Most of the athletes (especially in the Wrestling for Jesus movie) seem to pick the aspects of Jesus that work for them and disregard the others. Also, none of them showed any knowledge about the historical Jesus or what their congregation believed in. Many of the documentaries and readings also tend to concentrate more on the love and the faith in God, but they lean away from the suffering aspects of Jesus. Religion in sports can be seen as negative because there are many athletes who in sports that associate good fortune or winning games with being faithful. You see these same players blame God when they lose, so what kind of message are they sending about faith. However, it can be a positive mechanism if used to bring people together and then talk about religion.

A lot of organizations say that Jesus has influenced their organization and they tend to use the same phrases. Athletes in Action used “one on one personal relationship with God” to describe what the organization gave them. They also said that God influenced them to “be a better person and athlete.” Some of the ads for organizations say that Jesus had influenced their life, but there are no examples of how. FCA said that they will use their influence on others to preach about Christ and that coaches, campus ministries, camps, and communities are what influence people. David Robinson said that his “eyes were opened” by reading the bible and praying. God influenced the way he played basketball and saw locker room as place of ministry.
 
Hoffman states that while athletes try to spread Christianity in sports they are also advertising the sport itself. With the sport comes all of the not-so-Christian associations (229-2331). He also says that sports celebrities are highly paid advertising mechanisms that
evangelicals have used to sell the gospels (232). Problems arise when an athlete gets into serious trouble, then the religion is also affected. Hoffman summarizes that “only when sport becomes an embodiment of the message, will sports evangelism succeed” (238). On the other hand, Krattenmarker says that religion in sports is going to happen but that “the movement belongs to all religions or anti-religions and not just to Evangelicals” (25-26).

One way for people to connect to their religion is through Sports.  This idea is increasing in society today thanks to media.  At the beginning of our semester we identified different ways people view Jesus.  One of the ways was through Victor or Victory. Organizations, colleges, coaches, professional athletes, student-athletes, and chaplains have appropriated athletics as a platform to advance the gospel showing Jesus as a fighter.  They are known to not be ideal followers of Jesus but I personally think it is great that they are making references to something they love.  In Fighting for Jesus, T-Money might not be the model Christian but he does have faith that at some point in time is strong and sometimes not. I don’t think his faith should be judged by Christians because they don’t probe their religion or flaunt their ideas in other ways then sports.  Sports in a special way for some people allow them to connect with their religious views.  Some people join choirs to connect, some people go to church, some people play sports.  I do not believe there is anything strong with his this faith.  It is a personal experience and is all about belief.  Not everyone has the same idea or beliefs so everyone is going to have a different opinion and it is everyone else’s Christian like ways to be respectful of it.  I am constantly involved in sports and am always praying.  I more of say hail Mary’s when I'm nervous, Glory Be’s when I’m thankful.  It is how I have the opportunity to connect my faith through sports.  That is how other can connect as well through sportsmanship and inspiration.  You can call me unchristian or a bad person of faith but this is how I communicate with MY God and profess MY faith, not yours.

When sports are brought into sports it presents an opportunity for others to identify with Jesus through a something they can identify with.  T-Money and WFJ were a great example of a sport that they love and were able to make connections to the bible.  Each act they present in the ring has a biblical message to it.  This idea is also presented in Hoffman’s article on page 221 about spreading the good news.  That is exactly what T-Money and FCA are doing.  Especially seen in the FCA I believe these organizations are good role models for the younger generations to come.  In Krattenmaker’s article on page 26, he talks about how professional sports belong to all Americans.  The only reason why someone’s beliefs and Christian views has become a big deal is because of media.  If we did not have media it wouldn’t be as influential. 

            As Krattenmaker and Hoffman state, using sports as a medium for sharing religious views has gained in popularity and become more popular today.  With the establishment of the FCA, (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) as stated in their mission statement, it is the goal for Christian athletes to use their positions of power to connect and reach out to others.  Personally, I feel this is a wonderful and effective way for Christians to reach out to people who have not heard of Christianity or been given an opportunity to learn about the religion; however, although potentially effective, trying to spread Christianity through sports is a risky game.  Evangelical Christians believe that we should live by the bible and what it teaches us to be.  Although this would be nice, Hoffman states that it is nearly impossible to expect athletes to live exactly by what the Ten Commandments say.  For almost all professional athletes, their lifestyles don’t always match up.  When watching the movie Wrestling for Jesus, you can pretty easily see the differences between what the bible says we should live like, and how people actually live their lives.

            T-Money is the main character of Wrestling for Jesus and was the founder of the organization.  After viewing the movie, the beliefs WFJ seems to connect with and use the most are similar to Paul: suffering, dying, and being raised.  WFJ seems to stray away from some scripture (divorce, lust, straying from Christ in tough times) and focus more heavily on other scripture (belief in Christ).  The message that was being preached seemed to connect best with the Romans passage about “all you have to do is believe in Jesus Christ.”  Although this is a very good passage, the bible/Jesus also states many things that WFJ was not doing.  In a since, WFJ just picked the scriptures they liked best that accommodate to their particular lifestyle.  Having a position where you can reach out to people who would not otherwise pursue Christ has its responsibilities.  The bible cannot conform around particular lifestyles; it has to be the other way around.  If you are going to preach to people through sports, your actions must match up with what the bible says.  I still believe that using sports is a good means of reaching out to people, however, with great power comes great responsibility.

