One Man Doesn't Make a Team

From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

Ephesians 4:16

As the 1988-89 NHL season began, the city of Los Angeles was truly buzzing about hockey for the first time. The league had put down stakes in the city over two decades earlier, but had been little more than a side note on the city's sports pages during all of those years. Now, celebrities who had long made appearances at Los Angeles Lakers games were being spotted rinkside. What made the difference? One man: Wayne Gretzky.

Most fans consider "The Great One" to be the greatest player in the history of the sport. He holds too many NHL records to count, the most visible being his 894 goals, 1,963 assists, and 2,857 points. In fact, Gretzky's assist total alone is big enough to make him the NHL's all-time leading scorer. He had four 200+ point seasons in his career. No one else even has one. He won nine Hart Trophies as league MVP. Even "Mr. Hockey," Gordie Howe can only boast six. Probably most importantly at the time, however, is the fact that Gretzky was the face of the Edmonton Oilers dynasty.

Gretzky and the Oilers had just won their fourth Stanley Cup in five years the season before. At the beginning of the season, Gretzky was still just 27 years old. That meant that Kings fans could expect a dynasty of their own, right?

Before I answer that, let's take a step back and look more broadly at those Oilers rosters. In addition to Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Glenn Anderson, and Grant Fuhr all suited up for Edmonton -- an impressive list of Hall-of-Famers to be sure. Gertzky might have been the most famous -- even most talented -- member of the roster, but sole credit for the dynasty did not belong to him. In fact, two years after the trade that sent Gretzky from Alberta to California, the Oilers won yet another Cup.

It was not until Gretzky's fifth season in Los Angles that the Kings made it to the Stanley Cup Finals. By this time, Kurri and Coffey had joined him, but neither posted numbers that were at all reminiscent of the production north of the border. The team also had Luc Robitaille and Rob Blake, but there could be no question that top to bottom, the roster wasn't nearly as good as those Oilers teams. In the 1993 Finals, the Kings were summarily dispatched 4-1 by the Montreal Canadiens. As it turned out, his fourth Cup in Edmonton would be the last of Gretzky's career.

Why didn't Los Angeles end up with a dynasty like Edmonton had? I think the answer is simple: one man doesn't make a team. I mean no offense to any of the talented men who played alongside Gretzky in Los Angeles. The fact that they were in the NHL speaks volumes about their talent. Still, when Gretzky arrived, many thought that meant the team was headed to the promised land. Gretzky was going to do it all.

Far too often, I think that mentality prevents churches from being champions for the Saviour. "The new pastor is such a great preacher. Our church will grow as long as he's here." "The music director is doing a great job with the choir. As long as we have that kind of music service, our church is in fine shape." "We have the best Sunday school teachers around. That should draw in a lot of new people." All of those things may be true, but if 90% of the members of the church are content to simply take their place on the pew and let "Wayne Gretzky" do all of the work, the church will never be all that it can be.

Here's my question: what are you doing? Are you playing your part? Maybe the world doesn't look at you as a superstar, but if God has placed you in a church, he has a job for you to do in that church. Are you doing it? No church will ever be all that it can if its members don't do their parts. Maybe you can't preach or teach, sing or play, but there are things you can do. Do you pray for your church? Do you invite others and tell them about Jesus? If not, you're not playing your part and allowing someone else to carry the load, thus reducing their effectiveness.

You don't have to be Wayne Gretzky. You simply need to play your role to the best of your ability. Don't expect the pastor, the deacons, or the Sunday school teachers to do it all. Embrace God's calling on your own life, and you just might see your church turn into a champion.