Basketball Evangelism

Basketball’s creator James Naismith

In preparing for our Salt & Light series which starts this Sunday, I’ve been reviewing the different places in my life where I can season and illuminate my world. It’s pretty simple:

  • In order to season like salt, we have to get out of the saltshaker.
  • In order to shine like light, we have to uncover our brightness.
  • And we have to be around people who need seasoning and illumination.

One of my favorite workout activities is playing basketball, so I absolutely loved reading a story about why James Naismith created this fun sport.

You can read the full article from the Wall Street Journal here, but this passage especially jumped out at me:

Convinced that he could better exemplify the Christian life through sports than in the pulpit, he moved to Springfield, Mass., to serve as a physical-education instructor at the Young Men’s Christian Association’s International Training School for Christian Workers (now Springfield College). Naismith’s vision? “To win men for the Master through the gym.”

To win men for the Master through the gym.

What if we looked at every activity in our lives like that?

  • To win people for the Master through playing on the football team.
  • To win people for the Master through being a valuable employee.
  • To win people for the Master through getting involved with the PTA.
  • To win people for the Master through developing a friendly relationship with my neighbors.
  • To win people for the Master through becoming a model student.

Finish the sentence for your life…

I can win people for the Master through _________________________.

Let us all work on finding innovative ways to win people for the Master!

All Means, Um, All

allWe started a new Sunday evening series called “All.” At least that’s the abbreviated title—the full title is “all the church taking all the gospel to all the world all the time by all the means necessary.”

Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:18-19). I am more and more amazed and disappointed in how this gets watered down…

  • “All the church can’t mean me because I’m nothing special.”
  • “All the gospel only means the part about ‘getting saved,’ right?”
  • “All the world is only for people who are called to be missionaries.”
  • “All the time is just for special ‘evangelical outreaches.’”
  • “All the means is just whatever happens in a typical church service.”

I checked Webster’s Dictionary and all means “wholly, entirely, completely.” I even checked my Greek Bible dictionary and discovered that all means, um, “all.” I think the problem comes from another word in that verse: therefore. If I don’t believe that I belong to Christ, then I’m not operating in all of His authority. If I’m not operating in His authority, I will more than likely find all the excuses I can to avoid being a part of the all Jesus intended.