The Boys in the Boat

In his 2013 bestselling book, The Boys in the Boat, author Daniel Brown chronicles the unlikely eight-man rowing team from the University of Washington that won the gold medal in the 1936 Olympics. Detailing their disciplined preparation, Brown celebrates the teamwork of those working class athletes. The author also identifies the importance of the team's 5'4" coxswain who kept the rowers focused on his verbal cues so they were not distracted by the competing shells alongside them.

As I read The Boys in the Boat, I couldn't help but think about another crew of unlikely oarsmen and their articulate coxswain. Jesus and his disciples spent countless hours learning lessons of leadership while rowing on the Sea of Galilee.

To Jesus, the boys in the boat represented those through whom he would achieve his mission. Over the course of three years he coached his disciples, teaching them how to leverage their opportunities, function as a team, and trust his commands.

Looking back over 35 years of pastoral ministry, I realize that in each situation I have been privileged to serve as a coxswain to a team of lay leaders. In each church the "boys in the boat" were those men and women who worked together following my lead to move our mutual ministry forward.

Upon reflection, in the churches I have served, "the boys in the boat" succeeded as a leadership team as we determined to …

1. Face the same direction. Historically, rowing teams that win have learned the secret of pulling their oars through the water at the same time, same speed, same rhythm even though they can’t see the destination they’re aiming for. The congregation on Mercer Island where I last served was located in a largely unchurched community. When I challenged our leadership team to find ways to serve our neighbors, they responded in a unified effort. Reaching our community was our common vision. The annual half-marathon sponsored by our local Rotary club provided a perfect opportunity to show practical support. We would encourage members to compete as well as fill volunteer positions behind the scenes. The fact that the race was held on Sunday morning initially posed a challenge. But the leaders unanimously pulled together and suggested we cancel our two morning services and schedule an evening celebration service following the event. The outcome was amazing. Nearly three-quarters of our church participated to the amazement of the race coordinators.

2. Pace for the long haul. As illustrated in Daniel Brown's book, rowers can expend energy prematurely and lose the winning edge if they do not pace themselves for the end goal. Effective coxswains will keep their oarsmen from stroking too fast too soon. To that end they do not over-achieve. They keep the goal in their sights. Likewise, I learned how easy it is for a church to try to do much at the same time without realizing the finish line is quite a distance away.

In the first church I served in urban Seattle, I failed as an effective coxswain. Hungry for success I coached our board to create programs by which we would canvass our neighborhood with door-to-door invitations, send out visitation teams to follow up on first-time visitors, begin a second worship service, organize home fellowship groups, and launch a young adult ministry. Although each ministry was valid, attempting all of them within the first year proved fatal. We could not sustain the effort required to keep them all going.

Had I realized that effective ministry takes time and can't be hurried, I would have chosen one or two programs at a time rather than burn out my team. In the words of Eugene Peterson, I have come to see that reaching the finish line is the result of a "long obedience in the same direction."

3. Have fun. For both the University of Washington team and Jesus' disciples, relationships were forged on and off the water. Trust is developed and friendships are built in settings when the demands of predictable projects are put on the shelf. For the UW crew team, the week-long train trips from Seattle to New York for national championship regattas provided down time for building up friendships.

Jesus and his boys spent days walking and talking getting from Capernaum to Jerusalem. In the process they became a family that knew one another backwards and forwards. In the case of the leaders with whom I was privileged to work, having fun together paid big dividends. Annual leadership retreats away from the church allowed for getting to know each other while walking in the woods, playing flag football, and playing charades in a log cabin. In fun settings team members create memories that fuel mutual dependability when difficult decisions are being processed back at the church late into the evening.

4. Maintain personal discipline. The regimen of rowers is remarkable. Reading The Boys in the Boat provided me with a window into the strength conditioning that characterize crew members. Each oarsman had to work at staying in shape through exercise and diet. I challenged members of the leadership teams in my congregations to personal disciplines of prayer, Bible reading and outreach to stay spiritually fit. But I acknowledged my own need to model that personal discipline.

I learned the need for leading by example from my brother. When Marc was in college he was the coxswain for the crew team. Although the coach didn't demand that he run the six miles before breakfast with the oarsmen, he chose to. He believed the team would be more willing to follow his lead in a race if he submitted to the same grueling workout expected of them. A church board or leadership team can function as a group only to the degree each member is developing their spiritual muscles.

