Yes, I'm an unabashed Panther fan.  Yes, I know eyes are rolling on the other side of computer screens.

I'm cool with that.  These are exciting times in the Carolinas, folks.  We have a team playing in the Super Bowl.  And while the winning certainly facilitates our enthusiasm, it's the intangibles that really have us hooked.  This team has personality.  This team has drive.  This team has fun!

So pardon me a few minutes of fandom, but when I look at the Carolina Panthers in their current incarnation, I see some qualities that all leaders - including those in the church - could learn something from.

LEADERS USE THEIR INNATE SKILLS WHILE LEARNING NEW ONES
Cam Newton came into the league as a bit of a freak of nature - a QB built more like a running back.  This was supposedly the "new NFL quarterback" prototype that would move the position away from a traditional "pocket passer."  Cam fit this new model to a "t."  Problem was, running QBs who don't learn to run judiciously get beat up and see their careers end prematurely (see: RG III, Michael Vick).  

So Cam worked with his QB coach to learn to be a better pocket passer.  It wasn't always pretty - balls soaring well above wide open receivers were a common occurrence the past few Panther seasons.  But this year, things seemed to click. He became a legit pocket passer, while at the same time still able to burn you with a strong run to get a first down - or more.  Which is certainly keeping the Denver defense up at nights over the next two weeks.

I've written before for NEXT Church about the need for pastors to be able to stand with one foot in "tradition" and the other in change.  This is not easy, but very necessary.  If we come in and try to immediately change everything, chances are we're going to get pretty beat up.  But to simply lead the church where it's always comfortably been isn't good, either.  We have to be skilled at doing both, or at the very least intentionally learn how to be.

EVERYONE ON THE TEAM IS A VALUED MEMBER OF THE TEAM
In case you haven't heard, Panthers owner Jerry Richardson is paying for all support staff and interns in the Panthers organization to attend Super Bowl 50 - travel, accommodations, tickets, the whole thing.  For the record, he also did this the last time they made the Super Bowl, in 2004.  

Call it a PR stunt if you want, and Richardson certainly has deep pockets, but it should be noted that this is not something NFL owners typically do.  He chose to do this.  Which, as a friend of mine commented, makes us wish we had applied for that stadium sweeper job.  

In all seriousness, it sends a very powerful and important message - the team is more than just the 50+ players on the field.  It makes me happy to think that Jason (the guy who contacted me about doing the invocation at their first playoff game a few weeks ago) and Allyson (the lovely staffer who served as my family's escort during our on-field time) are heading to Santa Clara with Cam, Luke and the others.

Churches are notorious for making both successes and setbacks about one person or a small group of people - the pastor, the session, etc.  A true culture of leadership recognizes that every person involved needs to be held accountable and get credit when things go well.

GOING THE EXTRA MILE WHEN YOU REALLY DON'T HAVE TO
Panthers star linebacker Luke Kuechly is an amazing player, but seemingly an even better person, as this story lays testimony to.  I showed this video at a church staff meeting last week and paused it in that moment right after Luke accepted the car with thanks.   I asked the staff, what are some possible scenarios of how this might play out going forward?  Responses were as expected: he could simply move on to the next kid, he could toss the car in the trash when he got out of the kid's view, etc. etc.  Then I started the video again.  And we watched Luke, in a brief moment of pause, seem to make a conscious choice to take things a step further with the kid - going off script, as it were, and kind of let things play out themselves.  And that changed the whole scene from simply being a neat gesture on the kid's part to a transformative experience for both.  I love thinking about that kid at the school lunch table the next day: Yeah, I got Luke's gloves, but my signed Pinewood Derby car is on display in his locker right now.

In church we have a lot of practices/policies/procedures that give us direction and tell us what we need to do in most any situation.  And that's certainly ministry.  But a deeper ministry can happen when we go off-script - take the common practice a step further and see where it leads us.  More and more I'm convinced these opportunities are around us all the time - that casual conversation in the hallway, a moment in worship, a session meeting.  Our job is to remain alert so we see them when they materialize and let the Spirit do its thing through us.

WHEN SOMEONE GOES DOWN, SOMEONE ELSE STEPS UP
Football is a tough sport and guys get injured all the time.  Star players, too.  Often this affect's a team's success.  At the beginning of the year before even the first game, star wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin was lost for the season, leaving a cadre of no-names and castoffs to fend for themselves.  Those guys, as it turned out, banded together and proved to be a more than adequate receiving corps.  There was no single breakout star in the bunch, but together they helped take the team to a 17-1 record.

