I’m coaching Parker’s basketball team this year and we had our first practice today. I have one primary goal for the kids: fun.

I want them to learn some fundamentals and win some games and build some confidence. But my top priority is helping these kids fall in love with the game.

I think everything comes back to motivation–why we do what we do. You can try to coach from the outside-in. But you can’t teach the drive to win or court instrinct or love of the game. I want these kids to play the game from the inside-out.

I remember going through stages when I played in high school and college where it wasn’t a game anymore. I lost the joy. It wasn’t fun. I was playing outside-in. I usually needed to step back and realize that it was a game first and foremost.

For what it’s worth, I try to approach pastoring the way I approach coaching. I think it comes back to inside-out discipleship. Religion is outside-in. The pharisees had 613 laws designed to exert “behavior modification.” Love is inside-out. It’s motivation modification. It’s doing the right things for the right reasons.