I came across this article about a church in Kannapolis, NC and how they used some church property to do sports outreach.  It’s so encouraging to read the church’s vision and what is happening–I would highly recommend reading the full article.  Below are a few excerpts:

First Baptist has always sent money and people to distant lands, but they began to ask, “What if our mission field is Midway?” — that 11.5 acres of sports fields and bare ground the church bought in 2002. “What if God actually wanted us to ‘burst through the bricks’ and make a difference here?” said Haven Parrott, minister of spiritual formation.

When they considered ways to engage the community, everything seemed to start with Midway. The fields are surrounded by easy access highway and a transitional neighborhood of modest houses once occupied by mill workers.

The church bought the land strictly on the basis of opportunity and potential. They paid it off quickly and gathered their plans to build. Then the economy hit a brick wall and the answer to their prayers was, “Wait.”

But “wait” didn’t mean “stand still,” and the compelling question of ministry continued to motivate the church. For several years they had sponsored a soccer league that developed into a comfortable, friendly, weekly get together at the soccer field for about 85 Christian children and their families.

“That’s not outreach,” said Cabaniss. When the coordinator had to drop out the church went a different direction. They passed out flyers in each elementary school — all of which are Title 1 schools with a high percentage of poor students. The church “charged” just $5 but easily overlooked even that “dignity fee,” and 200 rambunctious, excited children flooded the field.

About three dozen church members volunteered as coaches and organizers, and other members came as cheerleaders for whatever team needed some that day.

This is not an anti-Facebook post–I promise. However, I thought this blog entry was really interesting. Not only does it discuss how Facebook can make people sad but it compares Facebook to the church in the same regard.  Below are some excerpts:

We’ve been warned that social media can distract us, shorten our attention spans, disconnect us from real-life relationships. Now a new study suggests that Facebook might also be making us miserable. I suspect there’s something to this, and it’s not just about Facebook. It’s about our churches.

Slate magazine cites a paper in a social psychology journal that started with an observation about how college students felt more dejected after logging on to Facebook. There was something saddening about “scrolling through others’ attractive photos, accomplished bios, and chipper status updates.” The students’ moods were darkened because they believed everyone else was happier than they are.

Journalist Libby Copeland speculates that Facebook might “have a special power to make us sadder and lonelier.” How can this be, though, when Facebook is generally so, well, happy, brimming with smiling faces and beautiful families? Well, that’s just the point.

“By showcasing the most witty, joyful, bullet-pointed versions of people’s lives, and inviting constant comparisons in which we tend to see ourselves as the losers, Facebook appears to exploit an Achilles’ heel of human nature,” Copeland writes. “And women—an especially unhappy bunch of late—may be especially vulnerable to keeping up with what they imagine is the happiness of the Joneses.”

Yes, Copeland writes, Facebook can chronicle cute kids, and warm moments, but that is never the whole, or even most, of the story of anyone’s life. “Tearful falls and tantrums are rarely recorded, nor are the stretches of sheer mind-blowing,” she writes.

Now, in one sense, I want to say, who really cares about Facebook. If you are that absorbed in comparing yourselves to others in this way, shut the computer screen and detox from the blue glow. But, it seems to me, the very same phenomenon is present in the pews of our Christian churches.

Our most “successful” pastors and church leaders know how to smile broadly. Some of them are blow-dried and cuff-linked; some of them are grunged up and scruffy. But they are here to get us “excited” about “what God is doing in our church.”

To read the rest of the article, click here.

I also recently came across the below graphic which now seems appropriate to share here (see below).

I read this book about a year ago and it truly is a great book.  I would highly recommend it for any ministry leader.  I don’t read a lot of books/blogs about this subject.

The title of the book may sound confusing so allow me to clarify.  A trellis is “an architectural structure often used to support plants”–like a vine.  You’ve seen this before, a trellis structure supporting the growth of a vine or plant.  This concept is used to describe the local church.  The “trellis” is the structure which ministry flows out of (org. charts, chain of commands, etc.) and the “vine” is the body of the church engaged in ministry.  Listen to what the authors say in the first chapter about this:

“As I have sat on my back verandah and observed the two trellises, it has occurred to me more than once that most churches are a mixture of trellis and vine.  The basic work of any Christian ministry is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of God’s Spirit, and to see people converted, changed and grow to maturity in that gospel.  That’s the work of planting, watering, fertilizing and tending the vine.

