Verité Sport exists to promote a Christian presence in sport, to take the teachings of the Bible and to apply them to sport. While Verité Sport is a new missionary organization, its Executive Director, Stuart Weir, has been involved in Sports ministry for over 25 years.Read their resources here.
Idols in Sports Ministry
Tim Keller has a book out called Counterfeit Gods. In the book, he tells the story of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Esau, Jonah, and Zaccheus and uses their stories to teach about idolatry. From the book, “The human heart takes good things like a successful career, love, material possessions, even family, and turns them into ultimate things. Our hearts deify them as the center of our lives, because, we think, they can give us significance and security, safety and fulfillment, if we attain them.”So, what is an idol? Keller explains, "It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give."If we're honest, it's easy to find idols in sports ministry. Things like number of participants, revenue, wins and losses, etc. can all be made into idols and become "ultimate things." I hope that for those of us in sports ministry that we can find our contentment and security in God. I pray that we can rejoice in the successes of our sports ministries and yet in the midst of that, still find our significance in God.
16 Must-Read Posts on Evangelism
In light of my previous post, I thought about entitling this '16 Posts You WON'T Read on Evangelism' but I thought that would be too pessimistic.
Anyway, evangelism is a recurring topic on the blog (after all, our ministry is called Church Sports Outreach) and as I looked back over the past year's posts, I found these 16 titles. There's some good stuff here. Enjoy!
One of the Best Posts I’ve Read on Evangelism
If we could place people on a range of one to ten depending on their interest in the gospel, where one is no interest and ten is a decision to follow Christ, lots of evangelism assumes people are at around eight. We teach our gospel outlines. We teach answers to apologetic questions. We hold guest services. We put on evangelistic courses. We preach in the open air or knock on doors. All these are great things to do, but about 70 percent of the population is at one or two.
Charles Spurgeon, Evangelism, & Your Ministry
Souls must be converted here, and if there be not many born to Christ, may the Lord grant to me that I may sleep in the tomb and be heard no more. Better indeed for us to die than to live, if souls be not saved.
The #1 Evangelistic Mistake We Make…
You heard me. We move too fast. We’re too aggressive. We’re too impatient. We’re not willing to simply walk with people through life for long enough, befriending them, serving them, and loving them for long enough until Christ becomes attractive to them through us.
If You Want to Reach People Then Stop Hurrying
Author John Ortberg has coined the phrase “hurry sickness.” As he says, “Love and hurry are fundamentally incompatible. Love always takes time, and time is the one thing hurried people don’t have.”
The Secret to Reaching People for Christ
Prayer is not magic. It doesn’t guarantee results. What it does guarantee though is that you will be changed for doing it. If you habitually prayer for someone and their salvation, it will change you. You will pursue this person more, you will love them more, and you will rejoice in every step of faith they take. And God just may use it.
The Key to 21st Century Evangelism
In a progressively post-Christian society, the importance of hospitality as an evangelistic asset is growing rapidly. Increasingly, the most strategic turf on which to engage the unbelieving with the good news of Jesus may be the turf of our own homes.
Tips for Gospel Conversations from Tim Keller and Francis Schaeffer
Francis Schaeffer was asked what he’d do if he had an hour to share the gospel with someone. He responded by saying he’d listen for 55 minutes and then, in the last 5 minutes, have something meaningful to say. In other words, he listened in order to speak the gospel.
Reaching Out in Everyday Conversations
By asking questions, you are not only validating your listening and understanding, you are inviting more participation. You are encouraging them to engage their own thoughts, convictions, feelings, and presuppositions with questions which are not necessarily confrontational but sometimes subversively so.
Why We Have Not Reached the Lost
We only reach one person for Christ each year for every 85 church members in the United States. That is a frightening and terrible ratio.
“Out of 132 contacts that Jesus had with people recorded in the New Testament, 6 were in the temple, 4 were in the synagogue, and 122 were out in the mainstream of life.” (Adapted from Why Christians Sin, by J.K Johnson, Discovery House, 1992)
Tim Keller’s Top 10 Evangelism Tips
- Let people around you know you are a Christian (in a natural, unforced way)
- Ask friends about their faith – and just listen!
- Listen to your friends problems – maybe offer to pray for them
Think about it, there are many evangelistic trainings out there that look and sound very similar to this salesman’s approach. They are pushy, arrogant, condescending, and can come off cold and overbearing.
Well, I know a good place to start. Start with you! Start with how God has moved in your life. If you don’t have much experience sharing your story, let me offer this framework: Creation, Fall, Redemption, Consummation.
7 Evangelism Lessons You Need to Teach Your Coaches and Volunteers
There is work to be done...Jesus has commanded you to do it...Jesus has commanded you to do it
How to Focus Your People in Your Sports Ministry on Evangelism
Why should it be any different with us? Missional fruitfulness comes from a heart gripped by God’s greatness and enthralled with His grace.
Becoming a Better Conversationalist
If you seek to be a good evangelist, then you need to be a good conversationalist. I believe this is becoming a lost art in the midst of so much faceless communication (I’m beginning to sound like an old man!).
"It's JUST a Game!"
I've said it. You've probably said it. It's uttered every Saturday on fields and courts across the country. It's the ultimate retort to any sore loser or hyper-competitor. It goes like this:
"It's just a game!"
The fact is though, it's just not true.As a sports minister, I said this to angry coaches and players frequently. Never once did someone say, "You're right! I need to calm down." Instead, it provoked them to further anger.Beyond the fact that it provokes people, I would like to advocate eliminating this phrase from the vernacular of sports. Here's why:1. Condescension has no place for a minister. As we all know, many people struggle with the idolatry of sports. Remember, an idol is anything we've put in the place of God. This is no trivial thing. It does no good to speak condescendingly to a sports idolater by saying it's just a game. If you want to address the idolatry, due it carefully and cautiously with a humble heart. Trust me, both you and the idolater will grow as product of this posture.2. It creates a false dichotomy. Behind that saying is a belief that says, "Some things are important and some things are not. Games are not important." God tells us a different story though. In 1 Corinthians 31, it says, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." Games are important because they can be done for the glory of God, just like anything else. Using this above statement lowers the bar for competition. People don't need a lower view of sports, they need a higher one! (For more on this idea, take a look at The Ultimate Question or For the Love of the Game.)What do you say though? Have you used this statement? Has it been helpful?