Claims do NOT = Reality

September 9, 2009 in Leadership with 5 Comments

I recently attended a Major League Baseball game in Atlanta, GA, where the Braves took on the Cincinnati Reds.  I had a great time!  I just love going to the ballpark, and all the sights, smells, and tastes (I have to get peanuts when I go) of the whole experience.  But something struck me as odd.

Baseball still claims to be America’s #1 pastime.


There were 2 other major events going on in Atlanta that weekend.  Here are the stats from those:

Alabama vs Virginia Tech at the Georgia Dome:  74,954  in attendance. It was the fourth-largest crowd to witness a game at the Georgia Dome.  It was sold out 9 weeks in advance (the average ticket price was an astounding $256! (as tracked by www.stubhub.com)).

Georgia Tech vs Jacksonville State: 46, 131 in attendance, and the stadium is just across town.

NASCAR Atlanta Motor Speedway Sprint Cup Series: 111,300 in attendance at the, on Sunday, the day following the Braves game.

Atlanta Braves game I attended: 29, 078 (58% full).  For the record, they even showed fireworks afterwards!

Here’s my point: Major League Baseball is not the #1 pastime in America.  Heck, they’re not even the #1 pastime in Atlanta!  They can make that claim all they want, but it doesn’t change reality.

The same is true for any claims that we make in our churches.

  • We can claim all day long that we love our communities.  But the proof is in the pudding.
  • “We are a church that reaches out to visitors and makes them feel welcomed.”  Just because you claim that doesn’t mean you actually ARE a church that does so.
  • You can say that you, as a church, are developing authentic community.  That’s a lofty claim.  Are you, really?
  • “We are a church that ministers the Gospel.”  Hopefully…but not because you say that.
  • “We develop followers of Jesus Christ.”  I pray that every church does…but just because you read that on a church’s website, don’t assume it’s correct.

Why not spend a few minutes and assess the validity of the claims of your church, or your small group, or your ministry, or your organization.  Are you truly accomplishing what you are claiming?  Or are your claims bigger than your results?

Don’t be the MLB.  Don’t lie to me.  Either work to raise your output results…or lower your claims.

 

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  • Anonymous

    This blog post really hit home, but I’m hesitant to comment publicly because my husband is on staff at a church, I’m sure you understand, so I’m posting this anonymously.
    Our church mission statement says this:
    “our existence is to make Christ known by exalting the savior, equipping the saints and evangelizing the lost.
    If you looked at our church health you would see that for the most part that mission statement is carried out like its claimed. However, recently the pastor asked me to head up a project, and then failed miserably as a pastor and leader. So much so that my husband had several conversations with him about how he handled the situation, and told me that I would never work directly with him ever again if that was how he was going to treat me (which just confirmed my own desire to never work with him again)
    He does ‘equip the saints’ when it comes to other church members, but did not show even a hint of that with me.
    I say all that to say this: when the mission statement was abandoned, even for a moment, the results are devastating. Painful. Heartbreaking.
    Because of my particular experience, I have had to work through a great deal of anger, distrust, and still working hard not to hold a grudge.

    The blog post makes me think of a christian friend who has visited several churches several times each and just doesn’t feel like she belongs. And of course the unchurched, how they desperately need the body of Christ to live out its claims. And oh, the pain. Of so many more than we know.

  • Patrick

    Hey Ben, I get the intended message of your post, and it’s a good one. Be what and who you claim to be. However, I don’t think your MLB argument makes a whole lot of sense, and as a huge MLB fan, I can’t help but speak up haha.

    College football has 12-14 games TOTAL. Let’s take a school like Ohio State who gets 100,000 fans at every game (way above the average). That’s 1.4 million fans in a season. The more games you add, I’d argue the attendance would go down. If OSU had 50 home games, you wouldn’t see 100,000 at every race.

    NASCAR has 36 races TOTAL, each one in an entirely different city giving fans very limited opportunity to attend. Let’s take 100,000 attendees (way above the average), and that’s 3.6 million fans in a season. If NASCAR had 50 or 60 races, or even one city that got 10 races in a year, you wouldn’t see close to 100,000 at every race.

    MLB has 162 games, 81 home games in the season. If we examine a middle of the road franchise like the Milwaukee Brewers, we see that in 70 home games thus far, they’ve averaged 38,000 fans a night or 2.6 million fans – and the season isn’t even over yet. That’s just ONE of thirty teams.

    Last season was the first in many years that MLB didn’t set an attendance record (economic downturn). But they still sold over 78 million tickets. And I think the larger number of total games actually hurts MLB, because the supply is so great. If the season was only 36 games (18 at home), I think we’d see crowds consistently of the 100,000 kind. Single game attendance is no way to judge what our national past time is. Baseball is CLEARLY still the national past time. If any argument to the contrary is made, it should be for the NFL, not for college football or NASCAR.

    Gotta defend my baseball…

  • Matt Palomaki

    One thing that makes the body of believers wonderful is its diversity. I think different churches reach different types of people – not everyone wants to be in a mega-church and not everyone wants a group of 30 meeting in a home. People exalt the savior, need to be equipped and evangelize in unique ways – there is no cookie cutter design for everyone. Churches have mission statements and I readily admit that they (i.e. me) often fall short. Just like we grow as individuals the body of belivers matures(hopefully.)That being said – it is important to evaluate the mission statement by the fruit that is produced. I onced scoffed at “old time religion” because it wasn’t for me. However – some people thrive in that setting. I like when Ben said – “raise your output results.” I think a lot of churches stagnant because of routine and just doing church.

  • Ben Reed

    I won’t address everything you brought up. You bring up some good points. I do agree that the NFL is bigger than NCAA football and NASCAR. My point, though, was to show the vast discrepancy between baseball and the other sports happening in Atlanta that day…the NFL wasn’t playing.

    Baseball has too many games, and it’s just too much for me to follow. I enjoy watching MLB…kind of. I’ve been frustrated by the steroids scandals (I know…NFL has had their share, too), and am turned off to baseball more and more each time I hear of another person’s admission of usage.

    I grew up a huge baseball fan…but my love has shifted to the NFL and NCAA. Sorry, Patrick. Would my allegiances change if UT had 50 home games? Maybe…but probably not

  • Brent Moore

    I just wanted to say I like your new profile picture and to keep on blogging!