Sunday Sports

Worship When The Whistle Blows

Many of you can relate to being a “Sports Dad”. You know what it’s like lugging your kids to practices and games, and you are well aware of the financial burden of equipment and paying club fees.

At the same time, you've struggled with the spiritual price sports might have on your kids.

You’ve missed countless Sunday church services because of games and tournaments. Youth Group is an impossibility because of your children's commitment to their sport. There were many times we were told by Christians that we were harming our children's spiritual life because they were missing so much church. I have to admit that this was a concern for my wife and I as well.

Yet, I remember the many opportunities to share my faith with parents and players. All the time spent in hotels at weekend tournaments helped build trustworthy friendships among us parents. Some of them came to know Christ, and I even performed funerals for grandparents of the players.

My children remember how, as a family, we’d pray for their friends and parents on the team. My kids saw us sharing the gospel with parents and teammates. One time, while helping coach my son’s hockey team, a father of a player told us his son could never play for our team because they couldn’t attend Sunday practices as church was their priority.

When the father left, our coach looked at me and said; "You're a preacher and you miss church because of practices. How do you pull that off"?

I responded by saying; "I don't follow church. I follow Jesus, and Jesus wants me to be with you and these kids on our team."

This of course led to a great conversation about Jesus in front of my son and other players.

Sports has been a powerful spiritual influence in my children's life as long as we have the right perspective. Yes, high level sports demand high level commitment. It often means missing a lot of church. But if you can say, like Joshua did; "For me and my household we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15), then perhaps the gifts your children have in sport are to be used for serving God.

Perhaps you have a responsibility to steward those athletic gifts in your children? Perhaps their sports are God's way of calling you in mission to reach a unique tribe known as athletes and parents.

A few years ago, I was speaking in a small, hockey-crazed town in Alberta and heard about a church loved in this town because of their commitment to hockey. Every fall the pastor of this church invites all the "hockey" families to the front for prayer. The church leadership lays hands on these hockey families, commissioning them as missionaries sent from their church to serve in the rinks of the city. The pastor even tells them he doesn’t want them at church if they have a game or practice on that given Sunday, and he guarantees his newly appointed missionaries that the church will support them and pray for them every Sunday while they are out in the mission field. He even attends games!

Many hockey families have been reached by the Gospel because of hockey missionaries sent out each hockey season from this church. This church gets it. To them God isn’t restricted to a church building, but He’s active in rinks, fields and gyms.

Today, my daughter is a leader at FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) on her campus at Western Michigan University where she attends on an NCAA soccer scholarship. She also works with refugees and shares her faith regularly. She loves Jesus. My son, a Jr. A hockey coach in Toronto preached to 500 people at the Christian camp he serves in. I made sure I was there when he spoke and heard him preach the Gospel!

So, for all of you who are busy with your athletic children, be encouraged and never forget to live out this verse: "For me and my household we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15).

We need your family in the rinks, gyms and fields being Jesus to those who are yet to know him. And for you church leaders— recognize the gift sports can be to your church and its neighbourhood.

God gave athletic abilities to your children to be used for his glory. When surrendered to God, worship takes place every time and everywhere the whistle blows.

/ COLIN MCCARTNEY is an ordained minister, speaker, and a bestselling author. He is also the founder of UrbanPromise Toronto and now leads Connect Ministries in Toronto where he, his wife Judith, and their two children reside. For information in booking Colin as a speaker, please visit www.connectministries.org.