Pastor's Corner: The beauty of teamwork

Last week I had the opportunity to serve as the cafeteria supervisor at our Kids Camp at Glacier Bible Camp in Hungry Horse, Montana. We served 600 children and staff three meals a day all week long. For each meal I supervised a staff of about 20 people, many of them teenagers. As we "worked our tails off" every meal: serving the food to the children; helping them get their trays to their tables; cleaning up so many spills; washing the tables after each group came and went; helping the children get their trays and dishes and silverware to the "dishpit"; and sweeping and mopping the cafeteria at the end of each meal - I realized that I had to have every single person of that crew to "pull it off." Serving the meals would not happen without the team, and no one person or job was more important than anyone else's.

Then I began to think about how things are supposed to work in the Body of Christ. The Apostle Paul described The Church as a body, a building, and a bride - and sometimes even in military terms. All of these illustrations speak to the beauty of teamwork as followers of Jesus Christ.

There is a story in the Old Testament of the Bible in which David, who would later become the king of Israel, made a great teamwork decision. Let's take a look at this story:

1 Samuel 30:1-6 (NIV) - David Destroys the Amalekites

"30 David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it, 2 and had taken captive the women and everyone else in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way. 3 When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4 So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. 5 David's two wives had been captured - Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 6 David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God."

What has happened here? David and his mighty men had been fighting battles elsewhere, leaving their home base of Ziklag unprotected, so the Amalekites came and attacked the base, taking their wives and children as captives.

1 Samuel 30:7-10 (NIV) - David Destroys the Amalekites

"7 Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelek, "Bring me the ephod." Abiathar brought it to him, 8 and David inquired of the Lord, "Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?" "Pursue them," he answered. "You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue." 9 David and the six hundred men with him came to the Besor Valley, where some stayed behind. 10 Two hundred of them were too exhausted to cross the valley, but David and the other four hundred continued the pursuit."

Now what is going on? David and his men decide to pursue the Amalekites to get their families back, but one third of the men (200 of 600) were too exhausted, so they left them behind. In verses 11-15 they find an Egyptian slave left in a field to die by the Amalekites and he agrees to help David find a way to sneak up on the Amalekites.

1 Samuel 30:16-25 (NIV) - David Destroys the Amalekites

"16 He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and reveling because of the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah. 17 David fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled. 18 David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back. 20 He took all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, "This is David's plunder." 21 Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him and who were left behind at the Besor Valley. They came out to meet David and the men with him. As David and his men approached, he asked them how they were. 22 But all the evil men and troublemakers among David's followers said, "Because they did not go out with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered. However, each man may take his wife and children and go." 23 David replied, "No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the Lord has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiding party that came against us. 24 Who will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike." 25 David made this a statute and ordinance for Israel from that day to this."

What is going on here? David and his 400 men win a major victory, recovering all of their family members and the plunder from the enemy. On their way back home to Ziklag, they meet up with the 200 guys who were left behind because they were too exhausted. The 400 guys who fought the battle do not want to share the plunder with the 200 guys who stayed behind. Sounds fair, right? David says, "No way!" Why? The beauty of teamwork! First of all, David acknowledges that it is the Lord who has blessed them, protected them, and given them a winning battle. And David makes the beautiful teamwork decision that the spoils will be shared equally by all 600 men! Why? Because they are a team and each one of them plays a part, so each one shares in the success. David decided to make this an ongoing practice in Israel from that time on.

How does God want us to operate as followers of Jesus Christ? He wants us to work as a team, not seeking glory for ourselves or our particular church group, but instead giving the glory to God and sharing the success with everyone. This is the beauty of teamwork.

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Written by the Rev. Edroy "Curt" Curtis, president of the Greater Havre Area Ministerial Association; chaplain of Northern Montana Health Care, and lead pastor of Havre Assembly of God Church.