Power to Change » football

Paraguay Soccer Team

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 22:12:53 +0000

While touring with a women’s soccer team in Paraguay for two summers, Morgan Donaldson particularly loved connecting with the players after their games. She saw how these girls had a genuine hunger for Jesus. That’s when she understood the impact of the Total Athlete Academy as a place where athletes from around the world could engage, find a life coach, wrestle with issues of faith and sport and ultimately continue their journey closer to Jesus.

Related:
Want To Get Involved?

Searching For Meaning

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 16:03:58 +0000

Tibor was confident heading to university. He was eager to start playing football at a high level of competition. But an injury left him lying on the ground, writhing in pain, and pondering his priorities. Rather than finding his identity in sports, he began seeking spiritual answers. Have you ever considered that there may be a spiritual answer to human longings for meaning, intimacy, and destiny?

Sharing the Gospel with Your Home

Wed, 25 May 2011 11:00:59 +0000

They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. When Steve invites some of the men from the CFL into his home he not only fills their stomachs, he feeds their souls with the gospel.

Can you use your gift of hospitality to share the gospel? Open your home and God can do wonderful things.

Related:
Athletes in Action Canada – Learn how you can get involved with the ministry Steve serves with!

Finding Meaning Beyond Football

Wed, 25 May 2011 11:00:24 +0000

He craved excitement, and playing in the CFL (Canadian Football League) gave Steve all the excitement and energy he craved. He felt like the king of the world and had the ego to go with it.

But after being let go from some major league teams, Steve started struggling with significance, questioning if he really was good enough to play in the CFL and what it would mean for his future if he wasn’t. Do you ever ask yourself “What am I here for?”

Related:
Hope When Life is Tough with Mike “Pinball” Clemons – A CFL veteran explains his past and where he found fulfillment.
What does your soul crave? – Intimacy? Meaning? Destiny?

Seeing Multiplication of Faith

Tue, 24 May 2011 18:17:57 +0000

Rod recently got a front row seat to witness a new Christian grasp the concept of a Faith Adventure. He witnessed this young man take a group of 30 men from the Glasgow University on a Faith Adventure using the Athletes in Action Total Athlete Academy. Lives will be transformed by every new Christian who is willing to take take a step out in faith. Is it time for you to take a risk? Are you willing to change the world?

Relate:
You can also get involved with Athletes In Action

What’s More Important Than Football?

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 18:46:01 +0000

Mark Washington is a former defensive back who won the Grey Cup in 2002 with the Montreal Alouettes and is currently the defensive backs coach for the BC Lions football team. Although many sports figures end up being “married” to their sports (in terms of making their sport the center of their time and devotion) Mark clearly states that he “Isn’t married to football.”

Mark discusses the importance of his family, and how he has left his work behind by the time he gets home. The source of his mature outlook on life is his faith. “I can’t say that I’m a ‘spiritual man’ but leave [God] out of any decisions I make,” he said. “That doesn’t make any sense.” In this way he follows many other famous football stars of the past, such as Spencer Tillman, Rolf Benirschke and fellow coach Joe Gibbs.

But a person will often say that they are ‘spiritual’ and yet leave God out of their lives entirely. As Mark points out, that’s a silly approach when you think about it. If God does exist, do you think He might have some pertinent insight into your life? That if there really is a God who knew you before you were born and designed you for a purpose, that getting to know this same God might help you to become the kind of person you were always meant to be?

After you have watched the video above, consider the following:

Take a look at your life. How would you describe it?

Contented? Rushed? Exciting? Stressful? Moving forward? Holding back? For many of us it’s all of the above at times. There are things we dream of doing one day, and there are things we wish we could forget. In the Bible, it says that Jesus came to make all things new. What would your life look like if you could start over with a clean slate?

Are you ready to discover your purpose in life?

