As we are now half way through another college football season, I thought I’d share some of the simple, but effective methods of ministry which I have used across now 19 seasons with the Football Salukis. These are not terribly difficult nor costly in terms of cash. They can be rather risky for your heart and your ego as they expose the user to emotional trauma and lead you to love people who are sometimes rather unlovely. Please feel free to contact me for discussion of these if you would like. I’m happy to share.
1) Devotional thoughts printed onto personal stationery and distributed at the team’s pre-game meal. When the team gathers for its pre-game meal, I have a devotional thought prepared for them, printed onto my personal stationery in letter form. It includes the date, the team’s theme for the season, the devotion and finally it is signed at the bottom. This form makes it much more personal to the readers than a simple devotional on paper. I have heard from several players over the years that they had saved each of these from their whole playing careers.
2) Pre-game chapel talks. This is a most common form for ministry in the USA among football teams. It usually looks like a talk which parallels the team’s situation and a scriptural principle or narrative with application being made from the scripture to the day’s competition. These usually take place during a team chapel which could be the evening before the game or the morning prior to the game. It’s very convenient to do these events immediately prior to a team’s meal together. This way it is very convenient as the team is coming there anyway. I would suggest that brevity is an important value for these. I never speak for more than five minutes.
3) Visits to practice. During the week of practice, I make it a point to visit at least a couple of times. My entire agenda is to observe, to converse and to listen. I am there to gather information, to perceive the mood and tone of practice and the coaching staff, to hear concerns expressed by anyone who approaches me and to pray for anyone who asks that of me. I usually speak with the athletic trainer as he knows everyone’s health concerns, injury status, etc… Being at practice when the hard work gets done, the fans are absent and the lights are not shining wins me favor with the players and communicates commitment that simply showing up on game day can never accomplish.
4) Pre-game intercession. Between the team chapel and pre-game meal and kickoff, there is a terribly long and stressful period of waiting. It seems to take forever for this three and one half hours to elapse. One productive thing to do in this time is to pray for the players, coaches, officials and opponents in this day’s game. I generally pray for our individual players either by number, name and responsibility or pray for them in groups. That is I would pray for the quarterbacks, running backs, linebackers, safeties, etc… I never pray for wins, but I do pray for the players to be at their best, to be great teammates, for the coaches to lead wisely and to have great insight, for the officials to do their jobs well, for our opponents to be free from injury and to compete strongly and honorably.
5) Sideline presence and prayer. As I have been privileged to be on our team’s sideline for the past 17 seasons, it has given me numerous occasions to pray for players on the field to calm their nerves, to consecrate their competition, to appeal for healing for an injury, to encourage and to challenge. I also work to encourage and to lead the team’s attitude through encouragement and appealing to their hearts.
6) Collective prayer. In most of our seasons, our team has prayed the Lord’s Prayer in the locker room both before and after each game. This season, we are also saying it at the beginning of each team chapel. During some seasons in the past, we have taken time during team chapels to invite various players and coaches to pray aloud for various sections of the team or for their concerns on game day. By praying together, they experience unity and community in ways foreign to most. They also hear models of prayer from their teammates and coaches which can shape how they experience the Lord’s presence and help them learn to pray.
7) Occasional guests at chapel. On occasion, with specific purposes in mind, I will invite someone to join me at our pre-game chapel. Sometimes this person is invited to speak with our team and other times simply to lend his presence to this community. When the guest is to speak, I make sure he knows the length of time allowed for his talk and my expectations for it. When the guest is simply there to be seen, I introduce him and tell the team why he is someone they should meet. At tomorrow’s chapel, we will have both. The guest speaker will be a local high school teacher and coach who can both deliver on a talk and is a solid model of what it looks like to be a Christian coach, a man, a husband and father. The other guest will be my father. I simply want our young men to see that it’s possible for a 56 year old man to have a significant relationship with his 82 year old father. Such generational integrity of family is terribly foreign to most of our team.
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