How to be a Good Sports Minister

Simple Idea, Profound Impact

I came across this quote recently from Tim Keller about preaching:

"A man who is not deeply involved in personal shepherding, evangelism, and pastoral care will be a bad preacher."

What a humbling quote. It makes sense though, doesn't it? How are you going to be able to connect and communicate to your congregation if you're isolated and disconnected from them? How are you going to able to lead them as they grow spiritually if you're not personally involved in shepherding, evangelism, and pastoral care?

The same is true for sports ministers. A healthy sports minister would be involved in shepherding, evangelism, and pastoral care. Perhaps you don't use those terms though so this may be confusing, allow me to clarify:

1) Mentoring and training coaches and volunteers would be shepherding.

2) Sports ministers need to be personally involved in evangelism, particularly through sports. Are you currently engaged in this? What non-believers are you praying for? How often are you rubbing shoulders with non-believers?

3) Whenever a behavioral issue comes up in your sports ministry, how do you handle it? Do you dismiss it quickly? Do you avoid it? Do you leave it alone and hope it works itself out? This is what most sports ministers do. If you're doing any of those three, you're missing an excellent opportunity for gospel ministry. You're avoiding what "pastoral care" looks like for a sports minister.

This may be a simple truth but the impact it can have is indeed profound.

Is Competition Good or Bad for Us?

The Big Question

At Cede Sports, we talk a lot about the brokenness of sports. As you read what we say, you might get the message that we thinkcompetition is bad. We don't.However some do. Here is an example from a blog previously posted by Joshua Becker entitled "How Competition Made Me Less Successful":

“I have, unfortunately, viewed most of my life through the lens of competition. I could blame it on…but most likely, competition is just the default position of my heart....and to be fair, it’s not all bad. Viewing life as competition has motivated me to work harder at school, work, and personal growth. It has prompted discipline and perseverance….Viewing life only as competition has terrible drawbacks. It pursues success for only the self. It breeds jealousy and envy. It withholds encouragement. It mistreats others on its way to the finish line. A world divided into winners and losers is one that misses the opportunity to show grace....Our world needs people who compete less and encourage more.”

A Different Way to Look at This

While I agree with much of his sentiment, I find exception to his use of words. For instance, I would change his statements to the following:

“I have, unfortunately, viewed most of my life through the lens of fallen competition. I could blame it on…But most likely, competition is just the default position of my heart.”

“Viewing life only as fallen competition has terrible drawbacks. It pursues success for only the self. It breeds jealousy and envy. It withholds encouragement. It mistreats others on its way to the finish line. A world divided into winners and losers is one that misses the opportunity to show grace.”

These I agree with. Fallen competition - that strives against others to more fully establish my glory - IS TRULY the default of everyone's heart. The drawbacks ARE EXACTLY as he says.

• In fallen competition, the pursuit of success is only for self.
• Fallen competition does breed jealousy and envy.
• Fallen competition does mistreat others on its way to the finish line.
• Fallen competition does assume that success in another’s life equals one less opportunity for success in mine.

Our Solution

But the answer isn’t getting rid of competition and replacing it with encouragement. The answer is to redeem the competition, to take it back to the way God intended.If we see the solution to this problem as merely a switch from competition to encouragement, we oversimplify this redemption. In the process, we could also miss the beauty and depth to this redemption. Competition came before the fall not after. Original and, therefore, redeemed competition is about striving together to more fully express in others and us the image of God within us.Certainly, redeemed competition includes encouragement, but it involves so much more. This same writer describes this redeemed competition as follows:

"It becomes about the challenge, the experience, the unity of a common goal, and the opportunity to help someone else cross the finish line with you….As a result, the entire route is filled with encouragement from bystanders and competitors completely committed to running well and helping other racers finish strong."

The Application

Do you hear what he is saying? This competition is not just about encouragement.  It is also about "the challenge...the common goal...running well." All this striving not for our glory but to spur others to more fully express their God given glory. This heart of competition is lost if all I do is switch “compete to encourage” as the author does.

 "Our world needs people who compete less and encourage more."

