The Potluck Team
For many of my formative years my father pastored churches in both North Carolina and California. I remember specifically our family living on the church property, right beside the church, in the city of Norwood, North Carolina. The church building was old and very simple.
A fond memory was the church holding ‘potluck’ dinners outside on the shady side of the church building. Tables made from saw horses and plywood were set up to hold the food. From a child’s perspective they seem to go on forever. That probably was not the case. Those potlucks were celebrations, everyone brought their best and no one went home hungry. When everyone brought their best the meal was complete, appetizers to dessert.
The legendary basketball coach Pat Summitt once said: “bring your best…everyone on the team needs to bring their best.”
If everyone’s “best” at that small North Carolina church had been desserts, we could have eaten and been filled but it would have been short-lived and a hard fall as we crashed from a sugar high. We could have also been filled if everyone was good at cooking and serving the main course, but would we have been completely satisfied?
Each of us has been created with unique passions and been trained in specific skill sets that when applied give us a sense of fulfillment.
What are your talents, passions and skills?
Are you bringing your best to the team?
Are you allowing your team to sit in the right seat on your bus?
A basketball team usually only finds success when everyone plays the position they are created to fill. A business finds success when the employees are in right positions where passion and skills intersect.
If you looked at the parishioners bringing their ‘individual’ dishes from their cars it didn’t look like much, but when everyone contributed to the goal of a complete meal it was something special. Our work teams can be the same, be on the potluck team and bring your best and the team will be complete.
