Raul Garcia III
CY 4520
Children, Youth, and Family For the Sake of the World
Spring 2012
Dr. Terri Elton and Dr. Nancy Going
“Faith and Sports: Finding our Vocation! The calling of the Church and Sports!”
Children, Youth, and Family For the Sake of the World
Spring 2012
Dr. Terri Elton and Dr. Nancy Going
“Faith and Sports: Finding our Vocation! The calling of the Church and Sports!”
Is sports an avenue that parents use to help teach values to their young children and/or leave it up to coaches? Where do we stand as a church with sports and faith? Is sports another means in which it takes our youth away from the church? Who is responsible for teaching our youth faith, values and life lessons? How does coaching create, facilitate and organize missional churches?
I come from the perspective of a coach but also a youth minister. I have been coaching for nearly 18 years and have been in ministry for the same number of years. What values do I hold myself as a coach? First and foremost I am a man of God who happens to know how to teach a game and have fun doing it. Here are my expectations for my coaching staff who serve under me.
Soccer Coaches Expectations:
These are expectations players can have of their coaches.
Coaches Will...
· Be a positive adult role model on and off the soccer field.
· Show genuine interest and concern for each player as an individual.
· Be fair and consistent when dealing with players and various situations that arise.
· Run an organized, fundamentally sound soccer team. The coach will assist players in improving as individuals and bring the team to perform at its highest level possible.
· Work hard, always striving towards excellence.
· Be available to talk with players that have questions on how to improve themselves.
· Set season goals for each player. These goals will be measured 1-2 times per season.
· Give the player an end of season evaluation – either verbal or written.
These are expectations that I expect my coaches to follow. What I also want my athletes to see is that I am a teacher of the game, a disciplinarian and mentor. As a coach, I am here to teach them life skills and ethical behaviors. What I want my athletes, and probably most athletes who play sports, is to learn to hard work, have dedication, perseverance and teamwork. Am I teaching my athletes how to live their life to the fullest and to be positive contributing members of our society? What is our call as a coaches and as people in ministry? Can both of these realms co-exist? Of course they can. We are talking about vocation here. What is our vocation? The most common understanding of vocation today is the secular one where vocation refers to one’s paid work. Sometimes vocation refers to any form of paid work; sometimes it refers to particular forms of paid work, those forms that involve public service or higher pay or status.[2] Our vocation also serves God’s redemptive purpose.[3]
Here is a great example of a friend of mine Dionne, who is a great basketball coach and what he considers his call/ vocation:
“I've learned once again that my talents aren't my own and that I have a higher duty to share from my experiences with others. I'm a big believer that we all have a duty to spread God's will with others from the pulpit where you stand, right now mines happens to be on a hardwood floor that's 94' by 54'.”[4]
My friend Dionne is a head basketball coach at a NCAA Division Two school in Oklahoma City and I feel he hit it right on the money. We don’t have to be pastors, youth ministers or coaches to help our youth succeed and see what God has in store for them. It is where we are called to be. Whether we are coaches, pastors, youth ministers, significant adults in a young person’s life or parent. When we think about our ministers, pastors, coaches and other significant adults that help influence the lives of our young people, where do our thoughts go to? For me it sounds more or less like Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. Let me explain Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.
Guiding Beliefs of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism:
1. A God exist who created and orders the world and watches over life on earth.
2. God wants people to be nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the bible and by most world religions.
3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
4. God is not involved in my life except when I need God to resolve a problem.
5. Good people go to heaven when they die.[5]
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism is one of those things that sounds right on for the moment, but is it really affective in the long run. As far as coaches and athletes think of influencing youth to be good athletes and people I seem to think it’s like Moralistic Therapeutic Deism but more of a term I call Moralistic Therapeutic Altruism. The definition of altruism is an unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others.[6] Here are my reasons why Moralistic Therapeutic Altruism works in sports.
