We live in a culture that puts a premium on recognition. When a team clinches the division title or wins the championship, we tend to single out the star player, the captain or the coach.
But one of my favorite passages in Scripture challenges that instinct. Some men accomplish something remarkable together, yet we’re never told their names.
In Luke 5, we find Jesus teaching inside a crowded house when some men arrive carrying a paralyzed friend on a stretcher. That is all Luke tells us about these men. We do not know their names, titles or education. We only know what they believed and what they were willing to do.
They believed that if they could get their friend to Jesus, everything could change.
Then they hit an obstacle. The crowd was so large that they could not get through the door. They could have decided the opportunity was gone. Instead, they adjusted. They climbed onto the roof, opened a way through it and lowered their friend down in front of Jesus.
I have spent much of my life in locker rooms, first as an athlete and then as a coach. I love those spaces because they bring together people with different roles and responsibilities for one purpose. You learn quickly that everybody has a role. And every role matters.
Football makes this especially clear. Players with different skills and responsibilities have to execute at the same time. The quarterback may get most of the attention, but the play does not work if the lineman misses his assignment. Talent matters, but talent without trust and shared purpose rarely produces a great team.
The men in Luke 5 had a purpose greater than any individual role: Get their friend to Jesus. But knowing the mission wasn’t enough; reaching him required uncommon faith, leadership and unity.
It started with uncommon faith. Before they had a plan for the roof, they had a conviction about Jesus. They believed He could help their friend, and that belief made the obstacle in front of them something to overcome rather than a reason to quit.
It also took uncommon leadership. We don’t know who suggested going to the roof, and that’s part of the beauty of the story. Somebody looked at that crowd and said, “I’ve got an idea.” Leadership in that moment was not a title; it was the willingness to contribute what the mission required.
And it required uncommon unity. An idea alone wasn’t going to get their friend onto that roof. Everybody had to contribute. The men had to trust one another, carry the responsibility together and keep moving toward the same goal. Their shared belief became shared action.
That picture challenges me because we face obstacles everywhere: on teams, in our work and in ministry. Limited resources, unexpected problems and different perspectives are normal. The question is not whether challenges will come. The question is whether they will distract and divide us or drive us back to the purpose that brought us together.
Division is one of the quickest ways to limit a team’s effectiveness. We start protecting our territory, questioning one another’s motives or wondering whether our contribution even matters. Strong teams work differently. They stay focused on their shared purpose, make room for people to bring an idea and believe the best about one another.
For Christians, that purpose is ultimately a Person.
At Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), we often talk about getting a generation to Jesus. But that assignment does not belong only to the person holding the microphone, leading the Huddle or carrying the most visible title. Every member of the body of Christ has been given a role in God’s work.
That is why one detail in Luke’s account stops me every time. When the men finally lowered their friend before Jesus, Luke tells us, “When Jesus saw their faith,” He responded.
Their faith. Not one man’s faith. Theirs.
Jesus noticed the faith of a group whose names we never learn. They believed in Jesus, cared deeply about their friend and were willing to do whatever it took. And by the end of the account, the entire crowd was giving glory to God and saying they had seen incredible things.
That is a picture of teamwork worth chasing.
The strongest teams are not necessarily the ones with the biggest names, the fewest obstacles or the best plan. They are the ones that know why they are together, believe deeply in the mission and care enough about one another to keep moving when the door is blocked.
Your name may never be attached to the result. Your role may not be noticed. But your faith, your ideas, your effort and your commitment to the people beside you matter. And when the obvious way forward is blocked, don't lose sight of the mission.
Sometimes the way forward is through the roof.
Shane Williamson is president and CEO of Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). Before becoming president of FCA, Williamson served as FCA’s Executive Director of Field Ministry and has been involved with FCA for nearly 30 years. A native of Loris, S.C., Williamson attended Wofford College, earning a bachelor’s degree in biology while playing football and serving as an officer in the FCA Huddle there.