Organizational Slippage

My boss recently gave me an article on how organizations end up in a slippage mode. This article was really focused on churches, however, I sense the same thing can apply to most organizations. So, here's the highlights of this article from Gordan McDonald entitled: How A Mighty Church Falls.


McDonald quotes Jim Collins in this article and identifies five stages in the process of organization slippage.

Stage One: Hubris Born of Success

• Hubris is defined as arrogant conceit or as Collins puts it "an excessive pride"
• This is a state of over-confidence in ourselves, our systems, and our successes
• This often makes leaders blind to weaknesses within an organization
• Reality: in this state there is a tendency to understate the problem and overstate your ability to accomplish

Stage Two: Undisciplined Pursuit of More

• It is about getting larger and larger, more and more expansive, even if it costs the organization its soul
• Overreaching stems from a temptation to think that if we're good at what we're doing, we can do anything else just as successfully
• Sometimes this can mean migrating toward "more" and away from "wisdom"

Stage Three: Denial of Risk and Peril

• Leaders and organizations ignore or minimize critical information or refuse to listen to things they do not want to hear
• Collins is concerned for organizations who base their decisions on the basis of inadequate or mismanaged information
  
• The most valuable information came through trusted, wise people who were empowered to systematically engage the community in conversation and with questions designed ahead of time
  

Stage Four: Grasping for Salvation

• Lurching for a "silver bullet"
• Betting big on an unproven product
• Hiring promise-making consultants or seeking a new hero-type leader who can ride in on a white horse and singlehandedly save the day
• A sense of desperation for a breakthrough victory

Stage Five: Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death

• At what point did it start down the slope of organizational death?
• Who missed the hidden signs?
• Who ignored the core convictions?
• Who misinterpreted the information?

Master Leaders by George Barna

If you are like me you have plenty to read - even some books and articles which you started and have not finished. Having said that, I'm always interested in books which are useful for my personal development or professional development. Have any of you read the book Master Leaders?

George Barna and coauthor Bill Dallas invite you to imagine yourself backstage at a conference featuring thirty world-class leaders. As you join them in the greenroom, you’ll be privy to their provocative conversations on subjects including:

• defining what makes someone a leader


• knowing how to identify, communicate, and get commitment to vision


• touchstones for leading effectively


• what to look for and how to measure performance


• earning and maintaining people’s trust


• developing character traits that honor God, serve people, and empower self


• establishing and retaining the moral authority to lead


• knowing how power is derived and how to use it appropriately
  

These are some interesting leadership topics. This has been recommended as a good leadership read!

The Stop-Doing Discipline

In this recent interview, Campbell Soup CEO Douglas Conant defined his mission in taking the helm eight years ago as being, “to take a bad company and lift its performance to extraordinary by 2011.” His strategy was simple enough: developing or keeping only products that ranked first or second in three major categories. That meant, among other things, selling the Godiva chocolate brand in 2008.

Jim Collins, best-selling author of Good to Great, commented on Conant’s sale of Godiva by saying, “That gets my attention, when someone has the discipline to let go of what doesn’t fit.”
Collins firmly believes in the power of a “stop-doing” discipline, a practice that began taking shape during his early post-Stanford Business School career at Hewlett-Packard. On a return visit to the school early in his career, Jim’s favorite former professor, Rochelle Myers, reproached him for his lack of discipline. An expert in creativity and innovation, she told him his unbridled energy was riding herd over his mental clarity, enabling a busy yet unfocused life.
Her words rang true: At the time, Jim’s life was crowded with the commotion of a fast-tracking career. Her comment made him pull up short and re-examine what he was doing. To help, she did what great teachers do, constructing a lesson in the form of an assignment she called “20-10”: Imagine that you’ve just inherited $20 million free and clear, but you only have ten years to live. What would you do differently—and specifically, what would you stop doing?
The exercise did precisely what it was intended to do: make Jim stop and think about what mattered most to him. It was a turning point for three reasons.

First, he realized he’d been racing down the wrong track, spending enormous energy on the wrong things. In fact, he woke up to the fact that he hated his job. He promptly quit and headed back to Stanford to launch a new career of research, teaching, and writing.

Second, the assignment became a constant reminder of just how important his time is. He now starts each year by choosing what not to do, and each of his to-do lists always includes “stop-doing” items. Collins preaches his practice, impressing upon his audiences that they must have a “stop-doing” list to accompany their to-do lists. As a practical matter, he advises eliminating the bottom twenty percent of your goals... forever.