Churches stay, but ministers and staff come and go.  The sign of a strong church is one where a church's well-being and future don't hinge on who comes and goes.  A strong sense of team and vision provides the continuity a church needs.  And if there's a strong sense of team and vision, good people will always be drawn to the mix.  

THIS TEAM HAS FUN, AND IT'S CONTAGIOUS
I feel for Cam.  All he wants is to enjoy the ride, and yet people are raking him over the coals.  How dare he dance in the end zone, do the dab, give footballs to kids!  

Admittedly more than a little biased on this and fully acknowledging that #1 is a bit of a showboat, I still have a hard time understanding the Tennessee Moms and Seattle petition guy.  This quarterback isn't accused of taking performance-enhancing drugs or beating his girlfriend.  And while his wardrobe choices are slightly suspect, and naming your kid "Chosen" certainly takes some chutzpah, I'm convinced that he really is just enjoying the moment, eagerly sharing it with teammates and an entire city.  

In fact, the very act of giving footballs to kids is worth note.  Cam started it himself - run for a TD, give the ball to a kid in the stands.  If a wide receiver or running back scored, they'd give the ball to Cam so he could do his thing.  Then one game, wide receiver Devin Funchess (gotta love the name) caught a TD and handed it to Cam.  But Cam declined it, pointed to him and then the end zone crowd.  The message was clear through my TV set: No, you give it away! It's a blast!  Now, it's rare that Cam does the actual football-sharing himself.  Setting a standard and then letting everyone else in on the fun is shared leadership at its best.

The church deals with a lot of heavy things - life and death, sin and salvation, kingdom-building, heavy social hot-button issues, all on a tight budget.  That's serious stuff.  But sometimes I wonder if we wind up taking ourselves too seriously, and not the God we claim to serve.  Ministry should be fun, and we should find enjoyment in each other and the ministry we are called to carry out, always seeking to share that joy with whomever.  After all, joy is biblical.

And as an example of said joy, I dare you to tell me this doesn't brighten your day:

Go church.  Go Panthers.  Keep Pounding.

I bet many of you have seen this video. If not, next time you have three minutes to spare (like, right now), give this a look:

The thing is,  Derek Sivers is right - much the same way Seth Godin is in his book "Tribes."  There are leaders and there are followers, but in the end it has to be about the movement, not the person.  And no leader - no matter how dynamic their personality or how worthy their cause - no leader can be such unless they have people who are ready to follow.  And not people who follow them per-se, but people who follow the movement. People who are passionate about it.  Fervently invested in it.

So - it has to be about the movement, not the leader.  And both the leaders and followers need to get this, or no one's dancing for long.

It's a great way to understand the church, but there sure are a lot of obstacles that can get in the way.  You have pastors who make it more about themselves than it needs to be.  You have churches who make it more about the pastor, putting them on a pedestal, separate from everyone else.  You have congregants who are more observers than followers, and you have churches and pastors who never quite find the movement (read: mission) they are called to.

In other words, there are a lot of moving parts involved in helping a church look like this rock show/dance mosh pit, and it's quite the task bringing them all together as such.  But it can be done.  Here's a very simplistic way of understanding a more complex process:

Find your mission/movement - BUT, don't just limit yourself to what you see others do. Dare to dream and find your own calling.

Find a good leader - BUT, resist every urge to instinctively make it all about them.  And resist every urge to allow them to do the same.

Find those good first followers - BUT, don't let them go un-nurtured and unsupported.  If the mission/movement is right, there's no shame in being "just another follower."  In fact, it's absolutely critical.

And most of all, never be afraid to do a wickedly crazy dance.  You very well may be surprised at the good things that can come from it.  

Just keep your shirt on.  Pretty please.

You need to know, folks, that my heart is full right now.  That's usually what happens when I come home from these church youth conferences that weave their way in and out of my life a handful of times each year.  There's something about the synergy of energizers, music, a good message, even better people and the holy presence that often leaves me without words to express it all.  I've done this sort of thing enough - as a participant and as part of leadership - to know it's always tricky negotiating what's not-so-jokingly referred to as "re-entry:" going back to life as we know it and somehow living differently when, for everyone else, the planet has been spinning around its axis all the same.

