As I am reading I’m also wondering for how many of the athletes with whom I work is their experience with sport similar? I wonder how many of the players in my acquaintance hate their sport and those who drive them to excel in it? At some youth sports events I see sports parents who remind me of Andre’s father and I am grieved for the kids.

I’m still processing all that I’m reading, but am already more aware of the potential for the highly achieving to absolutely loathe the sport which has brought them fame and fortune. I cannot imagine the depth of conflict, guilt and shame that must be experienced by such people, but I am committed to seeking Christ’s consolation and peace for their tortured souls. Let’s trust the Lord Jesus for the grace to be His ambassadors to these people in such desperate need of His loving embrace.

True Identity
What is your identity? Once more, what is your primary identity? The thing that defines you and if taken away you would be lost without it. Are you Kyle the sprinter, Kim the setter, Ryan the point guard, James the student? What happens if that identity is suddenly taken from you, do you become obsolete and worthless? So many times athletes put their identity in their sport, letting it control them and mold them. As Christians we are called to make God our primary identity, and let Him mold and control us. With an identity other than God we sometimes feel like we are on a roller coaster with extreme highs and lows. We constantly feel pressure to perform, especially if we claim it to be our identity.
If your primary identity is Ryan the point guard and you fail to produce points or assists people will no longer associate you with that identity. Then you must go looking for something else to identify with. See how this can lead to trouble? If all our self-worth comes from our performance we become slaves to outcomes. Great performances leave us on top of the world while poor outcomes leave us feeling alone and weak. If we identify with God first and make all other things secondary identities we become so much more stable. The outcomes of events can no longer take us on extreme highs and lows. In Deuteronomy 31:6 He promises to always be there through victories and defeats and that no matter the outcome He will never leave. We never have to worry about finding a new identity.
One of the main fears most athletes have with making God their primary identity is the loss of control. As competitive people we are taught from a young age that if you want something YOU have to work for it. If I want to get stronger I have to work out more. If I want to run faster I have to run more sprints. We love being able to control our outcomes and manipulate situations so that we win. That’s why Gods call for submission is so hard, when it shouldn’t be. It is almost too simple for us to comprehend. All we have to do is ask for it, He has already done the work. Submitting and living for Him is the only work we have to do. The issue comes with giving up all control and letting Him, not self, lead.
Having sport as your primary identity leads to decay in three areas. There is spiritual decay where our source of joy comes from our performance. How we feel and who we are gets tied in with the awards we achieve or the games and meets won or lost. It also leads to emotional decay. The friends we surround ourselves with start enjoying our company because of our status on the team. Our self-worth is based upon performance, and we are social butterflies after wins. While bad performances leave us feeling the need to fill the void, or looking for other outlets to get the bad taste out of our mouth. Finally, relationships become affected. The friends we have are there thanks to our athletic prowess so we know them and communicate on a superficial level. If God is our primary identity then He is our sense of joy and that will never change, because He is never changing. Emotionally we know that He is in control and there is no need to stress over uncontrollable circumstances or wins and losses. He also shows us how to be relational with people. We model our lives after His and our friendships become real and affectionate instead of simple and superficial.
To be successful on the field or in life one must be goal driven. When the goals are ours and not God’s we often run into trouble. We often set and run after selfish goals and in doing so we equip ourselves with blinders, blocking out all “distractions” to reach this goal. This leaves, in its wake, relationships with friends, families and most important God. With our mind firmly fixed on our goal God feels distant and we feel a sense of abandonment or emptiness, especially if the goal is not reached. This is not how it is meant to be, God wants us to compete and be successful in attaining our goals. To achieve our goals we must draw even closer to Him than normal, He is the only one who can give us strength and help us achieve. So set lofty goals in life and on the field making Him your primary identity and reap the blessings from it. As athletes remember that we are given our talents for one purpose, to reflect Gods light and share Him with the world. We are given a spectacular platform to share Him in locker rooms, media interactions, classrooms and beyond. We need Him to be our primary identity, while sports and other hobbies become secondary. Your gifts are given to glorify Him, not self. That being said, go out and compete with a pure heart in doing so win others for Christ.

Roger has been speaking of himself in third person all day and has contacted all the major media in order to give them a chance to cover this most important event (exclusively if the price is right):  ESPN, CNN, the Carbondale Times and such are in the running.

Roger will be announcing his decision between the following rivals for the acquisition of my considerable and certainly overrated skills:

• Roger may announce that Roger will forego his final four years of eligibility for NCAA Basketball in order to make himself eligible for the NBA Draft.  (Roger would be the best 54 year old, short, slow, white player available.)
• Roger may announce that he is a free agent and available to NFL Football as Head Get-back Coach, Get-back Quality Control Coach or, if the compensation package is agreeable, Assistant Get-back Coach for a guaranteed Super Bowl contending team.
• Roger may announce that Roger is ready to finally allow the St. Louis Cardinals to have his services and to replace their rather mediocre first baseman, Albert What’s-His-Name.
• Roger may even announce that Roger will stay in Carbondale.  Roger may decide to grace his wife with his continuing presence, to remain in the employ of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes for another sixteen years and to forestall the horrible sense of loss and grief which this community would suffer if Roger should leave.  (Roger is sure this sense of unimaginable loss would last for at least five to ten seconds.)

