Leadership Journal

Rich makes his living as a draftsman. This field is in transition, so he takes the work he can get. At one point in the summer, Rich left his home at 4:30 a.m. to drive two hours to work. After eight hours on the job, he drove home another two hours in a car without air conditioning, but on prayer meeting night, he was still at church at 7 p.m. with a great attitude.

Rich doesn't stand out. Rich operates a camera in the church's video ministry, but he's not seen on the screen. His heart and hands belong to Christ, but he is not a star.

Rich illustrates a recent article in USA Today, "Employers learning 'B Players' hold the cards.'" Author Del Jones points out that most employers spend their time trying to steal A players from their competition: "But some of those employers are coming around to the realization that failure and success might not lie among the weakest and strongest links, but in the solid middle, the B players … the 75 percent of workers who have been all but ignored…

"The backbone of every company," he says, "is in the middle where the ether of great thoughts is hammered into reality."

The same is true of 21st-century ministry. The A players are sought after and esteemed, while B players are often ignored.

My wife and I once visited an "A church," well publicized and renowned for bringing people to Christ, sending and supporting missionaries. I had never heard the senior pastor preach, and I was expecting a lot. But when I left that day, I thought, He is a B player. He wasn't an eloquent speaker or a magnetic personality, but he led with a calm presence and delivery.

B players do not depend on their own superior talents. It's their quality of servanthood that renders them phenomenally useable. They learn to work faithfully while recognizing their ordinariness.

Like Paul, B players boast in their weakness. They tap the tremendous resources of heaven through the essential quality of "blessability," which is humility. B players are not into themselves; they are into God.

B players are consistent. We all know that a great percentage of success is just showing up. B's are defined by words like long-term and durable. They become faithful fixtures in the ministry.

It's not that A players don't demonstrate these attributes. But A players can tend to rely on sheer talent. They make a big splash, but they can also sink quickly. I have known many A players in ministry, but one stands out. Bright, handsome, and a gifted communicator, he could dazzle an audience, but he had to leave the ministry. He was so talented, he thought he was above the moral rules that apply to everyone else.

Meanwhile, B players are often overlooked because of the very attributes that make them such assets to a church.

I finally understand that A churches are built mostly by B players who are led by God. The hearts of most of our churches are made up of B players.

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