Thus the dilemma I faced as I prepared to stand before 300+ youth and adults and give the sermon for closing worship at the Massanetta Middle School Conference last week. As the keynote speaker I'd been in the habit of talking to them a fair bit.   But what more was there to say?  So I was grateful when a friend offered up a little gem for me to chew on: think bigger than this one conference, Steve. Tell them what you want them to hear about themselves. Speak your heart.  And that's precisely what I did.

Four thing - four things that I want the youth of our church to know:

1. YOU ARE NOT JUST THE CHURCH'S FUTURE, YOU ARE THE CHURCH'S PRESENT
It always baffles me, and slightly irritates me, when I hear well-meaning people refer to youth strictly in terms of being "the church's future" - as if at some undetermined point a switch will be flipped and they'll instantaneously go from being participants and observers in the life of the church to suddenly leading it.  We need them to know that now is the time to grab hold of the leadership reins. Which means, of course, that we have to start letting go - and there's the rub.  "Youth on the session or on our committees?" someone once remarked to me. "I'd sure hate for them to see some of the things that go on there."  Hmm.  Perhaps the better solution is not shielding our youth from seeing something that shouldn't be there anyway, but bringing them on board to help us change things so that stuff isn't there to begin with.

2. YOUR VOICE MATTERS
It was last summer when I experienced  a 6th grade girl pony-tailed girl who, through a voice all her own, showed me how much her voice mattered and how much the church needed to hear it.  That was confirmed again last week at Massanetta around the lunch table one day, when a casual conversation with some of our youth leadership segued into a heartfelt discussion about the denomination's recent General Assembly actions and how their respective churches were dealing with it. I heard both hope and angst around the table - not only with what was happening in their congregations, but the ways in which they were or were not part of the conversation.  We need our young people at the table to lend their voices so our dialogue will be that much richer.

3. YOU REALLY CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Going out on a limb here with a broad declaration, but more and more it seems to me that the church's worst enemy these days is not a culture of secularism but a culture of ambivalence.  Nothing can change. It doesn't really matter anyway.  Our young people are right at that critical point of looking at us and deciding if we're worth their time and investment.  So as the church grants our young people a place at the table, we need to make sure that it's more than simply a seat.  It needs to come with a voice and the empowerment to do things that actually matter.   If they sense all they're getting is a token position, we've lost them already.

4. YOU ARE ALWAYS, ALWAYS LOVED
One of the workshops at Massanetta allowed folks to anonymously name and claim their fears, and one night during our leadership devotion the workshop director shared some of them with us.  My heart broke as I heard so much confusion, angst, pain - and, running through them, the very real fear that they may not be accepted for being themselves.  In a society where our young people are constantly judged and valued for what score they made on a test, how fast they run a mile at practice, how well their college essay is written, and how much what they wear is in style, the church is in a beautifully unique position to tell them over and over again that they are loved not for anything they've done but just because of who they are - and, more importantly, whose they are. 

So those are the four things I shared with the youth in my closing sermon.  What about you - what things would you tell them, if you were given the chance?

If you don't have a clue who Adam Silver is, I won't fault  you. Honestly, had it not been for the fact that our family has become rabid former-Bobcats-now-Hornets fans since our move to Charlotte eight months ago, I probably wouldn't have known he's the new NBA commissioner either, coming on the job this past April.  Some thought that following his long-term and very successful predecessor would be a challenge, but Silver has more than demonstrated he's up to the task, as evidenced in how he's handled a couple of tricky situations with tremendous grace, compassion and action.

In fact - and here's a true sign that you can paint me Hornet purple and teal, folks - I actually think there's a few things pastor types like me can learn from the NBA Commish.  Here's what I've got:

WHEN TRAGIC THINGS HAPPEN TO SOMEONE IN THE FAMILY,
FIND WAYS TO HONOR THEM AND HONOR ALL.

Last Thursday night found the Lindsleys joining a few thousand of the Hornets faithful at Time Warner Cable arena in uptown Charlotte, attending the NBA Draft Party.

You heard right, people.  A draft party. This is what my life has come to.

Anyway, in addition to watching our team pick an Indiana power forward with great potential and freakishly huge hands, we also got to see this:

How amazing is this!  In a radio interview a few days after the draft, Austin said that Silver had called him the day after he learned his medical condition would keep him from pursuing his dream.  I want you to be my special guest at the draft, and we want to honor you" was all Silver told him.  It would've been enough if Silver had simply acknowledged him, said everyone was rooting for him.  But he took it a step further and gave Austin what he wanted most on that night: to hear his name called, go up on stage, get a cap, get "drafted." You can see in the video how much it meant to him.  And how much it meant to everyone else there - players, parents, fans.   

