Next fall, ESPN takes over control of Monday Night Football, which ABC has ruled since it began. Tony Kornhiser was recently named as one of the new crew of announcers, and people are criticizing him because he never played football. Howard Cossell didn’t, either, but he was unique. Dennis Miller didn’t play football, and he bombed. But a variety of football players have bombed, too, over the years.

Over the years, I’ve often heard ministers discount other ministers by saying, “He never grew a church,” or, “He wasn’t a successful pastor.” Therefore, I have nothing to learn from that person. My Dad never led a church of more than 120. Therefore, to pastors of larger churches, he has nothing to contribute to them. If we did a seminar on pastoral relationships, and had pastors of churches smaller than 200 lead it, the pastors of churches larger than 300 or 400 wouldn’t attend. They would assume they have nothing to learn. Which is stinkin’ hogwash, because small-church pastors are often great at relational issues. But hey–small equals inferior. Small equals “not as successful as me.”

If they haven’t done it, then they can’t relate.

Which brings us to our President and VP. They never served in combat, and yet they’re leading a war in two countries, exercising authority over real soldiers and real generals. Lincoln never served in combat. Neither did Franklin Roosevelt. But sometimes, you just get lucky when it comes to who’s in charge, I guess.