Third, the strategy helped him identify what factors led the companies he was studying to become “great” while others remained merely “good.” The great companies routinely eliminated activities and pursuits that did not significantly contribute to the following criteria: profit, passion, and perfection. All three criteria had to be met in order for any activity to remain in these great companies’ repertoires.

In this editorial piece Collins said, “A great piece of art is composed not just of what is in the final piece, but equally what is not. It is the discipline to discard what does not fit—to cut out what might have already cost days or even years of effort—that distinguishes the truly exceptional artist and marks the ideal piece of work, be it a symphony, a novel, a painting, a company, or most important of all, a life.”

In an economic environment where time, money and attention are fixed or decreasing, where we must achieve maximum effect with minimum means, having a good stop-doing strategy may hold the key. At the very least, it will allow us to make more room for what really matters by eliminating what doesn’t.

When You Want To Call It Quits

All of us have probably had days where we wanted to call it quits. This is usually a quick response when things are not going well. There is great value in persevering as leaders - even when things get difficult. This article by Wayne Cordeiro has a little humor and a lot of truth. I hope you enjoy it as I did.

"My friend Gary enjoyed telling me about the time he ran a quarter-mile relay race. It's basically once around the track—with teammates at each quarter-mile waiting for the baton. The entire race usually ends in less than a minute. That's fast!

The relay Gary told me about was a big track-and-field event in a small town, and the grandstands were overflowing with friends and fans. The weather was chilly and the runners were still wearing their warm-up "sweats." Gary, running anchor, was the last team member to be in the box. When the gun went off, his role was to remove his team's starting block from the track and get to his spot where he would wait for the baton to hit his hand—all within seconds.

Sprinting to the Finish
Bang! The starter's pistol resounded through the stadium, and Gary ran to remove the blocks. Usually he had plenty of time, but the foot pegs fell off the block, leaving him only seconds to grab them and run back to make his start. Gary suddenly remembered that he still had on his sweats. He saw his teammate flying around the corner, so he whipped off his sweatpants as fast as he could and rushed to his position on the track. He made it just in time to feel the slap of the baton hitting his hand and then started sprinting. With his heart pounding, straining toward the finish line, he noticed that it felt colder than it should have. Gary glanced down, only to make a startling discovery: In his haste, he had taken off a lot more than just his sweatpants!

At that moment, Gary said he was caught between two bad options: One choice was to continue and the other was to quit. In a split second, in front of the astonished onlookers, he had to make a decision. As he recalled to me later, "I faced the option to either hightail towards the lockers or make a mad and daring dash to the finish. I chose to cut left to the safe harbor of the lockers."
I rolled with laughter when he told me the story!

Perhaps you, like Gary, have been faced with difficult choices — far more weighty than avoiding embarrassment:
Should I shade the truth to protect a friendship?
Should I remain in this job, when I know the boss is involved in unethical business practices?
Should I blow the whistle about an ineligible player on the team?

Ever feel like you were caught between two bad choices? What do you do when you're ready to call it quits? It's one of the toughest things we face, yet oddly enough it is also one of the most common. We all go through times when we want to chuck in the towel. But does giving up make the situation any better? Not really. Misery may love company, but have you ever noticed that company sure doesn't love misery!

So what do you do when you're stuck between a rock and a hard place and you just want to call it quits? Look at some of the "greats":

• Joseph—a cocky upstart abandoned by his family. He became a slave and was then thrown into jail and forgotten in his cell. He learned humility and was finally promoted to Prime Minister over mighty Egypt.


• Moses—an extreme introvert who stuttered. Not only that he was a murderer — a fugitive on the run in the desert. He led God's people out of Egypt and to the Promised Land.


• Ruth—a foreigner and a widow following a depressed, "down-on-her-luck" mother-in-law. She was also a brand-new believer yet she kept her heart humble and became one of Jesus' ancestors.


• The woman at the well—a divorcee who had slept around and was the talk of the town. She became the first evangelist after meeting "the Man."
  

The Bible's casting call for heroes reads more like a "Least Likely to Succeed" rap sheet. Yet this list of the least likely is the foundation of Hebrews 11—a commemoration of God's most faithful men and women across time—and is most often referred to as "The Hall of Faith."

Don't be surprised—"the last and least" in man's eyes are often "the best and brightest" in God's plans." Be careful not to quit because quitting seems to be the easy response - persevere!