5. Own your personal "oar." I discovered while reading The Boys in the Boat that each member of the crew team plays a unique role. The stroke oar (the person closest to the coxswain seated in the stern) has a different responsibility than the bowman (the last rower furthest from the coxswain at the bow of the shell). The middle four rowers, commonly nicknamed Fuel Tank, Engine Room, Power House or Meat Wagon, are typically the most powerful and the heaviest and such have their own unique contribution to the crew. Similarly, in my experience, the church leadership teams that were most effective were those who identified what they were good at and committed themselves to those specified tasks. The board chair was not concerned with taking the minutes. That was the secretary's job. The financial secretary was not preoccupied with corresponding with the missionaries our church supported. That was the missions chair's job. Conversely, the most ineffective boards with which I was associated were those where everyone was a generalist and did not take personal responsibility for a well-defined area of ministry.

6. Disregard the other boats. Daniel Brown makes it clear that a winning crew does not glance at the other shells in the water that are striving for the same goal. They focus only on the coxswain and each other. Still it's only natural to wonder about others in "the race." Remember the conversation that Jesus had with the most vocal boy in his boat following the Resurrection. Peter was put off a bit when Jesus described in John 21 how death would come to the big fisherman. Peter, ever the outspoken oarsman, wanted to know what the future held in store for John. Responding as a skilled coxswain, Jesus insisted that Peter not be concerned with anything other than the cues given him.

Similarly, church boards can be distracted by what seems to be working at the church down the street or across town. In every congregation I served it was easy to compare ourselves with those who had an espresso bar or operated a preschool. To the degree that we responded to what we felt the Lord calling us to do, we were not crippled by jealousy or "battling Goliath while trying to wear Saul's armor."

7. Follow the coxswain's cues. There can only be one cue-giver on a rowing team. The coxswain takes into consideration the knowledge and the skills of his eight oarsmen, but when it is time to get down to business, he is the one who conducts the symphony of motion. Bob Moch, with megaphone in hand, asked his colleagues to give him their best, and they complied. He knew what was needed and had earned the right to be followed.

Even though Jesus was a servant leader, he knew there had to be a leader and rose to the task. Such is a pastor's role as coxswain. To be honest, most church boards I inherited were willing to follow my lead, but one in particular was not. In that case, I made the mistake of not taking the time to earn the trust of my team or learn their unique contribution before attempting to voice the vision. As a result, my voice fell on deaf ears. My heart beat for the community in which the church was situated. But previous pastors had not articulated such a vision and the "crew" had not bought into the outreach orientation I was attempting to instill. They saw me as imposing a direction they weren’t going. That pastorate was short-lived because I had not taken the time to "run the six miles before breakfast" with them. Subsequently, I learned from my failure and in my next call spent adequate time getting to know my team before inviting them to follow my lead.

8. Capitalize on community. The overriding theme of The Boys in the Boat is the camaraderie that the 1936 gold medal team of oarsmen experienced. Brown paints a portrait of exceptional unity among that group of guys that calls the reader up short. Sixty years after their race in Berlin, the surviving members of the team were so emotionally connected their eyes brimmed with tears recalling the victory their friendship achieved. The boys in that boat were truly a family.

The same can be seen in the lives of Jesus' disciples who surrendered self-interest in order to become a unified voice that would articulate the message of the Gospel following their leader's ascension. Each board and leadership team I have had the privilege of serving has tasted of the joy of unity to one degree or another. In the second congregation to which I was called, we bonded as a family. And as a family we helped one another hear God's call to wider service and to healing. Our church chairman responded to a call to pastoral service and went off to seminary. Our church treasurer heard an inner call to missionary service in Africa, and we celebrated together. It was at that church where I succumbed to clinical depression and received the care and encouragement of "the boys" who refused to let my boat sink. It was our sense of community that kept us afloat and headed in the direction God was calling each of us individually and as a church.

Just as the eight rowers in Daniel Brown's book were essential to accomplishing the goal for which they are immortalized, so these eight principles are essential to church leadership teams finishing strong.

Greg Asimakoupoulos is an ordained minister and writer. He lives on Mercer Island, Washington.