Written by Bob Schindler, Executive Director of CEDE Partners – an Initiative of CEDE Sports
How Do I Know I am Winning?
“At the end of the game, all I had to do to know whether we had won or lost was to look at the scoreboard.” A good friend and colleague of mine, M.L. Woodruff, then said, “Now I don’t have that scoreboard. I don’t know whether I am winning or losing.”
M.L. had served as a high school baseball coach for 30 years (where he won 11 state championships by the way – obviously winning more than he lost!) before pursuing a call to lead Istrouma Sports at Istrouma Baptist Church in Baton Rouge. It was in that role with Istrouma Sports that I met M.L. This conversation came up early on in our relationship. It stuck with me.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that M.L.’s challenge is not unique. We all want to know if we are winning or losing, making progress or falling behind. In some areas of life, we may have a clear “scoreboard.” In others, like in ministry, that scoreboard may not be so clear. For example, are you winning or losing in:
- Your marriage?
- Your parenting?
- Your following Jesus?
If you know, how do you know? What is your scoreboard?
Keeping Score
In the pursuit of the answer, what sports, rec, and fitness ministers often do is to establish a scoreboard that is easily measurable. Their scoreboard typically includes:
- Number of participants
- Finances
- Facilities
While this is helpful information, it is incomplete. It doesn’t evaluate the whole picture and give a true understanding of whether progress is being made.
To help sports, rec, and fitness leaders with this dilemma, we developed a tool to evaluate progress called The Wheel.
It is based on the three components of a wheel
- The Hub – Power Source
- The Spokes – Power Transfer
- The Rim – Power Effects
To learn more about how to use this tool, we invite you to join us on Wednesday, October 28th, from 3:00-4:00 pm EST. Zoom Link Here
In this time, we will explain how The Wheel was developed and how to use this tool as a Standard or Measure for evaluating the progress in a sports, rec, and fitness ministry. In addition, we will also discuss using this Measure, with the right Method and the right Motivation which will lead to a fuller and more biblical picture of progress.
We hope to see you there.
