By Nik Walker

Growing up nestled in the mountains of Wyoming County, West Virginia, there were really only a couple of things to do if you wanted to entertain yourself and stay away from the “bad crowd.”  One of those things was to get involved in sports.  I remain convinced that somewhere in Wyoming County, there is a golden basketball at the bottom of the mountain (likely Jesse Mountain) that members of the faithful basketball community gather and worship.  

Nonetheless, I have always been a man who swims against the current, and I was no different in high school.  I traded the round orange ball and hoop for the oblong pigskin with laces and yellow goalposts when I was thirteen years old.  From that point forward, I all but forsook basketball and chased a dream of playing football at the highest level that I could achieve.  

Many who are familiar with my story know that I was going into my second year of college football on a scholarship at the University of Charleston when the Lord suddenly changed the trajectory of my life forever by calling me into full- time ministry. Whether I was youth pastoring or on the road evangelizing as I do now, I have consistently found myself implementing elements of the game of football into my ministry.  

From the structure of my ministry team to the way I approach pulpit ministry, I have noticed the familiar spirit of the football locker room and the football mentality creeping into my prayer rooms across Appalachia.  

Some who are in my circle would agree that I approach life with this same mentality.  Using this, I want to share with you five valuable things, among many, that I learned about the Lord and ministry in playing football.  I pray and trust that this will relate to many of you who have been involved in sports of any kind, but football was my obvious foundation. 

1. Know your enemy

Writing this brings back so many memories, particularly from high school.  I can remember the many “pep talks” I had with my father before games at his work desk.  Throughout the week, both with my dad and my coaches, I would spend hours after hard practices watching film of my opponents.  I would carefully study the way they would run their plays and how we could exploit each of their weaknesses to our advantage.  Understand that the practices were used to improve our skills and strengths, but film study was used to familiarize ourselves with their abilities.  Going into Friday night, I always had a good grasp on what the game plan of the enemy would be.  I knew them.  It would have been unfruitful for me to watch film of the Mingo Central Miners if my opponent was the Westside Renegades.    

If you wish to have success in your walk with the Lord, you must first know your enemy. Scripture teaches that we are very much in a war.  This is not a game.  This is a walk and a war that demands attention and focus, particularly on the schemes of your enemy.  To know the schemes of your enemy, you must first identify the enemy itself.  This may come as news to some of you, but your enemy does not have skin on it!  In fact, scripture is explicit that our war is not against flesh and blood

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12

Your war is against the forces of Hell and demonic powers of the air.  If you feel as if you aren’t experiencing spiritual victory, check to ensure that your sword is pointed at Satan rather than your boss at work or the person on facebook.  Too often, believers spent their time in competition against other believers rather than competing with Satan for their communities and their lost loved ones.  The battle is not against the church down the road to have more members.  Your war will not be won with nasty, divisive Facebook posts and TikTok’s, but with putting on the full armor of God and fighting in the spirit.  Know your enemy!  

2. Know your assignment

As film study familiarized us with our enemy, it was equally as important to know our personal assignments like the back of our hands.  We spent hours in the hot, muggy, sun after long school days preparing for the ten game season ahead.  It was important that in each phase of the game (offense, defense, special teams), each player had a laser focus on their assignment.  Unlike basketball or baseball, there are 11 players on the football field.  It is imperative that each of these 11 “parts” are working smoothly to have success.  As my coach used to say, “We need to move like a well- oiled machine!”  To move like a well- oiled machine, we could not focus on the assignment of any other player, coach, or trainer.  We had to focus on our own assignment.  A failure to complete my assignment on any given night could cost our entire team to lose the game. 

Knowing your assignment in the Kingdom is pivotal to the success of your church in the community.  It is also the thing that you will hear a “well done” for at the end of your life on this earth, doing the will (assignment) of the Father.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. – Matthew 7:21

Too often, we are wrapped up in critiquing how well others are completing their assignments.  You and I will not hear a “Well done” from the Lord because our pastor fulfilled his assignment well.  We will only hear those words for completing our assignment.  

My ministry has several moving parts during a revival service.  To name a few, we have the pulpit ministry (my assignment) along with a worship team, an altar ministry, a resource table in the lobby, and other important pieces.  Each of these pieces bring success to the entire ministry on any given night.  Each night in the team meeting, I am quick to remind everyone of the importance of carrying our their assignment.  If your assignment is not to lead worship, do not focus on how well prepared the worship team is.  Truthfully, if your eyes are on the assignment of another, your focus and attention cannot ever be given fully to what the Lord has asked you to accomplish. Know your assignment.  

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.” – Colossians 3:2

3. Trust your teammates

High school football was special.  I knew many of my teammates dating back to elementary school.  By the time we were seniors, our bonds were unbreakable.  You would be hard pressed to find a closer group of young men than you could find in the Wyoming East Football locker room in 2014.  It was something I will cherish forever.  I long to have bonds like this in my ministry team, as well.  As these football bonds grew close, we began to develop a trust for one another.  I could depend on any of my teammates on or off the field.  Specifically, I could count on them to get their job done.  As I mentioned in the last section, it is important to focus on your assignment.  Only by trusting who I took the field with could I focus on my assignment.  My ability to focus was rooted in my trust for other teammates to execute their jobs.