However, just as some sort of framework is needed to help a vine grow, so Christian ministries also need some structure and vine grow, so Christian ministries also need some structure and support.  It may not be much, but at the very least we need somewhere to meet, some Bibles to read from, and some basic structures of leadership within our group.  All Christian churches, fellowships or ministries have some kind of trellis that gives shape and support to the work.  As the ministry grows, the trellis also needs attention.  Management, finances, infrastructure, organization, governance–these all become more important and more complex as the vine grows.  In this sense, good trellis workers are invaluable, and all growing ministries need them.”

I truly believe this book will challenge you in how your orient your ministry.  Please consider reading it–you can purchase it here.

Below are some more excerpts:

“And that’s the thing about trellis work: it tends to take over from vine work.  Perhaps it’s because trellis work is easier and less personally threatening.  Vine work is personal and requires much prayer.”

“Trellis work also often looks more impressive than vine work.  It’s more visible and structural.  We can point to something tangible–a committee, an event, a program, a budget, an infrastructure–and say that we have achieved something.  We can build our trellis till it reaches to the heavens, in the hope of making a name for ourselves, but there may still be very little growth in the vine.”

“Our goal is to grow the vine, not the trellis.”

]]> http://www.csosports.org/book-review-the-trellis-and-the-vine/feed 1 http://www.csosports.org/book-review-the-trellis-and-the-vine?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=book-review-the-trellis-and-the-vine http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChurchSportsOutreach/~3/seX5BH_7lzg/tour-stars-on-golf-and-god http://www.csosports.org/tour-stars-on-golf-and-god#comments Wed, 12 Jun 2013 15:09:12 +0000 Bob Schindler http://www.csosports.org/?p=10230

With the U.S. Open this week, I thought you might find this video from CNN interesting.  It includes 2012 U.S.Open Champion, Webb Simpson, 2009 British Open Champion, Stewart Cink, and fellow PGA Tour players Keven Streelman, Ben Crane, and Aaron Baddeley speak about how their faith in Christ impacts them as professional golfers.

I especially like what Ben Crane said – “It is not like a Jedi mind trick that if I act like ‘Hey this (my golf game) is for God.’  then I will play better, but in actuality if my heart is right I am more at peace and life certainly works better from there.”

He makes it clear that what is important is the status of my heart in answer to the question – “Am I here to bring glory to me or to God?”

Here is a portion of an article that appeared in The Christian Post about Jeremy Lin and his perspective on basketball.

Jeremy Lin, the 24-year-old Christian Houston Rockets guard who rose to fame when he became a starter for the New York Knicks in 2012, recently took time to show his fans appreciation while explaining why Jesus Christ was so important to him.

Lin recently took to Facebook to answer questions from fans during what he called Fan Appreciation Week. One fan asked Lin what Jesus meant to him and the NBA player did not hesitate to answer.

“Everything…without Him I wouldn’t have a purpose in life,” Lin answered on Facebook…..

However, Lin has been vocal about playing for God and not the fame that he acquired last year.

“I just play for God. That’s what I need to focus on every day. I’m going to have good games; I’m going to have bad games,” Lin told the Houston Chronicle last year. “If I play for God, if I play hard and if I try to give Him the glory, I’m OK. I need to learn to be OK with whatever happens and trust it’s part of God’s perfect plan.”

I appreciate his honesty about the struggle of playing for God’s glory, particularly when it seems to conflict with mine.  I wish it weren’t so, but it can so often still be about me, about me winning or looking good.

When that happens, I know part of the answer is to remember where competition came from (click here to read about the question, “Was there competition in the Garden?”), to understand how the Fall affects competition and how Christ’s redemption is designed to impact my approach to competition.

Jesus Christ, the one by whom all things were created and for whom all things were created, came to redeem all of creation from the curse of the Fall – people as well as sports!  Jeremy Lin gives us a great example of someone who is wrestling with living out that redemption today.

In this video, Piper discusses what is the gospel.  Below is a brief summary of the video:

His answer:

1. A plan
2. An event
3. An achievement
4. An offer
5. The application
6. God

As I have searched myself and helped others along toward the answer to this “burning” question, I find it is important to know at least three things:

1)    What is passion? Or to put it another way, “What exactly are we looking for?”

2)    Where does passion come from?  Or “Where do we go to find this passion?”

