Agape House Fellowship 愛家

It’s is in the statistics

I do not expect all of us to be familiar with this term used mostly for athletic team competition. Home court advantage means that the team is playing on its own court or in its own stadium as oppose to the other team who will be playing as the visiting team or “on the road”.

Statistics says that team plays at home court have phenomenally higher chance to win.Historically, for example, in National Basketball Association (NBA), the home team in deciding games has won 78 of 97 games up until the second round of the 2007 NBA Playoffs.

Wow. That is an 80% chance of winning if you have the home court advantage. Although it does not guarantee your win for sure, it does give your team a definite mental edge in the tight professional sport competition.

Why? In tight competition, all you need is a 10% edge over your competitors to win it. Many games are decided by less than 1-2 points. Home court advantage gives you just that 10% edge to push you over the top.

This is so important for some sports, for example, college and professional basketball, that the players, coach, staff and front office try to sweat every day in the regular season to “gain” this status: home court advantage. They work hard for a long regular season to save it for the finals.

Sport metaphor in bible

Bible also uses sport metaphor to illustrate our Christian walk. In 1^st Corinthians 9:24-26, Paul uses runners in a race and wrestlers in a wrestling completion as examples of a normal Christian life. Running a race in ever-changing world at market place, trend, education system and so on. Wrestling with challenges in life: relation, health, finance, debt as the list goes on. A lot of us would resonate well with this analogy from our own life experience. We are in it for a long run.

The question is: do you have the home court advantage?

God first, Family second then Career and Ministry

My mentor, Pastor Paul Tabanno and I were usually meeting in a Chinese Buffet in Albany during my lunch break . He always asks me one question: how is your family? He does not ask first about my ministry or church. Nor does he ask me first about my accomplishment in my profession. He always asks me first about me and my family. He taught me this well, from his own life experience, God first, Family second and then Career and Ministry.

One thing that establishes a house church is trying to give back Christians the home court advantage. By practicing God’s words everyday in our lives, our homes and work place, we knock down the four walls of the “church” - we are the church. By brining all our family to worship together in the most simple way, not separating them by their cultural nor language, we provide a solid foundation to put emphasis on the most fundamental element in God’s plan: family.

I like what Luke shares about his experience in 6 months being the pastor for his own family and household: there is now only one dimension. No more “Sunday-for-church-and-the-other-6-days-life-as-usual mentality. He now is working on living in one dimension: every day at home or work place can be “church”: where God reigns and we enjoy His blessings and presence.

Do you have the home court advantage? It is so important, especially for finals: when the competition heats up and only the winning team will get the final prize. Every day, we practice it at home, at our workplace, hoping that when the last day where it matters the most, we have the assurance that we have the home court advantage.