Making a Great Team
By Danny Gasperson
What makes a great college football team? And how does this relate to the General Fund at IM?
Obviously, you must start with great players. You can’t fake athleticism and attitude is an equally important ingredient. The players must be willing to work at their craft to develop their natural abilities into perfected skills. Great players understand that you play in the game like you prepare in practice, so they never just go through the motions. There also must be a cohesiveness within the group. The overall value of a unified group is always more than the sum of the parts.
When these things are present, the likelihood of success is great, but it is not guaranteed. Knowledgeable fans understand the necessity of a great coaching staff for the success of a great football team. Coaches can, and do, either enhance or limit the success of a team.
The coaches are responsible for the composition of the team. They scout and recruit the best players to fill specific roles and fit within the system. Once players commit, they must be trained, developed, and properly prepared for their position. Coaches devise effective schemes, teach proper techniques, and hone players’ skills.
Other coaching staff members also play significant roles in the success of a team. Nutritionists ensure players have proper diet and hydration so that they remain healthy. Tutors are employed to assist players with their academics so that they maintain their eligibility to participate. Counselors help the team members balance the demands of the field, the classroom, and life in general understanding that they are more than just athletes.
Without a great coaching staff and support system, a team seldom reaches its full potential.
The same is true of a great mission program.
It is imperative to have highly gifted and called missionaries. There is no substitute for individuals who have received divinely empowered skills and abilities along with the conviction and call from God to serve and minister to the nations. Thankfully, the Lord has blessed IM with such a team. Our IM roster is stacked with All-Star caliber missionaries. The quality of our missionaries is second to none and their potential is enormous. But our missionaries cannot reach their full potential alone.
That is why it is imperative to have a strong “coaching staff” or Home Team to help. The IM Home Team is comprised of the General Director and other Directors of IM, along with their various team members. It is true that they are not directly “in the game” or on the field like our missionaries, but their role is absolutely essential to the success of our mission. They are responsible for all the behind-the-scenes activities that help our missionaries function at their highest level.
Recruiting
The Home Team is responsible for recruiting, vetting, and training new missionaries. They offer various short-term mission opportunities for high school and college students as well as for adults. These programs have proven to be our best source of identifying and connecting with future missionaries. All missionary applicants go through a rigorous screening to ensure they are qualified spiritually, physically, emotionally, financially, and academically to serve cross-culturally.
Training
The Home Team is responsible for training, shepherding, monitoring, and encouraging our missionaries from application to appointment to assignment. Missionaries are given intensive training and guidance to help them raise and maintain the necessary support to get to and remain on their field.
Logistics
The Home Team relieves the missionaries of the distractions of the mundane, but important, minutia of financial, tax, insurance, and retirement details so that they can focus their attention and energy on ministry. The Home Team collects, records, deposits, and distributes donations to the missionaries’ accounts.
Member Care
Missionaries are shepherded, discipled, coached, encouraged, and celebrated by the Home Team on a continual basis. When hardship, hurt, or heartbreak comes to our missionaries, they know the Home Team is there to provide the loving help and healing they need.
Promotion
The Home Team continually advocates for and promotes our missionaries to our denominational base.
Partnership
The Home Team’s influence also reaches beyond our IM missionaries to our Legacy Partners and Field Partnerships.
Whatever our missionaries need to succeed, our Home Team works to provide.
We are confident that God has blessed us with a dynamic team of quality IM missionaries whose potential is limitless. The faithful, generous support from FWB churches and individuals demonstrates that others recognize their value as well. We rejoice that most missionary accounts are strong and healthy, enabling them to dedicate themselves to their fields without distraction. We are committed to doing all we can to maintain this level of healthy support for our missionaries.
Unfortunately, IM’s General Fund, which supports the Home Team, is a different story. In recent years, gifts to the General Fund have been insufficient to meet the increasing demands of our growing missionary team. The Home Team’s priority has always been and will continue to be helping our missionaries become and remain fully funded. It is impossible to win a game without players on the field. But our missionaries need and deserve the encouragement, guidance, and support they receive from a strong Home Team. Without this assistance, our missionaries will suffer and probably not reach their full potential.
Clint Morgan, the General Director of IM, is challenging 200 individuals, churches, or organizations to each give a $1000 gift to the General Fund of IM. This would help restore the health and strength of our General Fund and enable our Home Team to continue to assist and support our missionaries. Will you prayerfully consider being part of that group? Even if you are not able to give that amount, any assistance would be very helpful and greatly appreciated.
Through your gift to the IM General Fund, you can help get our missionaries on their fields, keep them in the game, and help them perform at their highest level.