Leadership - a Labor of Love and Respect

In the 1970 essay "The Servant as Leader," Robert Greenleaf wrote, "The servant-leader is servant first... It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead."

The basic tenets of servant leadership call for leaders to:

• Devote themselves to serving the needs of organization members



• Focus on meeting the needs of those they lead



• Facilitate personal growth in all who work with them



• Listen and build a sense of community

Leading as a servant will have a strong impact on you as an individual and your organization. Give it a try and see what happens!!

Wise Words for Leaders

Dr. Leland Eliason is retiring from Bethel Seminary in August. He was asked to share some words of wisdom or advice to those who will continue to lead after him. His words are very profound so I thought I would share them in this blog article.

These are his words to us as leaders:

• Learn to live outside of comfort zones. God is often found in the places we run away from - places we fear most, places we are sure we don't fit into, places that call for humility and more growth.



• Expect God to show up - His ways are not our ways, and His timing is often not ours. But when God shows up, then all the pieces of the puzzle that didn't seem to fit begin to come together.



• Don't quit. Perseverance is so necessary.



• Sometimes the greatest step of obedience is simply to show up.



• Curiosity is one fo the most under-rated qualities for nurturing growth and development. Let your curiousity guide you to ask appropriate questions of those around you. Cultivate a curiousity about Christ - "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3)



• Learn to be joyful. Our leadership is serious. The world's problems are massive. But "the joy of the Lord is our strength." So in the midst of life, nurture joy in your relationship with the great and good God. Look for humor, laugh with abandonment, and cultivate joyfulness.
  

These are great words of wisdom for us as leaders. I hope we all can practice these just as Dr. Eliason did during his faithful years as a leader.

Resistance as Feedback

The Harvard Business Review posted an article that talked about resistance and change. Often leaders perceive resistance to change as a threat to their leadership and their vision. What if this is not always the case? Can resistance be a resource? The answer to this question is "yes!" Here's a few things to consider as you get resistance to change:

1. View resistance as feedback instead of a threat. What is the feedback you are receiving with your change proposal?
2. Boost awareness. As the initiator of change you have probably spent a lot of time processing this change. Keep in mind that the individuals hearing about this change have not had the same amount of time for this processing. In other words, you have internalized the change but others have not.
3. Change the change. If you view resistance as feedback you may end up with some good input and decide to adjust the change.
4. Build participation and engagement. Buy-in often comes from listening to concerns. Allowing people to share their concerns can open the door for partnership.
5. Complete the past. Change often has a dismal rate of success. It is not surprising that people expect history to repeat itself and resist going through it all over again. Help people understand how this change will be different from the past.

Resistance properly understood as feedback can be an important resource in improving the quality and clarity of the objectives and strategies at the heart of a change proposal. A growing understanding of this will help with a successful implementation of change.

Exerpts from Jeffrey D. Ford and Laurie W. Ford

Sandberg Story

Good leaders are humble and humility is attractive!!

Jim Collins in his book Good to Great says that Level 5 leaders exhibit some common qualities. He explains that great leaders are humble, they have an intense resolve, their first priority is the institution and not themselves, they tend to be quiet and modest.

Humble leaders are careful to stay focused and review their motivation in decision making. With humility comes a consistent heart check with regards to priorities. The bi-product of humility in a leader is that they don't pretend to be something they are not. They are real, authentic, vulnerable, and have a sincere concern about doing the right thing - not for self, but for the organization.

Ryne Sandberg, the all-star second baseman of the Chicago Cubs once had the opportunity to display humility. During his playing years he was well paid for his skills. Unfortunately, one year Ryne was in a hitting slump and wasn't playing near to his potential. He was very disappointed in his performance especially since he was being paid so well. So, how did Ryne handle this situation? In addition to working hard at improving his swing and taking hours of batting practice, he also met with the general manager of the Cubs and offered a large chunck of his salaray back to the team. He told the GM that he didn't feel right about taking millions of dollars whn he wasn't performing up to his potential. Through this humility he won the hearts of his team members and the fans of Chicago.

I recently read this quote from Dr. Tim Elmore - "Humility doesn't mean leaders think less of themselves. It means they think of themselves less."

The Indian Talking Stick

When I was growing up my mom frequently told me this - "you have two ears to listen with and one mouth to speak, this means you should listen twice as much as you speak." For those of us who like to talk and share our opinions this can be a difficult practice. However, listening is a critical leadership principle.

