Gymnastics Dance is Acrobatic Dancing

The Stunt Gym is taking a step forward in creating a unique school program. The backbone of the program has always been tumbling, trampoline and acrobatic gymnastics. Tumbling and trampoline are taught to strengthen the aerial abilities and awareness of the students, but the primary subject taught is acrobatic gymnastics.  Acrobatic gymnastics is partner gymnastics danced to music.

Both the Artistic Gymnastics Schools and Acrobatic Gymnastics Schools tend to focus heavily on stunt training then expect the performers to learn the dance as taught by a hired choreographer.  Families in these schools often understand the need for dance training and take classes in some other dance studio. Dance studios usually teach acrobatics in their program, but they lack the understanding of gymnastics technique.  This makes no sense for either the gymnastics schools nor dance studios .  The Stunt Gym is moving forward in integrating dance with stunt training as one program.  The Stunt Gym is neither a dance studio nor a gymnastics school. It is a gymnastics dance school.

Stunt Gym dance teacher Jill Nicholas

Last year the Stunt Gym hired Jill Nicholas to teach dance to all the classes for 5 to 10 minutes. She was then hired to choreograph routines for all the kids who participated in the class meet of tumbling, trampoline and acrobatic gymnastics. The routines showcased her talents in such a dramatic way that parents came back to me later to say they were amazed at the variety of dance styles created for the children. One parent said that when she usually watches recitals or cheerleading competitions,  all the routines look the same, but not so with Jill’s choreography.

When Jill came to the Stunt Gym I explained that I want the school to be an acrobatic dance school.  She said she understood but when she was dancing  at Mountain View college they could not figure out  how to create acrobatic dances.  I told her that the gymnastics has to be trained as gymnastics, not like the acrobatics usually taught in dance studios.  The goal is to weave the gymnastics and dance seamlessly together.  This class meet showed that she truly understood the vision, which is why we are presenting the gymnastic dance routines in a recital format without the tumbling and trampoline routines May 19th.

She has been learning tumbling, trampoline and acrobatic gymnastics as my assistant for the last year.   She understands first hand now what gymnastics dancing takes.   Because of the success of the routines she created, all classes will now have increased dance training.  The one hour classes, beginning in June will have 15 minutes of dance, whereas the 2 hour classes will have half an hour.   Along with the increase of dance training, the Stunt Gym is increasing the floor exercise skills and gym acros.   Floor exercise skills are non traveling movements of acrobatic character for individual athletes.  Gym Acros are movements that combine individual gymnastics skills with dance movements.  These are the elements that weave a gymnastics dance together.  Otherwise routines become choppy in dance, now stunts, then dance again, then stunts again.  Stunts and dance need to flow together as one movement.  All classes will still have tumbling and trampoline training as part of the usual program.  Likewise the additional skills of group pyramids, juggling and Spanish web will be taught as part of the summer curricula.    And through all of this, the Lord organically uses the training to strengthen Christian maturity in all the children.

Don’t forget that the summer special of 3 months for the price of 2 months only applies to the June tuition. Grab that deal while you can!

Mothers always want the best for their children

Recently I have been getting cheerleaders who want tumbling training in my gym.  Even though my business is called, “The Stunt Gym,”  it is not a cheer-leading school.  In fact, I had reached a point after 35 years of teaching gymnastics that I did not want the cheer leading business.  So when these families inquired about classes I made it clear that I was not a cheer leading coach, nor was my program geared towards cheer-leading training.  Instead I run a true gymnastics school of trampoline, tumbling and acrobatic gymnastics.

But these families have taken a break from cheer competition and realize that their children need more training in tumbling, and wanted to sign up for classes.  One of the teens has had multiple injuries from cheer-leading.  These parents surprised me by not accepting my discouragement.  The injuries of this child has prompted me to write this open letter to all cheer leading moms.

Tumbling Classes

In the previous gymnastics schools that I had taught classes in before opening my own gym,  I found I was never popular with the cheer-leading moms.  Many of the cheerleaders would switch from my class to another coach.  When I asked a mother why so many cheerleaders left my class, she surprised me with her answer.  “Alex, you teach the full progressions of proper gymnastics tumbling.  They only want their daughter to learn back handsprings for the routine.”    Most cheer leading moms do not want proper training; they only want their daughter to get the needed trick for competition.

This is the same attitude that is growing regarding education in general.  Why have a  liberal arts degree when all you need is training for a job?  When I was younger I thought the same thing.   However, now that I have lived life and I am nearing the end of my own, I see the folly in that thinking.  The goal of education is to prepare students for all that life has to offer,  not just for a career.

The same is true for gymnastics training.   Gymnastics is the product of physical educators who developed the activity from a scientific  point of view.  The goal of gymnastics was to thoroughly equip the athlete for all physical movement possibilities. Back in the early 1970′s I took a gymnastics teaching class from Dr. Eric Hughes at the University of Washington in Seattle.  He told the class of a study that was done between two gymnasts.  One was trained only in compulsory skills, whereas the other was given a multitude of skills to train.  As expected, the compulsory gymnast was cleaner and better at his skills trained than the optional gymnast who did not spend as much time on those skills.  What was a surprising result of the test, however, is that when things went wrong for the compulsory gymnast, he got lost and was injured.  But the optional gymnast, when he had a problem, he did not get lost because he had a greater spatial awareness having been through so many different movements.

