…wherein your humble, hacker and plodder blogger, a non-golfer, gets to smugly drop the info that he has been to the Masters several times.
Yes, indeed. The world’s premier golf tournament, under way right now, and the world’s most famous golf course is 110.5 miles from where I type and everyone around here has been, at least to the practice rounds. This is where I casually mention that I was chatting with Gary Player on the 12th tee a while back…blah…blah…blah. Player is always friendly with spectators.
I did play a couple of rounds of golf (not at AN) but quit after the condos on the course begged for mercy. I just fish and bird watch these days.
Here are five things your church could learn from Augusta National and the Masters:
- Ban cell phones. Yep. Such is the power of the Club that they banned phones. Use your phone and get caught and your badge is revoked. Tournament badges, high class word for tickets, are precious items. You don’t have the guts to do this in your church, primarily because millenials, that demographic you have been trying to “reach” by making all kinds of compromises, would rise up and smite you. Your wife and kids probably would also.
- Cut the grass and fix broken stuff. Watch the tounamint. Every azalea is blooming. Every pine needle is in place. It’s a perfect golf course. There is nothing that betrays a dead church more than unkempt grounds and broken windows. Pay the money. Keep it looking nice. When my wife and I did a drive by on a church where I was being considered for pastor, we counted over two dozen broken windows. Ugh.
- Treat members and guests with respect. Many churches excel at snobbery. Try and tamp that down while being respectful of your members and guests. If you have a member who asks a guest to move because they are sitting in the member’s regular seat, take the member out and execute them. No second chances on this one.
- Don’t nickel and dime your members and guests. At Augusta National, you get a sandwich for, like $1.50, not $8. You think it isn’t noticed that you take up dinky offerings in your church for every little thing? No, don’t put a donation jar on the coffee bar to guilt folks into paying. Preach on stewardship but don’t go to the well too often.
- Run a first class church. Golfer or not, anyone who has been to Augusta National knows they run a first class tounamint. No periscopes. No cell phones. No backward cap punks. The members act like the golf tounamint is important and means something. Maybe your church should act like the worship of Almighty God means something.
Fore!
_________
If you think this article is mostly so I can brag about having done, several times, what is on many bucket lists…your’re right.
Facts!!!
…and Thornton lands a beauty on the green….
I just read an article that lifted up the wedding as our primo standard for how we do public worship. He never mentions the desired outcome from such deliberate action in the name of church worship. It was an awkward analogy at best. So if we get 1-5 right on the Augusta sliding scale, what might we expect to see as resulting from this deliberate church plan? The church, having been compared to “Club Membership” for so long now, might well shy away from such resemblance. “First Class Church” escapes me. (as do many, many things lately) If #3 defines… Read more »
Glenn, take a day off…maybe whack a golf ball around for a while.
When the pastor preaches an exceptional sermon a ceremony ensues where the chairman of deacons slips a green jacket onto the pastor. This award allows the pastor to name the menu for the next church social.
You da man…
FIX BROKEN STUFF…..YES!!!
For those non-pastor, regular church members, reading this: If you see something broken, and you have a pocketful of skills and the ability to fix it…Just go fix it without telling anybody! (you can point it out the pastor a month later). 🙂
Plenty of SBC churches follow Augusta National’s membership policy already. Sure they have allowed a few exceptions but that was for public relations.
Even the name of the tournament assures that old times are not forgotten.
The green jacket ceremony for an excellent sermon mentioned in the comments might be appreciated by a few deacon boards as the jacket remains property of the church and not the pastor.
We could use a few more amen corners in some quiet churches.
Better than most ????????
totally agree. …… “better than most”. ???????
I do have one member who starts yelling “Get in the hole” sporadically after the 30 minute mark of my messages.
Does another yell,
“Go to your home!”,
If you go past noon?
My kind of Augusta National story focuses on a father & son from my hometown. Keep tissues near if allergies get to you.
https://sports.yahoo.com/masters-a-father-makes-his-sons-dream-come-true-213141701.html
I’m guessing William’s personality type is GOLF, which reflects a well rounded personality. (pun intended)
Good story, Louis.
Thank you brother.
Sorry to be the fly in the ointment…
Many SBC churches do follow the Augusta example since it was only beginning in 1990 that the golf club had its first black member.
“The Masters is a private tournament under the auspices of Augusta National, not under the jurisdiction of the PGA. Unlike many clubs, where there are long waiting lists to join, membership at Augusta is by invitation only.” (LA Times)
And then there’s the outrageous membership fees, and the fact that there were no female members until 2012 .
Just to be clear…William said we could learn a few things from Augusta. He didn’t say we should imitate everything they do.
It is always helpful to read a post without reading into it what isn’t there.
A 19th century SBC pastor, he was prominent enough that some of my ancestors were named after him, implemented a fee for membership policy in the churches he pastored. Pay up or be kicked out. No golf course as a member benefit either.