Like a football team rallies around its quarterback, so too do we need to support and encourage our called workers in our battle against the devil.

I am a pastor’s wife by choice and a football fan by necessity: I have a husband and two sons. As I ponder my life in the parsonage and my perspective of the game, I see many similarities.

The apostle Paul likened the Christian life to a race. It seems more like a football game to me—the Holy Trinity and the Christians versus the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh. We all know who is going to win the great Super Bowl. No tension there. But the season is a killer.

God chose your pastor to be a quarterback for this great competition. Why? Because your pastor is spiritually gifted to carry out that role. He can see over the hustle and bustle of the line and keeps his eyes focused on the end zone. He has a firm grip on the game ball—the Word and sacraments. His natural ability is a gift of the Spirit, and seminary studies shaped the talent.

Sometimes he fumbles the ball. He says the wrong thing to the wrong person on the wrong day. We’re driven back a few yards. But he gets up again, confident that his fumble won’t cost us the game. He knows who will win in the end.

The quarterback of any football team knows well that the opposing line is after him. Sack the quarterback! All the opposing linemen—Satan, the sinful world, sinful flesh, pride, lust, professional jealousy, and bitterness—try to take him down. Sometimes the hits take their toll, and the quarterback needs to be taken out of the game. With the quarterback out, the opposition thinks there may be a chance. The linemen glance at the sideline where the backup quarterback is warming up. Is it a younger man, inexperienced but with youth on his side, or a veteran whose body shows the bruises of the game? Will the defense sideline a few other players along the way? Of course.

The quarterback is human. Bones break. Brains bounce around inside a skull. It’s a tough game. But we must not assume the injured player defects to the other side but, rather, is carried off by teammates and placed under the care of the Great Physician to heal.

It hurts to be carried off the field of the game you love. But sometimes the quarterback is not carried off; he is booed off. He fumbles the ball once too often, or he miscommunicates with the center a little too much. He completes a pass now and then, and the team is moving forward, but not fast enough for the fans. He loves the game and doesn’t want to quit, but the boos and jeers are too much. He’s gone. And that hurts too.

I know my quarterback. I live with him 24 hours a day, seven days a week—minus the time he spends with you. Training time, practice time, playing time. Reading and studying the Word, sermon writing, midnight runs to the hospital, deathbed visits, marriage counseling, teaching your children.

I know he listens carefully to the Coach—most of the time. Occasionally, he calls an audible or gets the numbers backwards. Football has always been a tough sport. But our battle is tougher, and the stakes are higher: orthodoxy It’s all about the truths of God’s Word and the salvation of souls. I know the quarterback plays for the love of the game. He is neither an entertainer nor driven to wealth. There are other church bodies in which to serve if his desires were so.

I also know the quarterback needs your help if he is not to be sidelined:

• Pray for him daily.
• Please don’t do any Monday morning quarterbacking.
• Ask him why he called the play. He likely won’t bark at you. If he does, look him in the eye and tell him you love him.
• Wear your team tie straight and your jersey proudly.
• Get into the game. Catch the ball when the quarterback throws it to you and run with it.
• Let your quarterback know that you are rooting not just for him but for the whole team.

It is a hard-fought fight, and we are all fighting the same opposition. Let us rejoice at the privilege to play.

Author: Judith Maurice
Volume 112, Number 10
Issue: October 2025

Words from God’s playbook

God’s Word directs Christians to support their pastors and other called workers. Consider these instructions:

• “Acknowledge those who work hard among you. . . . Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work” (1 Thessalonians 5:12,13).
• “The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching” (1 Timothy 5:17).
• “Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden” (Hebrews 13:17).