Many people speak sentimentally (and may I say naively) about amateur sport and pretend that all its players, coaches and administrations have the purest of motives and intentions in everything.  This is certainly not a consistently true perspective.  In much of amateur sport there is plenty of ambition, drive, cheating, envy and pride to sully the sport’s image.  Possibly the major difference between amateurism and professionalism is that in pro sports, there is not even an illusion of such nobility.  In many cases the “win at all costs” ethic is not only obvious, but openly stated.  Much of professional sport’s value is measured in terms of the sum of salaries paid, the economic impact on a local community or the influence of the club on the local culture.

Sadly, the longer one competes and the more one achieves in sport, the more likely he or she is to experience the worst ethics in sporting life.  At each incrementally higher level of sport one normally begins to see more and more degradation of the experience while at the same time finding that the system increasingly rewards selfishness, arrogance and individualism.

At its best amateur sport values these things:

• Teamwork
• Personal development
• Honor among competitors
• Fair play
• Respect for team leaders, coaches, officials, etc.

At its best professional sport values these things:

• Excellence in preparation and performance
• Acquisition of the best players for one’s team
• Accountability
• Individual achievement

At their worst both amateur and professional sport values these things:

• Individual achievement over one’s team goals
• Winning as the highest value
• “It’s not cheating if you don’t get caught.”
• Selfish attitudes
• Star players over coaches

We who represent Christ Jesus in the world of sport must be stewards of its culture.  We can work to shape attitudes, to inform the ethics of sport with scriptural truth, to openly discuss these issues with the coaches, players, administrators and others who are the opinion leaders and decision makers for our sport communities.  We must be willing to take responsibility for those whom we serve and to redeem the world of sport by carrying Christ’s presence into it.  Whether we work at the most obscure levels of amateur sport or under the most glaring spotlight of professional sport, let’s honor our Lord by our faithful application of the Bible to the daily sporting life.

Mark 10:28-31

Peter began to say to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You."

Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last, first."

After the last ten years of travel abroad investing in the sport chaplain and sport mentor community, I better understand this promise. The disciples were about to embark on exciting, perilous journeys and would follow Jesus’ instructions about how to travel, where to stay and how to receive hospitality (Matthew 10). They each, no doubt, wound up with homes all over their world as they carried the gospel of Christ from house to house, city to city, nation to nation. They, no doubt, found multiplied hundreds of people whose relationships with them were as dear as mothers, brothers, sisters and children. They, no doubt, also encountered persecutions which eventually took their very lives.

My wife and I live very modestly in an apartment in Carbondale, Illinois. We have two cars with over 100,000 miles on each one. My wardrobe is the subject of affectionate teasing as most everything has a logo on it (FCA or SIU), meaning I didn’t pay for it. Many of my contemporaries seem obsessed with the accumulation of wealth or at least the stuff which makes on appear to be wealthy. A few of them are truly wealthy and they have found that the wealth brings along a new set of stresses and problems.

As I sat at a picnic table in the early morning mountain breeze I realized that I have received gracious hospitality and have found homes in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, Honduras. I have a home with my friends in Kingston, Jamaica. I have been welcomed, like I was home, in numerous states of the USA. In Melbourne, Australia I was made to feel as if I owned the place. The same has been true in Cuba, Singapore, Greece, London, Wales and now in Italy. I am the richest person I know!

As I have traveled internationally these last ten years, I have developed relationships with people on six continents and I cherish them as dearly as I do my brothers, sisters, my mother, father and my son. These total well over a hundred times as many relationships which have been lost to my pursuit of Christ’s call. My brothers and sisters speak Spanish and Chinese, Vietnamese, Patois, Farsi, German and French, Portuguese, Hindi, Thai, Swahili and many speak English with a wide variety of marvelous dialects and lovely accents. One lady who is as dear to me as a mother speaks Afrikaans and my thousands of children (in Christ) are scattered across the USA and abroad having come through sixteen years of Saluki Football, Basketball, Baseball, Softball, Track and Field, Volleyball and more. I have received of the Lord an immense, global family.

The remaining item which gives me sober pause is that I have yet to be visited by significant persecution. At most, I have been inconvenienced, misunderstood or resisted. Persecution has yet to cost me even a drop of blood (though it almost did in San Pedro Sula in 1994). The Lord’s faithfulness to the promises of multiplied possessions and relationships must be also applied to the sure to come persecutions. I trust that, upon their arrival, they will be seen as less than nothing as compared to the gracious gifts which the Lord Jesus has lavished on me over just this last decade.

I challenged the interns to charge strongly into their futures, casting caution to the wind and trusting Christ to fulfill His promises. I would challenge you and the man I shave each morning to do the same.

• Sports talk radio knuckleheads worked feverishly to find a defining moment for Kobe Bryant’s career to rival that of Michael Jordan’s jump shot over Craig Ehlo for a championship. 
• Football commentators wondered if a defining moment for Wayne Rooney would appear so as to overcome his red card in the last World Cup. 
• Many in the UK are hoping for any kind of moment which can overcome their melancholy feelings toward their side’s manager. 
• Football fans and even casual observers in the USA are hoping their side is not defined by a disallowed goal in the game with Slovenia. 
• I am sure that the referee who made that call also hopes that does not become his defining moment.
• Robert Green, the England goalkeeper is surely hoping he gets another chance in goal and can overcome his unfortunate moment from the game with the USA.

