Principle #4 (of 9): The Joe Dimaggio Principle
Joe Dimaggio was the Center Fielder for the NY Yankees in the 1930’s and 40’s. In addition to being one of the greatest players of his time, he was famous for hustling. He ran out to his position and ran back to the dugout. He ran to first when he was walked. Once a reporter asked Joltin’ Joe why. He explained that everyday there was some kid getting to see his first game, and that kid might have heard of Joe Dimaggio and would be watching him to see how the game is supposed to be played. Dimaggio said he always hustled because of that kid.
Yesterday I shared how we treat our visitors at church a lot like people treat visitors to their homes. So there are some things we don’t do at our services, other things we make sure we do, and several things we explain week after week.
Today I want to talk about that “week after week” part. For instance, our church has had almost 500 Sundays now. (The last few weeks we also have services on Tuesdays.) And most of the Sundays we have had two or three services. So we’ve had well over a thousand services. And at every one of those services we have explained communion. (This is what communion is, this is why we do it, this is how it will be served, this is when you can take it, this is what to do with your cups.) And at every one of those services we have explained the offering. (This is when we take an offering, this is why we take an offering, if you are new please don’t give to the offering because we care about your heart – not your wallet, and the offering is for people who are committed to God and Forefront, this is how we take the offering).
Do you have any idea how sick and tired we are of explaining communion and the offering? No, you don’t. We’re sicker of saying it than you can imagine. And our people are sick and tired of hearing it. But we still say it every week, and will continue to do so.
Why? Because every Sunday there is someone in the room for the first time and if we choose that Sunday to take a break from explaining communion, they’re going to be totally confused and feel out of place. Or if we take a break that week from explaining the offering, they’re gonna feel like they have to give and we’re just another church out for their money.
It is so tempting to have weeks where we walk around in our underwear, play country music, and go over the budget (see my post from last week), where we decide not to hustle to first on the pop-up to the pitcher, but we have to. Why? Because of the Joe Dimaggio principle.
Next time we’ll talk about Hendrix and Clapton as we explore our fifth principle.
Until then … improve your lip syncing skills, you never know when they’ll come in handy.
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