Written by Bob Schindler, COO of CEDE Sports

How Do I Know I am Winning?

“At the end of the game, all I had to do to know whether we had won or lost was to look at the scoreboard.” A then friend and now ministry partner at CEDE SPORTS, M.L. Woodruff, then said, “Now I don’t have that scoreboard. I don’t know whether I am winning or losing.” M.L. served as a high school baseball coach for 30 years (where he won 11 state championships by the way - obviously winning more than he lost!) before pursuing a call to lead Istrouma Sports at Istrouma Baptist Church in Baton Rouge. It was in that role with Istrouma Sports that I met M.L. This conversation came up early on in our relationship. It stuck with me. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that M.L.’s challenge is not unique. We all want to know if we are winning or losing, making progress or falling behind. In some areas of life, we may have a clear “scoreboard.” In others, like in ministry, that scoreboard may not be so clear. For example, are you winning or losing in:

Your marriage?
Your parenting?
Your following Jesus?

If you know, how do you know? What is your scoreboard?

Keeping Score

In the pursuit of the answer, what sports, rec, and fitness ministers often do is to establish a scoreboard that is easily measurable. Their scoreboard typically includes:

Number of participants
Finances
Facilities

While this is helpful information, it is incomplete. It doesn’t evaluate the whole picture and give a true understanding of whether progress is being made. To help sports, rec, and fitness leaders with this dilemma, we developed a tool to evaluate progress called The Wheel. It is based on the three components of a wheel

The Hub – Power Source
The Spokes – Power Transfer
The Rim – Power Effects