Both Hoffman and Krattenmaker, in their respective articles, wished to point out the importance of the personas accompanied with sports Evangelism.  The videos on the FCA and Athletes in Action also wanted to show the influence in which these “heroes” held in the sports world.  For Krattenmaker, Herbert Lusk held the most influence in terms of his advancement in religion in sports and even being one of the first to use religious gestures on the field (Krattenmaker 13).  The main point that Hoffman, Krattenmaker, T-Money, and the FCA and Athletes in Action want to point out is that sports icons, both professionally and unprofessionally, want to share their religious beliefs through sports.  In this way, they are using the sport that they play and the status that they gain through that as a platform to share their faiths with the masses.  One example of this is with T-Money and his use of wrestling as a means to minister to the people in his community.  It is an interesting and effective strategy as we can see through Hoffman, who explains that sports reach people worldwide (Hoffman 223). 

It seems that these sports programs wish to emphasis salvation and redemption through the word of God.  In the video, Wrestling for Jesus, there is an “alter call” for each message that is presented in the ring.  Hoffman points out that they do this by spreading the “good news” which in Christianity is meant as the Gospel, the story of Jesus, his life and his teachings (Hoffman 221).  From the FCA and Athletes in Action videos and podcast, we see that they wish to point out the influence that their programs have.  The FCA in particular talked about how athletes and coaches influence several generations of people from the young to the old and how sports of all kinds are so common that is easy for sports icons to reach massive amounts of people.   There are some criticisms of sports evangelical teachings.  Hoffman points out that sports (the activity itself) is not directly linked to conversion (Hoffman 224).  He also had doubts about the aggressive nature of sports (225) and how masculine ideas my skew faith (228).  I think that any opportunity someone has to share their faith should be taken, not based on a Christian idea but sociologically, it is good to view others viewpoints in an unbiased manner.  

    Religion (specifically Christianity) in sports has become increasingly more apparent in recent years as more and more athletes profess their faith and thanks in God. It is true that sports can be an effective medium to advance the gospel and attract new audiences; however it also seems that Christianity is being brought into sports for other reasons. Belief in the Christian faith is appealing to many Americans as a means of relating to others and being accepted. I believe that many athletes use God as a way to appeal to their audience and gain respect and to be adored by fans, rather than being true followers of Christianity. Similar to the wrestlers of WFJ, the attitudes of athletes outside of their duties as a player do not always adhere to the principles of Christianity that they claim to obey while in uniform. For example, in the video Wrestling for Jesus, Timothy conducts himself as a true Christian while preaching and teaching the gospel during his wrestling events, but in his personal life he seems to stray from those beliefs that he preaches, examples include his divorce and his loss of faith after being burdened with so many setbacks in his life. As we discussed in class, athletes most often associate Christ with winning and victory, well what happens when athletes experience losses: Christ has failed them. This way of thinking certainly does not conform to true Christianity. 

     Another downside of incorporating religion into sports is that as of right now only Christianity is accepted as a belief system for professional athletes. As Krattenmaker points out in his book, Onward Christian Athletes, “Christianity remains closed off to the possibility of religion in professional sports becoming more than a narrow form of evangelism in the game” (25). The rest of the fans that are not evangelical Christians should have an opportunity to profess their faith through sports and related media as well. Because, as Krattenmaker states, professional sports belongs to all Americans, not just Christian believers (26). Personally, I believe that there is a place for Christianity (and other religions) in sports for true followers of Christ (or whomever) as a medium to prophesize to the world. I don’t; however, believe it is appropriate for all athletes to bring religion into sports as a way to accumulate fan base as many pro athletes seem to do today.

Sports ministry has become very popular in recent years. We see it at all levels of sports. There are many strategies used by evangelical athletes to reach out to non-Christians including eye patches with bible verses (Tim Tebow for example), cross and bible verse tattoos, guest evangelical ministers at camps, and mentioning god during post-game interviews. How many times have we heard the phrase “I just want to thank God for giving me this opportunity” during a post-game interview? I have noticed that this always comes from a player of the winning team. We rarely hear an athlete who just lost thank God. One example that comes to mind is professional boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. Mayweather has had numerous criminal charges and lives a life that most would consider not Christian like. He is known for high stakes gamboling, showing off his money with cars and houses, and having an ego that may be the biggest in all of sports. Mayweather is 42-0 in his professional boxing career and is the pound for pound best boxer in the world. I have watched many of his fights and in every post-fight ring interview I have seen, Mayweather always thanks God for giving him the opportunity to fight and for blessing him with talent. It is somewhat contradicting of Mayweather to be a self-proclaimed Christian and live the life he does. I believe this is one of the reasons some people disregard athletes who try to convey a Christian message. They think “how can he or she be a Christian when they go out and do all of this bad stuff?” Media focuses on negative images and sometimes this is all that viewers see which makes them draw conclusions. Hoffman raises a good point on this notion. “Do we really expect the athlete to practice the Ten Commandments in from of 60,000 people? I think not. We might like them to. But we don’t expect them to.” (Hoffman p. 233)

This idea of being blessed because you believe in God was also brought up by WFJ. One of the wrestlers that had two championship belts told the crowd that he had the belts because he believes in God. I did not know what to really think of that. It is one of the common messages of sports ministry, but is not the main goal of sports ministry. The purpose of sports ministry is to reach out to the “lost” people. Take for example the mission of Athletes in Action. They believe that their job is to bring the “good news” to people. They believe that the power of God gives salvation for all who believe (Romans 1:16). Many of the evangelical messages come from Romans such as Romans 10:9.

Wrestling for Jesus (Film's Website)