Whether player, coach, official, sport chaplain or sport mentor, we all encounter defining moments in our careers.  They either enhance our lives like a beautiful piece of jewelry or they hang from our necks like the proverbial albatross.  Such moments linger like the warmest memories and fondest relationships or they dog our hearts and minds like Cujo, snarling at our heels and reminding us of our failures.

We who love and serve the people of sport must find ways to keep such definition at bay.  Rather than simply going with the flow of popular culture and sports media, we are uniquely qualified to help these people be defined by other matters.  The world wants to define them by their performance in sport; we can help them realize their lives are defined by the infinite worth of Christ’s blood which was shed for them.  SportsCenter wants to define them by a single moment of either success or failure on a court, pitch, field or mat; we can help them be more strongly identified by the life of Christ which they intrinsically exhibit at every moment of every day.  Let’s faithfully serve the men and women of sport and let’s not fall into the trap of foolishly defining the ones we love by moments of success or failure.  Christ’s performance through life, death, resurrection and ascension, on their behalf and ours, is a truly defining moment which endures beyond the memories of fans, media and even videotape.

Hyper-average – as a competitor in sport, my skill level never matched my desire. When I look in the mirror or step on the scale, I see a very average person. In height, weight, speed, skill, strength, intelligence, income and such I am extremely average.

Mega-normal – My lifestyle, marriage, extended family, blue collar work ethic and community make me and incredibly normal person for my age in the USA.

Ultra-medium – I live in the center of the country, work with “mid-major” university sports teams whose coaches’ salaries are median and whose student-athletes are ultra-medium in athletic and academic achievement.

Extremely-central – It would be hard to find anyone more extremely central than me in terms of political sensibilities, theological convictions and cultural opinion.

Super-mundane – Much of my life seems tremendously dull, marvelously pedestrian and phenomenally lackluster. Wow.

Upon closer inspection, I have found that these characteristics of my life are okay with me. I’m content with being Hyper-average on the outside, if I can be something more than that in heart. If my spirit is free to pursue Christ’s call on my life, I can live with a Mega-normal body. If my heart is empowered to live faithfully in the world of sport and all its extremes, I’ll be happy with a rather Ultra-medium IQ. If it’s pleasing to Jesus, I’ll stay in this Extremely-central position. If I can trust God to accomplish His purposes in those whom I serve, I’ll be pleased to run along this Super-mundane path.

I am committed to a God whose power is without limits, whose knowledge is beyond measure, whose grace reaches the lowest (even me), and whose love never fails. I will leave the superlatives to Him and will continue along the course of the Hyper-average, the Mega-normal, the Ultra-medium, the Extremely-central and Super-mundane.

Karlton had a deep thigh bruise in one leg and his participation in the game was doubtful. As we gathered for chapel that morning, the room was full of bruises, broken thumbs, strained ligaments, sprained ankles and more. My friend and two time parachute accident survivor, Sergeant Bill McDonald, was speaking at chapel that day and I asked him to pray for our guys to experience the Lord’s healing hand. As Sarge prayed, I laid my hand on Karlton’s thigh and prayed with all that was in me for his restoration. We left for the game not knowing what the day would hold.

As the game started and Karlton carried the ball several times during our first possession, I was anxious to hear how he was doing. I walked down the sideline, put my arm on his shoulder and said in his helmet’s ear hole, “How you doing Karlton?” His simple response was, “I’m straight Rog.” That’s all. I said, “Run hard, son.”

I asked him again at half-time and again he said, “I’m straight Rog.” I again encouraged him to run hard. The same scenario played out in the third and fourth quarters as Karlton ran for 212 yards on the day, leading us to a hard-fought victory.

My heart is grieved by the knowledge that this was one of the last good days for Karlton. A number of health issues have led to a steep decline in Karlton’s life and I sit here helpless to make it better. I cling to this memory of Karlton’s simple trust in his teammates, the power of prayer and how it led him to play his heart out on the football field.

Coach Dick Corn’s Points of Emphasis for Players’ Parents:

• Our goal as coaches is to try to make each situation a "win-win." We want what is best for your son, but that has to fall inside the boundaries of what is best for our team and our program.
• A player can only play for one coach. Let us coach your son. Your job is to support and encourage him.
• As the Head Coach I will only meet with you, the parent(s), if your son is present. We will NOT discuss his playing time.
• If your son is dissatisfied, encourage him to talk to the coach first. He is the person responsible for the interaction between player and coach. Only accompany him is he doesn't feel comfortable approaching the coach.
• Our rules are in the school athletic code. Those that fall outside the athletic code will be dealt with on an individual basis. We will make every attempt to be fair and consistent and will try to weigh what is best for your son versus the team and the program. One should simply be a Good Citizen!

When I visited the coach in his office in March and as he was telling me about reading Genesis through Leviticus he said, “The Lord’s a tough guy.” I agreed with him and he started telling me stories from his reading of the Lord’s toughness. He related the stories with respect and admiration. Tough guys respect and admire other tough guys.

We are planning to publish these simple scriptures and prayers in a book to benefit a local cancer fund. I asked Coach if he’d like to contribute a couple of paragraphs about his situation as a foreword for the book and his submission is below. I hope it encourages your hearts to care deeply for coaches and players, especially for those who don’t naturally fit in the normal evangelical culture and all its expectations. They’re worth it.
“During my recent bout with cancer, I’ve noticed several revelations, some minor and some more major, in nature. I think most glaringly is the support and concern I have received, not only from my immediate family, but from my friends, co-workers and even complete strangers. The outpouring of love and has been difficult for me to define, yet at the same time very humbling.