The early Indians had a way to deal with this and it was called the Talking Stick. Here's how it worked. Durng a meeting, the Indian Talking Stick is passed around from one person to the next. Only the person holding the Talking Stick was allowed to speak. The stick remains in the person's hand until everyone in the circle understands what has been said. Once this person is fully understood the stick is handed to the next person. There is an interesting result of this method of listening - as the tribal members pass the stick around, they slowly become less combative and more cohesive.

Often, as much as 50% of leadership is about listening, observing, and interpreting what you see and hear. So, how do we listen well? Here's a couple of suggestions:

1. Show Empathy - what this means is entering into another person's situation. This could be a family member at home, this could be a co-worker or employee who may be having a difficult time. The key is understanding how this person feels and then showing genuine care for them.

2. Ask Good Questions - this is my favorite. I enjoy asking questions in order to get a person thinking about a certain subject. When we ask questions we are opening the door for us to listen carefully and connect with people. As we listen we are able to better understand where they are coming from.

Through the art of listening your relationships with be strengthened and your influence will increase.

Top 10 Ways to FAIL as a Leader

If you want to sabatoge your team just follow these simple guidelines:

10) CONSERVE AFFIRMATION. You don't want your team members to become arrogant. Use affirming remarks sparingly.

9.) HAVE A CLOSED-DOOR POLICY. Openness to feedback is a slippery slope. One day you're listening, the next day you're on the verge of a teachable spirit.

8.) MAKE SURE NOBODY APPEARS SMARTER THAN YOU ARE. Nobody has more knowledge or experience than you do. That's shy you're in charge, right?

7.) FOSTER AN ATMOSPHERE OF PARANOIA. Nothing puts a better positive filter on incoming information than a renowned fear of your response to bad news.

6.) MAKE SURE ALL IDEAS ORIGINATE WITH YOU. Good ideas come from the top, not the team. Shared credit is for couples with debt problems.

5.) EXERCISE HIGH CONTROL. Remember, you're the team leader, and it's your way or the highway.

4.) LOOK OUT FOR #1. When in doubt, ask yourself, What's best for me and my interests? Don't underestimate the value of manipulation.

3.) DON'T TRUST ANYONE. If you refuse to trust them from the start, you don't give them the opportunity to disappoint you.

2.) ASK SOMEONE TO DO A SPECIFIC JOB, AND THEN DO IT YOURSELF. Micromanagement is on of the surest ways to fail as a team leader. If you want it done right, you've got to do it yourself.

1.) FILL YOUR TEAM WITH PEOPLE JUST LIKE YOU. Could there be a more ideal team than on made up of multiple versions of you?

Excerpted from an article in Idea Depot.

Follow Your Dreams

The game of golf can teach us a lot of great principles. Principles like: determination, patience, focus, and fun. This video uses the story of a golfer to drive home a different set of principles which are very important - principles such as: being persistent, being courageous, and following your dreams.


These are important leadership qualities for all of us - persistence in your character, courage in your decisions, and thinking big even when others are thinking small.


I hope you enjoy this video (click on the link below)!!

Walk On - ESPN Video Video

Advise From A Man Who Knows...

I've been reading a new book entitled: Leading on Empty by Wayne Cordero. The focus of Wayne's book is leadership and the reality of burnout. Burnout can happen in the life of any leader - not just those of us who are in full-time ministry. Below is an interview with Wayne on his reasoning for writing this book. I think you will find this interesting. 

Q: This book comes from your own experience with burnout and overcoming it. What factors led to the burnout and how did you begin the healing process?

WAYNE: I couldn't see the symptoms coming on. They arrived like an uninvited thief that came in the back door and before you knew it, you were captured. At first, all I wanted to do was to get free from the disintegration that was slowing taking place on the inside. You always burn out on the inside much sooner than you do on the outside. I kept my pace the same but I was like a wounded long distance runner. My life was bookended by weekend services, and ministry needs kept me ransomed. So I kept pressing forward hoping for the symptoms to leave. But they didn't. They only worsened. My first step was finally confiding in a few people what was to me a "weakness" that I should have been able to resolve on my own. You cannot resolve burnout on your own.

Q: What are some of the more common warning signs of burnout and how might readers avoid burning out?