At Cede Sports, we would say "our world needs people who compete in a fallen way less and compete in a redeemed way more."This is not just semantics. The beauty of the heart of competition, this striving together, is at stake. If all I do is focus on encouragement, this heart could just so easily be lost as it has so tragically been marred in fallen competition.Competition doesn’t need to be eliminated. It needs to be redeemed. 

The Power of Story

Let me paint you a picture..

"Motorcycles are dangerous."I believe that propositional statement to be true.  You may believe it or not.  If you do, you can believe it to be true without that belief really connecting with you.However, if I said “I had a motorcycle wreck on June 22, 2013. I was riding with two of my friends about 20 minutes from my house when I rounded a curve. It was an unfamiliar road and I didn’t quite make the curve, ending up on the shoulder. I thought I would just ride it out and just ease back on to the road. However, something caught my front wheel, flipped the bike, and sent me about 30 feet into the air, with me doing a somersault in the process. I landed on my left side in between the road and a metal fence.  In the process of flying off my bike, I broke my left ankle and right thumb. On the fall, I banged my left elbow, taking eleven stitches to heal up. I went back to the accident scene two weeks later and saw the fence and the road – each about 3-5 feet from where I ended up in this sort of ditch. As I looked at that grass “cradle” where I landed, I started to weep. I got a real glimpse of how close I came to hitting either the fence of the road – neither of which would have been good. I wept over what could have been and out of gratitude for God’s protection.”Then you would understand why my belief connects with that truth that motorcycles are dangerous. My story connects me to it. If you cared about me, that story would connect you with it as well.

The Bigger Picture

The powerful connection that comes from telling a story is important to remember as we think about the Gospel.As I have asked people over the years, “What is the Gospel?” I usually get a propositional statement or two like:-       Jesus died for my sins.-       Jesus died for my sins so I could go to heaven.-       Jesus died for my sins so I could be in relationship with him now and then be with him forever.All these statements are propositions. I believe they are true. But, when it comes to describing the Gospel, they are incomplete. They don’t tell the story.In not telling the story, these statements don’t connect with us in a way that The Story of the Gospel can.So let me ask you a couple of questions about the Gospel:-       What do you tell people when you tell them the Gospel?-       What do you train others to tell people when you train them to “share the Gospel”?-       Does what you tell them describe the great Story of the Gospel that God has been telling since CREATION, through the FALL, and REDEMPTION, and ultimately ends up in the CONSUMMATION?You may be telling people the truth, equipping others to tell them the truth, but you may not be telling them or equipping them to tell others the whole Gospel. The result - you may be telling them the truth, but you may not really be connecting with their hearts as you remove those truths from the STORY of the GOSPEL.If you would like some resources to help you both understand and share the Story of the Gospel with others, check out the following:-       The Explicit Gospel by Matt Chandler-       The Story (Tract)-       The Gospel ProjectRemember – “If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away when needed.  Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive.” Barry LopezHow different would our evangelism be if we thought this way? God has given us the Story of the Gospel. We need to care for it and learn to give it away when needed because there are those in our spheres of contact who need the Story of the Gospel more than food to stay alive.

Three Key Components for Coach Development

We talk with sports ministers about developing coaches about as often as Stephen Curry looks good shooting a jump shot! 

Why?

Maybe that is because the success of sports ministries that have leagues rests on the shoulders of those coaches. They are the “players” in the game of “sports ministry.”  (We don’t consider this vital ministry in any way a game, but, to understand the role of coaches, we use this metaphor.)  Since most sports ministers don’t have the luxury of only having “first-round draft picks” on their team, they know they need to develop these coaches.

This is the other reason so much discussion goes on here.  They are looking for help.  Most of the sports ministers we talk with are frustrated with their efforts to develop coaches.  They don’t think what they are doing is that effective or wrestle with the lack of participation from their coaches.

Step By Step

One of the ways we help alleviate that frustration is to get sports ministers to think about three key components when it comes to developing coaches.  They are:

–       Vision

–       Curriculum

–       Structure

Vision is what you want those coaches to become.  You could encapsulate that vision by asking the question – “What would an ideal coach know, be able to do, and be?” Or “What is the knowledge, skill and character of the ideal coach?”

