Shepherding God's Team / Guest Post by Josh Graham

After a long hockey season, one of my favorite things to do is to find a couple of books that I can dive into that will help me grow and develop as a coach. I love to learn and grow professionally. One book I have especially enjoyed, Shepherding God’s Flock by Jay E. Adams, is one of the primary textbooks on training pastoral ministry, counseling, and leadership.

Why would a hockey coach buy a book on pastoring, you might ask? Well, as I have grown in my relationship with the Lord, one thing I can positively say is that coaching a team is a lot like pastoring. As coaches, we pick players from all walks of life and try to get them to play like a team. Similarly, a pastor, through the work of the Holy Spirit, is shepherding sinners in order that they might function like the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-16).

Through my coaching journey, I have been trying to figure out what a Christian coach looks like. After reading the first section of Shepherding God’s Flock, I would like to share what God has taught me and give some practical examples of what I am going to try to implement this year with the Liberty University Men’s Division II Hockey Team.

One of the paradigm shifts I’ve experienced since reading this book is that relationship building is not an end, but that its function is to build relationships in order to share the gospel. As Christian coaches, our identity and mission are not derived from wins and losses. I would like to encourage everyone to consider that our ultimate identity comes from Christ and being renewed and remade in His image. Hockey, or whatever sport we are coaching, is the vehicle to build the connection point with our players to share Christ.

When we look at Jesus calling the disciples in Matthew 4:17, Jesus went to Capernaum to live and to start teaching God’s Word. In the following verse, Jesus calls Peter and Andrew. When reading this encounter, we read v. 17 and go right into v. 18 and think it’s sequential without realizing a few weeks or months have passed. People assume that Jesus just randomly called His disciples. The disciples Jesus called would have heard Jesus teaching before. Why I bring that example up is this: Jesus built relationships. Jesus knew about fishing and was able to use the term “fishers of men,” which was relatable to the first few apostles that Jesus called. Like Jesus, God has placed all of us as coaches in our Capernaum, as it were, to be coaches and teach people His Word and make disciples.

What I want to re-emphasize is that while all of us understand that relationship building is important, it should be shaped with the gospel in mind since we are to be lights in the world (Matt. 5:14). The question now is, how does this relate back to Shepherding God’s Flock? One of the primary themes in the first section of Shepherding God’s Flock is describing what a shepherd is and what the shepherd’s responsibilities are. The primary passage used to explain this concept is Psalm 23. This greatly challenged me in how I see my players and my role as a coach.

I would encourage all of you to read Psalm 23 and then look for these themes listed below, not only in this passage but in other passages throughout Scripture as well. This has served me as a guidepost on what a Christian coach looks like. Below are the nine (9) principles that Psalm 23 speaks of:

1. Concern for individual sheep: “The Lord is MY Shepherd,” “calls them by name” (John 10:3)
2. Rest: “He makes me lie down.” God knows how much we can handle.
3. Provision for daily sustenance: “green pastures…still waters”
4. Refreshment and encouragement: “He restores my soul”
5. Guidance and leadership: “He leads me,” “He goes before them” (John 10:4)
6. Instruction, training, and discipline: “leads in the paths of righteousness” and II Tim. 3:16
7. Provision for goals and motivation: “For His name’s sake”
8. Security and protection: “I will fear no evil…”
9. Personal fellowship and loving friendship: “You are with me”

When I initially read this list, I considered my role as an assistant coach or even as a coach in general, and I asked myself, “Am I really putting an effort into all of these categories?” My honest answer was no. What I was struck by with the breakdown of this passage is how relational this all is. One side note about myself is that a large part of my growth as a believer and as a coach has been in relationship building. This is something that does not come easily for me, as I am very…very task-oriented. You need a spreadsheet created and detailed for a drill bank…done. You need video set up for OFZN, DFZN, or NZ…done. But if you need me to sit down with a guy and get into his personal world, that is where the Lord has worked the most in me the last few years, and thankfully, I can say there has been significant progress made in this area. While I’m not going to go through all nine categories and discuss how God is working through me in all of these areas, I do want to speak on three of them that I am specifically going to be working on this coming hockey season.
 
The first principle is continuing to grow in care for individual players on the team. It’s not that I didn’t care in the past, but I allowed personal interaction to be a distraction for me in finishing my task. I want to be open to interruptions just as Jesus was open to interruptions (for example, the paralytic lowered through Peter’s roof and the woman with the issue of blood). If I’m really caring about my players, I cannot be caught up in my tasks. I need to be open to the person.

This past year, I’ve had the opportunity to mentor two former players of mine, one who was just married this past April, as well as work with another former player as he transitions from a player to a team chaplain. I really do enjoy cultivating those relationships and seeing personal growth in both of those young men.
 
The second one, which aligns with the fourth principle above, is refreshment and encouragement. I am not gracious or merciful by nature. God has used marriage and two young children to help me grow in this area. My mentality as a younger coach was, “I’ve told you once, figure it out!” But as my wife and I are currently potty training our 2.5-year-old, I am reminding her hourly to use the potty and encouraging her when she is successful. I need to carry this over to coaching, especially when I’m teaching my players new concepts or skills.

My last one, which aligns with the ninth principle, is one of the biggest shifts I’ve had as a coach in the last few years, and it is in fellowship and loving friendship. When I was a younger coach, I had built an idea of being the smartest guy in the room and knowing a lot of coaching concepts, techniques, drills, and systems. This persona came from the fact that I only played U18 AA hockey. I was born with a heart condition and could not play beyond high school. As a result, I knew I needed an edge, and so I took my personal development as a coach to an obsession. My mentality was that I would be respected for being a knowledgeable coach and a winning coach. But that all came crashing down very recently. Part of my journey of learning to shepherd God’s team is learning that I needed to change my perspective from coaching for my own agenda to coaching to impact my players’ hearts.

These are not spiritual habits yet, but God has been providing encouragement and affirmation that I’m getting on the right track. The head coach I work with, as well as outgoing seniors, have all encouraged me in various ways, stating they are seeing change. I am having more players reach out to me consistently and am developing more meaningful relationships with them all.

I really hope this has encouraged you all to shepherd God’s team wherever He has placed you. I know this idea and concept has radically changed my approach to coaching, and I am excited to see how God is going to work through our team this year.