Rob Wegner

Session #1 ReBuild Team (Mark Beeson)

When you rock climb, you say “Belay on.”  Whoever’s your anchor, will call back, “Belay on.” Then you cry, “Climb” and  they call back, “Climb.”  When my friend fell, he cried, “Falling.”  Although terrifying, everything and everyone ended up just fine… because he was on belay. He was connected.  He fell maybe six inches because there was no slack in the rope. 

As team, if we are connected, we can fall (we will fall!) and if there’s not much slack in the relationship, you can call out, your team who is close, can catch you before you fall too far. 

We all need a team where we live on belay, in tight connection with each other and Jesus.  There is an anchor who holds and there is one who is faithful. The calling we have to engaged the mission, that call requires community.  The call we step into today, originated the day John said, “Behold the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.”  He sent his disciples to follow after Jesus.  Jesus said, “Follow me.”  Jesus began to build his church, his team, to transform the world.  Miracle after miracle unfolded manifesting the Kingdom.  As this happened, Jesus fan-based increased.  As he progressed, the fan support wavered, as he spoke the truth of suffering and his death.  Many fell away.  Jesus asked his disciples, who do you say I am, and Peter said, “You are the Messiah, the Son of God.”  Jesus said, “don’t talk about it yet.” Why?  The crowds will want to make Jesus apart of their parade.  Jesus knew he had to go the way of arrest, torture, and the way of the cross.  He was buried.  Messiahs don’t die…that’s not how the script was supposed to play out.  Those disciples were undone.  What they though was reliable had seemed to be blown to pieces. They hid in a room terrified that they might be next.

Then Sunday morning the knock at the door came. Some of the woman came and they were speaking a mile a minute, “He is alive!”  They disciples are hearing this from the place of doubt and no expectation. They were utterly shocked and could hardly believe it.  So, they ran to the tomb and even though it was empty, they continued hiding.  Then, a knock at the door came again, The two disciples who met Jesus on the walk to Emmaus came to tell their story, “We have seen Jesus. He appeared to us!”

Then, Jesus appears to them directly. His light invades the darkness of the room and even then, they were terrified.  Jesus asks them, “do you have something to eat? Look at my hands. Touch me.”  He is alive. Jesus crucified, dead, and buried…is alive. He speaks to the disciples and gives them this commission. You are to be my witnesses.  You deliver the good news to the world. This is your mandate, your calling, and your commission. Go and make disciples of all nations.  Let them know that they are in the family…they are all included.  Then, teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.

This calling is not new for you. This is the call for the last 2000 years. That we could confess, “Jesus is Lord,” and make disciples.  How do we communicate this good news?  How do we live this good news?   God’s plan is through the team, through the body, where every person has a role to play and every life is celebrated. We can’t do this on our own. We must do this as a team. 

How can we become a team?

Our life together is like a tapestry, what weaves us together and makes us a team.

1) The Thread of Vision: The vision of the preferred future binds us together makes us a team. if you are unclear about vision, it is a deal maker and a deal breaker. Without a vision, the people will perish. They will scatter. If we can clarify what we are about and it is of great worth, others will be drawn together into a team, striving for the same vision. This unites us so we can do a great work together.  Our vision is under submission to God’s mission.  Submission means “under the mission.”  We get under God’s mission with all that we are.  

In marriage, we live in mutual submission. We live under the mission of God in our marriage together. So, it is with any team.  

the long tail analysis…

2) The Thread of Leadership.  Let’s say people love the vision, the next question will be, “Who is leading?”  People not only choose a vision, but also leadership.  The leader is dealmaker or deal-breaker.  People will join a team for a leader.  People will leave a team because of the leader.  The vision can be the same, but the change the leader, and the team will change. We need to lead in the way of Jesus.  We as leaders face temptation constantly to lead outside of the way of Jesus.  So, leaders must guard and feed their souls, so they are living the Jesus way because if we don’t have that we have nothing to offer as leaders. We say to Jesus, “We don’t know the route beside you.  You lead the way and I will follow you.” Then, we can say, “Follow me as I follow Jesus.”   We need to surrender to Jesus…that’s job one of the leader. 

We watched this short film together and had a moment of surrender. 

We can fake it for a while, but the truth will find you. Deal with your soul. Deal with your relationship with Jesus. When the pressure is on, what’s true of you will be revealed to the world.

3) The Thread of Teammates.  It’s not just the vision and leader, but ultimately, it’s the teammates that make the team.  People choose not only the vision and the leader, but the team mates. As a leader, the people we have on our team, that we embrace, we must build them up so that other teammates will be strengthened by each other, not just the leader. Long term we can’t stay on a team that surrounds me with teammates who wound me and drain my soul.

4) The Thread of Values. Vision is where we are going, values is how we treat each other, the culture we create as we move toward the vision.

These four threads weave people lives together into team.