When Should I Bring My “A-Game?”

Many who will read these words are very familiar with Polishing the Pulpit. When I’m asked to describe it to people who are unfamiliar with it, I’ve tried to come up with something appropriate. I’ve had a difficult time doing that.

It is a lectureship, but it is much more than that. It is a workshop, but it is much more than that. It is a seminar, but it is much more than that. It offers opportunities to worship, but it does much more than that. It provides opportunities to see old friends and make new ones, but it is much more than a “giant fellowship opportunity.”

Polishing the Pulpit is, in fact, much more than any one thing. It is a combination of so many things. For that reason, I usually merely try to sum all of this up by saying, “Polishing the Pulpit is a spiritual feast.”

During this spiritual feast this past year, I heard a comment that, at once, was both true, challenging, and thought-provoking. Somebody was commenting on the quality of the speakers and their lessons. That comment evoked the following response:

“These fellows bring their ‘A-Game’ here.”

Please understand that I am not trying to be critical of that comment or of those who do, in fact, attempt to “bring their ‘A-Game’” to Polishing the Pulpit. I’m just wondering if I, as a preacher, might not be guilty of letting the size of the crowd to whom I’ll be speaking and/or the event at which I’ll be speaking influence my preparation and presentation. 

I have been blessed with the opportunity to speak at Polishing the Pulpit. I’ve even had the opportunity to speak in one of the larger ballrooms a few times. This year, I spoke in one of the smaller meeting rooms.

I’m wondering if I felt more pressure to “bring my ‘A-Game’” to the ballroom than the meeting room. Did the people in the meeting room deserve only my “B-Game” or worse?

A few weeks before Polishing the Pulpit this year, I was invited to speak to a congregation in our local area during their Sunday evening worship. There were fourteen of us in attendance. Should I have taken my “C-Game” since there were so few?

I’m thinking of some examples in the New Testament. I invite you to think with me.

Did Peter “bring his ‘A-Game’” only on the Day of Pentecost when he spoke to thousands or do we not find him “bringing his ‘A-Game’” on other occasions and in different circumstances?

Paul had opportunities to speak to important, powerful, and educated people. He spoke to political and religious leaders. During at least some of those times, there was a sizable number of people listening to what he had to say. At those times, he “brought his ‘A-Game.’” Did he not also “bring his ‘A-Game’” when he and Silas spoke in the middle of the night to a jailor in Philippi?

Without belaboring the point, I will merely suggest that the “A-Game mentality” may affect us many ways. I am not merely thinking of those who preach and teach.

It might be easy to fall prey to the thinking that, if I wear a title, am the head of some program, and/or am getting supported financially, I need to “bring my ‘A-Game.” If that is not the case, I am justified in doing something much less.

I would like to challenge that mentality by mentioning only one person about whom we read in our New Testaments. She had no official title. There is no evidence that she was the head of some program in her local congregation. The evidence we have suggests strongly, though, that Dorcas (Tabitha) “brought her ‘A-Game’” to the work she did for her Master (cf. Acts 9:36-43).

As we consider when we need to “bring our ‘A-Game’” and before we fall into the trap of thinking that numbers or venues determine the level of our effort, may I remind all of us of the following verse? Although the passage is addressed primarily to the attitude that slaves are to have with regard to their service to their masters, it seems that all of us would do well to commit these words to our memories and apply them to all that we do.

Servants, be obedient to them that are [your] masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;

Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;

With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:

Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether [he be] bond or free (Eph. 6:6-8, KJV).

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AUTHOR: Jim Faughn