Andrew Neveils

2007 Infinity Sports Camp Staff Member

The Dream Team

1992 – Barcelona, Spain

The USA Olympic basketball team, also known as The Dream Team, is considered to be the greatest team ever assembled in any sport.  Just look at the roster:

▪John Stockton – PG        

▪Clyde Drexler – SF        

▪Charles Barkley – PF        

▪Scottie Pippen – SF

▪Chris Mullin – SF        

▪Karl Malone – PF        

▪Patrick Ewing – C        

▪David Robinson – C

▪Christian Laettner (’91-’92 college basketball star, later an NBA star)

And of course the all-time greats (who really cannot be contained to one position because no one could contain them):

▪Larry Bird 

▪Magic Johnson 

▪Michael Jordan

You see, this team had talent, but no one person made it great.  Look at the list again; these players are all future hall-of-famers.  They were great on their own – they were perfect together.  This perfect team averaged a win of 44 points more than their opponent (NBA.com).  What made this team so great?  Their talent?  Well sure, they were loaded with it!  Even Michael Jordan needed a swingman though…  Was it their chemistry?  Sure they were enthusiastic and excited, but can a positive attitude (even with your team) allow you to dominate every opponent, even if it looks grim at times?

I believe that this team was great because each member brought their talent and combined it with everyone else’s.  Michael Jordan brought his offensive and defensive tenacity and merged it with John Stockton’s ability to envision plays before they happen.  Larry Bird brought his consistency and slammed it with Clyde Drexler’s athleticism.  Charles Barkley brought his aggression and fused it with Magic Johnson’s leadership.  Each player had something unique about them that no other player had.  Alone, they could only battle each other’s separate teams, but together they took on the world – and won.

Let’s look at Romans 12:3-8.

“³For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. ⁴Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ⁶We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. ⁷If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; ⁸if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.”

This scripture describes the Dream Team perfectly, but not just this basketball team.  I declare a new Dream Team, where all believers in Christ bring their God-given gifts together. You may be great on your own, but, the only way you can be perfect is with God, and with His people.  Combining your gifts with every member of the Church (capitalized to mean all Christians, not just one particular denomination) will take His perfection, His love, His leading of you, and His Son’s sacrifice and shine on the world like a star!  Use your gift in accordance with one another’s and I promise the world will change for His glory!

Let’s also look at Ephesians 4:1-6.

“¹As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ²Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. ³Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

You have to have a strategy.  You cannot take your gifts (collectively) and fly off the wall.  You must do so tactfully and with grace – His grace.  Taking all of your gifts and going throughout the world, healing the brokenness and spiritual rain, and shining His grace, His mercy, His compassion, and His love will heal this world.  The USA Dream Team of the 1992 Olympics may have been the best team in sports, but God’s Dream Team can do so much more.  There’s just one issue – His dream involves you.  You may be a great leader, a great planner, an aggressively passionate person (not in a negative, violent manner), a passionate person, a compassionate person, great with children, great with adults; you may be relatable to every person, because you have been through everything.  You might be the person who is gifted and experienced in many areas.  All of these gifts are meaningless unless they are joined with God’s plan.

Hebrews 11:40 tells us that “God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”  If you want more out of life, then discover God’s plan for you.  Ask Him to provide a way.  He already gave you The Way through His Son Jesus.  The prophet Jeremiah tells us that the Lord knows the plans He has for us and that these are “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”  If you know your gifts, but are unsure of how they are to be used, or even if you don’t know your gifts, than seek His face, work at it with all of your heart.  The athletes of the USA Dream Team knew they were going into this and coming out literally the world champions, as winners.  When you know that your purpose in life is exactly what God wants for you, you can rest assure that you will come out as a winner.

Take your gifts and join in perfection with His team – then you can blow a 44 point win average out of the water, because nothing is impossible with God!