Maybe more importantly, is my new found appreciation for The Bible, as well as the influx of prayers I receive from concerned friends like Roger Lipe, Woody Thorne and Coach Kill. As recently as several years ago, I couldn’t delete fast enough what I considered “Junk Mail” when I received a blessing or special prayer. Now, things have changed, and being on or close to your death bad, can initiate change IN A HURRY!

Is my paying closer attention to the scripture self-serving or an act of desperation? Maybe so. I do know this, though, and to put it rather generically, The Bible claims “better late than never.” I have found that through scripture! I don’t know if I’ve TRULY discovered The Lord and the Bible’s true meaning; but it now means more to me and I’m glad I’ve become one of those “better late than never believers.”

When someone emphatically states ‘The Lord stand behinds you,’ it catches your attention. If Coach Cal can become a believer, you can too. My best to whoever takes the time to read this and ‘thank you’ for YOUR support.”

He had a sense of betrayal in that the administrators had earlier assured him that he was doing the right things to build the program and that he was on the right track. To now hear that they "want to go in another direction" left him feeling abandoned and betrayed. The fact that a couple of players had accused him of intimidating them, without ever expressing anything like that to him, led to further feelings of betrayal.

He felt deeply disappointed that he had failed to accomplish the turnaround in the program he had envisioned. He was disappointed that the values he had been building into the program were not valued as much as the winning percentage.

The coach felt shame because he was losing his job and had no immediate prospects for a new one. The administration also asked him to have no contact with the players and that led to a greater sense of shame because he values the relationships and investment of years in the players. The dismissal struck him directly in the heart.

He was indignant that the team's accomplishments in academics, recruiting, and individual achievement were undervalued. He was angry with the cavalier attitudes of those in power over him, the program and the players. All of them seemed to be treated unjustly by the administration.

Lastly, he was shocked by the firing. He had no indications that anything like this was likely to occur. He had just done post-season interviews with each player and heard nothing to indicate their feelings of intimidation. The administrators had been positive and encouraging in their most recent conversations with the coach.

Feelings of shock, anger, shame, disappointment, betrayal and pain all mixed together made for a tough phone conversation. He said that he had been trying to pray about the situation, but felt paralyzed. He couldn't even pray. He wondered if the Lord cared about any of these things. I assured him that these things did not happen behind the Lord's back and that He surely cared deeply about him, his players and his work. We prayed together on the phone and we asked the Lord for His grace to deal with all this situation has brought about. We prayed for the future and for the Lord's purposes to be accomplished in the coach's life as well in the lives of the players he's leaving as well as in the administrators who made the decision.

It is in moments like these that I most often feel terribly inadequate as a Sport Chaplain. Everything in me wants to fix the problem. I cannot. My inadequacy leads me to turn to the ever-listening ear of the Savior for comfort and counsel. Let's take the risk to be woefully inadequate and carry our friends' cares, pain and frustration to the One who cares for us. (I Peter 5:7)

2009 Saluki Football Teambuilding

2009 was an outstanding season to be a part of the Saluki Football family. From December of 2008 through the final seconds of the season-ending loss to William and Mary, the team and the seniors in particular, had their sights set on winning championships. They won the Missouri Valley Football Conference championship, but fell short of their ultimate goal of becoming Division I Football Champion Subdivision champions.

Like every season since 2002, we were privileged to lead the Football Salukis through a set of exercises during pre-season which we call Teambuilding. This process has grown and developed over the years and this year’s set of discussions was focused on their collective goal of becoming champions.

In the following paragraphs we’ll share with you the ideas and the process which helped shape the values and relationships which ultimately made them champions. I hope you’ll try some of these questions with family members, coworkers and colleagues as you build your team to be champions.

The principle ideas around which we shaped all our teambuilding discussions, pre-game chapels and written communication were in these five statements -

Championship Teams:

• Love the game and make sacrifices for it.

• Are highly committed to their teammates.

• Develop strong leadership.

• Diligently prepare and execute their game plan.

• Compete on every play of every game.

In each of our Teambuilding sessions we had two main goals – 1) to build the team’s relationships so that they would know each other, trust each other and ultimately commit to each other. 2) To develop the culture of Saluki Football around values which make for championship teams.

In pursuing our relational goals we would interview a set of players each evening in small groups and then one of their teammates would relate another player’s answers to the questions to all ninety of his teammates. We asked them questions like these:

• Tell us your name, your home town, the position you play, and your uniform number.

• What is there you have yet to achieve in football that is very much a goal for this year?

• Tell us about a significant sacrifice you have made to be a Saluki Football player.

• Where you like to be and what would you like to be doing with your life in 10 years?

• If you could trade places for two weeks with anyone on the planet today, whom would you choose and why?

• Tell us about one of the most influential people in your life. How has that person impacted your life?

• If you could have a three hour lunch with any living person on the planet, whom would you choose and why?

• How would you like for your teammates to describe you at the end of your college football career?

In the process of building the culture of Saluki Football, we would discuss questions like these in both small groups and then with the whole team:

Championship Teams: Love the game and make sacrifices for it.

• Tell us about something you absolutely love about the game of football.

• What might you have to sacrifice now to become the player you want to be and for us to become the team we want to be?

Championship Teams: Are highly committed to their teammates.

• How have your teammates from the past demonstrated commitment to you and to your teams?

• How do you normally show your commitment to this team?

Championship Teams: Develop strong leadership.

