Recruiting vs. Evangelizing
I’ve watched a couple of programs that have been on television lately about the history of college football. I hope to watch all of them at some point, but have not been able to do so.
One of the programs I watched was focused on how the entire process of recruiting young men (boys) to play football has changed over the years. Two scenes from that program still stand out in my mind.
The first scene was an interview with a man who played football for a legendary college coach a number of years ago. He described one memorable Thanksgiving dinner. At the time, he was a senior in high school. During the dinner, the telephone rang. When the phone was answered, to everybody’s surprise, the person making the call was a man who was one of the four or five most famous college football coaches in the nation at that time.
The coach informed the family that he was in town and asked if he could stop by for a few minutes. The invitation was extended and accepted and, as it is sometimes said, the rest is history. The young man attended that university and played football for that coach.
During the interview, it was obvious that the critical factor in the entire process was the fact that a famous coach would sacrifice time with his own family on a national holiday in order to make a visit to this one family. After all of these years, the man still seemed to be elated about the fact that this coach thought that he was worth all of that effort.
To be fair, the player knew the reputation of the coach. He knew that much would be required of him and that playing for him would not be easy. That seems not to have mattered. What mattered was that somebody considered to be very important thought that he was important enough to sacrifice some time, effort, and personal convenience.
The second scene from that program was entirely different. It is a scene that demonstrates the pivotal moment in a present-day recruiting process.
In this scene, a number of assistant coaches and staff members are in a room watching a huge television screen. On that screen is one young man (boy). All of these grown men are waiting anxiously for the young man to put on a cap and announce where he intends to play college football. When the young man puts on the cap of their school and announces that he will play for them, the celebration in the room is almost unbridled.
They have courted this young man for a long time. They have catered to him in so many ways. The school and its supporters have built locker rooms, weight rooms, cafeterias, dorms, etc. that are intended to impress this young man and others like him. “State of the art” doesn’t even come close to describing the facilities.
All of this has paid off. They have their commitment.
Or do they?
How many times have you heard of an athlete “decommitting” and making a decision to go to another university? How many times have you heard of an athlete who doesn’t think that he is being treated fairly at the school to which he “committed” and transferring to another institution?
What does all of this have to do with the rest of us? What is the lesson, if any, for those of us who will never play one down of college football (or any other sport on that level)?
For one thing, this type of thinking has had an impact on the employer-employee relationship. It seems to be becoming increasingly the case that it is the prospective employer who is “on the hotseat” instead of the prospective employee. It is the prospective employee who wants to know “what can you do for me?” instead of the other way around.
This type of thinking has had an impact on us in other ways as well. At about the time I was entering my teen years, we had a president who challenged us with these words: “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” This was also at about the same time that the legendary coach was having Thanksgiving dinner with a prospective player and his family.
It may just be me, but it seems that many who now run for public office try to persuade us to vote for them by promising more and more programs, services, rights, etc. that are intended to benefit us. The message seems to be that we are not expected to make any sacrifice or to be inconvenienced in any way.
Sadly, for somebody like me whose interest for years has been preaching the gospel and trying to do what I can to reach people who need to hear and obey it, we may need to do some serious thinking and evaluating. I fear that we, even in the religious world, may have gone from evangelizing to recruiting.
I well remember that, during my years as a “full-time preacher,” I was encouraged to “court” a certain couple because they were “good prospects.” They were already Christians and had moved into our community and were looking for a church home. The reason that I was encouraged to pay particular interest to them seemed to be that they fit the preferred demographic profile of the one doing the encouraging.
I did what I tried to do with every person who showed some interest in our congregation. I called on them, visited with them a while, and kept in contact with them.
Ultimately, they decided to worship elsewhere. Apparently, the other congregation had more to offer them and was “more to their taste.”
Somehow, I felt as though I hadn’t had much success as a recruiter. I did not, however, feel as though I had been involved in any kind of evangelism. To me, there is a huge difference.
The message of the Bible is that the greatest sacrifice that could ever be made was made because “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” (John 3:16). Paul made a personal application of this. He referred to Jesus as “…the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).
Maybe that’s one reason that Paul is often referred to in terms like “the great apostle Paul,” “the peerless apostle Paul,” etc. He knew the difference between recruiting and evangelizing.
We would do well to understand that same difference.
Most of us understand that the simplest definition of the word “gospel” is “good news.” The good news is not that I am so special that somebody wants me on their team (congregation).
The good news is that Jesus is Lord of all because He willingly gave Himself as the ultimate sacrifice and deserves my undivided and unending loyalty. We evangelize when we preach that message.
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AUTHOR: Jim Faughn