The cheer leading industry has followed the same format for decades.  The squads attend a summer camp where they are taught the routine they are expected to perform at nationals, then they spend their school year training just those tricks in the routine.   Cheer leading has the highest level of catastrophic injury (that is, broken bones or worse) per athlete than all other sports.  This is the same as training nothing but compulsories all year long.  Since the industry is a cash cow for the organizations running the competitions, instead of providing safe progressions to skills, they simply forbid those skills that cause injuries.

The multiple injuries sustained by this one student from cheer leading at my gym is a case in point.   If she had been trained in the progressions of tumbling she may have avoided some of her injuries.  For example, few cheer leaders can perform a backward roll.  Back rolls are not usually performed, so they are not trained.  By ignoring this simple basic tumbling skill, the cheerleader is deprived of two things: backward rolling spatial awareness and tricep strength development.  The triceps are the muscles of our arms that straighten our arms.  This strength is used to lock arms in back handsprings.  Going through the tumbling progressions develop both muscular strength and spatial awareness.

This is speaking only of individual tumbling.  Many competitive gymnasts leave Artistic Gymnastics training around level 7 and 8 because they know they can cruise through cheer-leading competition and be one of the stars because of their background.   All gymnastics schools can teach tumbling, so parents understand that they need to sign up their students in gymnastics classes to learn to tumble.  But they don’t understand this point regarding progressions, therefore they  insist on teachers who will teach them what they want, that is, only back handsprings.  And they do so to the peril of their own daughter. All they know is that the retired gymnast who is now on the squad trained in a gymnastics school.

Stunts

The word “stunt” does not refer only to partner stunts. All gymnastics skills are called stunts whether they are on the bars, beam, trampoline or floor. This is why I call my business the Stunt Gym, because I teach a variety of gymnastics stunts. However, the cheer-leading world has  put the word into the narrow definition of “partner stunts”, separating tumbling from stunting.

When I first began watching cheer leading competitions in the 1980′s, cheerleaders performed a wide variety of stunts. They not only tumbled, but they built large group pyramids, with salto dismounts, basket tosses, and mini-tramp mounts. If you would like to see some of these routines, you can do so at my You Tube Channel, here. Partner stunts come from acrobatic gymnastics. Cheer leading is a gymnastics child. The first American cheer leader was a Dartmouth gymnast named Mortimer Herkimer who tumbled out on the football field to get the crowd excited about the game. The coaches in the 1980′s were gymnastic coaches in the high schools and colleges who taught the squads how to build the pyramids and perform the other stunts. But those coaches moved away from cheer-leading into the private club business as the demand for gymnastics grew because of Olympians such as Cathy Rigby, Olga Korbut, Nadi Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton.

Those who inherited the industry did not have the PE background as coaches and consistently eliminated stunts they did not know how to train. The sky rocket liability law suits became their main motivation to eliminate stunts still further.  Acrobatic gymnastics, on the other hand began to disappear in the USA as coaches focused only on the Olympic events. The only place where I have found the old style group pyramids consistently trained in the USA has been through the Adventist University system who host the annual Acro Fest for their students. Acrobatic stunts were seriously pursued,however, in Europe, Russia and China who hosted world cups annually. They continued to develop gymnastics stunting through the scientific method as Artistic gymnastics had been developed. It had been slowly growing as a sport in the US for the last 20 years, and turned a corner when it became part of USA Gymnastics in 2002.

All Stars

In 2009 I taught tumbling at a cheer leading school. I was greatly encouraged to see the developmental program created by the US All Stars Federation. Acrobatic gymnastics has an intricate developmental program today, but the US Acro Federation in the 1980′s had a rudimentary developmental program as the All Stars do today. So I have hope that they will continue to expand and refine their program.

My plea, to all cheer leading moms who may read this blog, is to be more broad minded regarding your daughter’s training. Do not restrict them to just the stunts they need for competition. It is for their safety that they train a multitude of skills which develop both their muscular strength and spatial awareness. In gymnastics, conditioning is considered the 5th event. Their bodies need greater training to perform skills safely.

We have a saying in gymnastics. A gymnast does not have a skill until he or she has performed it successfully a thousand times. Neurological repetition has to make skills a reflex so the body reacts without thinking. The more they perform a variety of skills, the safer they will be as athletes. Do not discourage your coach from training proper progressions in tumbling, or in stunts, if you come to such a gym as mine.

God's way brings better results

Acrobatics has been the passion of all my life. As a high school Artistic gymnast of the late 1960′s, I had no idea what I would do with my adult life. When I left home, I found after 3 years of not training daily that my body hurt. So I went to the local YMCA and resumed stretching, conditioning, and, since I was already in a gym, training.   But working out was not making me any money.  So I got my first job  coaching gymnastics at the YMCA.  But I wanted to perform.  How could I make my living  performing gymnastics?  There was only one answer:  theater.

At that time I lived in Bellingham, WA.  On the radio I heard an ad for the Spherical Miracle Circus Works in Seattle.  I called the station and they gave me a contact number.  I told the circus owner that I was a gymnast and that I had a trampoline.  The circus was a small street circus that made their living passing the hat.  So he invited me down to join his circus.