• Tell us about one of the best team leaders with whom you have played football.

• What are some of the qualities you respect in team leaders?

Championship Teams: Diligently prepare and execute their game plan.

• Which of your teammates are the most diligent in preparation?

• How well does their diligence in preparation translate into execution on Saturdays?

Championship Teams: Compete on every play of every game.

• Can you recall an opponent from your past which competed at less than his best on some plays? What did you think of him?

• Tell us about an opponent from last year who was absolutely relentless. What did you think of him?

The 2009 Football Salukis were champions in large part because they fulfilled the five characteristics listed above. They grew to know, to trust and to make commitments to their teammates. These qualities make for championship teams in sport, in churches, in business, and in families. I pray your team will employ such Christ-honoring values as you pursue championships in all of life.

1. Know yourself. Strengths and weaknesses.
2. Never stop learning. Keep an open mind and be willing to take criticism.
3. Understand your role. We must all be pulling in the same direction. Be team oriented.
4. Control what you can control. Be positive. Be prepared. Be professional.
5. Know your players. Know their strengths and weaknesses. Build a relationship with each one.
6. Never allow or use excuses to justify failure. Take responsibility for your work.
7. Work smart. Be efficient with your work.
8. Take care of yourself. Eat well, exercise and rest.
9. Include your family in your job. Coaching is the family business.
10.  Work the job you have. Don’t spend all your energy here pursuing your next job.

“What do I put on to serve coaches well?”

Colossians 3:8-15 (New International Version)

8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

12Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

Put on:

Compassion, Kindness, Humility, Gentleness, Patience

Be:

Confident, Caring, Courageous, Consistent

What to do?

Pray.

Find a meeting place - off campus - to talk.

Be transparent.

Share from the overflow of your devotional life.

Offer them game day prayers (in person or via phone or text).

Offer accountability meetings.

Discuss your passions with each other.

Provide family functions.

Serve them.

• “Success is just like drugs and sex in that it medicates our psychic pain and disappointment.”

• “Most champions don’t compete to win, because the rewards are so fleeting. They compete not to lose, because the pain is long lasting.”

• The world’s values for sport are clear:

o You are what you do.

o Your worth is based on your latest performance.

o The purpose of pain is to produce enough self-loathing to motivate one to further training, so as to win next time.

• Our ministry as sport chaplains shapes how our players and coaches handle defeat and success. It shapes how they perceive God in either case.

• We are called to communicate to the world of sport that our value is not based on our performance, but on the performance of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Success and Failure lie to our souls about our identity, our worth to and our standing before God. Those who achieve highly hear Success's lies related to the unimportance of ethical issues, teamwork and character. Failure lies by stating that even one's margin of victory may be a failure because the spread is deemed to have been insufficient.

Both Success and Failure are measured by the World in terms of results as expressed in wins and losses, points per game, home runs, yards per carry, championships won, world records, batting averages, strike outs, earned run average, and on and on and on. Success and Failure speak truthfully about one’s performance. There is truth in their descriptions of the game’s final score and the endless list of statistics which accompany sports today. The problem for many of us is how Success and Failure spin those results into lies related to who we are and from where we derive our personal worth.

Success lies by inflating our sense of importance. It says, "I must be the best player on the court today." "My team could never do without me. I can do whatever I please." "I don't care what the others do, I will get mine today." "I must have God's favor because we're winning." It flatters us with words which excite our egos by reciting our accomplishments and comparing us to those lesser souls not faring so well. "My success is obviously the mark of God's approval." "If the Lord was not so pleased with me, I would not be winning like this." Success lies to your soul as it mimics the voices of sycophantic fans, hangers on, groupies and fawning media.

Success distorts the truth of our identity by telling us that it's to be found in achievement. Its greed is never satisfied. Success deceives our souls' sense of worth by whispering that performance makes us worthy of love and dignity; that losers are not worthy of such delights. It tries to convince us that wins are the indicators of a life in Christ. Lies one and all.

Failure's condemning voice whispers in our soul's ear, "You're not good enough." "You can't compete at this level." "You should just quit." "You aren't worthy to wear this uniform." Failure shouts at us when we're running on the pitch, "You can't guard this player, she'll embarrass you." It laughs heartily as we stumble and fall, the pain in our body echoing Failure's derisive comments.

Worse still are Failure's accusations that our lack of success is a sign of God's displeasure. "You must have sinned badly to have failed so miserably." "God is angry with you; that's why you struck out three times today." "A real Christian wouldn't play this badly." "Maybe God wants you to give up this silly game and get on with more important things." "If you were a better Christian, you would be more successful than this."

Failure assaults us in the condemning voices of the coaches from our past who used shame to motivate, our never satisfied parents or angry teammates. These voices remind us of our most bitter failures and disappointments.

Failure lies by distorting the truth of our unlimited value to Christ (Romans 5:8), our identity in Him (Ephesians 1:3-14) and our being totally without condemnation before him (Romans 8:1).

All these lies gnaw at our souls, impeding our progress as lovers of God and hindering our Lord's gift of fulfilling enjoyment of sport. Both Success and Failure speak these lies with equally damaging consequences to our hearts, minds and souls.

There is more wisdom to be found by focusing our hearts and minds on the process of training, competition, personal and team development in sport. Take care to listen wisely to the reports of success and failure. Understand that statistics, win/loss ratios and other measurements of sporting achievement speak truthfully about performance, but they lie about identity, worth and significance. These can only be found in an abiding relationship with Christ Jesus.