My Guidelines for Moralistic Therapeutic Altruism in sports:
1. Teaching our young people what it means to work hard to achieve a goal.
2. Being dedicated to something that is bigger than just yourself.
3. Knowing that life is going to be hard and that you can rely on others to push you to your physical and mental limit.
4. Being part of something that is bigger than just themselves.
So as pastors, ministers, coaches and significant adults what does this mean for us? In my opinion we need to step it up a notch. If we as pastors and ministers want to really reach out into the community we need to step outside the church building and think outside the box. Is the church limited to only Sundays and Wednesdays? Why is our Proclamation of Christ in a box for just Sundays and Wednesdays? Can we get out of that Sunday/Wednesday church box? “The church taught me over the years to always recognize that there's always something bigger than myself that I have to serve. In sports as in the church I've learned that to SERVE is the true act of leadership. If it is our goal to be more like Christ, then we must begin with SERVICE or better yet self sacrifice for the good of something bigger than ourselves. Christ ability to show humility and wash the feet of his disciples serves as an example of true service and leadership. To better simplify this act and put it in basketball terms, the actions Jesus took in washing the feet of his disciples is the same as a star player who's willing to take the spot light off himself and allow others to shine. In this example the star player understands in order to gain the trust of my teammates and have them buy into the overall team goals I must first show I'm willing to put my needs aside for the good of the team.”[7] Dionne has this right again. Can we help our young people integrate their faith lives into everyday life? This is what needs to be happening in the lives of our young people. But this involves not only pastors, ministers, coaches and significant adults but parents. Parents are going to be the biggest supporters/cheerleaders in the life of a young person. Faith does not mean mimicking Jesus, but participating in his self-giving love not because we have somehow chosen to be like him, but because, incredibly, God has chosen to become like us.[8] Maybe we, the church, miss the Holy standing right in front of us just because we are too nearsighted to notice that in between faith and doubt, in between God’s call and our response, Jesus waits.[9]
But how many athletes does a coach interact with or influence? Well, there are many students and coaches that interact with each other in Minnesota and all over the Unites States. Just to give you an idea about how many students are involved in extracurricular activities in Minnesota and nationally here are some numbers for you.
The Minnesota State High School League sponsors one of the most comprehensive programs of interscholastic activities in the United States—activities that involve 500 plus member schools, 234,901 students, 19,881 coaches, and 9,376 contest officials. According to a national survey of 50 state high school athletic/activity associations Minnesota ranks 10th in the nation in the total number of student-participants. Here’s a look at the activity programs League member schools sponsored during the 2010–2011 school year and the scores of students involved in them.[10]
A national survey shows that for the 22nd consecutive year, the number of student participants in high school athletics increased in 2010–2011— setting an all-time high of 7,667,955 participants. The survey also reports that boys and girls participation figures also reached respective all-time highs with 4,494,406 boys and 3,179,549 girls participating during the 2010–2011 school year.[11]
Thinking about these numbers above, that is a lot of students that are being influenced by their peers and by adults in their life. So we need to as a church be able to reach all these youth and become a part of their lives. So, how are we going to reach them? As a coach and with the amount of students that we interact with, being a youth minister and a role model seems the right way to go when interacting with young athletes. This may especially be beneficial if this is the only way to bring church to them and teach them faith, values and life lessons.
Interpretative: Why is it going on?
There are many ideas in which why we hold something more valuable than other things. It so happens that sports is such a huge part in the lives of Americans. In the era where sport celebrities get paid a whole lot to play a simple game there are parents spending more and more money to get their child the extra training. Parents are willing to sacrifice their Sunday morning ritual of attending church to go watch their 7th grader play in a basketball tournament, hockey tournament or dance recital. I understand about not letting your team down because they need you to play, but parents also need to know that they need to remember the baptismal promises they made when they baptized their child. In the Lutheran tradition, here are the baptismal promises parents made on behalf of their children.
There are many ideas in which why we hold something more valuable than other things. It so happens that sports is such a huge part in the lives of Americans. In the era where sport celebrities get paid a whole lot to play a simple game there are parents spending more and more money to get their child the extra training. Parents are willing to sacrifice their Sunday morning ritual of attending church to go watch their 7th grader play in a basketball tournament, hockey tournament or dance recital. I understand about not letting your team down because they need you to play, but parents also need to know that they need to remember the baptismal promises they made when they baptized their child. In the Lutheran tradition, here are the baptismal promises parents made on behalf of their children.