The real beauty of what he did?  It not only communicated authentic compassion to this one player, but to everyone there.  It sent a clear message: we care about you in this league.  When one of us falls down, we're there to pick you up.

Pastoring people means you're there for folks in both the good and the bad.  It's pretty easy to celebrate the good stuff; it's a little harder to know how to respond to truly tragic situations in transformative ways - ways that communicate the same caring love not just to the one directly affected, but to everyone.  Silver led in a special way in this instance; pastors as well should keep their eyes peeled for moments to do the same.

WHEN CONFLICT AND DYSFUNCTION REAR THEIR UGLY HEAD,
CONSULT, PONDER, PRAY - AND THEN ACT.

Back in May, news broke that Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling had said some pretty heinous racial things.  For those who have followed him over the years, this came as no surprise, as he'd compiled a stellar track record of offending just about every minority possible. Roughy four days later, Adam Silver stepped to the mic at a called press conference and responded - lifetime suspension, huge fine, and pushing him to sell the team.  It was the strictest punishment Silver could administer per the NBA bylaws.

It would've been easy for Silver to have looked the other way (it's what his predecessor did for years) or give him a slap on the wrist.  But Silver chose to act.  And the thing is, he didn't make the decision in haste or by himself.  It came after a pretty intense period of discernment and consultation with other NBA owners and players.  He got all the information he needed, he heard the thoughts and opinions of others.  And with that surrounding him, he stepped to the mic.  

It's one thing to have some minor disgruntlement in a church ; it's another thing when there's an ongoing dysfunctional pattern of behavior that's harmful to everyone.  Churches, like so many organizations, tend to deal with this sort of thing by sweeping it under the rug or rationalizing it away.  Pastors are in a unique position to help a system heal.  However - and this is key - they should never try to do it by themselves.  Talk to people, seek out counsel in and out of the church, gather information, and then act.  It's hard stuff, but the dividends pay off in many ways, including a healthy family system that has greater potential to flourish and grow. 

DON'T TAKE CREDIT FOR THE GROUP'S SUCCESS (AND DON'T LET THE GROUP LET YOU).

Weeks after Silver's press conference on the Sterling matter, he stepped to the podium at the annual NBA MVP awards ceremony.  And something unheard of happened: the place erupted in applause.  It's well-known in professional sports circles that a true fan holds general disdain toward their sport's commissioner; the "big brother" that meddles and screws up the purity of the game.  Heck, every time NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell gets introduced somewhere the crowd boos lustily.  It's like a rite of passage.

But not this time - Silver stepped to the mic and fans clapped and cheered.  And how did the commish react?  Raise his arms up in the air, flash the "victory" sign, pump his fists?  Hardly.  Slightly taken aback at first, Silver briefly paused and then proceeded with his remarks, quieting everyone down.  He didn't bask in the glow - because, in a sense, he realized that it really wasn't his glow anyway.  They were applauding a system that worked.  He only stewarded the process along.

Pastors are a lot like sports coaches - they tend to get more credit than they deserve when things are going well, and more blame than they deserve when things are not.  It's rare, especially in the church polity I serve under, that a single individual can make significant changes all by themselves.  In the church, pastors and congregations "succeed" together.  Just because it's one person standing up in the pulpit every Sunday doesn't mean he or she is up there by themselves.  Which brings me to my next point....

WHENEVER POSSIBLE, SIT IN THE STANDS.

Watching the NBA Finals this year (another thing I didn't do much of until recently), I remember one point when the camera panned the crowd for a few seconds, stopping to focus on a relaxed Adam Silver chatting it up with his neighbor and drinking bottled water.  This, when he as the Commish could've easily scored seats at floor level, or in the team owner's box sipping champagne instead of Dasani.  I've since learned that this is his normal routine at games - whenever possible, he sits with the fans.

Churches are way too eager to put their pastors on a pedestal.  It's an odd dynamic, thrusting a person you ought to be close to at such a distance.  Pastors should find ways to gracefully resist this and plant themselves in the crowd.  Consider asking folks to call you by your first name instead of using titles like "Reverend" and "Doctor."  Head to the back of the after-worship lunch line instead of letting those well-meaning folks push you to the front.  Keep your office door open when you're not sermonizing or counseling someone.  We serve our people and lead them much better when we are truly among them, not apart from them or over them.

What are other important qualities of a pastor and leader that you see in people you admire?