My son David, a huge sports fan, and also living in Atlanta, is always on the lookout for life lessons from sports. He sent me this story, which happened while I was in Spring Canyon and mostly out of touch with the outside world.

It’s about the NBA Eastern Conference final between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Atlanta Hawks. The ESPN account of game 4, played on June 29, included these snippets:

ATLANTA — When Hawks superstar Trae Young was ruled out 45 minutes before the start of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals, it seemed like the end of Atlanta’s hopes of reaching the NBA Finals.

…[Atlanta won the game] by sticking to McMillan’s game plan — namely that no one try to replace Young’s production on his own.

The Hawks took the strategy to heart. Four of the five starters scored in the opening three minutes of the game, forcing the Bucks to call a quick timeout and setting a tone Atlanta would carry throughout.

“I mean, it starts off, you start the game and everyone touches the ball,” Huerter said. “The ball moves side to side. You want everybody to find a rhythm. We don’t need people in transition, pulling up from the logo and offensively going one-on-one the way Trae can. It’s really not anybody [else’s] game on this team. So, we didn’t need people to play like that.

“That message was well-received. Like I said, you start the game off and all five guys score before they have to call a timeout. That really set the tone for the rest of the game, and it wasn’t something that we got away from.” – ESPN

Bucks went on to win the series anyway, but for one game, the Hawks played team ball and won by a large margin, 110 – 88, without their superstar.

As documented by Rodney Stark in The Rise of Christianity and mentioned by Matthew Kelly in The Biggest Lie in the History of Christianity, Christianity spread, not mostly by big events but by ordinary people living out the gospel wherever they were. The church at Antioch was founded by unknown laypeople:

Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. (Acts 11.19 – 22, ESV)

In Nehemiah 3 we have a list of ordinary and diverse people rebuilding the wall, none of whom were professional wall-builders. Amos the prophet, who wrote a whole book of the Bible was a layman by his own admission:

Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’” (Amos 7.14, 15, ESV)

The LORD wants everyone participating – not just watching.

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2.1, 2, NIV)

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry… (Ephesians 4.11, 12, ESV)