But that did not make that much money.  Consequently, I continued coaching in new facilities.  The trampoline was not that practical.   I read as many books on gymnastics as I could.  I found all kinds of partner stunts that was much better suited for the stage.    So in the various clubs that I coached  gymnastics I experimented with acrobatic stunts.  Kids always loved to be tossed around by a coach, but my knowledge was severely limited in technique.

One day in 1979 I saw a mixed pair on the Mike Douglas show.  This was beautiful!  The athlete was a Russian Jew named Igor Ashkinazi and he performed with a young girl named Stacey Tutton.  I called Igor back then, but he discouraged me since he had been burned by another coach.  I moved to New Jersey and began my first competitive team in acrobatics.  However, no one else had a competition team.  So I created two stage shows for my team to have a venue for performing.  We also traveled to Ohio  for a Buckeye Meet in 1984.   The coach there, Joni Streeber, was the first Christian coach I had ever met.   Or at least was not ashamed of her faith.  She had the whole team pray for the meet, and they prayed for me.

Meanwhile, Igor had become a Christian.  He had returned to New Orleans to start another program.  I called him and asked if he would train me in proper technique.  He agreed, so I left New Jersey for the pelican state of Louisiana.   Within two weeks of my arrival, he led me to Christ.   It was the most profound experience I had ever had.  He also gave me a partner, Jan Burns, with whom I trained as an Elite and competed in the 1986 nationals.    At those nationals, I met Joni Streeber who had a bible study in her hotel room.  She was delighted to know that I had become a Christian. I was also  approached with a representative for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes who asked me to tour with their organization.  I declined, having already made the decision to quit acro to devote my life to Christ.

I thought that I should be a professional minister so I could fully serve the Lord.   The Lord directed me to to go to a Bible school in Dallas, Christ for the Nations.  It was clear that I was following the Lord because in 1990, without out my asking anyone for money, people gave me $5′s, $10′s, $20′s – and in only 3 days time I had $1000 for tuition.

While there I read Watchman Nee’s books, “The Spiritual Man,” and came to realize that while God did send me there,  He never indicated that He wanted me to be a professional minister.   At that time Bob Tilton fell in disgrace, as had Jim and Tammy Baker, Jimmy Swaggart and Marvin Gormann.  What I learned from the Spiritual Man books is that anything not led by the Spirit was a work of the flesh.  I had enough examples of men in the clergy who were working by their flesh.

So I went back to coaching gymnastics.  But there was one important reason for going to CFNI; I met my wife Linda there.

I began a new acrobatic program in 1998 and took kids to Nationals for almost 10 years.  It was my habit to fast and pray while at Nationals for the safety of the kids and to seek God.   In 2004, I cried out to God as to what He wanted me to do with my life.  I so wanted to serve Him, and I still saw that in religious terms of teaching, preaching or evangelizing.   The Lord answered my prayer.  He wants me in acro.  Even with that clear answer, I still saw it in religious terms.

There are many Christians in Acro.  The Seventh Day Adventist University system holds an annual Acro Fest which has been the source of many American Christian acro  coaches.  As I said earlier, Joni Streeber was an acro coach who first prayed for my salvation. When I left my hotel room, I was flowing in the Holy Ghost and talked to several of the coaches that I knew were Christians about my revelation.

Since I had begun the first acro program in Texas, I had also founded the  organization, Texas Acro, to oversee competition that leads to nationals.   Through the work of Boerne Gymnastics, outside San Antonio, several European coaches had been brought in to build the sport.  I thought at first that God wanted me to reach out to those coaches the gospel of Christ.

I immediately created a website, called, Christian Acro to encourage Christians in the industry not to be ashamed.  So I decided to start on a huge topic: male coaches with teenage female athletes.  To the shame of the sport, I knew of several cases when a male coach took advantage of  a female teen.  So I wrote an article on controlling sexual lust.  That caused the mud to hit the fan!  I was called a pervert for even addressing the topic.

I panicked and changed the site to Reform the Church as a strictly Christian site for believers in all streams of life.   That led me to examining the institution of the clergy which revealed that it is wholly the world system and has no real foundation in the New Testament.   Then in 2005, George Barna published his book, “Revolution.”   This opened my eyes to the alternative church meeting in homes, coffee shops, etc.   I changed the name of the site once again to Free the Church. I began exploring the alternative church world in earnest.  The more I did so, the more I realized that the time is coming when the  church will have to go underground if it wants to serve Christ in truth.

In 2006 I came to an impasse where I was employed, and quit my job.   I began my own program at a local recreation center, which moved to a cheer leading facility, then to my current location where I run the Stunt Gym.   The families who stayed with me were the home school families, because of my up front faith in Christ.  As the business began to build I realized that this was what the Lord was telling me back in 2004.  Acrobatics is a natural tool for Christian discipleship.  The kids are enjoying  the challenge of mastering stunts, while I use those challenges as object lessons in Christian living.  Without my understanding it, the Lord has built an alternative Christian community through gymnastics.  It is not a church in the religious sense, but it is the Church in the organic sense.

I began the Stunt Gym website strictly as a business enterprise while continuing the Christian website, Free the Church, as a vehicle to discuss the issues of the organic church today.  But I am finding the two are dovetailing together more and more.   I have been contacted by Christian dancers and acrobats from around the  world because of this site.

