Teamwork

March 17, 2026

My idea of teaming was significantly impacted when I read the first four words of I and II Thessalonians: Paul, Silas and Timothy. Three individuals with decades of shared experience were writing a letter as a ministry team.

For 47 years, I have served with ministry teams on college campuses and military bases in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Germany and Virginia. We have formed covenants of friendship that have spread around the world. Who doesn’t like working with their friends?

From my experience I have crystalized three transformative benefits from teaming.

Love. “Love each other the way I loved you” (John 13:34-35). When you love your teammates this way, it changes everything.
Work. “We are God’s fellow-workers” (I Cor. 3:9). When you combine skills to work on an impossible task together, you get to experience God’s miraculous provision.
Suffering. Paul said to Timothy, “Suffer hardship with me” (2 Tim. 2:3). When you suffer hardship together for the cause of Christ, it magnifies the reality of the cross both now and forever.

I have certainly been significantly changed by these. May we all experience the transformative benefits of love, work and suffering as we labor together as ministry teams.