If your name shows up on a book’s acknowledgement page, you must have done something good. You made a valuable contribution in some way in getting the book to market.
- John – this book bears the mark of your expert editing. Your skill with words is beyond me.
- Liz, Mike, Frank, Gale, Randy – you are a dream team. You believed in this project even when I had my doubts.
- Sally – without your prayers I would have given up. God answered and I am thankful.
The Apostle Paul – who wrote thirteen New Testament books – regularly ended his letters with a list of names. Each person he mentioned added value to Paul’s life and ministry. Priscilla and Aquila are among those listed. If we added the same kind of value to the teams we are on, we too might end up in print someday.
Priscilla and Aquila were Hospitable
When Paul came to Corinth on his 2nd missionary journey, Priscilla and Aquila extended hospitality to him (Acts 18:1-3). They invited him to stay at their home and Paul took them up on their offer. During the eighteen months that followed, Priscilla, Aquila, and Paul became friends and teammates. Together they made tents and disciples.
Hospitality happens in simple ways. Through an extended hand or kind invitation, people are helped and friendships are formed.
Priscilla and Aquila were Available
After eighteen months of life-changing ministry in Corinth, God had a new assignment for Paul, and evidently for Priscilla and Aquila too. As faithful companions to Paul, they packed up and moved out of their home to a new ministry assignment. God had plans for relocating them to Ephesus (Acts 18:18-19).
How are you at following God’s leading? Are you flexible and available to move when God says go? Are you ready to stay when God says, “stop and live here”? Priscilla and Aquila were available. They were ready to go and ready to stay. Great teammates are like that. Willing to help in whatever way they can, wherever they can.
Priscilla and Aquila were Capable
While in Ephesus, Priscilla and Aquila came in contact with a brilliant communicator named Apollos. He had a lot going for him but he was still proclaiming the teachings of John the Baptist, and he hadn’t yet heard about what Jesus had done for us. So Priscilla and Aquila stepped in and corrected Apollos’ theology, and taught him that salvation was now by grace through faith in Jesus alone. Afterwards Apollos went on to have a life-changing impact on many people in Achaia (Acts 18:24-28).
Great teammates are capable. They know their stuff. They are able to do what the task at hand requires. They make necessary corrections or improvements for the good of the team.
Are You a Mentionable Teammate?
People like Priscilla and Aquila don’t just show up in the Bible because someone liked their names. It’s because of the people they were. The work they did. The impact they made.
Their story could be ours. What kind of a teammate are you? Are you hospitable? Are you available? Are you capable? If you are, someday it might put your name into print.
by Dave Gudgel