Saturday, February 9, 2019

Registration is live for the Second Global Congress on Sport and Christianity


Start making plans because

Registration is LIVE!



Dear Friends,

You are among the first to take advantage of our Early Bird Price of $200 (a savings of $100) for the 2nd Global Congress on Sport and Christianity set to take place October 23-27, 2019 on the campus of Calvin College. Spots are limited so sign up soon.

We are working every day to craft a meaningful 5-day experience for you and all participants. This includes content you can access now! Check out our podcast “Dig Deep: Sport, Faith, Life” (see below) or our recent article published in Christianity Today, a timely read this past Super Bowl Sunday.

And finally, we want you a part of our conference line-up too! Please consider submitting an abstract. Send all papers to ccarlson@hope.edu.

Sincerely,
Brian & Chad



Let's start the conversation today!  Dr. Brian Bolt and Dr. Chad Carlson have a podcast where they discuss the intersection of sport and faith in our everyday lives. You can listen via iTunes or at www.brianrbolt.com.




Copyright © 2019 2nd Global Congress on Sport and Christianity, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website.

Our mailing address is:
2nd Global Congress on Sport and Christianity
3201 Burton St SE
Calvin College
Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4301


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp

Friday, February 1, 2019

Purpose


Purpose
Over the last several years more and more people are talking, thinking, and writing about purpose. From Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life, and its accompanying market offshoots to any number of websites, podcasts, and blogs it seems purpose is on everyone’s mind. A simple Google search of the word “purpose” leads to this message – “About 3,130,000,000 results.”

I have been contemplating how the Lord might express His thoughts about purpose and I took a leisurely stroll through the Bible searching for answers. A sampling of the most direct expressions of purpose are below with some simple remarks on each.

God’s purpose:
I cry out to God Most High, to God who will fulfill his purpose for me.
Psalms 57:2

For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay;
Acts 13:36

For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.
Acts 20:27

David, the psalmist, speaks of God having a purpose for him, and then the Apostle Paul echoes the sentiment hundreds of years later. Later, Paul also speaks of having declared the whole purpose of God to his friends. I will not presume to know what the whole purpose of God is, but I am sure it is being revealed, day to day, as we follow the Lord Jesus. Our joy is found in the pursuit and eventual fulfillment of His purposes.

Jesus’ purpose:
"Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour.”
John 12:27

Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.
1 John 3:7-8 

Jesus speaks more overtly of His purpose as He prays in Gethsemane. Decades later, the Apostle John, speaks of Jesus’ purpose in the strongest of terms. Thankfully, we are the beneficiaries of the Lord’s fulfillment of His life purpose.

Paul’s purpose and ours:
We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.
Colossians 1:28-29

The Apostle again speaks about purpose, this time his own. He writes most clearly and directly about the subject, object, and manner of the fulfillment of that purpose. It’s about Jesus. It’s directed toward others. It’s fulfilled by admonishing, teaching with wisdom, to present individual persons complete in Christ, according to the power of God. That’s a remarkable sense of purpose.

We may similarly find ourselves engaged in that same purpose. If we are actively engaged in serving sporting people with the aim of presenting them complete in Christ, admonishing and teaching with wisdom, laboring and striving as empowered by the mighty power of God, we are. You and I share in the same purpose of God’s calling as the Apostle Paul, the Apostle John, and all the saints before and behind us.

“We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which He prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10

Walk on and fulfill the Lord’s purposes for your life.