Curriculum is the content God uses to move your coaches toward this vision.  This material comes in a variety of formats and is what your coaches need to grow from where they are now into these ideal coaches.

Structure is the delivery mechanism for your coaches to interact with this curriculum.  It should include various activities along the thought that you

 Teach to Knowledge           Train to Skill                Mentor to Character

God has used us to help sports ministries develop this vision, curriculum and structure and change the atmosphere of coach development from frustration to fulfillment.

If that is something we can help you with, contact us at info@cedesports.org

Written by Bob Schindler

Back To The Basics

A while ago I was in Dallas meeting with leaders from local churches to discuss the foundation for Sports Ministry in the Local Church.  We talked about the why, the what, and the how of Sports Ministry which I still find so relevant to share with you today.  Our primary leader was Pastor Sameh Maurice from Kasr El Dobara Church in Cairo Egypt, someone I deeply respect and enjoy being around whose church is doing a fantastic work in the Middle East.

God's Character is the Foundation

In answering the why, we began by looking at God’s character.  We were reminded that since God is the author of all things and all things are to reflect his glory, his character is a critical starting place for every discussion of the whys of anything, including Sports Ministry.

As we talked about our God being loving, relational, and incarnational, I was deeply impressed with the incredible grace of our marvelous God so beautifully seen in Christ.  He came to be with us – our Immanuel – who would “never leave or forsake us.”   He also came to be one of us – this “Word became flesh” – and “sympathizes with our weaknesses” as one who has been “tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”

With us.  One of us.

I thought about the passion Cede Sports has to see Sports Ministries glorify God.  I was deeply impressed that in order to see this passion realized, I sensed God’s urging on the need to herald this incredible incarnation and call Sports Ministries to take up this same incarnational mindset and approach.

I thought about reminding Sports Ministries to take the initiative to be with the people outside the kingdom and not just wait for them to come to them.  I thought about the value of playing with and not against those outsiders if we are going to one of them.

These are two ways to be with them, one of them and reflect the Son’s incarnation.  There are many more.  If you think of any, let me know!  Better yet, write a blog for us about it.

After all, we all need to regularly get BACK TO THE BASICS!

The Biggest Loser & Spiritual Development

Written by Bob Schindler 

What I like about the show, The Biggest Loser, is watching people achieve what they have never achieved before but have longed for some time to accomplish.  It just stirs my heart as I watch their struggle and joy.

I think there is something to learn from the show about developing people.  To unpack those insights, let me ask “What makes these people able to do on the show what they couldn’t do on their own?”

Remember, there is nothing magical about the equation for losing weight:

Decrease caloric intake + increase caloric output = weight loss

I would guess that each person on the show understood this equation for the most part.  They may not have understood the caloric content of what they were eating but they at least understood the principle.

If that is so, “Why did they achieve during the show what they couldn’t do on their own?”  Or another way of asking the question – “What did the show provide for them that they couldn’t get themselves?”

Basic Premise

While there may be many more than the list below, I point to following concepts as keys to the participants successful weight loss:

 –      Clear formula for weight loss: outlined above and discussed/reinforced often/meals

– Community of development: they were on teams working together on that formula.  

– Qualified Coaches : participants were given individual as well as group attention that extended beyond but impacted their approach to weight loss.

–  Accountability to the team: individual progress impacted the whole team.

–  Focused atmosphere: they were removed from the everyday distractions and together for a specific purpose.

Having listed them, it is the combination of these elements that is the key not just the individual components.  In fact, some of the participants may have even experimented with some of these ideas individually without the corresponding success they found on The Biggest Loser.

Relevance To You

With those thoughts in mind, think about your own efforts or your efforts to help others grow spiritually.  Like many who want to lose weight, I often find people who -

–  want to grow spiritually but who have never really experienced what they long for.

–  are trying to help them grow spiritually, like sports ministers and their coaches and players, but who have little or frustrating impact from their efforts.