We have forgotten the meaning of vocation.  Today it is just a word for career or job.  But that is not what it means. Vocation  means calling. Calling from God.   Serving God is only a service to Him if we are doing what He has called us to do.  In my case, it is acrobatics.  But it does not matter what industry one is in.  What ever you do, do unto the Lord, for He has called you into that industry.

The religious understanding got in the way of the organic experience of Christ in my life.  What I tried to do with the Christian Acro site was as much a work of the flesh as men and women who go into professional ministry without the calling of God to do so.    He has worked me into a far better place where I can serve Him in a multitude of ways.    And as I look back on my life, I can see the calling, or vocation, of God began before I ever knew him as a young adult who joined the street circus.   Even further. As a young teen who joined the gymnastics team.  It is better to do it God’s way, than our own.

Triune Man

Christian Dancer

I recently had a conversation from a dancer in California who found the school site and was surprised that I call my school a “Christian Gymnastics School.” She wanted to know how I could consider it a Christian school since she had been told that dancing was carnal. She desperately wants to dance before the Lord, but has been discouraged by her congregation.

For the sake of her privacy, I am going to call her, Sydnee.   Sydnee seems to be a new believer and was very confused. The congregation she attends seems to be legalistic. She had questions about the Sabbath and other matters which hindered me from explaining how physical activity can be an expression of the spirit.

God has no interest or joy in religion. Religion did not come from God. It came from Adam and Eve who tried to cover their sin with fig leaves. That was the first religious act of mankind. Religion is inherent in our carnal nature, which is why most of the world is religious. The books of Romans and Hebrews explains God’s take on religion. He gave Moses the law to show the world that it was impossible to please God through religious effort. Through Jesus Christ He took away religion completely. But mankind hangs onto religion because the carnal nature wants to justify itself through religion, not to please God.

Spirituality versus Religion

Spirituality and religion are two different things.  I never did get to tell Sidnee on the phone how gymnastics can be regarded as a Christian activity – as can dance and many other physical activities.  It is hard for her and many others to understand because of the Gnostic assumption that the material world is evil and only the spiritual world is good. But God proclaimed His physical creation “good” in Genesis.

This is confused in Christian thinking because of the Bible’s use of the term, “the flesh,” as evil and the Puritanical heritage that sex is evil.   The flesh in the Bible does not mean the body, but the choices and desires of people based on natural thinking.   Neither is sex inherently evil, but all sexuality outside the marriage covenant of one man to one woman is sin.   And, of course,  many evangelical groups have discouraged dancing since historically that referred to  a man dancing close to a woman, which incites sexual arousal.  The ban on dancing in such groups was not on modern dance or ballet,  although there are many dance forms that  focus on sexuality and immodesty, thus wisdom suggests avoiding.  In my industry of acrobatic gymnastics there have been many routines with girls immodestly dressed and dancing movements that were inappropriate for the  sport.   This is very true in cheer-leading, too.  I have left the competitive environment partly for that reason, but primarily because the Lord has closed that door for me.

Christian Gymnastics

Discipleship

When visitors first come to the home page of my HTML site for the gym, I provide  a link  to a page that explains how I use gymnastics for Christian discipleship. This page states how I use the natural object lessons in training and correlate it to Christian behavior.

Greek Gymnastics

This use of the gym for training beyond gymnastics goes back to the roots of gymnastics in Ancient Greece.  On another page I share how gymnastics and academics went hand in hand during the era of Aristotle and Plato.  The Greeks believed in a “sound mind in a sound body”.

Body Soul and Spirit

On yet another page I outline how gymnastics impacts our body, soul and spirit.  But the intimate connection between the human spirit and human body is what I wish to explore here.

The Creation of Man

To understand this connection the mystery of the spirit needs to be explained.  For most part Christians do not understand what the spirit does, nor the difference between the human spirit and the Holy Spirit.  Everyone has a human spirit.  It is what gives us our life.  To assume that spirituality only means the leading of the Holy Spirit, is a slam against non Christians.  Many non Christians are very spiritual, but their spirituality is from an unregenerate human spirit, which often is influenced by demonic spirits.   Genesis 2:7 tells us:

Gen 2:7
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground [body], and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [spirit]; and man became a living soul. (KJV)

Our souls are the result of our spirits combining with our bodies.   The soul is an expression of both our spirit and our body.  This is why our soul is pivotal to our salvation. We can can either express the soul through the body (carnal; the flesh) or express our spirit through our soul (spiritual).

Our human spirit is made of the breath of God, whatever that is, since God does not  need to breathe air as we understand breathing.  Jesus gives us insight into what the “spirit” within us does.

John 6:63
The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. (NIV)

Our spirits are the source of our lives.   Another insight comes from the rest of the verse.  His words are  “spirit” and “life”.   Since He is talking about His words, this can be broken up for explanation.  Words are only two things:  a meaning intend by the speaker and a form used  to express that meaning.   The meaning is independent of the form, but the form shapes the expression of the meaning.    The English word, “pasta,” for example has the meaning of noodles for dinner.  But the same word, “pasta,” in Russian has the meaning  of toothpaste.  The form is the same, but the meaning different.  Likewise   the meaning of a surface area for dinner plates is “table” in English, but is “mesa” in Spanish.  The meaning is the same, but the form is different.   The meaning of a word is the point or reason for the word.  The spirit, as the meaning of life, is found in the point and reason for existence.  When the Bible is read, the spirit of the text is found in the point of the text.

