#2 – A Coach Always Assumes The Best – A Critic Always Assumes The Worse.
Dear pastor, why in the world would you ever listen to a person OR a group of people who always believe the worse about you? That isn’t responsible leadership…that’s actually insanity!
Whenever I’ve been rebuked by the coaches in my life they have not approached it with a “Perry is ALWAYS screwing up” mindset, but rather a, “hey dude, I think you’re better than this…so can you explain to me why…” type attitude.
Critics in ministry world are often like savage wolves…just waiting on a piece of a sermon or a blog post that they can rip out of context and prove to the world what a horrible person you are. They normally care nothing about the people they criticize and most often desire to see them ripped apart…no matter what it takes.
BUT…a coach knows what the player is capable of and is always willing to hold him to that standard—even when it is uncomfortable. A coach will never allow a player to under perform—EVER! He will always address the issues that come to the surface, but will do so while believing in the person and NOT hating them through the process.
#3 – A Coach Corrects Out Of Love – A Critic Corrects Out Of Pride.
What is crazy is that when a critic begins to yell and scream at you…and you refuse to listen to them…they just label you as prideful and arrogant. (Which is the unwinnable argument—I blogged about that here.)
That accusation always amuses me because…it is both prideful AND arrogant to sit in the stands and assume to know the game plan that is being executed when you have no idea the planning, preparation and the conversations that took place pregame.
When a critic comes after someone…they hardly ever do it with a sincere love for someone and a desire to see them repent of their “sin,” but rather with a very arrogant, self centered attitude that wants to be recognized as the person who “took them down.”
When a coach corrects it is because he loves the game and the players involved…when a critic “corrects” it is because he loves himself and wants to drive traffic to his website.
ALWAYS trust the person who loves Jesus…loves you…but loves Jesus more than he loves you. NEVER trust the guy who claims to love Jesus…but NEVER offers any type of encouragement for anyone…except for the four or five guys that post comments on his blog.