Reality LA

Tag: IKON: Sports

  • RESOURCE | In the Arena

    We live in a sports-obsessed world. From fans wearing their favorite team’s colors to high school soccer players practicing after school, we encounter sports every day. Nothing else in our culture produces so much passion and intrigue. Such obsession, for the Christian, must produce critical reflection. How should the Christian think about sports? What does Christ have to do with athletic competition? Can sports be redeemed?

    David E. Prince is the Pastor of Preaching and Vision at Ashland Avenue Baptist Church (Lexington, KY) and a professor of Christian preaching at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY). He holds degrees from Huntingdon College (B.A.), Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Ph.D.). He played baseball in high school and college and coached high school baseball and football after college.

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  • RESOURCE | Moving from Performance to Purpose in Youth Sports

    Millions of youth devote a substantial amount of their childhood to sports. Undoubtedly, spending this much time in any activity will impact their lives. The common adage “sports produces character” captures the prominent reason children, teenagers, and young adults are encouraged to participate in sports: an assumption that the lessons learned in sports will equate to success in life. However, research on the impact of sports participation is mixed, with some showing negative effects on youth development. Although sports can shape the lives of teenagers in powerful ways, these findings challenge the notion that sports automatically lead to positive youth outcomes, particularly a healthy identity and emotional development. Given that youth are spending so much time in sports and parents are spending so much effort and money to have their kids in sports, why not have young people’s experiences in sports be as formative as possible? This article discusses important developmental processes during adolescence that are relevant to sports and highlights some research-informed approaches to help parents and caring adults engage with youth playing sports.

    Benjamin J. Houltberg is Associate Professor of Human Development at Fuller Seminary. Recently, he has focused on emotional health of elite athletes in high-pressure contexts. This research has led to national and international research presentations and service. He is actively involved in the Sports Chaplaincy Program to International Sporting Events and served as a chaplain to the 2009 World Track and Field Championships in Berlin, Germany. Houltberg also presented his research at the International Convention on Science, Education and Medicine in Sport in Glasgow, United Kingdom, in conjunction with the 2012 Olympic Games. He continues to work with coaches and athletes from around the world to promote spiritual and emotional health in dealing with pressures to perform.

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  • RESOURCE | More Than a Game (Essay)

    RESOURCE | More Than a Game (Essay)

    Pastor Jeremy Treat provides a thoughtful theology of sport: more than a game, less than a god — they are a gift. Sports matter because they consist of the very stuff of life.

    This essay was adapted from Jeremy’s IKON Sports talk of the same title, which you can listen to here.

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  • IKON | More Than a Game (Talk)

    IKON | More Than a Game (Talk)

    Pastor Jeremy Treat provides a thoughtful theology of sport: more than a game, less than a god—they are a gift. Sports matter because they consist of the very stuff of life.

    This talk was later adapted into an essay of the same title, which you can read here.

    The second of a two-part evening.

  • IKON | Sports in American Culture

    IKON | Sports in American Culture

    Chris Broussard surveys the role of sports in American culture, and the legacy of Christianity within them.
    Chris is an NBA analyst, award-winning journalist, and senior writer for ESPN’s written publications. He regularly appears on ABC and ESPN programs, including ABC’s NBA Countdown.

    The first of a two-part evening.

  • RESOURCE | Football and the Gift of Institutions

    There aren’t many words less popular in our world than “institution.” But institutions are essential for flourishing. Andy Crouch argues that if we want our power to be used for the comprehensive flourishing of the world, we will have to understand institutions.

    Andy Crouch is the author of The Tech-wise Family, Strong and Weak, Playing God, and Culture Making. He serves on the governing boards of Fuller Theological Seminary and the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. For more than ten years he was an editor and producer at Christianity Today, including serving as executive editor from 2012 to 2016. He joined the John Templeton Foundation in 2017 as senior strategist for communication. His work and writing have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, and several editions of Best Christian Writing and Best Spiritual Writing. A classically trained musician who draws on pop, folk, rock, jazz, and gospel, he has led musical worship for congregations of 5 to 20,000.

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  • RESOURCE | The Creational Goodness of Sports and Competition

    Several years later I began to follow Christ, and my life changed. But the gospel which I embraced was a narrow, “world-negating” gospel concerned primarily, if not exclusively, with a new relationship to God. Sports and competition had little place for the committed follower of Jesus Christ, in my understanding. Sacred activities such as prayer, worship, and evangelism were what really mattered. All other activities were secular—inferior, wasteful, and frivolous. I succumbed to what Shirl Hoffman calls a “degraded view of sport”, an attitude expressed in an article in an evangelical magazine in the early 1970s: “Among the various things we can relax with, athletics are low on the scale of demonstrable religious significance.”

    I still remember the joy of discovery when I came to understand a much wider view of the gospel and fuller understanding of the Bible’s teaching on creation. The gospel was a gospel of the kingdom: God is restoring his rule over the whole creation. Seeing Jesus Christ in cosmic proportions as Creator, Lord, and Redeemer opened up a new, liberating understanding. I was able to understand sports and competition as gifts of God in creation to be richly enjoyed with thanksgiving.

    Dr. Mike Goheen occupies the Geneva Chair of Worldview and Religious Studies at Trinity Western University, and is a Teaching Fellow in Mission at Regent College, Vancouver. A long-time pastor, worldwide lecturer, and author, he speaks and writes on mission and worldview for folk in many different confessional traditions.

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