“This is just the way business in sport works now.” “I owed it to my family to pursue the best opportunity.” “The club’s management was not negotiating in good faith.” “There were a lot of problems with this contract as it was written.” “That contract was full of loopholes.” “God would want me to be in the best position to be successful.” “We have no real security outside of what we can negotiate.” The mind justifies.

The headlines of the sports pages of newspapers around the world are cluttered daily with stories about coaches and athletes who choose to leave one club for another and thereby violate the terms of their contracts. Coaches in the USA, some Christians, often bail out on long-term contracts when a more lucrative offer appears and seemingly do it without a single pang of conscience. Club management will sometimes slander a coach or a player in the media in order to create public pressure for resignation or renegotiation of a contract when he or she has “underperformed.” Some players have publically demanded renegotiation of their contracts shortly after signing one, especially if they’re suddenly more productive. Some coaches and competitors will negotiate in the media for a new contract, when they are in fact being carried by the success achieved by their teammates. The will chooses.

We see the headlines and hear the reports over the radio, but what is at the heart of this issue? I believe it is a heart which loves security. Sometimes it looks like greed to us who earn much less in a year than the player may earn in a week. Sometimes it looks like control to we who work without a contract and the coach’s agent works on the details of a contract for six months only to have the coach violate the contract after the next successful season leads to offers of more money and prestige. However, underneath all those impressions is often a heart which feels terribly vulnerable and desperately needs security. Coaches and competitors are painfully aware, though seldom speaking of it, how brief and insecure their careers are. Further, when most of their self-worth is tied up in the success or failure of their efforts, they are even more insecure and searching for stability. The heart loves.

A Biblical example of two men who were deceitful in making contracts is found in Genesis chapter 29 and verses 18-27. Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, "I'll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel."
19 Laban said, "It's better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me." 20 So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.
21 Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to lie with her."
22 So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. 23 But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and Jacob lay with her. 24 And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter as her maidservant.
25 When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn't I? Why have you deceived me?"
26 Laban replied, "It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. 27 Finish this daughter's bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work."

Jacob had been deceitful for most of his lifetime, but his father-in-law, Laban, beat him at his own game. Suddenly the deceiver is deceived. Laban violates his contract with Jacob and justifies himself by appealing to local customs, disguising his heart’s love for security. He needed both of his daughters to have a strong provider for a husband, thus providing him security in his advancing years. Ultimately everyone loses in such negotiations and violation of agreements. Trust is broken and relationships are strained.

The Proverbs are full of simple instruction regarding God’s view of business ethics and even principles which can guide our approach to contracts. Three such proverbs are below.
Proverbs 21:2
All a man's ways seem right to him,
but the LORD weighs the heart.
No matter how we try to justify our actions by rationalization, the Lord knows our hearts.

Proverbs 20:10
Differing weights and differing measures—
the LORD detests them both.
Duplicity in our standards for business practices is detestable to God.

Proverbs 16:11

The Lord is concerned with how we conduct business and how we negotiate contracts and fulfill them. The ethics for God-honoring business are items of His making.

If we are to be Christ’s representatives in the world of sport, we must go against the current of business practices which violate God’s way. We must be willing to honor contracts, even when they are not in our best interest. The call to love our neighbor as ourselves includes the club manager, the team president, the player and the coach. Let’s honor our Lord by seeking security in Him, rather than in the lines of a contract. Let’s trust Him with our future, rather than the legal acumen of our lawyers and agents.

“What the heart loves, the will chooses and the mind justifies.” This statement was spoken by my friend and colleague in sports chaplaincy, John Ashley Null, in summary of the 16th century Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer's writings. Dr. Null has been translating Cranmer’s work from Medieval Latin shorthand into contemporary English.

“The gospel is an offense to those who are perishing.” “The Lord knows those who are truly His.” “We are doing ministry the right way.” “Jesus came not to bring peace, but a sword.” “The real believers attend out study.” “The highly committed players go to our church.” “If he was a real Christian he’d be working with our ministry.” The mind justifies.

Books, magazines, newspapers, blogs, and even television reports have recounted over the last several years the divisive nature of some Evangelical Christian ministries in the locker rooms of Major League Baseball, college and NFL Football, college and NBA Basketball and other sports. The division appears when one ministry seeks to elevate its work above another, when one set of players treat non-believing teammates as second class citizens, or when the ministries give extra privileges to those who attend chapels or Bible studies. Division is created when Christian players shun other believing teammates who are connected with “the other ministry.” Faith divides a team when the Christians imply that religious activity leads directly to greater success on the field of competition. Christians are divisive when they treat yet-to-believe teammates as outsiders. Christian ministries, chaplains and others are divisive when they manipulate players into making religious decisions. Sports ministries are divisive and often counterproductive when they use their relationships with the players and coaches to solicit them for donations. The will chooses.

It’s easy to identify the activities and attitudes which divide teammates and even highly committed Christians within a sports club. What is harder to discern is the source of the division. What lies at the heart of such division? I would contend that the issue is power and it is evidenced by a lust for influence, for followers and further a longing to earn God’s approval. If we’re seeking God’s approval and we believe that pleasing Him is ultimately shown by how many people we influence, how many we can get to our Bible study or how many times I we can share the gospel, we will do whatever it takes to earn His favor. Such misguided motives can easily lead us to attitudes and actions which become divisive as we drive headlong toward our “ministry goals.” If I have an insatiable hunger for ever expanding influence, a growing number of followers and the need to earn God’s favor; power is what my heart loves.

