A Fully-Devoted Raider Nation

They are—a little different—fans of the professional football team, the Oakland Raiders. They dress in silver and black, paint their faces, wear skull and crossbones t-shirts, have spikes on their shoulders, and—although their team has been pretty dismal in performance in recent years—they are about as loyal a fan base as you can get. They are devoted. When the driver of one vehicle with a Raider’s bumper sticker is seen by someone else who has a Raider’s bumper sticker on their car it’s almost like a spontaneous family reunion.

They are, what you might call, crazy. Some may even be psycho. Supporters of visiting teams at the Raider’s stadium do not have pleasant experiences. They get pelted with thrown objects, drenched in spilled beer, and made to feel about as welcome as a beagle in a house of cats.

Perhaps the church could learn something from “Raider Nation.”

We often talk about growing fully-devoted disciples for Jesus Christ. It’s a phrase and objective that Willow Creek Community Church, located in the suburbs of Chicago (a city known for its fans of another football team) raised up back in the 80’s and 90’s. If my limited history is correct, “fully-devoted disciples” was the term that was used a few years after Willow Creek had talked about being “seeker sensitive.”

The Great Commission in Matthew 28 talks about making disciples, baptizing new believers, and teaching them to obey everything God has commanded us. We are to raise up fully-devoted followers of Jesus.

Let me take it to a more dangerous level. What about a fully-devoted church? What about the spiritual equivalent of “Raider Nation?”

I know, I know, it’s sad that we’re trying to raise the level of commitment in the Body of believers up to a football team’s fan base, but unfortunately that’s the state of the church in our nation. In Colorado we check the scheduling of church functions according to the timing of Bronco’s games. If the Broncos are playing an early game on the East Coast, two hours earlier than their usual home game kick-off, I can expect a dip in worship attendance that day. Perhaps we need to re-map our journey as a church and focus it on the growing of “a fully-devoted church.”

Some might immediately ask what that would look like. The answer is that it would look different in each situation because of community demographics, age of the church and congregation, giftedness of the people of the congregation, and a multitude of other things, but the one thing that would be the overarching defining characteristic would be the fact that Jesus is Lord!

Before you downplay the simple logic of that, ask yourself “Is Christ really Lord of our Body?” Too often Christ’s Lordship is fragmented. He is Lord of the senior high young people, but not their middle-aged parents. (That’s meant to be a hypothetical example, not a reflection of reality.) He is Lord of a group that meets for fervent prayer on a regular basis, but not of the group that meets to gossip about the pastor (Once again, hypothetical!) He’s Lord of the first sixty minutes of worship on Sunday morning, but not of “overtime.” (Interesting that in professional football the most exciting and intense time is called “overtime.”)

A fully-devoted church is a Body of believers who are all rowing in sync, and Jesus is determining the pace. And here’s the thing: A fully-devoted church will be making disciples of Jesus Christ. It’s a result that is directly connected.

I admire Raider fans. I’m impressed by Raider Nation. I still think they’re weird, but I admire their devotion. Let’s take a cue and a lesson from them, and realize that our devotion has eternal ramifications for not only us, but for many, many others.