Super Bowl Rings and a Winning Church Culture

The picture above is me with my two Super Bowl rings and one NFC Championship ring.

The smaller ones are from the Super Bowls XXXI and XXXII (1997 and 1998) during the Brett Favre era. We won in ’97 and lost in ’98, hence the NFC championship ring instead of a Super Bowl ring. And the big one is from Super Bowl XLV in 2011 with Aaron Rodgers.

OK. They’re not mine. They belong to a relative of mine who has worked for the Green Bay Packers for over 30 years.

A few weeks ago, I got to visit Lambeau Field for my birthday, and knowing a guy who works there has its perks. We were having dinner at the restaurant in the stadium, and he casually pulled these three rings out of his pocket and set them on the table.

“Want to hold them?” he asked.

“YES!” I squealed, almost falling out of my seat.

As we passed the rings around the table and took pictures, he told us all about how many diamonds are in each ring, how much they cost, and a few stories about working with Hall of Famers like Reggie White.

After dinner, we even got a private tour of the stadium, including access to the roof under the jumbotron. It was incredible!

But perhaps the thing that stuck with me in the whole experience was the rings. My relative explained that every team gets a certain number of Super Bowl rings by the league when they win—enough to cover the players, coaches, and executives—and it’s up to the organization to decide whether they’ll buy any more for other contributors.

The Packers have always elected to spend the money (roughly 20-30 thousand dollars each) to give rings to every full-time staff member in the organization.

So the Packers give Super Bowl rings to the equipment managers, practice referees, marketing department, maintenance staff, and everyone else who works for them full-time.

But not every team that wins a super bowl elects to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to give rings to their employees. My relative said he knows a few people in his position on other teams who never got a ring.

And that’s the difference between a great organization and an average one.

I met a handful of guys at the stadium proudly wearing their rings. They love to show them off. Everywhere they go, they’ll be evangelists for the organization for the rest of their life. They’ve all stayed with the team for decades, even through the losing seasons and coldest winters.

There’s a reason that the Packers organization has such a historic reputation. They value their people, and you can feel it just talking to them. Everyone who plays a part is recognized and rewarded for the organization’s success. There’s no job too small. They’re proud to do their part.

Churches should learn from this example.

Every time we win, it’s not just the pastor who did the work. When someone puts their faith in Christ for the first time and gets baptized, it’s a victory for everyone from the secretary, to the book-keeper, to the nursery worker, to the greeter, everyone played a part.

The credit goes to God, but we all share in the victory.

What if churches were better at showing every volunteer and staff member that they are part of the team’s victory?

The great churches I’ve worked for have done this well, and the not-so-great ones haven’t.

We can’t forget that to lead our churches well means valuing every effort, no matter how small, and repeatedly showing our appreciation in our actions, not just our words.

So how does your church put its money where its mouth is and show everyone on your team that you value their contribution to the win?

We may not all get a ring, but we’ll get a crown (James 1:12).