Let’s start with our baptismal promises when we first baptized our children in the eyes of our Lord and congregation.
“As you bring your child to receive the gift of baptism, you are entrusted with responsibilities:
to live with them among God’s people,
bring them to the word of God and holy supper,
teach them the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments,
place in their hands the holy scriptures,
and nurture them in faith and prayer,
so that your child may learn to trust God,
proclaim Christ through word and deed,
care for others and the world God made,
and work for justice and peace.
Do you promise to help your child to grow in Christian faith and life? I do.”[12]
Today, adolescence functions as a lifestyle as well as a life stage, a state of consciousness as well as a period of life that young people can and often prolong, with full cooperation of American culture.[13] Youth see what is on television and what is happening in the culture of today and that is what is influencing the lives of our youth. Parents need to know that they are the number one influence in their children’s lives. Most teenagers mirror their parents’ faith.[14] When they are in a church service the mannerisms their parents are making, whether they are singing, participating, or tithing their children are looking at them. Teenagers lack a theological language with which to express their faith or interpret their experience of the world.[15] We as church leaders who have been called to this vocation need to take the lead and partner with parents to help teenagers get a theological language. Parents must learn to be “apostles to their children,” as Luther recommends. For their parents’ example, children must learn to study, reflect upon, and discuss their faith and its meaning for life. They must read the bible to their children, and explain its teaching as best as they are able. Many of the practices identified above can be readily be expressed in the family life. Parents should meet with other parents to discuss how they can become better apostles to their children[16]
There have been countless times when we have youth would miss church events, retreats or church on Sundays/Wednesdays because of a tournament, game or practice. That is okay with me. Understandable. But when the student wants to come to church and they feel the pressure of their parents saying they need to go to the game, tournament, or practice over what they really want to do. That’s not understandable. It is important that parents encourage their children to be in activities, but not so much they are losing their faith and values, or baptismal promise they made early in their child’s journey. We can learn all kinds of lessons and values from situations that arise like this.
Normative: What ought to be going on?
What ought to be going on is that parents, coaches and the church need to find a middle ground about what their commitments are going to be. Parents need to realize that it’s okay to miss a basketball tournament or game for church. As well as the church needs to know its okay to miss church for a game. But coaches need to be reminded that at the amateur level their coaching jobs are not on the line. They are not going to lose their jobs for not winning the state championship every year. This is what ought to happen. Rich relational soil of families, congregations, and mentor relationships where young people can see what faithful lives look like, and encounter the people who love them enacting a larger story of divine care and hope.[17] We as coaches, parents and ministry people need to care for our young people. We need to walk side by side with them. Care for them, love them, “Christianity…is not something you just live. You have to practice, You can’t live it all by yourself, you need to go to church.”[18] Just as athletes work hard and have dedication to get better as an athlete. We as a church and adults need to be able to help our youth work hard and be dedicated to learning the traditions, faith, confession and rituals of our church. The children should be taught the habit of reciting them daily, when they arise in the morning, when they go to their meals, and when they go to bed at night.[19] Just like my friend, Derick, who is a college head soccer coach he says, “My parents instilled a good work ethic in me and taught me that playing the right way was more important than winning or being on the best team or being the most popular. No matter what the outcome was, I always knew that they loved me and by playing the game I was taught to play (fairly, honestly, and with sportsmanship)[20] So, what ought to happen is to have parents encourage, fulfill their promises to have their children participate in church activities and the church to encourage/influence children through their extracurricular activities. This may bring surprising results.
Pragmatic (Strategic) How might we respond?
What can we do as a church that we can support each other? Here is a great story that I came across on National Public Radio that helps in the realm of how to respond to a similar situation.
The story goes like this:
Senior Cory Weissman (center) of Gettysburg College, takes his second free-throw shot in a Division III Centennial Conference game against Washington College.
When last we left the NCAA, it was February madness, colleges were jumping conferences, suing each other, coaches were claiming rivals had cheated in recruiting — the usual nobility of college sports.
