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Coaching is leadership, and leadership is influence.  Therefore, coaching is influence.  Our players will be influenced by many things throughout their lives, so it is vital that we make a positive impact on them while we have the opportunity.  Billy Graham once said, "One coach will impact more young people in a year than the average person does in a lifetime."  Knowing the influence we possess as coaches, we need to ask ourselves regularly how we are impacting the lives of our players.  We can simply yell, scream, and tell them what to do, or we can just sit back and let them figure it out on their own.  Either way, the players we coach will be influenced by our leadership.  We can win every game on our schedule and tell our players they are successful, or we can lose every game and make them feel worthless.  How we lead our players is crucial because they will remember our influence for the rest of their lives.  But if coaches are supposed to lead and players are supposed to follow, who is leading the coaches?

Matthew 16:24-27 says, "Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.  For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?  Or what shall a man give in return for his life?  For the Son of Man is going to come with this angels in the glory of the Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.""

The greatest coach of all-time was Jesus Christ, and his example is the one we as coaches should let influence our lives.  If we can deny ourselves daily of our pride, selfishness, greed, and worldly ambition, then Jesus calls us to take up our cross and follow him.  Matthew makes it clear that following Jesus is no easy task.  It is not a life that will necessarily lead to health or wealth.  It is not a life that will necessarily lead to comfort.  Jesus does promise, however, that it will be worth it.  Sometimes as coaches we believe we can figure it all out on our own.  We think that winning will come if only we work harder, watch one more game film, make one more phone call, or practice a little bit longer.  We are driven by the lie that says we can achieve success on our own power and strength.  The truth is that we can only be satisfied if we deny our self, take up our cross and follow Jesus.  Our players are hungry for leadership, so let's make sure we are feeding them influence from the greatest leader of all-time, Jesus!

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