The 2000 Chicago White Sox: Picture of the New Church

In 1997, the Chicago White Sox baseball team was in contention for
first place in their division. They were in second place for most
of the season, behind the Cleveland Indians. But sometime late in
the season, the management decided to hang it up. As a result, they
traded three of their best pitchers for a bevy of young prospects.
This is now infamously known as the "White Flag Trade." (A recent
article* on the subject referred to it in hindsight as the "sweet
surrender.")

At the time, the Sox were only 3 games behind, but the owners
actually said "you'd be crazy to believe the Sox could ever catch
Cleveland!" To say the least, Sox fans were quite upset. And to
show their displeasure, the home games were pretty much boycotted
until only this year (and even that took a while into the season).

The owners had decided to go with a youth movement and a new
manager. The overpaid veterans weren't cutting it, so they let them
go and decided to give the rookies a lot of playing time. The past
couple of years have been very trying, filled with a lot of
mistakes. Their record hasn't been too bad, but it hasn't been all
too great, either.

Most analysts figured it would take at least until 2002, if not
longer, for the Sox to become respectable again. But, they figured
wrong because this season the White Sox have the best record in all
of baseball this year!

Their present manager, Jerry Manuel, prepared for the job interview
for the then-open position with one day of homework and two days of
fasting and prayers. Management stated that "the room lit up" when
Manuel entered the hotel suite for the initial interview. Manuel
stated that this first impression was the result of answered
prayers. "It is my belief that was spiritual," Manuel said. "When
I went in there, I had a plan. God gave me a plan".* (It's truly
incredible the amount of press he's getting regarding his faith.
Interestingly, Emmanuel means "God with us.")

It's very surprising that a team this good has no major big-name
stars trying to steal the national limelight. If you ask the guys
how they're doing it, they'll humbly tell you it's a true team
effort. No one player on the team stands out, or is having a
banner year. It's just a lot of young men working together, and
coming through in the clutch. They all have their eyes focused on
the game, and not on fame and fortune.

The media is having fits trying to come up with a nickname for this
particular team (the recent article* referred to the team as the
"Unknown Soldiers"). As of this writing, when the All-Star team
members were selected and not one member of the Sox was chosen as
a starter...which is all very strange considering the fact that all
the other teams are looking up to them in the standings! They're
just a bunch of hungry no-names -- a reminder of the "nameless,
faceless generation" that will be used in this next move of God.

The baseball world is astounded that one the youngest teams with one
of the smallest payrolls can continue to succeed. They're wondering
how a team so inexperienced and underpaid by comparison can be going
so far. And to top it off, the Sox currently have one of the
poorest defenses in the majors (meaning they're still making a lot

of errors/mistakes). What's really noteworthy is that these errors
are not costing them many games. They just keep winning anyway.

The message here is about the "next wave" in the Church. What's
described above is the new Church in baseball terms. Just as the
Rams came out of nowhere to win the Super Bowl last year (led by
Kurt Warner, their Christian quarterback), it's very possible that
the Sox could do the same and win it all! It will turn the baseball
world upside down. Old strategies of building winning teams with
big names and big money would be thrown out the window.

Many teams will try copying the Sox. But some won't. These teams
will continue to pack 'em in regardless of what's out on the field.
And the fans will keep coming, many so they can be "seen" and/or to
get drunk (in an attempt to "feel good").

Why should the old order change their ways? They're gonad make
money regardless. Status quo = big attendance = big bucks. Any of
this sound familiar?

There will always be those big churches/denominations that'll just
keep chugging along as they always have. For them, it's business as
usual. "Why rock the boat? Everything's fine!" -- so they say.
They won't care what's going on out there with people coming to the
Lord. They just want to be sure they don't lose the crowds they've
got, while trying to get more people to come to their churches so
they can get even bigger.

But God is raising up a new generation of "unknown soldiers" to take
hold of the prize. It won't be because of who they are, but because
of Who He is. They won't be perfect and they'll make lots of
mistakes, but they're hearts will be pure. And God will give them
the victory in spite of it all.

There's a choice to be made, and some will choose to remain behind.
Others will take the challenge to lay aside every encumbrance
(power, position and prestige), and as they sacrifice their own
egos, promotion will come from the Lord.

This is the next move of God, and it's a choice that we each must
individually make. Not to decide is to decide.

Bob Sperlazzo
Bob's email: bsperlazzo@juno.com