Hitting a Baseball and the Other "Hardest" Things

Let us not become weary of doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
—Galatians 6:9

USA Today ran an article once about the 10 hardest things to do in sports.

#2 was to drive a race car at megaspeeds and not die. At the Indy 500, they go more than 220 mph.

#3 was to pole vault over 15 feet.

#4 was hitting a golf ball long and straight, which strikes me as ridiculous. The golf ball is just sitting there. A child should be able to hit a golf ball.

But the #1 hardest achievement in athletics, according to the survey, is hitting a baseball.

When we moved to the Bay area, Ned Colletti—then a VP with the Giants—asked me to lead a chapel service. He also asked if I’d like to take batting practice. He said John Yandle, who threw batting practice for Barry Bonds, would throw me some pitches. John was a couple years older than I was and never actually pitched in the majors, so it was not like facing a young major leaguer in his prime; but it was a professional challenge.

I never played organized baseball, but we played on a vacant lot when I was a kid. The best pitcher in our neighborhood was Greg Clauson; when we were in fifth grade, I could hit him better than anyone else in the neighborhood. There were only two other kids in the neighborhood, and both of them were in the first grade. But I was still best. I thought: I did pretty well against Greg Clauson. Let’s see how this goes.

So I went into the batting cage below the bleachers at AT&T Park. John wound up, let go, I heard the sound of the ball hitting the net behind me. I thought, He’s not just lobbing them in there. He wants to see if I can hit his best stuff.

He wound up again. This time I swung, but the ball had already been in the net several seconds by the time the bat got to the plate. So I kept starting my swing earlier. Eventually I would begin my swing about the same time I saw him start his windup. I got several foul balls. I was feeling pretty good.

Then he said, “Do you want me to put a little zip on one?”

These had been his lobs.

I said, “Sure. It’s been harder to time these slow balls.”

He wound up. I never saw the ball.

He actually sent a scouting report on me to Ned Coletti: “John Ortberg—bats right, throws right. Took ten minutes of batting practice. As a hitter, John makes a good pastor.”

Ned thoughtfully forwarded it to me.

All of this got me to thinking, What is the hardest activity in church ministry? What would it look like if I were to see a scouting report on my pastoring? It would be fascinating to do a survey and find out which aspect of congregational leadership is the single toughest challenge. Because church ministry makes hitting a baseball look easy.

There is the challenge of trying to preach fresh, creative, substantial messages that reflect the best in increasingly complex scholarship and are integrated into the preacher’s soul. And to do this when people compare it to whomever their favorite international preacher is. And to do it again next week, and the week after that, until you grow old and die.

There is the challenge of casting a vision of what might be done tomorrow, when you feel the gravitational pull of human nature to slide backwards into less challenge, less sacrifice, more comfort, and more inward-focus.

There is the challenge of resolving conflict. People keep having problems with other people. They keep trying to assert influence, grab power, get their way, and resist change they did not initiate. There is the temptation to try to ignore it, smooth it over, stomp it underground, or run away. Having the patience and strength to untie the knots is a Herculean effort.

There is the challenge of acquiring and developing the right talent on the team. Finding the right people with the right gifts and putting them into the right lanes to run the right race in alignment with the big mission is a major league challenge. And the job is never done. Someone’s always in the wrong lane or pulling a hammy.

There is the resource challenge, which is currently rearing its head in almost every ministry I know.

There is the worship challenge, which involves not just worshiping God with integrity and honesty but doing it in a way that resonates with an increasingly niched and diverse population.

Then there is the volunteer challenge, the change-navigation challenge, the technology challenge, the evangelism challenge, the assimilation challenge, the infrastructure challenge, and the pastoral care challenge.

There is the 1 Corinthians 9:27 challenge, which is tops on my survey: “I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

So if you get tired every once in a while, don’t be surprised. God knows what you face. God “remembers that we are dust.”

But not just dust.

What makes it worthwhile, what keeps us going, is that we don’t step up to the plate alone.

The greatest athletes in the world fail at the toughest challenge more often than they succeed.

But every once in a while they take a swing and something goes right. And that something keeps them going. It’s the not-giving-up that’s the toughest challenge of all.

John Ortberg is editor at large of Leadership and pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in California.