 One solution to this frustration may be to take a lesson from The Biggest Loser and try to build this same kind of development atmosphere

1)    the community of development

2)    accountability to the team for progress

3)    focused environment

4)    qualified coaches

working within God’s formula for development.

Our Commitment

At Cede Sports, we work to help local churches construct such an environment.  We create tools to support that environment, including the following video. Join our church directory at no cost where you will have access to many free resources to help equip and train you in furthering your Sports Ministry for the Gospel. Preview these by watching this video explaining our devotional resources and then use this link to join our directory to access all our free resources!

The results – God is using such environments to help sports ministers, coaches, and players achieve what they have always longed to achieve but have never quite got there.  Here is one sports minister’s recent experience:

“We have a renewed excitement and energy. We have a renewed passion for pursuing something that’s so much bigger than just sports. We’ve re-designed our programs with the idea of integrating sports and ministry in mind rather than trying to inject ministry into sport which is what we were guilty of doing before. As a result, participants are enjoying a better experience, families are being served better, and volunteers are serving with a higher calling in mind which gives them a lot of significance.”

If we can help you and your church, please contact us.  We exist to serve the local church.

Something to Pray Before a Game

This blog from the Cripplegate seems very appropriate for sports.  Here are some excerpts:

“Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. …”- Matthew 6:9 -

Everything we ask for in prayer and everything we do in our lives is to be asked for and done so that God would be glorified—so that the beauty of His manifold perfections would be magnified for all to see. The glory of God should not only drive us to pray; it should also shape all that we pray for.

This is the highest request we could ever attain to make of God, for it is this which is His own most foundational and most ultimate commitment. He Himself has stated that He does all He does with a chief regard for the glory of His own name.

• Isaiah 42:8 – I am Yahweh, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another.
• Isaiah 43:7 – Everyone…whom I have created for My glory.
• Isaiah 43:25 – I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake.
• Isaiah 48:11 – For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; for how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another.
• Ezekiel 36:22-23 – It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went.…I will vindicate the holiness of My great name.
• Ephesians 1:11-12 – …according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.

In light of this, perhaps a good prayer before your next game/competition (whether it be as a player, coach, or spectator) could go something like this:Lord, I pray your name will be made great today and not mine.  I pray the way I play/coach/spectate today, and the posture of my heart, would bring you glory.  Would you help my motives today not be based on pride or a misplaced search for significance.  I pray your name would be made known today by my play/coaching/spectating.

Responding to Brokenness

The Reality

Get involved with people very much and you find all kinds of problems. Failing health, marital infidelity, rebellious children, embezzling employees, fractured friendships – the list seems endless.  The influence of sin is all around us. 

Our Response

People respond differently to this reality.  Some deny.  Some avoid.  My response is often to get discouraged and overwhelmed.  It seems the more I listen, the more I just see the greatness of sin.  Left alone, this perspective moves me to despair, tempting me to withdraw.

Jesus had a different response.  Matthew records one example of this response in chapter 9 starting in verse 35.  Jesus’ response, first of all, was to stay very engaged with people.  He was traveling from town to town, and Matthew tells us that, in his travels, he was teaching, preaching and healing.

Matthew doesn’t leave us there.  He tells us the origin of Jesus’ engagement.  In verse 36, we learn “when he (Jesus) saw the crowds”, he saw them as “harassed and helpless”.  Jesus’ engagement began with a perspective on the reality of the power of sin.  It didn’t stop there.  He also saw the reason for this reality.  They were “like sheep without a shepherd”. They were on their own and, on their own, they were “helpless” to deal with that which was harassing them.

Divine Provision

Jesus reaction to the fullness of this reality was compassion.  He was moved by their plight and gave them what they needed – himself, the Good Shepherd.

I gain something significant from Jesus’ reaction.  What people need in dealing with the impact of sin – you, me, people in sports ministry, or people outside the kingdom – is the engagement of this Shepherd.  The greater the impact of sin, the greater the need for a Great Shepherd.  The incredible truth is that Our Shepherd is far greater than the greatest sin, its power and impact. 

This perspective gives me encouragement as I think about the impact of sin.  It also gives me hope as I seek to deal with the impact of sin around me.  I hope it will uplift you also.

