As the New York Yankees are learning this season, now that they have some star players out for extended periods of time, that a team is only as strong as their bench.

Every team and every church has a few star players, but what about when these people are out? Can the church still thrive without the All-Stars?

I’ve been thinking about this since I was out for 2 weekends and then Mark, our Worship Leader has been out for the last 2 weekends. It has made me appreciate that we have some depth. We’ve got gifted teachers who can get in the game and throw strikes when I’m not there.

We’ve got great musicians who can pinch hit and do a great job, even when the leader is out.

When our administrator left to go plant a church, his replacement was already in the church, ready to go.

Churches talk about leadership development a lot, but I think the best way to develop people is to give them an opportunity to lead. The classroom can only take people so far. At some point, you’ve got to let them take a swing.

Give a guy 100 books on preaching and they still won’t learn what they will when they get told they are preaching the next weekend.

Our responsibility as leaders is to create opportunities for emerging leaders to develop.

By the way, the closer for the Red Sox, Jonathan Papelbon is going to win the rookie of the year because the All-Star got hurt and he stepped in.