The Team Nobody Believed In

In the fall of 1979, coach Herb Brooks faced a decision that puzzled every hockey expert in America. Selecting the U.S. Olympic roster, he passed over several of the most talented players available. When asked why, Brooks offered a line that belongs in every church lobby: "I'm not looking for the best players. I'm looking for the right ones."

That ragtag squad of college kids went to Lake Placid in February 1980 and defeated the Soviet Union — a team that had won four consecutive Olympic gold medals and demolished the NHL All-Stars just months earlier. The Soviets had superior talent at nearly every position. What they did not have was what Brooks had spent seven months forging: a group of young men who played for one another rather than for themselves.

The Apostle Paul would have understood exactly what Herb Brooks was building. "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I don't need you'" (1 Corinthians 12:21). The body of Christ was never designed to be a collection of individual stars performing solo acts on the same ice. It was designed to be a team — each member compensating for another's weakness, each one willing to sacrifice personal glory for a shared mission.

No church was ever changed by one gifted person. Every church has been changed by ordinary people who decided they belonged to each other. That is the miracle God is after.