In Matthew 28:19, Jesus says to his disciples, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” My question is how do the disciples and Christians today turn these words into actions?

For me I would liken it to the game plan a coach gives his team before they go out to play. The coach reiterates his game plan to the players and exhorts them to carry it out. However, what if the players fail to respond to the game plan or the game plan was flawed and the team loses. How does the coach react?

Some coaches with their assistants like to watch the game again analysing where the team went wrong.  Though, I would call this paralysis by analysis as you can have all the game plans you want but it doesn’t necessarily correlate into victory.  When Jesus told his disciples to preach the message of the Gospel, I am sure not everyone embraced them or Jesus’ teachings but what the apostles did was persist with Christianity having the world’s greatest following.

Next, I believe that all coaches should go with their gut instinct. That means relaying too much information to players gets lost in translation. I would argue a coach should welcome feedback from the players although he/she should trust in their own game plan as ultimately, they are responsible for the team’s performance. I would think that Jesus would have engaged in ongoing conversation with his disciples nevertheless, what they had to say would not have deterred him from his mission. For example, Matthew 16:21-23 “He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man”.

Finally, a coach needs to fix his eyes on the prize and cut him/herself off from mass and social media. For media sometimes does not promote team harmony and can create disunity within the team organisation and the fanbase. Thus, it is not going to be a fight that a coach can win and distracts him/her from what is important his /her own appraisal about the team both on and off the field.  For Jesus it was the Pharisees that tried to bring him undone and eventually their planning led to Jesus’ death. However, Jesus was strong in his own convictions rebuking them when they tried to undermine his mission. For Jesus as it should be for a coach, “Press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14.