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I love draft time in professional sports. I just got done watching the NBA and NHL draft and it is so great to listen to teams talk about “next year” on draft day because everyone is full of hope about new leadership and talent coming to the team. A few years ago when the Titans were winning 3 games a year draft day was the best day of the year for because we all had hope. Draft time also brings about a natural time to let people who are not effective go. Yes there are times when players and coaches have to be replaced with more efficient talent and leadership.

Churches and ministries struggle so much with adding and subtracting leaders in their organization. Because organizations are not searching and adding talent to the team people get tired and lose hope. Organizations also keep people around who need to be let go (aka fired) and that also robs hope from team members wanting to make a difference. I think this rule also applies to volunteer leadership. With addition and subtraction of leadership we need a natural period (a ministry draft) to allow us to make hard decisions about our team. Our family ministry team is hunting for new leadership and we are adding staff. Here in the summer we are also trying to identify people we need to move into new roles of free up to go to a different ministry area so that they can serve to their full potential. We have to be willing to fight for the mission and make the hard call of adding talent and removing leaders who have become a distraction. If you want to build a championship team this process has to happen. We are not playing for a trophy or acclaim like a sports team but for the mission of bringing glory to God. Let’s have the courage to establish and “ministry draft” time for the teams we lead and make this process flow smoother in our ministries.