And then, in the midst of all this, the men's basketball team at Washington College of Chestertown, Md., journeyed to Pennsylvania to play Gettysburg College in a Division III Centennial Conference game.
It was senior night, and the loudest cheers went to Cory Weissman, No. 3, 5 feet 11 inches, a team captain — especially when he walked out onto the court as one of Gettysburg's starting five.
Yes, he was a captain, but it was, you see, the first start of his college career. Cory had played a few minutes on the varsity as a freshman, never even scoring. But then, after that season, although he was only 18 years old, he suffered a major stroke. He was unable to walk for two weeks. His whole left side was paralyzed. He lost his memory, had seizures.
But by strenuously devoting himself to his rehabilitation, Cory slowly began to improve. He was able to return to college, and by this year, he could walk without a limp and even participated in the pregame layup drills.
So for senior night, against Washington, his coach, George Petrie, made the decision to start Cory. Yes, he would play only a token few seconds, but it meant a great deal to Cory and to Gettysburg. All the more touching, the Washington players stood and cheered him.
That was supposed to be the end of it, but with Gettysburg ahead by a large margin and less than a minute left in the game, Coach Petrie sent Cory back in.
Nobody could understand, though, what happened next, why the Washington coach, Rob Nugent, bothered to call time out. The fans didn't know what he told his players there in the huddle: that as quickly as they could, foul No. 3. And one of them did. And with 17 seconds left, Cory Weissman strode to the free-throw line. He had two shots.
Suddenly, the crowd understood what Coach Nugent had sought to do. There was not a sound in the gym. Cory took the ball and shot. It drifted to the left, missing disastrously. The crowd stirred. The referee gave Cory the ball back. He eyed the rim. He dipped and shot. The ball left his hand and flew true. Swish. All net.
The crowd cried as much as it cheered.
The assistant vice president for athletics at Gettysburg, David Wright, wrote to Washington College: "Your coach, Rob Nugent, along with his ... staff and student-athletes, displayed a measure of compassion that I have never witnessed in over 30 years of involvement in intercollegiate athletics."
Cory Weissman had made a point.
Washington College had made an even larger one.[21]
What an amazing testimony in the world of sports of how we should treat one another. In a world where we are always looking for the bigger and better deal, this happens. Rob Nugent taught his staff and athletes a lesson, a life lesson, which they will remember for the rest of their lives. What a tremendous coach in Rob Nugent to take this beautiful game and make it better. In a world where sometimes we are selfish and take things for granted, Coach Nugent goes against the grain of society and does the complete opposite. Just like Jesus in which he ate with tax collectors, hung out with the mischievous and worshipped with all. Coaches can be a big influence in the lives of young people. We can help shape the values of these young ladies and gentlemen. “Nothing shaped my values as an adolescent more than sports. Coach Pfeiffer taught me "it's not what you do, it's what you do next." And coach Crowell told me that "pain produces change". These were just a few of the valuable lessons that I learned through my involvement in sports.”[22]
Another way in which we can respond to what is going on with our young people to have a stronger faith would be to help equip parents with the 40 developmental assets. Search Institute has identified the following building blocks of healthy development—known as Developmental Assets—that help young children grow up healthy, caring, and responsible.[23]
40 Developmental Assets® for Adolescents (ages 12-18)
External Assets
Support
Support
1. Family support—Family life provides high levels of love and support.
2. Positive family communication—Young person and her or his parent(s) communicate positively, and young person is willing to seek advice and counsel from parents.
3. Other adult relationships—Young person receives support from three or more nonparent adults.
4. Caring neighborhood—Young person experiences caring neighbors.
5. Caring school climate—School provides a caring, encouraging environment.
6. Parent involvement in schooling—Parent(s) are actively involved in helping young person succeed in school.
Empowerment
7. Community values youth—Young person perceives that adults in the community value youth.
7. Community values youth—Young person perceives that adults in the community value youth.
8. Youth as resources—Young people are given useful roles in the community.
9. Service to others—Young person serves in the community one hour or more per week.
10. Safety—Young person feels safe at home, school, and in the neighborhood.
Boundaries and Expectations
11. Family boundaries—Family has clear rules and consequences and monitors the young person’s whereabouts.
12. School Boundaries—School provides clear rules and consequences.
13. Neighborhood boundaries—Neighbors take responsibility for monitoring young people’s behavior.
14. Adult role models—Parent(s) and other adults model positive, responsible behavior.
15. Positive peer influence—Young person’s best friends model responsible behavior.
16. High expectations—Both parent(s) and teachers encourage the young person to do well.
Constructive Use of Time
17. Creative activities—Young person spends three or more hours per week in lessons or practice in music,theater, or other arts.