Jesus came, and died, and rose again to wipe the slate clean. He was scourged, tormented, and finally nailed on the cross for humankind’s sins – this was all part of God’s plan to bring you and I back into relationship with him. God wants to be a part of your life. He wants to give you a new kind of freedom: The freedom to become the kind of person you were always meant to be. Is this the life for you?

God loves you and created you to know Him personally. He longs for you to have the kind of full life you were always meant to have. So why do people not experience this kind of life? People are lost and separated from God, so we cannot know Him personally or experience His love. Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for our sin. Mark Washington explains it this way in the video: “I am a sinful man. There is a sin nature in me that has separated me from God.” But Jesus (“Emmanuel,” meaning “God with us”) died in our place, taking the punishment we deserve for our sins, and then he rose from the dead, proving his triumph over sin!

We must individually trust Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know God personally and experience His love: “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12)

We trust God through faith. You can trust Christ right now by faith through prayer! (Prayer is just talking with God.) God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. The following is a suggested prayer:

Lord Jesus, I need you. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.

Does this prayer express the desire of your heart?

If it does, pray this prayer right now, and Christ will come into your life, just as He promised.

“I’d like more information or I’d prefer to talk with someone about this:”
I want to know more about Jesus
I think I’m already a good person
I’d like to talk with someone privately about this

Choosing the Longest Line

Mon, 17 Jan 2011 09:00:36 +0000

Feeling pressure to be perfect? Are you content?

Join us for our Daily Devotional Chat today in our Women’s Chatroom at 10:30 am EST.

“I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits…” (Psalm 130:5) “The Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore He will rise up to show you compassion… Blessed are all who wait for Him” (Isaiah 30:18)!

The young boy was shopping with his mother in a grocery store. With the eyes of an experienced line appraiser and with his hands gripping the shopping cart handle, he was ready to quickly maneuver into a more advantageous position. “Look, Mom! Those customers are moving faster. Let’s get behind them.”

Was he late for a football game or television program? Was an important person waiting outside the store? I suspect that this young man had just fallen victim to the no-time-to-wait mentality of the adults around him.

Waiting is not one of my strengths, and I think it could be accurately said that I am among the majority. Carlo Coretti writes, “This pursuit of impatience easily drifts into my spiritual life. Wait on God? Wait for God? I need an answer now! An even more dangerous thought process proclaims, ‘I need spiritual maturity now.’”

If I am serious about learning the discipline of waiting on God, perhaps I should practice by consistently choosing the longest, slowest-moving line in the bank or store. At the very least, this would reveal how much I have to learn!

Questions: Has the pursuit of impatience drifted into your spiritual life? How does one gain spiritual maturity?

TAKE THE NEXT STEP: Practicing patience when God asks you to wait

About the Author Marilyn J. Ehle

Become an NFL Great

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 17:11:06 +0000

NFL Hall of Famer Anthony Munoz’s road to football greatness was not always an easy one. He didn’t grow up in the best neighborhood. In fact he initially wanted to be a baseball player. Having already sustained his first knee injury, the young football player realized he would need God on his side if he were going to go all the way to the NFL. This is his story. Have you ever considered that God is actually “on your side”?

What it Means to be Great

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 23:27:28 +0000

During his football career, Rolf had everything we all hope for – fame, success and a healthy paycheck. But in the midst of his accomplishments, Rolf was missing the one thing that mattered most: peace. As he looks back on his life, Rolf is amazed at God’s persistence despite his stubbornness. “It brings me to tears to see how faithfully the Lord pursued me and how reluctant I was and how I stiff-armed him so many times.” he says. Have you been running from God? It’s never too late to turn around.

Related Articles:
NFL Hero – What it Means to be Great
Need Prayer

Still Scoring

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 17:40:00 +0000

After confirming the family’s wishes one last time, the man in the white uniform put his hand on the ventilator tube and pulled it out of Mrs. Tillman’s mouth. The death of his mother led Spencer Tillman to question his life: “Here I was, a former NFL player who had been the captain of a Super Bowl team … and yet, something was missing, something right at the core of my being.” This is his story.