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There is a lesson for churches in Tebowmania.  You can only be true to who you are and can’t control what other people say or think about you.

As a longtime Denver Broncos fan, I hesitate in even writing about this because there is such passionate love and hate that comes in even mentioning the name Tim Tebow.  But as someone who lives in the Chicago area, and listens to sports talk radio the day after a Bears loss to the Broncos, I realized that even after nine weeks of Tebow as starting quarterback, people still can’t resist making an issue of his faith.  Whether it’s playing “Faith” by George Michael while talking about the game or saying the Broncos are winning thanks to divine intervention, people can’t resist playing the faith card.

Despite all of this, the thing that impresses me the most about Tebow is the way he stays consistent to who he is.  When Tebowing, taking a knee to pray, reached epic spoofing proportions Tebow never took it personally.  The common answer is like the response he gave to The Denver Post:

“It’s not my job to see peoples’ reasons behind it, but I know (of a kid) with cancer that tweeted me, ‘Tebowing while I’m chemoing’ — how cool is that? That’s worth it right now. If that gives him any encouragement or puts a smile on his face, or gives him encouragement to pray, that’s completely awesome. It is serious, for me. At least it’s being talked about, and that’s a cool thing. If I can help be an example of that, then I look at that as a blessing.”

And even as the Broncos have begun to win, thanks in part to Tebow-led, late-game drives, the criticism continues to pile up on him as a player and a person.  Yet his common reply will be that he loves playing football and has dreamed about being an NFL quarterback most of his life. 

When he’s given a chance to talk about his faith, he’s consistent with his message.  It’s just a part of who he is.  And he’ll tell you he has reasons for living out his faith that reach beyond the game.  He hopes to be a good, positive role model for kids and he uses the influence that comes with being in the national spotlight to raise money for a hospital in the Philippines.

People love him and people despise him.  Yet he’s consistently a happy guy who lives out his faith as an example for others.  And it’s inspiring people.  Professionally, his team believes they can win with him in the lead. Personally, lovers and haters will agree on one thing: Tebow is a good guy. 

So here’s where this comes back to churches. No matter what you do, there will be people who love you or hate you.  And likewise, you have no control over who is saying bad things about you.  But how different would our churches be if we followed the Tebow model?  Could we have a greater impact if we put our focus on sharing God’s story in a consistent way instead of going on the defense?  We get so bent out of shape if someone says something we don’t agree with or think is negative.  What if we truly embraced turning the other cheek and leading by example? I think we’d be a much stronger, relevant presence in our communities.