18. Youth programs—Young person spends three or more hours per week in sports, clubs, or organizations at school and/or in the community.
19. Religious community—Young person spends one or more hours per week in activities in a religious institution.
20. Time at home—Young person is out with friends “with nothing special to do” two or fewer nights per week.
Internal Assets
Commitment to Learning
21. Achievement Motivation—Young person is motivated to do well in school.
22. School Engagement—Young person is actively engaged in learning.
23. Homework—Young person reports doing at least one hour of homework every school day.
24. Bonding to school—Young person cares about her or his school.
25. Reading for Pleasure—Young person reads for pleasure three or more hours per week.
Positive Values
26. Caring—Young person places high value on helping other people.
27. Equality and social justice—Young person places high value on promoting equality and reducing hunger and poverty.
28. Integrity—Young person acts on convictions and stands up for her or his beliefs.
29. Honesty—Young person “tells the truth even when it is not easy.”
30. Responsibility—Young person accepts and takes personal responsibility.
31. Restraint—Young person believes it is important not to be sexually active or to use alcohol or other drugs.
Social Competencies
32. Planning and decision making—Young person knows how to plan ahead and make choices.
33. Interpersonal Competence—Young person has empathy, sensitivity, and friendship skills.
34. Cultural Competence—Young person has knowledge of and comfort with people of different cultural/racial/ethnic backgrounds.
35. Resistance skills—Young person can resist negative peer pressure and dangerous situations.
36. Peaceful conflict resolution—Young person seeks to resolve conflict nonviolently.
Positive Identity
37. Personal power—Young person feels he or she has control over “things that happen to me.”
38. Self-esteem—Young person reports having a high self-esteem.
39. Sense of purpose—Young person reports that “my life has a purpose.”
40. Positive view of personal future—Young person is optimistic about her or his personal future. [24]
This list of 40 developmental assets need to be taught, learned and instilled in our young people. Whether we are pastors, coaches, ministers, adults and parents this is a list we need to have within our reach. Martin Luther had this right when he said, “The children should be taught the habit of reciting them daily, when they arise in the morning, when they go to their meals, and when they go to bed at night.[25] We need to be able to step it up when we are teaching our young people about faith. I think its okay to take it up a notch and raise the bar about things we do at church. We need to be able to give a language of faith to our young people. See to it that you are present there in true faith, that you listen to God’s word, and that you pray along earnestly.[26] It is my hope that Christians trying to relate their faith to the rest of life will be helped by these reflections on vocation. To those who have forgotten this language or exchanged it for Babel of modern times, much vocation talk may sound odd. But who knows – maybe some of the claims, insights, and images presented here will move them to seek their own Origin and Ending, and discover in their quest the Christ who is our Alpha and Omega, our Path and our Goal.[27]
In conclusion, the church’s job is to till the soil, prepare the heart, ready the mind, still the soul, and stay awake so we notice where God is on the move, and follow. It is in following Jesus that we learn to love him; it is in participating in the mission of God that God decisively changes us into disciples.[28] We have seen pastors, coaches, adults and parents become big influences in athletes lives. Just like in the life of Tim Tebow of the New York Jets or Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks. Somewhere along the line there was a significant adult in their life that gave them the fuel to keep on keeping on. Lin says in that interview that he has learned not to obsess about stats and championships. He continues, “I’m not working hard and practicing day in and day out so that I can please other people. My audience is God. ... The right way to play is not for others and not for myself, but for God. I still don’t fully understand what that means; I struggle with these things every game, every day. I’m still learning to be selfless and submit myself to God and give up my game to Him.”[29]
I know as a youth minister and coach I cannot separate the two vocations. I am called to be both. Whether it be on the field of athletics, in a confirmation small group or a jr high student I expect to get the best out of the youth I come in contact with. I want these youth to know that I love them so much that I want to teach them something that is a lifelong lesson that can help them in the long run of life. The hope they can look back at their adolescents and know that I was one of many significant adults in their life or at least I will have the satisfaction that someone acted as a man of God, as a role model on and off the field, and tried to be influential in their life.