The meaning of the human spirit is expressed in three functions.  The first is our conscience, which gives us the meaning of right and wrong.  The second is our intuition,  which provides an a subconscious understanding of the meaning of things which bypasses our reason.  And the third is in the experience of spirit to spirit – whether that is divine to mortal; demonic to human; or human to human.

When Adam was created,  the meaning of his life came from the breath of God, but  was expressed in the form of his earthly body.  The meaning of his spirit was imprinted in his body through his DNA, which goes beyond merely the growth and shape process of the body, but imprints the gifts and talents and destiny of each person.

The body expresses the spirit and the soul at the same time.    Mixed signals are received when someone says one thing with their mouth (soul expressed through the body), yet says another thing with their stance and posture (the spirit expressed through body language).  Many times what is called spiritual discernment is merely an intuitive reading of body language.    The spirit and the soul together form the heart of man.

Dance as Art

Artistic Gymnastics has failed miserably in living up to its namesake.  The early fathers of modern gymnastics wanted to bring the exercise  of gymnastics up to an art form.  Instead, all that has been accomplished is the refinement of a craft.  Art is an expression of the heart.   Dance has expressed the heart as an art form for many generations.   It is impossible to express the heart through a system of rules.  Rules refine craft, but kill the heart.  For this same reason, the Law could never create life, which is found in  righteousness.  Paul said that the letter kills but the spirit gives life (2 Cor. 3:6).  Life is the heart of art.   Acrobatic gymnastics leans more to art than Artistic Gymnastics, but since its merger into  the FIG, the art is being suffocated by rules that are intended to  raise the craft.

Dance expresses the spirit and the soul (the heart) through body language.  Emotions (the soul) are read on the face and posture of the body, whereas the spirit is expressed through the point and purpose of the  story.  Since so many dancers and choreographers are not Christians, their spirit is carnal, hence the fear the Church has of dance and body activities.   Dancers are frequently sensual people,which is also true of gymnasts and athletes.   However, the sensuality of sports is in athletic achievement, not sexuality.

The Body as a Spiritual Expression

The bottom line is this:   spirituality in movement is determined solely by content and intention.   Dance as worship towards God is a spiritual activity, and I believe that God receives it as such.  But as Nigel Lithgow once said on his show, “So You Think You Can Dance?”,   to a Christian dancer, “Worship to your God does not include the audience.”  It is for God.  I understood the dance as I watched it performed, but I also understood Lithgow, who felt left out of the dance.    As an art, the dance has to have an intended audience.  So if  Sidnee wants to dance before God, it does not matter what anyone else thinks, since the dance is intended for God, not people.

The body is good, not evil.  The flesh is the abuse of the good creation of the body by wrong choices.  Dances can be demonic or holy, depending on the content.  David danced before the Lord in celebration of the return of the ark to Jerusalem.  He was not dancing for the benefit of Michal who despised his dancing. And David did not care that she despised him because he knew before whom he was dancing.

Dance, Sidnee, dance.  But keep the content of your dance edifying and modest.  Bring hope and joy into the viewer’s hearts as you dance, Sidnee.

To Whom Does the Business Belong?

In the latest Barna newsletter, they surveyed how many and what kinds of people would patronize a business that openly called themselves, “Christian”. Their report is very positive for those Christians who want to conduct their business openly as Christian businesses.

According to their research two out of five adults say they would patronize businesses that call themselves “Christian.” One third of those surveyed said they would be more inclined to buy products they knew were manufactured by Christian companies. And if you are looking to locate in a region that would be supportive to Christian business go to the Midwest and the South. The age group most receptive to Christian business are adults over 45.

Other demographic segments favoring businesses incorporating Christian elements were women, Boomers (ages 46 to 64), Elders (ages 65-plus), married adults, parents of children under age 18, political conservatives, and Republicans. College grads were slightly less interested than average in Christian companies, though income was not a defining factor for or against.

Barna president, David Kinnaman, concludes the survey by saying:

“There appears to be a significant opportunity for enterprises that understand and value faith to express their faith consciousness through their business practices — not simply as a marketing gimmick but as an authentic part of their content, their mix of products and services, their branding, and their corporate culture. “

“Many contend that faith should be isolated from consumer decisions, and that the marketplace is deeply resistant to products and services delivered by companies who are overtly Christian. In fact, some executives and marketers are so focused on being inoffensive to anyone that many businesses have catered to critics by avoiding or stripping away any hint of faith-friendly practices or mission. However, the research shows that the consumer audience is divided between those who favor Christian companies and those who are simply indifferent. Very few Americans appear to be opposed to such faith-related businesses.”

So, from a worldly perspective, it is still a favorable climate for running a Christian business if the right demographics are considered. However, this is no basis for running a Christian business. If you are truly a follower of Christ, and the Lord is directing you to run the business (you would be a fool to do so without His direction), then you run the business regardless of the climate. Barna is encouraging Christian businesses to not hide their faith in their work. I applaud this. I know from first hand experience Christian customers are delighted to find a business that operates by their faith.

The Stunt Gym is not a Christian business because it is favorable to do so.  It is so because the business belongs to the  Lord.  I do not market the business to the world.  It exists for those that Father brings to my gym.  Profit is not a point of worry.  We are all called to be content in whatsoever state we are in.  My confidence is in His sustaining the business.  And when He wants to close the business, that is His authority, too.

