For the last couple of years, April means the opportunity to speak at two conferences about Gospel Centered Sports Ministry – the CSRM (Church Sports & Recreation Ministers) Summit and the ISC’s (International Sports Coalition) North American/Big Region Conference.
As in the past, this year the ISC’s Big Region Conference involved participants from the ten different strategies of the ISC (including the one we focus on – Church Sports) and was held in Bloomington, Indiana. Scott Tyson from Southbrook Church (one of our Network churches) just outside Charlotte joined me. We met some new sports ministers, heard about the ways God is at work through sports in North American and around the world, and discussed strategies for advancing the sports ministry in North America – all very encouraging and vision enlarging.
This year, I spoke to the whole group on “Protecting Your Greatest Asset”. Gospel Centered Ministry requires we deal at the heart level, something many of us are not very used to or good at. This message looked at how to heed Solomon’s pre-eminent advice – “Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.” – particularly in the context of sports ministry.
The response has been very encouraging. In the last week, I have heard from several participants who have passed along this message in other contexts, due to the way the Lord used it in their lives.
The following week, Tim Briggs and I traveled to Dallas for The CSRM Summit. The highlight of the time there for me was seeing the affirmation given to Tim for his efforts through our website and blog. Person after person came up to him and said how much they got from both.
Tim and I led a workshop on “Don’t Waste Your Sports Ministry” and then I led a workshop on “Going for the Gold – developing a biblical standard for evaluating your ministry”.
How does a person waste a sports ministry? The simple answer – have it centered on anything other than the gospel. We expanded that idea to the following – “Don’t waste your sports ministry by being misguided, by settling, and by being self-centered.” We gave diagnostics for determining if you fit into one of those three categories and steps to both avoid falling into those traps and to get out if found there.
This has been a burning message that God has laid on our hearts for the last year, flowing from John Piper’s book Don’t Waste Your Life. We made it the theme of the CSO Network Gathering last September and submitted it as a workshop topic.
As he did at The Gathering, God showed up during the workshop and moved in the hearts of those attending – bringing confession about the way we waste our sports ministry, repentance to move us away from the ways we waste our sports ministry, and belief in the ways of God for a fully realized sports ministry.
How do you evaluate sports ministry? This is just as difficult as asking “How successful am I as a parent or a partner?” There are all kinds of hurdles in answering those questions. These hurdles lead to a lot of confusion among sports ministers on the subject of success in ministry.
In this workshop, we looked at a good standard for success, a good method for using that standard, and a good goal for the whole process (you can view the video here) which focuses on uncovering the great works of God in our midst not on patting ourselves on the back for the good job we are doing.
God blew away the fog of confusion and brought clarity for many in attendance – evidenced by the response both then and since.
Supporters: Thanks again for all you do to support these kinds of efforts – where we get this great honor of heralding the vision of Gospel Centered Sports Ministry.
