The Art Of The Handoff

This coming summer, our busy world will once again be captured by the unfolding drama provided by the Summer Olympics, this time in Paris, France. Each Olympiad brings stories of triumph and defeat, winners and losers, and sometimes stories that stand the test of time.

Back in September 2011, there was an unforgettable moment at the World Outdoor Track & Field Championship in Daegu, South Korea. Team USA was ready for the Men's 4 X 100 Relay – always an exciting event that provides heart-pounding history in less than a minute. Darvis Patton ran the third leg; Walter Dix saw him coming and began his run at the anchor leg, hand outstretched to receive the baton. At what seemed like the last split-second, Patton stumbled slightly and…no handoff…no medal…no reward. All the training, all the sweat, all the sacrifice…and no handoff.

We often think about the importance of handing off the faith to the next generation. We are right to do so. We must hand off sound doctrine, a passion for Christ, a love for those without Christ, and a longing to see men & women, boys & girls, come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
In the Pastoral Epistles, we meet Timothy, a young man who is now the pastor of the church at Ephesus. In tracing his story in Scripture, we quickly realize some essential details about the "handoff" that led Timothy to this role:

1.  God raises up disciples in all kinds of settings, including those that don’t meet our typical, ideal evangelical model. Timothy's mom was Jewish, and his father was Greek. His father is absent from the biblical record. We aren't told all the details of this family story, but it's clear that they didn't attend Sunday school and church together. Timothy's mom and grandma were his primary sources of biblical instruction.
On a personal note, I have always been grateful for Timothy's story. I, too, was nurtured in faith by a believing, spiritually single mom. I don’t know what may have led Timothy to be timid or to allow others to look down on his youthfulness, but I remember feeling in my early years as a pastor that nearly every other pastor I met came from a long line of faith, quite unlike mine. To be honest, it took me years of attending pastors' meetings to feel like I even belonged in the room. I'm glad that God raises up disciples – and pastors – in all kinds of settings.

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2.  Evangelists and disciple-makers come in all kinds of personalities and gift sets. Timothy was not a “miniature Paul.” Paul was outgoing, fearless, bold, and experienced. Timothy was young, apparently timid, and lacked experience. Paul coached Timothy to grow in faith and in pastoral skills, but I doubt if he assumed that one day Timothy would be “just like him.” All personality types are useful and necessary to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth.

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3.  The “handoff” that Paul urges Timothy to pursue (II Timothy 2:2) is not a single handoff but a succession of handoffs – a handoff to others who will also hand off to others. Some aptly describe this as the process of multiplication rather than addition.

Evangelism and discipleship, then, are not only about a single handoff, as crucial as one handoff is, but about seeking to hand off the faith to those who will “teach others also.” Dave Harvey puts it this way in his fine book, Rescuing Ambition:

"None of us can spend our lives dedicated to God-glorifying work without a plan to entrust it to those who follow us. Godly ambition aims to find faithful people to whom we'll transfer the gospel of Christ and insist that they do the same…”

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