM!

The other was intramural flag football at UT. Believe it or not, I actually got pretty good at defense. And there was one reason for it. I knew my position on the field. When one of the wanna-be-jock coaches told me what to do, I did it and nothing else. It paid off! I got more sacks and “tackles” than just about anybody on our team. Not because I was most athletic, but because I knew my position on the field and focused on being the best I could in that role.

This same concept is what we focus on as a church. OneLife is a team sport! We can’t do it with just a pastor and a staff. So everyone who ends up being a part of our church MUST know their position on the field if we are going to win! And our win is far more important than a swim meet or flag football game.

Our win is seeing lives changed and a community transformed. It takes people who are gifted in teaching and leading, to be sure. But they can’t do it alone! It also takes people gifted in hospitality, encouragement, prayer, generosity, service, faith, wisdom, administration, and on and on the list goes. It takes all of us. It takes YOU!

But it takes you knowing your position on the field so you can focus on that and do it with every fiber in your being. And when we all do that, we WILL make a difference in this community. It WILL leave a mark on the lives of many. And we WILL use our one life to make a difference.

So don’t sit back and let the talking heads on a stage do all the heavy lifting. Because reality is, they simply can’t and won’t. Discover your position on the field, get out of the bleachers, and get in the game! There’s a place for you on the field. It’s your job to be the best you can at it and help our team to claim the victory.

Do something about it today. Start by answering this question honestly: “What is my position on the field?”

Two years ago the University of Tennessee football team had reached a tough spot. Phillip Fulmer, coach for 16 years, had experienced an unbelievable career including a national championship, two SEC championships, and was within a stone’s throw of becoming the all-time winningest coach in school history. But his program was struggling. Struggling badly. And thus, he was fired in the middle of the season.

The very next game was against a sub-par Wyoming team that should have presented no problem. The verdict? An embarrassing loss, on homecoming, that sent the team to its second losing record in three years. Why did this terrible loss happen? I think the answer is simple.

Trust in leadership was shot.

Any organization will be all but done for if there is no trust in leadership. For a church, it is even more important. The staff and especially the pastor must be trusted or you can guarantee the momentum will be lost. As a result, we aggressively defend our leadership and unity at OneLife.

The dream of reaching people who are far from God is too real and too urgent to do anything else. If someone doesn’t trust our leadership, that is totally fine. We will help them find a church where they can. Not because our way is the right way. But because our way is our way that God has clearly given.

I count myself as one of the most blessed people I know because I am surrounded by a staff and church that does in fact trust its leadership. This month is Pastor Appreciation Month and I have been blown away – to the point of tears – nearly every day this week as another card, another gift, another hand written note has shown up. It has reminded me of the unusual unity our church is experiencing. OneLife, we must protect that. Trust me. Trust our staff. And let’s watch God do some amazing things in our city.

The next two items on the Gauge are “We are Laser Focused” and “We are Meticulous.”

A story this morning on Good Morning America talked about how the new, energy efficient windows do a great job reflecting the sun’s rays. In fact, too good of a job! They act like magnifying glasses, reflecting the sun in beams nearly as intense as lasers. The focused sun light is so strong that it is melting the vinyl siding on neighboring houses!

That’s some intense focus. And that’s what we strive for at OneLife.

When we got started, we only did Sunday mornings. No small groups, no youth ministry, no big missions push. Just worship and the Gospel. Many told me that was too simple, but man am I glad we were laser focused. Now we remain laser focused though our ability to do more has indeed expanded. But it has expanded as far as it probably ever will. Now we simply focus on Sunday mornings and OneLife Communities. That’s it. Everything we will ever do from this point forward (missions, community outreach, etc.) will be funneled through one of these two avenues.

Why do we stay so focused? Because of number 6 on The Gauge. We are meticulous.

Colosians 3:23 says “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” When it comes to doing things for God, we want to make sure the details matter. Everything we do will be intentional and excellent. It simply isn’t possible to do that when a church or organization isn’t laser focused. That means some won’t like what we do. They will say we should offer more. Others will say we are too nit-picky or too worried about “the show.” And hey, they might be right. Because when it comes to the God who puts on a show every night when the stars are shining and the God who knows every nit-picky detail about his creation – down to numbering the hairs on their head – the least we can do is our best to give that back to Him.

So we unapologetically remind our staff, volunteers, and partners that what makes OneLife unique is that we are laser focused and meticulous in all that we do. The same approach can make us dangerous in our personal lives, too. How are you laser focused and meticulous in what God has called YOU to do? Focus makes you powerful. Being meticulous makes you unstoppable.

Let’s go do it!

Number 2 on The Gauge – the driving principles for everything we do at OneLife – is “we sacrifice freely.” The premise is simple. Jesus gave his everything for me. He left heaven…why would anyone do that?! But he did, lived a life on earth as a poor man, then died the most gruesome death you could imagine.

He sacrificed freely. As a follower of Christ, I should do the same. As his bride, the Church should, too. Not because we have to, but because it’s my natural response of worship when I reflect on who God is and what He has done for me.

Come early on Sunday to volunteer? No problem considering where Jesus went for me. 10 percent of my financial “increase”? That’s nothing compared to the 100 percent He gave for me. All of my preferences aren’t met? That’s cool – Jesus got pretty uncomfortable on my behalf. Submit to the authority of a church and its leadership? Gladly. I submit to Jesus so of course I love what He loves.

We want to be a church that sacrifices freely filled with people who sacrifice freely. We will sacrifice our time, preferences, comfort, and finances to do whatever it takes to reach people for Jesus. It’s the least we can do.

After all, He sacrificed freely for me.

Over the next 5 weeks, we will be sharing with our awesome volunteer teams the OneLife Gauge during our VIP meetings (where volunteers gather before each service). The Gauge outlines the vision for why everything we do at OneLife revolves around volunteerism and what drives our strategies for volunteer teams. We will use it to evaluate, or “gauge,” how we are doing along the way.

Kydon Bowen, our volunteer coordinator, has been doing an incredible job completely revamping our volunteer teams and the process for becoming a OneLife Volunteer. A special thanks to our friends at Elevation Church for their advice and help as we have tweaked this process. It’s always good to learn from those who’ve been there, done that!

So each week, after Kydon has shared with our teams the vision behind each part of The Gauge, I’ll download here on the blog. So, here’s part one!

We anticipate radical life change each and every Sunday. That is the number one priority behind everything we do. I once heard Pastor Jim Cymbala from Brooklyn Tabernacle talk about why this is important within the context of their incredible choir ministry. He said this is what they share with new choir members to make sure they are up for the challenge and opportunity of volunteering:

“When you come to church in a bad mood, the prostitute on the 12th row doesn’t care. She needs to experience the love of Christ. When you have a fight with your spouse on the way to church and don’t feel like leading worship, the drug addict in the balcony doesn’t care. He needs hope. When you wake up on a Sunday and just don’t feel like coming to church and fulfilling your commitment to serve, it will show in your attitude. The couple whose marriage is falling apart that decided to give it one more shot – they don’t care. They need you to point them to Jesus.”

Understanding that kind of opportunity drives commitment and this kind of commitment only comes when you anticipate – and even expect – life change to happen every week. OneLife Volunteers, we see life change happen in our midst every Sunday. If you want to get the full OneLife experience we ask you to do one thing before you even step foot on the property at Powell High School: beg God for life change to happen!

He wants it more than we do. So let’s anticipate that it will happen.