Bill Walsh, a football coach best known for his leadership of the San Francisco Forty Niners, recently passed away. He leaves quite a legacy for innovation and creativity among football fans. However, as the Wall Street Journal notes, he showed Christians how important it is to follow Jesus' method of making disciples and not simply filling seats.
It was as a teacher, though, that Mr. Walsh had his greatest and most lasting influence on football. Unlike Lombardi, who left worshippers but no disciples, Mr. Walsh spawned an entire generation of acolytes. His defensive coordinator George Seifert won two Super Bowls with San Francisco; his offensive coordinator Mike Holmgren won one with Green Bay. Mr. Seifert's pupil Mike Shanahan, schooled in Mr. Walsh's methods, won two more with Denver.
Mr. Walsh's influence on football today is so pervasive that nearly 20 years after his final game, the Super Bowl has practically become an annual showcase for his adherents. This past February, Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy, a former player under Mr. Walsh, squared off against the Chicago Bears' Lovie Smith, who trained as an assistant to Dennis Green, once a Walsh receiver's coach.
That Messrs. Dungy and Smith were the first African-American coaches to reach the Super Bowl highlights perhaps Mr. Walsh's greatest legacy: In 1987, he helped create the Minority Coaching Fellowship Program. "I can tell you this," says Mr. Dungy, "his life was about much more than just X's and O's."
Mr. Barra writes about sports for The Wall Street Journal. http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110010410
In today's church world we hear an awful lot about the importance of being big. Big churches, big conferences and big men on the church campuses. Mr. Walsh was a big man in his world who filled a lot of seats in football stadiums but as we see in the article above, he was much more.
Jesus' model of leadership was one of equipping and multiplication. If you are not raising up and rewarding men and women who are more gifted and experienced than you then you are not leading like Jesus no matter how many times you have read the book by that name.
Now is the time for Seasoned Believers to multiply there wisdom and influence.
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