Big Brother and Gymnastics

The November/December 2010 – Vol 30 #10 issue of the USAG professional journal called “Technique” magazine finally gave an extensive explanation of why they are performing background checks on all members who join the USAG. According to the blurb inserted into the article by Marcia Bradford, “USA Gymnastics embraced the process of background checks in 2007, following the U.S. Olympic Committee’s decision to use NCSI for this process prior to the 2007 Pan-American Games.”

The claim of the article is that the background checks are being made to protect the children in organized sports from sexual predators. Having coached gymnastics for 35 years, I know that this is a legitimate issue, so I am not dismissing that problem in this post. Rather I am questioning the method for dealing with the problem.

She uses the bowling organization as an example of one of the first to tackle this issue through background checks by Jeff Breidenbach, director of planning for the United States Bowling Congress (USBC). Through his own registered volunteer program (RVP) to keep predators out of the organization the “good guys” were identified.

As part of the effort, volunteers who are approved through the background checks are given badges that must be worn at USBC events, Breidenbach said. “These offer a visible symbol of assurance to parents and others involved that these people, who work with the children, have passed the background screening process.”

Seems like a reverse of the Scarlet Letter by Nathanael Hawthorn, or a reverse of Nazi Germany forcing the Jews to wear yellow arm bands. But the end result is the same: those not wearing the badges are assumed to be sexual predators, whether they are or not. Besides, how hard would it be for a sexual predator to make one his own badges, thus creating a false sense of security in the families because they see a badge? Badges mean nothing. However, this is not what the USAG or NCSI are doing.

I have to ask the question: do they really care about preventing sexual abuse or is there another matter? If this is the legitimate concern, then why did we not see this kind of background check on coaches in the 1980′s when coaches routinely verbally abused children in the gym in the name of gaining the competitive lead over other clubs and countries? I saw that abuse first hand and I know there are a multitude of mothers today who were traumatized by their coaches when they were young.

Frankly, resent the background check. It has an extremely un-American feel about it.

1. It presumes we are all guilty of sexual predation until proven innocent. This is not how our Constitutional judicial system works, neither should private companies function this way.
2. It is a violation of our 5th Amendment rights against self-incrimination. The burden of proof falls on the USAG and NCSI to prove that we are guilty since they are the ones questioning us.
3. As such, it adds insult to injury that we have to pay for this self vindication in order to join the USAG.

We are being forced in a direction that most Americans don’t want to go. We are presumed guilty of terrorism every time we go through airport guilty. We are watched by video cameras in every place we go, and are even now being ticketed by cameras at intersections. No one trusts who we are and require identification for every purchase with credit cards and checks. I don’t understand the scrutiny that Costco and Sams places on us, either. We cant get in without their membership card. We can’t buy without the membership card, then we have to show our receipts when we leave as though we snuck in and stole the merchandise.

I recently found out that many red light cameras are installed by foreign companies who split the revenue gained by the tickets. One company is from Australia who installed the cameras here in Texas.

Honestly, I think the USAG adopted the background check on their members because of fear of lawsuits. Nissan stopped making trampolines because of lawsuits. Tort lawyers look for everyone they can name who has money to blame for injuries. I suspect, although I do not know, that the USAG had one too many lawsuits from parents whose child was sexual abused by a gymnastics coach.

I also know that many of the fear driven campaigns have their origin in the international arena. The USAG obtained their standing in the USA because they had gained the FIG sanction, and there was no other organization that was allowed to send athletes to the Olympics. I suspect that every national organization in countries around the world are engaging in these background checks just as we are in this country. This smells too much like an international agenda.

Business by Kingdom rules is for the King, not our selves

The Lord’s Business

I own a Christian gymnastics school. The Lord moved me in this direction four years ago. In that time I have done much meditation on both how to run a business and keeping my priorities right according to the Kingdom of God. From the outset I understood that business is a worldly affair. That does not mean Christians do not own businesses, but it does mean our priorities will be different.

As a citizen of the Kingdom, my responsibility is to build His kingdom, not my own. The natural tendency in owning a business is to see it as your business and make every effort to build your business into your own kingdom. But that is not the way of the King. Everything belongs to Him. He gives us stewardship over some things, but those things still are His.

It is noteworthy that in the parable of the talents (Matt 25), the rich ruler gave his servants the talents. The servants did not take the talents from the rich ruler. If we are engaged in a business that the Lord is not directing us into, we are stealing from the Lord and those to whom He intended to give that business. Adam and Eve were guilty of the same crime. All the fruit belonged to God, yet they were given the right to eat freely from all the fruit except from one tree. When they ate that fruit, they stole it from God. So, as believers, we are not to engage in just any business activity. We are to pursue only that business that the Spirit has led us into.

Marketing the Kingdom Way

Marketing is of the world, but all the world belongs to God, therefore marketing belongs to God, too. In the parable of the sower and the seed (Matt. 13, Mark 4 and Luke 8), the sower did not seem to care where the seed fell. Some fell on the hard ground, some on the rocky soil, some amidst the weeds and others in good soil. Solomon also tells us in Ecclesiastes to cast our bread on many waters (Ecc. 1:1), so general advertisement is used by both the world and the kingdom.

