Cultural Identifier - Part 1

This word culture over saturates the business world right now. Leadership gurus are constantly telling us to define our cultures. There are businesses who have three ring binders full of words and phrases and definitions of what words and phrases mean to them.

For example, PJ Fleck was a football coach at Western Michigan University and became a very popular “culture builder” based off his success at WMU. He had this saying, “row the boat.”

What most don’t know is this was birthed from hardship in his life. He and his wife had lost their son to a heart condition.

“Row the boat is my second son’s life, as I continue to live his life for him” said Fleck. According to Fleck, there are three parts to Row the Boat; it involves an oar, a boat, and a compass. - Declan Goff

Now, oars hung throughout the football building to emphasize this mantra. To remind his players to keep on rowing despite what was happening around them.

Just as Fleck’s oar symbolized his culture, in our text today Paul points us to the cultural symbols of Christianity — being rooted, built up, and established in Christ (we’re going to discuss these next week).

But Paul makes clear: first, above all—love is the identifier that ties everything together.