[1] Picture courtesy of http://dawnmaslar.com/?page_id=184
[2] Douglas J. Schuurman, Vocation: Discerning Our Callings in Life (William B. Eermans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, 2004) , 1
[3] Marc Kolden, “Creation and Redemption; Ministry and Vocation.” Currents in Theology and
Mission 14 (1987). 36.
[4] Dionne Phelps, Head Men’s Basketball Coach Oklahoma City University
[5] Kenda Creasy Dean, Almost Christian: What the faith of our teenagers is telling the American church (Oxford University Press, New York, 2010) p. 15
[6] Definition of Altruism, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/altruism
[7] Dionne Phelps, Head Men’s Basketball Coach Oklahoma City University
[8] Kenda Creasy Dean, Almost Christian: What the faith of our teenagers is telling the American church (Oxford University Press, New York, 2010), 104
[9] Kenda Creasy Dean, Almost Christian: What the faith of our teenagers is telling the American church (Oxford University Press, New York, 2010) p. 103
[10] Minnesota State High School League Website, MSHSL, April 8, 2012, http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/news/2010-2011Participation.pdf?ne=11
[11] Minnesota State High School League Website, MSHSL, April 8, 2012, http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/news/2010-2011Participation.pdf?ne=11
[12] Holy Baptism, Evangelical Lutheran Worship,(Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 2006), 228.
[13] Kenda Creasy Dean, Almost Christian: What the faith of our teenagers is telling the American church (Oxford University Press, New York, 2010), 9
[14] Kenda Creasy Dean, Almost Christian: What the faith of our teenagers is telling the American church (Oxford University Press, New York, 2010), 18
[15] Kenda Creasy Dean, Almost Christian: What the faith of our teenagers is telling the American church (Oxford University Press, New York, 2010), 18
[16] Douglas J. Schuurman, Vocation: Discerning Our Callings in Life (William B. Eermans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, 2004) , 175
[17] Kenda Creasy Dean, Almost Christian: What the faith of our teenagers is telling the American church (Oxford University Press, New York, 2010), 11
[18] Kenda Creasy Dean, Almost Christian: What the faith of our teenagers is telling the American church (Oxford University Press, New York, 2010) , 72
[19] Kolb and Wengert, Augsburg Fortress Press, 2000, The Book of Concord: The Confession of the Evangelical Lutheran Church,, 372
[20] Derick Lygholm, Head Women’s Coach, Bethany Lutheran College
[21] Frank Deford “When There’s More to Winning Than Winning,” National Public Radio, February 22, 2012
[22] David Scherer, Agape, Hip Hop Outreach
[23] Search Institute, April 14, 2012, http://www.search-institute.org/content/40-developmental-assets-adolescents-ages-12-18
[24] This page may be reproduced for educational, noncommercial uses only. Copyright © 1997, 2006 by Search Institute, 615 First Avenue N.E.,Suite 125, Minneapolis, MN 55413; 800-888-7828; www.search-institute.org. All Rights Reserved.
[25] Kolb and Wengert, Augsburg Fortress Press, 2000, The Book of Concord: The Confession of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, 372
[26] Kolb and Wengert, Augsburg Fortress Press, 2000, The Book of Concord: The Confession of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, 372
[27] Douglas J. Schuurman, Vocation: Discerning Our Callings in Life (William B. Eermans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, 2004), 180-181
[28] Kenda Creasy Dean, Almost Christian: What the faith of our teenagers is telling the American church (Oxford University Press, New York, 2010), 15
[29] David Brooks, “The Jeremy Lin Problem,” The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/17/opinion/brooks-the-jeremy-lin-problem.html?_r=1, February 16, 2012