When I first started my business, the Lord used the book, “Organic Church,” by Neil Cole to show me my marketing and business approach. Neil pointed out that church organizations often spend far too much energy on the fringe elements in the congregation instead of focusing on the those who are serious about their walk with Christ. I realized that I needed to focus my business efforts on those who were really interested in what I had to offer instead of trying to please and win the fringe elements that were not going to stay anyway.

At this same time I began reading Seth Godin’s materials. This is the same point he makes regarding Tribes. It does not matter what you are into, there are a tribe of people who will have that same interest if you can find them. They are the ones to focus your energies upon, while letting the other seeds fall where they may.

In the organic church communities there is much talk about finding the man of peace for evangelism and church planting. This idea is based upon the instructions of Jesus to the apostles in Luke 10.

Luke 10:5-7
5 And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house.
6 And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again.
7 And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. (KJV)

The general understanding of this passage is that the man of peace is a well connected person. If this person believes the gospel, he will tell his friends that he is networked together with, and the gospel will spread. If they stay there, more will be accomplished than if they tried door to door sales.

This is the heart of word of mouth advertising and reputation building in marketing. This is the kingdom way to market. I have been amazed to watch my business grow with almost no advertising budget to speak of, simply because I have several moms who really believe in what I am doing. They are telling their friends and are bringing more kids to my gym without any other effort on my part than to do my best in coaching and sharing the lessons of Christ through gymnastics to their kids.

Wealth is not the Goal

It is easy to think that running business is so you can become rich. Many believers are torn between the “prosperity message” and “poverty as holiness”, neither of which are correct. The kingdom way is about trusting Christ in every circumstance and being content where you are (Phil. 4:11, 1 Tim. 6:8, Heb. 13:5). If we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things will be added unto us (Matt. 6:33). The goal of running a business in the Kingdom is not wealth. Wealth is a by product, not the end. Abraham did not seek wealth. He obeyed God and wealth was added throughout his life. Solomon was asked what he wanted from God, and because he asked for wisdom, God granted him wealth and power. as well. God has no problem with our being wealthy. His concern is irresponsibility and faithlessness. If we show ourselves faithful with little, we will be faithful with much, too (Luke 16:10).

Neither is wealth and indicator of our obedience. Contentment is the indicator. We all have seasons in our personal lives which will hold true in our businesses. Paul said that he learned to be content whether he was abased or abounded (Phil. 4: 11 & 12). Abasement may come for many reasons but is in seasons. Likewise prosperity has its season. We do not govern our business activities according to the current economic climate, but according to the unchanging principals of God. The Jews had prosperity in the land of Goshen while the plagues fell on Egypt. God makes pockets of protection in stormy seas for those who abide with Him on the deck ( Matt 8).

Treasures in Heaven

The 20th century church has portrayed Christianity as only an insurance program for Heaven. Get that premium paid today and rest assured that you will have your mansion in the sky. It is regrettable that this attitude has been encouraged by organized religion. The Pearl of great price is already in the heart of every believer. It is not to be buried underground for a future day, but is now and forever.

It is interesting how gold came to be a medium of wealth. Even amongst conservatives today, gold is touted as the answer to the fiat money system of the Feds. Yet it came in value by an interesting path. In the post Flood days of the early families of Noah that spread out after the confusion of the tongues at Babel, pagan sun worshipers believed that the spirit of the sun would inhabit yellow objects. The wearing of gold jewelry was considered valuable because the sun spirit would inhabit the gold amulet around one’s neck or in one’s ears. Their confidence and value in gold was not the metal itself, but spirit that they believed inhabited the metal. Exchanging gold pieces was to exchange portions of that spirit. The more gold you had, the more the power of that spirit would indwell.

Christians and conservatives are looking at gold as their safety net today, but without understanding this backdrop. Believers running businesses based upon the leading of the King, have the real Spirit, and do not need the gold for the Spirit to inhabit. He inhabits our hearts, instead.

This is the only gold that God cares about. The hearts of men. If we are treating all people with the same value that Christ esteemed them (by dying on the cross for everyone, whether they accepted Him or not), we are gathering treasure in heaven. If we value people the way Jesus does, then He will prosper our businesses now and we will be gaining great treasure in heaven for later.

Jesus is the abundant life. If we abide in Him, we abide in the abundant life. That abundance is manifested in a multitude of ways, financial prosperity being simply one of them. So we run the business that God gives us according to His way, not the world’s. For we are given the business to build up His Kingdom, not ours. And in the end, He allows us to enjoy great harvest and the fruits of our labors.

Who is buying and who is selling?

I am new to owning my own gym. Even though I have coached every aspect of gymnastics for 30 years, I never had my own gym where I was the boss. So I am in a learning curve on running a business. Furthermore, my business is a Christian gymnastics school, so I am trying to understand how to run an honest business according to the Way of Christ.

This morning I had a lesson in business that got me to thinking.   Yesterday my wife had a fender bender so this morning I brought her car to some auto shops for an estimate of repair.  The damage has no interference with the function of the car, nor is it an ugly eyesore.  So my motivation for repair is very low.  But I know it will make my wife happy to have it fixed.

The lesson I learned involved two different auto shops.  In the first shop when I walked in the door the receptionist immediately began asking me for information to set up a customer file on me.  I declined to give her my name and said that I would give her that information if I decided to use their business.  All I wanted was an estimate on repair.

