What makes a good team builder?  

If you ever visit Ron and Patsy Fraser's home you will see a monument to
the admiration of their children and grandchildren.  Every wall and
every surface in every room has at least one tribute paid to them by
their offspring.  Sitting in this environment one needs no parenting
seminar to know what produced this.  Their children and grandchildren
have a sense of acceptance and purpose, and they know where it came
from.  They have been 'blessed' by their parents and grandparents.
Those of you who know Ron and Patsy know that this is what they do to
everyone.

Jacob was not a great father, having done little to build singleness of
purpose in his sons, which would have prevented the selling of the
youngest one into slavery.  But of course God used even this, and we now
know Jesus as a result.  But at the end of his life he did something
quite common in the Old Testament, and very significant:  Jacob
'blessed' the sons of Joseph, as well as his own sons, passing to them
God's plans for our redemption.  This act of 'blessing' is not something
we mention much in our modern language, but it conveyed a sense of
mission, a confidence of the future, even a foretelling of what was to
follow.  The one blessed obtained acceptance and purpose, and he/she
knew from where it came.  This account in Genesis 48 is worth reading to
get a sense of the generational blessing that was passed on.

Norm Evans speaks of not even keeping up with the NFL draft in his
senior year, certain that he would not be drafted.  The expansion Miami
Dolphins did draft him, and he later made All-Pro seven years in a row.
He credits his unlikely success to Coach Don Shula, who never let a day
pass without finding some way to communiciate to every team member that
he believed great things would happen to them.  Norm was 'blessed' by
Coach Shula.

Team builders and leaders do this.  They transfer encouragement to
others, a belief that they have a destiny.  But this takes initiative,
and we don't often do it.  Our culture does not teach us to do it.  Many
if not most of us have not been so 'blessed', so we don't learn to do
it.  Perhaps we can better understand this vital leadership practice in
the following 6 points:

1.  Blessing (encouraging, building, giving destiny to) others is
difficult because:
     A.  It takes time.  The to-do list beacons.  
     B.  We were not taught to do it.
     C.  We live in a competitive environment.  
     D.  We become task oriented.  We relate to others in terms
primarily of getting the (our) job done.

2.  A leader will bless others.  A manager will drive others.

3.  Encouragement is the glue that binds a team together, not the task
it does.  Norm won because he was blessed; he did not feel blessed
because he won.

4.  Build a team by blessing its members during the job.  Don't wait
until the end to give a eulogy.  

5.  Blessing others takes initiative, discipline and honesty.  Mere
flattery will produce the results warned of in Proverbs.  Paul tells us
in Ephesians 4:29 to "...not let any talk come out of your mouth except
that what is helpful for building others up according to their needs,
that it may benefit those who listen."  Dr. Robert Barnes of Sheridan
House Ministries in Ft. Lauderdale (Bob also consults with several top
CEO's, whose names you all would recognize) says that he had to make it
a habit to write notes of encouragement to 3 people each day.  Do
something, anything, until it becomes a way of thinking.

6.  It is OK to wonder if you will be missed when you are gone, if this
is done correctly.  It is true that we do what God tells us, leaving our
worth in His hands.  Honors come later, when this world is gone, and for
things it does not understand.  However, it is OK, I believe, to
recognized that some people are missed when they are gone, and that they
are missed because of what others become because of them.  Our
accomplishments will not be remembered or missed.  What others become
will be remembered, if only by them.

This is what I see for each of you, being a builder of others, a
bestower of blessings.  The Great Commission necessarily requires
action, and actions usually require some form of planning, and this
requires management of resources.  We will not forsake this.  However,
the result of our being God's servants, Jesus' friends, is not a great
plan or a list of accomplishments.  It is the building of people into
what God has called them to be.  You have my permission to pursue this.
 

David

PS:  Most of the above is owned the thoughts and words of Chuck Staub
and Bob Barnes.