WAYNE: Things that once came easily to me became increasingly more difficult such as decision making, problem solving, people challenges and preaching. I found myself getting irritable and impatient at little things in life. Joy was leaking and ministry wasn't fun anymore. People were becoming problems to be avoided. Decisions came hard. I deliberated until I was polarized and paralyzed. Creativity flagged. I duplicated rather than incarnated. I began losing vision for the ministry that was once vibrant and thrilling. Physical symptoms started bothering me as well. I had trouble breathing. My heart began to beat erratically.

Q: While this book was written with pastors and church leaders in mind, do you see it branching out to people in other professions?

WAYNE: Yes, I do see it branching out to people in other professions. Many leaders struggle with feelings like they cannot take a break. Burnout is no respecter of persons. I just write this from a minister's perspective because that is my calling, but I also write this as a human being, a father, a leader, a person who was committed to God's best. This book will help all of us live more wisely and accurately.

Q: In one chapter you discuss the differences between concern and responsibility, and solitude and isolation. Can you briefly explain what those differences are as they relate to burnout and recovery?

WAYNE: Concern might include those things that happen in other's lives that cause me some unrest and might even distress me emotionally. However, the responsibility to rectify it is not mine to take. Those things that are my responsibility are those areas and relationships in life that God will hold me accountable for. As an example, the health of my marriage is my responsibility as a husband, but my boss' condescending style of leadership is not. It might be a concern but it is not my responsibility. I must be able to differentiate between the two lest what should be only a concern, I begin to see as my responsibility, and what should be my responsibility, I see as a concern. Solitude and isolation are two other words that we must also distinguish. Solitude are intentional times factored into my life in order to be alone with God. Solitude helps me recalibrate and heal, be restored and made whole again. It smoothes the wrinkles that come with incessancy or commitment. On the other hand, "isolation" takes place when I have violated the first. It causes me to want to withdraw, but it doesn't necessarily heal me. It is a reaction to an overextended life that has gone past fatigue and is now into exasperation. It is the painful beginnings of a wounded wearied soul that has lost its resilience.

Q: What is the most important message you hope to convey to readers?

WAYNE: The most important message is this: when burnout hits and you feel lost at sea, it will be too late to anchor our buoys to find your way back. Those navigational disciplines must be established now, long before your soul is famished and your winter goes long. I had driven deeply the pillars of a disciplined daily devotions and an accountability to elders in my life, so that when the roof blew off, I could still keep my wheel on the track because those were life habits I had established. Even when I couldn't see or even hear, I could trust the rails upon which I was being guided. And let me reiterate, one of the most important buoys that helped me in the healing process was my daily devotions ... sitting before His feet on a daily basis, reading through the Scriptures and journaling. I don't know where I would be if I hadn't established that one discipline. I don't think I would be in the ministry today.

Q: What are your hopes and prayers for Leading on Empty?

WAYNE: There is no pill that would remove every storm and help you to avoid burnout. But what I CAN do is to help the reader recognize the early warning signs, what to look for, and how to be resilient. My hope is to help those who are held in the bondage of depression and vision loss, and I can guarantee that there is a way through. I found it and I am leaving road markers to those who will come behind.

Q: How did God bless you while you were writing Leading on Empty?

WAYNE: Writing this book forced me to record, in an understandable order, the faltering steps that led me to despair and it compelled me to recount how I built every stair step as I found my way back to the surface. Through this, I realized how grateful I am to a Mentor God, a Grace giving Shepherd of my soul who would never let me go. I have come through this a different person with an ever grateful heart that now gushes with thankfulness that I get to help others find their way out of the valleys.

Q: Just for fun, what's one little-known fact about you?

WAYNE: I guess most people know that my loves are my grandkids (I have two and one on the way) and my motorcycles. I love to ride. It clears my head and lets me think. I also enjoy farming. Yes, farming! We own a small family farm in Oregon where I enjoy working with animals like cattle and sheep, chickens and dogs. And I have yet much to learn about tending to a garden. I have learned to pray for rain, and during the time I bale hay, I have learned to pray for sunshine. It's there that I take time to ponder deeply the things of God. I have come to realize that when leaders get too busy with the work of God around them, it can begin to erode the work of God inside them. The tail wags the dog and we find that we have become adept at giving quick answers but not insightful ones. We have become skilled in giving acceptable responses but none that are adequate to touch people's souls enough to affect their lives. On our farm, I get to work with my hands which keeps me attached to the dirt so I can realize daily what I am made of. It restores humility and it keeps me close to Him who chose to be a Shepherd of sheep.

