Sports has become like a world religion – people “live and die” for
it, a missions leader noted recently.
So, why not use sports to help people know how to live –
and know what will happen to them after they die?
Sports has become like a world religion – people “live and die” for
it, a missions leader noted recently.
So, why not use sports to help people know how to live –
and know what will happen to them after they die?
“People live and die for their sports,” said Courtney
Cash, vice president of International Sports Federation, a network of Christian
athletes, coaches and project coordinators who work with the Southern Baptist
International Mission Board to share the gospel around the world.
“When you combine national pride and the religion of sports
with 2 million people, you have to be innovative in the way that you share the
gospel with them.
“That is where sports comes in.”
Cash discussed the value of sports in missions during a recent
workshop at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. The workshop was designed
to help teach students how to conduct sports clinics in preparation for an upcoming
missions trip to Australia for the 2000 Olympic Games.
“If youre working on a ministry project, you usually
spend 70 percent of your time getting people interested in what you are doing,”
Cash told the students. “But with sports, people are already interested.”
For instance, in a July trip to Kosovo, a mission team built
a basketball court as the draw for ministry, Cash noted. “Before we actually
finished building the court, children were already playing on it. Two hours
later, 27 people were playing basketball.”
Team members later were able to have Vacation Bible School
activities with around 200 participants – all because the sports provided
“an open invitation” for the gospel to be shared, Cash explained.
The strategy has been very successful. In 1996, International
Mission Board volunteers hosted nine sports projects. Only three years later,
they hosted 76 projects. In 2001, more than 100 projects are planned all over
the world.
Last year alone, 25,000 people were exposed to the gospel through sports missions,
Cash reported. “The number is really around 50,000 people because of the
newspaper articles, word of mouth, and television and radio broadcasts that
followed the events.”
Sports mission volunteers do not all need to be coaches and
athletes, Cash continued. Equally important are the volunteers who minister
to the young girls or boys standing in the sidelines, he said.
“We dont want a group of athletes who happen to
be willing to share the gospel. Instead, we want a group of missionaries who
use sports as a tool to share the gospel.”
Throwing a baseball or an American football around can draw
the interest of people and open the door for the gospel to be shared –
and this particularly is helpful where it is illegal to solicit or do street
evangelism, Cash noted.
Similarly, missionaries can more easily visit restricted access
countries under the umbrella of providing sports clinics. And the common interest
in sports opens many unexpected doors, Cash said. For example, one Southern
Baptist sports mission team, under a different name, actually met with Palestinian
leader Yassir Arafat.
For New Orleans Seminary students preparing to use sports to
share the gospel in Australia, the recent workshop was just one step in their
preparation.
They already have begun keeping prayer journals and enlisting
persons to join them in praying for the trip. Team members also have organized
a Campus Olympics for September 7. The missions team and faculty members will
compete in a variety of sports events. Those who attend the events will be given
tickets, which are to function as prayer reminders for the subsequent trip.