Written by Bob Schindler

Is it OK for you to fail?

Failure is a part of life. We all live with the failures of others. More importantly, we also live with ours.

How do you respond to these failures?

• Do you get angry with yourself?
• Do you blame others?
• Do you deny your failures?
• Do you slough them off?
• Do you dwell on them?

My friend, Tim Briggs, wrote this blog about a lesson he learned in dealing with his young son’s failure in a soccer game:

After the game, we had a long talk on the field about what happened. When I asked him why he melted down, all he could muster in response was, “I couldn’t get the ball from him. He dribbled right past me.” There’s so much I wanted to say in response to his confession but found myself trying to find the right words that would resonate to his five-year-old understanding of the world. The simplest way I could explain things to him was to say, “It’s okay to fail.” I explained to him that failing was a part of sports. I explained to him the failing was part of life. I explained to him that failing doesn’t define him.Interestingly enough, I think this whole episode has impacted me more than him. He has long forgotten what happened last weekend but here I am, still rehearsing the whole scene in my mind. Maybe it’s because I often feel the same way he does. Failure is so threatening to me because I idolize affirmation. I look to it to provide something that it can never deliver: significance, satisfaction, and salvation.

If you are at all sensitive to what goes on in your heart when you fail, you can relate to what Tim says here.

The gospel speaks powerfully to us in our failure.

The gospel acknowledges the depth and breadth of our failure. The gospel also declares God’s gracious remedy in Christ for our failures, making “him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” (2Corinthians 5:21)As Tim says, this means our failures can no longer define us. God intention in such gracious provision is to free us from our fears and silly strategies to deal with our failures and into a willingness to embrace and admit our failures to ourselves, God and others.For me, this doesn’t happen all at once. Rather, as I continue to bask in God’s provision in Christ, this happens over time. As I find my identity more and more rooted in him, I am able to let go, more and more, of the lie that my identity is tied to my behavior or lack there of.

So what now?

This doesn’t mean I treat my failures casually, don’t evaluate my behavior, or don’t try to get better. It does mean the energy behind those efforts has changed. Rather than being powered by my fear of failure, or my passion for admiration or my dread of criticism, now my efforts can be fueled by the desire to show off this great and gracious God. He not only overcame my failures but provides me power to face my failures and actually change. This change is not just on the outside, dealing only with my failed behavior. This change goes much deeper and to a much more important failure, the failure of my heart. This change roots out the selfishness and self-centeredness that so dominates all my life and is seen in so vividly in my fear of failure.   This change turns that self-centeredness to a God-centeredness that gives me more and more of his perspective on my failures.Is it ok for you to fail? It all depends on how you see the gospel.

Do You Get Points For Hitting The Wrong Target?

I once read a book by Bill Hull and he said something like this, “If the church does not make disciples then the leadership is in sin.” This shocked me. After my first 18 months as a solo pastor my honest evaluation was that I had put out a number of fires, preached and taught faithfully, but purposeful discipleship of others was almost nil. If it was happening, it was not planned or expected.

“It is possible to pastor a church, even have a wonderful Sunday morning worship experience; engage the community in deeds of mercy; have a Nickelodeon type children’s ministry with live music and puppets; and still not be creating intentional paths for people “to hear the call of Jesus, respond to that call by repenting, believing his good news and following him in all that entails”¹

Why write this to an audience of Sports Ministers? It is a call to honestly evaluate your ministry. Are you neglecting the call of the great commission to make disciples? Are you discipling/developing your staff, interns, leadership team and your coaches?If you aim at nothing you will hit it every time and if you aim at the wrong thing and hit it – what good is that?If you have large numbers in your leagues and ministry, that’s great! But if that only means you have a lot of numbers and are so busy doing administration to make all of it happen then you might be aiming at the wrong thing and hitting it!Cede Partners comes along side sports ministries and ministers to mentor not only by helping with best practices and resources, but to apply the gospel to you and your ministry. You need someone who will lovingly ask hard questions and help you to truly engage your calling. Check out our website.

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¹S. Smallman, The Walk pg. 26