A farmer noticed a highway department truck pulling over on to the shoulder of the road. A man got out and dug a hole, then got back into the truck. Then the other occupant got out, filled up the hole and got back in the truck. Every fifty yards this amazing process was repeated. “What are you doing?” the farmer asked. The driver replied, “We’re on a highway beautification project, and the guy who plants the trees is home sick today.”

One of the analogies we see in Scripture for the church is the body.  Paul writes these words in 1 Corinthians 12:12, 14, & 19, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. . .For the body does not consist of one member but of many. . .If all were a single member, where would the body be?”

In my last sermon from Colossians, we looked at a list of names Paul mentions in his final greeting.  I confessed that Sunday morning that normally I would have just ignored that passage, but I felt that if it wasn’t important, then the Holy Spirit would not have had Paul include it.  What God said to me through that passage of names was that it takes a team effort to accomplish God’s work.  In that day during those circumstances, there was no way Paul could have done what he did if it hadn’t been for others helping him.  In that list of names we have seasoned veterans of the faith, brand new believers, professional people and common people, “second chance” folks, leaders and laity.  Everyone had a job to do and they did it.  They all did not do the same thing, but they all did something. It really was a “team effort.” 

Teamwork means that we share a common ideal, embrace a common goal. Regardless of our differences, we strive shoulder to shoulder, confident in one another’s faith, trust, and commitment. In the end, teamwork can be summed up in five short words....We believe in each other.

Have you heard this story about four people: Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.
There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.  Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did.  Somebody got angry (about that) because it was Everybody’s job.  Everybody knew that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Somebody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody because Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

There is a great work that God is calling us to do here at Parkway, but no one individual or handful of individuals will be able to do it.  It will require all of us participating, praying, and sacrificing together.  We all will not do the same thing, but we all must do something.

T.E.A.M. = Together Everyone Achieves More!

There is no “I” in team.

In Christ,

Executive Pastor Kirk Taylor