A Biblical example of this kind of divisive ministry is found in I Corinthians 3:1-6 where the Apostle Paul writes, “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?
5What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.”

The infantile disciples in Corinth displayed their divisive hearts’ longing for power and influence as they chose to separate themselves and then justified their actions by invoking the names of their leaders. Sadly, many of us do this in the world of sport today and we justify ourselves by invoking the names of various sports ministries, churches or religious leaders. I’m sure the Apostle would correct us as he did these believers in Corinth. What is FCA? What is AIA? What is Champions for Christ? What is ___________ Church, ____________ Ministry or Pastor ____________? You fill in the blank with your “brand” of ministry. One plants, another waters, but God makes it grow.

A healthier attitude toward ministry in sport is found in Ephesians 4:4-7 where the Apostle writes, “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.” We must grow up a bit and recognize both the unity in Christ and the plurality of giftedness and distinctiveness He has apportioned to each of us. It is the heart which loves power that would squeeze unity into unanimity. The power hungry heart will squelch the diversity of Christ’s body by manipulating everyone into one narrow approved expression of faith.

Let’s take the minimal risk to allow others the freedom to wear Christ in the grace which He has apportioned. It’s not likely that everyone on my team will trust Christ. It’s not even guaranteed that all the Christian players will want to attend my Bible study. It’s not necessarily true that the most highly committed coaches will want my counsel or that they’ll confide in me for prayer. These realities must not move my power hungry heart to manipulate or to cause division. Let’s be the ones whose redeemed hearts are free to love all those we are called to serve and allow them the freedom to love and serve Christ regardless of their affiliations.

“What the heart loves, the will chooses and the mind justifies.” This statement was spoken by my friend and colleague in sports chaplaincy, John Ashley Null, in summary of the 16th century Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer's writings. Dr. Null has been translating Cranmer’s work from Medieval Latin shorthand into contemporary English.

Part 5 – Abuse of Players

“This makes him tougher.” “We’re breaking his will to then build him back up.” “This is really good for her.” “She needs this discipline to rid her of foolishness.” “We’re a winning program, but he’s a loser.” “You don’t deserve to win.” You’re not worthy of wearing this uniform.” “This team is for winners. You’re a loser.” Such language is used by some coaches and even fans to rationalize their abuse of the competitors with their programs. The mind justifies.

Many of us who have had abusive coaches know the pain of playing for them. Occasionally abusive coaches and their tactics appear in the media. Some of their attempts to toughen, to discipline, to motivate and more take these forms:

• Running them until they vomit, dehydrate and even convulse.
• Locking a player in an electrical closet for hours (from this past fall in the USA).
• Depriving them of sleep.
• Withholding food or water.
• Forcing a wrestler, swimmer or gymnast to use supplements to lose weight.
• Using verbal abuse, shame and emotional manipulation as motivation to prod the player to higher performance.
• Twisting the powerful coach/player relationship for sexual purposes.

The will chooses.

Lying just under the surface of such abuse is the heart which loves control. The controlling heart will use any means to get the results for which it lusts. A heart which loves control will reject all the Spirit’s prompting toward compassion or mercy in favor of its own power to determine the results and the process which fulfill its desires. The heart loves.

A Biblical example of the controlling heart is found in 2 Samuel chapter 11 and verses 10-15.

10 When David was told, "Uriah did not go home," he asked him, "Haven't you just come from a distance? Why didn't you go home?"
11 Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord's men are camped in the open fields. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!"
12 Then David said to him, "Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 At David's invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master's servants; he did not go home. 14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In it he wrote, "Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die."

David tried to manipulate Uriah to cover for his own adultery. That didn’t work as Uriah demonstrated incredible loyalty to his teammates at the battle front. David took another shot at covering his sin by getting Uriah drunk and sending him home to sleep with his wife, but he slept outside. Ultimately, David’s attempts fell flat and he resorted to sending Uriah, one of his 30 Mighty Men, to the front where was to be withdrawn from so he could be killed. David’s attempts to control, to cover up his sin, to manipulate his subject and teammate, ultimately led to Uriah’s death.

Many coaches work under a model which sees their relationships with players as Employer/Employee, Supervisor/Worker or even Master/Slave (though most would never admit to that, the attitude is evident in how they coach). Many value control of the sport process and even the results as their highest priority, thus their hearts will do whatever it takes to maintain their dominance.

I would like to challenge coaches who claim a relationship with Christ to change the paradigm. Let’s adopt a Shepherd/Flock relationship among Coaches and Players. Let’s view the competitors in our charge as Peter viewed his church in I Peter 5:1-4. 1To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ's sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; 3not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

Rather than seeking control and manipulating those under our care, let’s serve as overseers, willingly, not greedy, but eager to serve. Not by lording it over those entrusted to us, but by being examples to our flock. We can trust the Chief Shepherd to reward us appropriately, regardless of final scores or season records.

“What the heart loves, the will chooses and the mind justifies.” This statement was spoken by my friend and colleague in sports chaplaincy, John Ashley Null, in summary of the 16th century Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer's writings. Dr. Null has been translating Cranmer’s work from Medieval Latin shorthand into contemporary English.