Preaching in churches and ministries across Appalachia, I have come to the unfortunate knowledge that many in the church do not have this bond or trust with one another.  Without going into all of the many reasons for this mistrust in the body of Christ, I can say without question that despite the many reasons for it, it has become detrimental to the success of the church.  This is why there are churches on every street corner in our small Appalachian towns and communities.  Many of these churches were birthed from a hurt or an offense, and they are closed off to working with anyone from the outside.  This is a strategy of the enemy, to divide the body into our own “corners” and isolate them.  Wolves only attack those who are away from the packs.  Perhaps this is why scripture teaches us to know the people who labor among us.

Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. – 1 Thessalonians 5:12

I am by no means saying to trust every person who walks into your sanctuary, as I have learned the hard way that this is not fruitful either.  However, we must lay down our pride and tear down our walls that hinder us from developing relationships with people.  Bishop Kevin Wallace once said to my worship leaders, “Your nets are not working because you are not networking.” The body of Christ was made to network and have relationship with people in our congregations.  Get to know those who are serving the Lord around you!  Only then can trust be developed for the team to have success. 

4. Games are won in January

This was something my football coach used to say each January after returning from Christmas break.  Generally, football season ends in early to mid November, depending on how far a team may go into the playoffs.  Coaches would generally give the players from their last game to the end of Christmas break to rest their bodies from the physical beating that football brings, and then came January.  January began the offseason training program.  

We were not allowed on the field to learn plays.  The winter and early spring months were completely devoted to weight lifting and conditioning.  As long as I was in high school, we filled the weight room at Wyoming East with 25-50 players.  These lifts, of course, were after school and optional.  When I say optional, I mean mandatory.  The coaches made sure you knew the standard.  While they could not force a player to come to the lifts, it was known that they would remember who came when August rolled around.  Many who come to watch players perform under the Friday night lights assume the games are won and lost right then and there.  As a player, I can tell you the games were won and lost in January.  Who would be dedicated enough to show up to the winter trainings when no fans were watching?  

Perhaps you think following Jesus is something to be attained during Sunday services.  You might think hearing from the Lord is something rare that only happens in the corporate gathering.  Still, you think that taking the community back for Jesus happens once a week.  You are sadly mistaken in this line of thinking.  Communities are won throughout the week.  Jesus speaks into the hearts of men at all hours of the day.  Your prodigal child isn’t won to the Lord in a Sunday service.  They are won to the Lord after hours of intercession in the prayer closet, seeking the Lord’s favor from mom and dad. Everything we do in public “under the lights” should only be a fraction of what we do daily in private when no one it looking.  Your victory is won at home, but it is celebrated publicly in the gatherings!  Scripture is clear that those who abide in the shadow of the Almighty are those who abide in the “secret place,” not the public places (see Psalm 91).  

5. “It’s the little things!”

When I was 13, I touched the football field for the first time.  I didn’t have a real idea of how the game was played yet, but I had lots of raw ability and athleticism to use.  Along with my father and a two family friends coaching my team was a young man named Ashley McNeeley.  Coach Ashley was a graduate and player for Marshall, and he knew a thing or two about the game.  The title of this section is a quote from Coach Ashley, who went to be with the Lord in 2017.  “It’s the little things!” He yelled.  This statement was shouted from the rooftops each practice, multiple times a day.  I dreamed about it.  I spoke it as I ate breakfast.  I said it running sprints.  It became all I knew.  It’s the little things!  What does that mean?  

In that level of football, many players (including myself) were still learning the basics of playing the game.  Without a solid foundation by which to build on, a player could have no success.  Coach Ashley coined this phrase for our team, always reminding us that the big things would come later if the little things were done properly.  From there, we were taught fundamentals such as properly holding the football, making a legal tackle, blocking without holding, and the list goes on and on.  Once all of the basics were perfected, we could expand our knowledge of the game and grow more diverse in our skill set.  I will never forget making it to the championship game that season.  It was the first time a Mullens team had ever accomplished the feat.  Coach Ashley huddled the team up on the sidelines.  He asked “Do you all remember the little things?” How could we not?  It has been pounded into our little brains for ten weeks!  After a loud “Yes!” Coach Ashley said “Well, forget those!  It’s the big things now! You have made it!” A humorous statement led to a 30-6 championship victory for our little league team.  

The principle of “the little things” is still being practiced in my ministry.  

This is a statement I constantly make to the team.  

• Before we concern ourselves with prophesying, why don’t we first learn to pray?  

• Before we seek to preach an eloquent sermon, why don’t we seek to know the heart of the Father by studying His work and eating of it?  

The Lord is not seeking for anything big and extravagant from us.  He is simply looking for a man or woman who will say “yes” to the call and do the little things right.  Little things are the puzzle pieces by which a beautiful picture is built.  You may feel as if your assignment in the church is a small thing.  It may be small by itself, but what a beautiful picture it is building!  Before you think your assignment is too small, King David was a man ready to be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord if it meant he could be near the presence.

For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be ⁱa doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. – Psalm 84:10  

Little did I know at the time that the statement of Coach Ashley was biblical.  Honoring the Lord in the small things will eventually make you a ruler in many things!

Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. – Luke 16:10    

Nik Walker is an evangelist and author originally from Mullens, WV. Nik has moved his ministry headquarters to Cleveland, TN. You can find more about his ministry visit NWMinistries.com.

Get Nik’s newest book, “Revelations From a Caveman: When Present Darkness Unlocks Future Destiny” at NWMinistries.com

You can also check out his book Walking Tall In Babylon: Vision To A Blind Church. Life To A Dead Body. at NWMinistries.com.

I highly recommend both of them!