Order your copy online today at: New Hope Life Resources

Driver or Passenger

Our church staff is going through a book entitled - Habitudes. This book is designed to help grow us as leaders. During our discussion time yesterday we talked about the difference between being in the drivers seat and being a passenger. When you put this in the context of driving a car the driver should be in control and the driver has the responsibility for what happens with the car. 

The same is true for us as leaders. If you are in a position of leadership - someone has asked you to be in a driver's seat with responsibility. I asked this question of our staff - What are the characteristics of a driver? Here's their response: 

• Responsible by taking the lead - ownership
  
• Face what needs to be faced and do what needs to be done
• Follows the rules and does not compromise
• Knows the direction and what needs to be done to get there
• Quick thinking - good problem solver
• Not distracted
• Above reproach in character
• Owns his or her mistakes
• Long-term commitment
• Loyal
• Care-taker of those who work for you
• Consistent
• Humble
• Knows his/her weaknesses
• Discerning
• Change agent

How does this driver handle mistakes or failures?

• Character is built by how you handle failure
• Be quick to own the mistake
• Make corrections as is needed
• Learns from the mistake
• Doesn't blame others - in fact, takes the blame
• Handles these with integrity

So, being in the driver's seat has many responsibilities. Remember, your passengers are counting on you to lead the way, give direction, and care for them!

A Level 5 Leader by Another Name

Jim Collin's term Level 5 leader is similar to servant-leader, a term coined by Robert Greenleaf to describe someone who encourages collaboration, trust, foresight, listening, and the ethical use of power. Would your board and organization be more effective if servant-leaders were intentionally recruited?

The servant-leader is servant first...It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. He or she is sharply different from the person who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions. For such it will be a later choice to serve - after leadership is established. The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.

The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people's highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?

Excerpted from Servant as Leader by Robert K. Greenleaf

Offering Hope

It is always good to start the year with an inspiring story. This story reminded me of the importance of reaching out to others. As leaders we will always have opportunities to influence those around us in a positive way - showing them hope in a hopeless world. 

The story comes from Rick Reilly at ESPN Sports.

They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.

It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through.

Did you hear that? The other team's fans?

They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, "Go Tornadoes!" Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions.

"I WOULDN'T EXPECT ANOTHER PARENT TO TELL SOMEBODY TO HIT THEIR KIDS. BUT THEY WANTED US TO!"

It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on—by name.

"I never in my life thought I'd hear people cheering for us to hit their kids," recalls Gainesville's QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. "I wouldn't expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!"

And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he'd just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach.

But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five—handcuffs ready in their back pockets—and marched them to the team bus. That's because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.

This all started when Faith's head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith had never played Gainesville, but he already knew the score. After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game, Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment and involved parents. Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions for drugs, assault and robbery—many of whose families had disowned them—wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets.

So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. "Here's the message I want you to send:" Hogan wrote. "You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth."

Some people were naturally confused. One Faith player walked into Hogan's office and asked, "Coach, why are we doing this?"

And Hogan said, "Imagine if you didn't have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you."

Next thing you know, the Gainesville Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before. Hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders!

"I thought maybe they were confused," said Alex, a Gainesville lineman (only first names are released by the prison). "They started yelling 'DEE-fense!' when their team had the ball. I said, 'What? Why they cheerin' for us?'"

It was a strange experience for boys who most people cross the street to avoid. "We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games," says Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years. "You can see it in their eyes. They're lookin' at us like we're criminals. But these people, they were yellin' for us! By our names!"

Maybe it figures that Gainesville played better than it had all season, scoring the game's last two touchdowns. Of course, this might be because Hogan put his third-string nose guard at safety and his third-string cornerback at defensive end. Still.

After the game, both teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray and that's when Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead. "We had no idea what the kid was going to say," remembers Coach Hogan. But Isaiah said this: "Lord, I don't know how this happened, so I don't know how to say thank You, but I never would've known there was so many people in the world that cared about us."

And it was a good thing everybody's heads were bowed because they might've seen Hogan wiping away tears.

As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under guard, they each were handed a bag for the ride home—a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Faith player.

The Gainesville coach saw Hogan, grabbed him hard by the shoulders and said, "You'll never know what your people did for these kids tonight. You'll never, ever know."

And as the bus pulled away, all the Gainesville players crammed to one side and pressed their hands to the window, staring at these people they'd never met before, watching their waves and smiles disappearing into the night.

Anyway, with the economy six feet under, it's nice to know that one of the best presents you can give this year is still absolutely free.

Hope.