“It’s not fair to the sport to hire under-qualified coaches.” “We are keeping undesirable influences out of our game.” “We are the guardians of the purity of our sport.” “I am protecting the game from outsiders.” These and similar words are often used to justify racist attitudes and bigoted actions among those who occupy the seats of power in the world of sport. The mind justifies.

“Second place is the first loser.” “I have to win because there are no post-game interviews for second place.” “There will be no opportunity for proclamation of the gospel if I’m not the winner.” “The Lord wants me to be a winner.” “The Lord had His hand in this win.” “It’s the Lord’s will for us to be champions.” “Christians should be the head and not the tail.” I’m sure we’ve all heard such language from the mouths of Christian competitors in the past. Some of us may have even uttered such. Sadly, I’m also sure such statements have been made by Christians who have skirted the rules, have competed unethically or have otherwise chosen to pursue the win above any other consideration, even above obvious Christian ethical standards. The mind justifies. 

If one adopts the “win at all costs” ethic for his or her life in sport he will cheat on tactics e.g. doctoring the ball in baseball or using illegal equipment. He will cheat in recruiting players by academic fraud and granting recruits sexual favors from beautiful coeds or making gifts to coaches, parents or would be agents for players. She will cheat in training by using performance enhancing drugs or by illicitly videotaping her opponent’s practices prior to a big game. He will cheat in competition by using his foot to improve the lie for his golf ball, by seeking an unfair advantage over his opponent or maliciously trying to injure an opposing player. Others with this ethic will choose to not compete at all. “If I can’t win, I won’t play.” The obvious dilemma here is that if you don’t play, you can’t win. This leads surely to bitterness and envy toward those who do win. This is the ethic of Machiavelli, not Jesus. This is born of a philosophy which espouses, “The end justifies the means.” Jesus’ ethic states that, “he who would be first among you must be the slave of all.” Mark 10:44 The one who wins at all costs loves being first and his behavior and attitudes reveal his heart’s pride. The will chooses. 

We see a biblical example of the “win at all costs” ethic in III John 9-11 where John writes, “I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. 

“I admit that I used this substance as a part of the recovery and rehab process.” “I felt that I owed it to my team to get back to the court as quickly as I could.” “I was desperate to get back onto the field so I could contribute to my team.” “I did not want to let my teammates down by not being ready to play.” These are common expressions by competitors who have been exposed as using substances like steroids, human growth hormone, diuretics and other substances which are banned by their sports leagues. Some are illegal substances as well. They try to justify their use by cloaking it in language which seems almost noble. The mind justifies.

This statement has helped me analyze and evaluate my heart’s affections, wise and foolish. It has encouraged me when I have wisely chosen actions and attitudes which are reflective of a pure heart and loving motives. It has also served as the Lord’s piercing arrow of conviction when my behavior has been driven by a heart sullied by selfishness and folly.

We in the Evangelical Sports Ministry community have been woefully silent about many issues which shape the world of sport. Let’s purpose together to lovingly embrace the world of sport and to thereby transform it by living out the truth of Scripture in our daily activities, relationships and decision making in that world. It is far too easy to stand outside sport and to be critical of its ethics. It is too convenient for us to stand beside sport and to toss Christian clichés at it. It is too antiseptic for us to dabble in the culture of sport and to somehow pretend that if we deny what we see, that we’re not responsible for it. It requires little thought and less personal introspection to pretend that we have fulfilled our mission by using the world of sport as a platform for a slick presentation of a Gospel message while we close our eyes to the practices and values of the sports world and don’t even attempt to be agents of godly reformation within it.

Over the next several weeks, I’ll use Dr. Null’s statement as a microscope with which to examine some of the issues in the sports world and I will attempt to bring a Christ-honoring perspective to these issues. I would welcome your comments, questions or additions to the list of issues to be addressed. I will not presume to have the definitive answer to any of the issues, but I will be pleased to begin the discussion. We have been silent and benign for too long. We will certainly also apply scripture to this discussion because of its enduring, penetrating power to discern our hearts’ intentions and attitudes. “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12

The issues to be discussed include:

• Performance enhancing drugs – how some Christian athletes justify their use.

• Integrity re: contractual obligations – who is obligated by the contract?

• Respect for opponents, game officials and others in sport – how to restore it in the era of trash talk?

• Racism in sport – how shall the Community of Christ address this issue?

• Pride and its effects upon sport culture – where has humility hidden itself?

• The “win at all costs” sports ethic – how do we counter this with Christ-honoring values?

• Abuse of players – how do we respond when we encounter the abuse of players?

• Class division in sport – who are the elite and how do they take advantage of others?

• Cheating in sport – is it only cheating when you get caught?

More on John Ashley Null - Dr. Null, an orthodox, Protestant Anglican and adherent of historic, Reformational Theology, is canon theologian for the Episcopal Diocese of Western Kansas, visiting fellow at Cambridge, visiting research fellow at Humboldt-Universitat in Berlin, and recent recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. He received his MDiv from Yale Divinity School and a PhD from Cambridge. As one of the world's foremost experts on Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556), Dr. Null is a well-known speaker and writer. He also has a long history as a chaplain to elite athletes, serving as the resident Protestant Chaplain in the Olympic Village during the Athens 2004 Games and many other major sporting events. He is also the author of Thomas Cranmer's Doctrine of Repentance — Renewing the Power to Love.

Dr. Null will be a featured speaker at the upcoming FCA Sports Chaplain Conference in Kansas City, February 22-24.

“What the heart loves, the will chooses and the mind justifies.”