Today I was listening to the Stephen A. Smith morning sports radio show. He threw out the statement that Peyton Manning was one of the best quarterbacks of all time, possibly the best. He instantly got bombarded with tons of calls from people that agreed and disagreed.
It was funny but for the most part the callers that disagreed with Stephen, absolutely refused to look at things objectively. They only looked at the situation as fans of a particular player.
There were fans of Brett Farvre that said he was the best. There were fans of Tom Brady that called and said that Peyton couldn't compare with Tom. There were Steve Young, Joe Montana, and John Elway fans that called in and voiced their opinion. One guy called and said that Peyton Manning was "ok" but Joe Nammath was far superior than number 18. To which, Stephen A. replied "Joe Namath, are you kidding me? Are you on drugs? Joe Namath? Come on man, Joe Namath was good but he doesn't even deserve to be in the same conversation with Peyton Manning."
When it comes to sports, when you are a fan of someone or some team, your "fanhood" skews your view of reality. So much so that you refuse to let go of the glory days of yesteryear when "Broadway Joe" was the talk of the town. Because you are a "fan" you refuse to look at things objectively and see that it is a new day and that other things, or other people in the present may actually be better than your heroes of yesteryear.
This is true in sports and in ministry. It is very easy for us to be "fans" of a ministry, a program, a style of worship, or service order that worked back in the day. If you are a fan of these things you'll find yourself saying things like "it was amazing", "you should have been there", "God really used this and it was incredible".
You know all of those things may be true. But because it is the message and not the method that is sacred, we need to check our "fanhood" at the door and look at everything we do objectively. Is it a new day? Is this incredible thing of the past still effective? Or has something else (an idea, a ministry, a new style, or method) come along that is much more appealing, much more exciting, and much more useful than the old way of doing things.
To many people in ministry, are like the person that calls into the radio show trying with everything within them to prove that "Broadway Joe" of yesteryear is so much better than the young pup of today. They fight to keep things the same, they hold onto old ways, and because they refuse to look at things objectively, they are in danger of becoming much less effective at winning people to Christ.
When it comes to ministry, look at things objectively, not as a fan.
By the way....Peyton Manning is one of the best quarterbacks of all time!
Go Colts!
