Last Saturday, I had the chance to hit some tennis balls around with my 14-year-old daughter. She is a freshman on her high school tennis team, but we never seem to find the time to go play together. So instead of going to a homecoming dance, she chose to hang with her dad.
We got to the courts, and she asked if I would help coach her on her serve. I'm not an expert, by any means, but after 4 years of high school tennis and occasional games as an adult, I knew enough to recognize some fundamentals she was lacking in her game. I asked her if her coach had ever given her help, and she said, "Dad, our team is so large. The coach never has time to give me any tips."
So we spent some time working on her serve. She was erratic at first, but eventually she started getting some serves in. Then not only were some balls landing in, but that had more zip than she's ever had before! I could tell she was feeling really good about this. We left the courts as the sunset, but confidence rising within my daughter. But that confidence was going to be put to the test.
Tuesday afternoon this week, I had the chance of watching my oldest play a doubles match. She is toward the bottom of the "ladder", so she didn't play until late into the afternoon. But her tennis game that afternoon was the best I've ever seen from her! Even though she still had some double faults and mis-hits, she played the best she's ever played - especially in her service game. She and her partner won 6-3, but even if they had lost, I could tell her game had gone to a new level - all because she received a little bit of coaching.
The Kansas City Connection
So what does my daughter's tennis game have to do with anything? Well, allow me to tell you...
As part of my Leadership Residency at Restore, I am primarily interested in learning about reproduction. In order for reproduction to occur, leaders have to be willing to find someone else that can do what they do. But I'm learning that some leaders aren't "reproducing." One ministry leader hadn't reproduced for one simple reason: When she was supposedly "apprenticed," she had a total of one meeting with her leader. She didn't know what it looked like to coach someone to become a leader simply because she had never truly been coached herself. A few simple conversations along with some encouragement could be all the difference for this one leader to take her "game" to the next level, so that she can in turn coach and empower others to do the ministry God has called them to.
Is there anyone around you that could use some coaching? What do you know that could spur someone else on? Because a few encouraging words could really make all the difference in someone's life to help them take their "game" to the next level.
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