Since I was polite in my conversation she was agreeable and asked me to wait for a salesman to give me the quote.   After a few minutes a sales man took a look at my car.  He gave me a ball park quote of $1200 to $1300, but a specific estimate would require  a list.    So he asked me to come back to his desk.  When I sat down, he immediately wanted my personal data to set up a file on me.   I told him the same thing I told the secretary that I would give it after I made the decision to use their business.  He then said that he could not give me an estimate without creating a file on me first.   I told him, “Then you do not want my business, and I will go elsewhere.”

Next door was another shop.  He came out and gave me a quote of $280 to replace the fender and to paint it.  I told him that I would be back in a few days and that he had a deal.  I shook his hand.  He never asked for my name nor desired information from me.

Driving home I had to ask myself, who is the boss and who is the customer?  With the first shop they viewed me as subservient to them.  They were the boss, but that is not true.   They lost my business, for I am boss.  I am hiring a service.  They are the customer.  The second shop seemed to understand this difference.  The hand shake was good enough.

So as I consider how I wish to run my business, this was a reminder to me that  each customer of mine is actually my employer.  In the photograph above I ask the question, “Who is buying and who is selling?”  The answer is both.     The store is selling goods to buy the customer’s money.  The customer is selling money to buy the goods.   Honest business is when both parties in the transactions believe that they have gotten a good deal.

So I am selling my skills and knowledge in training gymnastics to the families to buy their money.   They are selling their money to buy my skills and knowledge.  We are both customers and salespeople at the same time.

The  first auto shop that I went to did not recognize this truth.  They are functioning according to the world for self gain only.  The second shop did understand it.  He got my business.  He gave a price that is profitable for him, yet was a savings for me.  He trusted me to bring my car in on a handshake.  This is how I want to run my gym.

Seth pitches Mike in back tuck

In August of 2009 I took a step of faith and signed a lease for a small warehouse space to move my business. I had been developing the business under the shelter of other businesses. In signing the lease I made several purchases to run the business.

As a first need of a program, I planned for my first class meet. These pictures are courtesy of the Illicks and Barnes.

Saulsberry, Ortega and Rivera

There are many simple pyramids for the kids to learn such as this one.

Moran, Illick and Jones

The three children are almost all the same size. The base is holding the weight of two kids, with the weight of the girl on the shoulders having no support under his rear as the boy on the thighs has the shins and feet.

Saulsberry, Ortega and Rivera again.

Tatiana's toe touch on tramp

Strong personality overcomes technique

In a recent email correspondence I spoke with another coach who puts on gymnastics shows. She mentioned that the hit of her last show were the little girls in her dance program who had very little dance and lots of costuming. She was nervous that the parents would be upset not to see the dance that they were paying for. Instead that number was the crowd favorite.

I told her that people care about people, not technique. If the personality comes through with great technique, then you have a great success. But the gymnast who has personality over the gymnast who has technique, the audience will prefer the one with personality. Of course the sport is totally focused on technique and the athlete with great technique will win over the one with personality. So for this reason, no coach develops the personality, only the technique.

But this is a myopic point of view characteristic to our immediate gratification society.  The long term goals end at the Olympics, yet everyone knows that the winners of the Olympic games go on to professional careers in other fields fueled by their new found fame.   For example, Carly Patterson has just recorded a singing CD.  And, of course, the USAG promotes all their athletes who make it to the top in their new career directions.  But what has gymnastics done to prepare these performers in their new careers?  No one cares anymore that they did gymnastics.  What showmanship did gymnastics help develop in them? Next to none, in my opinion.

Television understands what audiences want to see.  They never just broadcast the routines.   Besides the fact that the routines are too short to fill air time, people want to know about the athletes.  The majority of a gymnastics broadcast is devoted to video biographies on the top athletes and the banter of the hosts who talk about the people and their struggle in training and competing.

On Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 the TV show, “So You Think You Can Dance?”  broadcast the audition of Allison Becker who is a hearing impaired dancer.  They gave her story before her audition, her dance and the judges reaction to a deaf dancer auditioning.  It was extremely moving, yet her technique was clearly weak.   Because her technique was weak, they sent her to choreography to see if she could take instruction and work with others.  She did, and they sent her to Las Vegas.

Another dancer, Kelsey White,  whose technique was equal to Allison’s was also sent to choreography but did not make it to Las Vegas.  There may have been reasons in her choreography that disqualified her, but I am convinced it was because she did not have the emotional appeal that Allison has.  And that is the difference between theater and gymnastics competition.  The theater knows that star quality is not found in technique.  It is found in the personality and story of the star.  With coaching by the choreographers to improve Allison’s technique, she has the potential of drawing a huge audience as everyone wants to see the underdog win.

The gymnastics industry needs to reassess how they train their athletes. The FIG who makes the rules has been extremely narrow minded in rewarding technique over artistry and personality. The club owners need to look beyond their immediate goals of building a reputation for training high level athletes. We have a moral responsibility to help children blossom into the unique people that God has gifted them to be. I am also convinced that parents will appreciate a program that has a bigger view then just athletic training, and who see clubs as co-laborers in developing their children into creative and expressive personalities.

In my gym, The Stunt Gym, my program is advertised as a “Christian Holistic Training Center”. The parents understand that my training is geared to develop strong and healthy bodies, expressive personalities and sensitivity to their spirits. It is time for the industry to accept that their responsibilities in training athletes goes beyond mere sport.