3)    How do we get this passion?  Or once at the source “How do we take ownership of what we have found?”

To begin our search, we will start at #1 – we have to know what we are looking for.  We have to know what passion is.

But that pursuit can be a little muddied.  Here is how one business coach put it:

We often talk about passion, but we tend to use it very loosely.  We usually refer to passion in passing – it is rarely the primary focus of discussion or analysis. I am just as guilty of this. A couple of months ago, I posted a manifesto for passionate creatives and never explicitly defined what I meant by passion.  In talking with people about this manifesto, I discovered that passion has an infinite variety of meanings.

 Without clear definition, we see the word “passion” thrown around more and more these days.  Just search the phrase “A passion for….” and here is some of what you find:

-       A passion for jazz

-       A passion for pipes

-       A passion for paws

Then there are companies that use this word in their motto or slogan:

-       Our passion is building

-       Our passion is excellence

-       Our passion is engineering

It seems that almost anything can be an object of passion and we are left even more confused.

But what is passion?

Look up the word and you find that, in a broad sense, passion is any strong emotion.  More specifically, passion is an intense emotion compelling feeling, enthusiasm, or desire for something.  Very specifically, some people would limit this emotion to a strong love or sexual desire.

My definition of passion is a little broader – the emotional response to an attainable object of pleasure or desire that moves the possessor to pursue that object.

There are several key words

-       emotional response – Passion is not self-existing.  Passion comes from the presence of something or someone else

-       attainable object of pleasure or desire – Passion comes from seeing something I can obtain, possess, interact, engage with that when doing so is pleasurable.  Hence the desire.

-       that moves the possessor to pursuit – Passion is an intense and moving emotion.  Passion energizes.

In this light, there is another aspect of passion that is important to consider when you are looking for your passion.

The English word passion comes from Middle English, Old French, and Medieval Latin to describe Christ’s sufferings on the cross or any biblical acconts of these.  From there, passio in Late Latin came to be used for suffering and submission.

With this in mind, Barb Elyet says this about passion

 On the surface, the word “passion” can stir emotions in us that inspire, motivate, and elevate us to live life at a higher, more exciting, fulfilling level. But just as the core of an apple cannot be separate from the apple itself, “suffering” is always at the core of passion. We cannot have one without the other.

Will Shipley, designer of Delicious Library, says this about passion – “Passion is easy to define; you care so deeply about something that it wounds you if it’s done poorly.”

Here we find what we are looking for, this definition of passion – something we want, very deeply that moves us to pursuit and wounds us when not achieved.

Wounds but not deters.  Passion may bring suffering but it also empowers us to press on – to persevere in our pursuit, as long as we see it as attainable.

This question has come up in the last couple of years with the growing popularity of physical fitness and exercise classes.  So it also comes up as churches look for more ways to use sports to connect with those in their community.

The following is a guest post from Christie Wickline, Fitness Director at Connection Pointe Christian Church, where she gives her answer to that question.

Yoga continues to increase in popularity in the United States. As Yoga has become popular in western culture since the 1960s, there has been a separation of its traditional spiritual roots. The focus of most classes offered in the US and especially in the Christian Church is on the physical and wellness benefit. We live in a time and culture that is overscheduled and overstressed. Yoga is excellent for flexibility, stress reduction, strength and focus. It can be an opportunity to calm, relax and meditate on Christ. Yoga can be done with a focus on renewing your mind and body with Jesus Christ. Spending time with him in prayer and worship. I believe time on the yoga mat can be renewing as we focus on God, asking him to fill us with his spirit and leave the class with energy that He has given to love and serve others more passionately.

In this video from the late fall, Bob Dyar compares the fundamentals of blocking and tackling in American Football to the fundamentals of evangelism and discipleship in sports outreach.

If you like the “Mac vs. PC” TV ads, you’ll most certainly enjoy the below video.

The video is from Santa Cruz Bible Church and it makes light of the mentality among some Christians that missional work only occurs on “missions trips” as opposed to being a fabric of the everyday life of a Christian.

Part of our job, for those of us in sports ministry, is to help people see ministry with a different lens.  We want the folks to be involved in sports ministry not just because they love sports or want to coach their child but to see it as a chance to join Jesus in His quest to “seek and save.”

We at CSO pray that you can help awaken people to this sense that being missional doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to travel half-way around the globe.  Being missional can happen in your neighborhood, at a restaurant, or even on the sports field.