Talk about faith in the context of the game - don’t talk about religion.

Most competitors that I’ve known live with a constant tension between their lives in sport and their lives of faith. Many of them cannot justify the two and many more cannot live out their faith in the context of their sport experience. I’ve heard too many coaches or athletes say, “I’m a Christian, but I’m a coach/athlete.” BUT… In their minds those are contradictory. This must not continue to be so. Such attitudes are perpetuated when we simply import religion into the arena of sport and don’t work to integrate faith into the sport experience. This is not easily done, but must be pursued within the context of the sport culture. Thus we must speak of matters of faith as they appear in the fabric of the sport in which your team competes.

At the end of one college football season, I wanted to make one final, direct approach to an All-American punter who was about to graduate. I asked him to join me for lunch. I was all set to be very direct about his faith in Christ or the lack thereof, but as we talked over our pizza, he began to volunteer some information that was most amazing. He began to tell me that he now understood why he had chosen to play football in high school, why he had chosen to come to our university, why he had come to game day chapels so faithfully and why our relationship had become so important. He said, “I think it was so I could come to know God.” I agreed and he continued to tell me about the night before an important game how all these factors had become crystal clear to him and how he had committed his life to Christ. We went on to talk about how to pursue this new relationship with God and how it fit his life as a soon-to-be professional football player.

Look for the issues confronting your coaches and competitors as they compete and search the Scriptures and the Lord’s heart for His way of faithfully dealing with such. Speak the language of the game with your team. Use metaphors and similes that fit the sport’s culture and communicate the truth of Scripture through them.