New Trend? Churches using Fight Teams to Reach Men
- Posted on February 11, 2010
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From the New York Times: In the back room of a theater on Beale Street, John Renken, 37, a pastor, recently led a group of young men in prayer. “Father, we thank you for tonight,” he said. “We pray that we will be a representation of you.” An hour later, a member of his flock who had bowed his head was now unleashing a torrent of blows on an opponent, and Mr. Renken was offering guidance that was not exactly prayerful.
“Hard punches!” he shouted from the sidelines of a martial arts event called Cage Assault. “Finish the fight! To the head! To the head!”
The young man was a member of a fight team at Xtreme Ministries, a small church near Nashville that doubles as a mixed martial arts academy. Mr. Renken, who founded the church and academy, doubles as the team’s coach. The school’s motto is “Where Feet, Fist and Faith Collide.”
Mr. Renken’s ministry is one of a small but growing number of evangelical churches that have embraced mixed martial arts — a sport with a reputation for violence and blood that combines kickboxing, wrestling and other fighting styles — to reach and convert young men, whose church attendance has been persistently low. Mixed martial arts events have drawn millions of television viewers, and one was the top pay-per-view event in 2009.
Recruitment efforts at the churches, which are predominantly white, involve fight night television viewing parties and lecture series that use ultimate fighting to explain how Christ fought for what he believed in. Other ministers go further, hosting or participating in live events.
The goal, these pastors say, is to inject some machismo into their ministries — and into the image of Jesus — in the hope of making Christianity more appealing. “Compassion and love — we agree with all that stuff, too,” said Brandon Beals, 37, the lead pastor at Canyon Creek Church outside of Seattle. “But what led me to find Christ was that Jesus was a fighter.”
What do you think?
Todd
Comments
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Peter Hamm on Fri, February 12, 2010
In football, if you tackle the quarterback and punch him in the face and give him a bloody nose, you are violating the rules and might be penalized heavily for it.
In the kind of fighting we’re talking about (ufc-style fighting, whatever it’s called), if you give your opponent a bloody nose on purpose, you are not only not violating the rules, you are actually following them.
I’m mystified that Christians who watch these contests can’t see this distinction.
And btw, I feel the same way about boxing. Real Greco-Roman wrestling is not the same, however.
Christopher Fontenot on Fri, February 12, 2010
This all boils down to the idea that we have to first entertain people before we try to tell them the truth of the Gospel. Whether it is the volume or style of music, or the lights and smoke on stage, or the preacher more interested in being funny than expositing the Scriptures, some have reduced praise and worship to a show that must constantly be “one-upped” in order to keep them coming back. Church is about God…not us and if we show up looking for an “experience”, then we come in with the wrong attitude.
This is not the pastor’s vocation but his hobby. Everyone who watches these matches knows there is a mixed message given when men bow their heads in prayer then begin to pummel one another in an effort to really hurt their opponent. I may be nuts to think this way but I can’t imagine Jesus, Paul, Peter, John, Timothy, James, Jude, Barnabas, or any of the early church fathers as a spectator nor a participant of one of these events.
Leonard on Fri, February 12, 2010
Peter, you characterize the sport through your own bias. I do not know if you played football, or rugby or wrestled in school but those are exceptionally violent sports within the rules. Any close look at football will tell you the collisions inside the rules are so violent that the average length of a career for an NFL player is about 4.3 years.
The purpose of the contest is to win, to do so there are rules established in which that victory can be achieved. There are referees to make sure those rules are followed. There are Doctors who medically check out each participant before and after each fight. These are state governed rules. MMA fighting has fewer injuries (other than cuts) than football or boxing. If you don;t like it, I get that. But that (as you have said about a gazillion times here at MMI) is a style and preference, not a biblical mandate.
CF, I really don’t know what to say to your arguments. Somehow you have been given by someone a special insight into the motives and hearts of everyone. you know why they do what they do, you know what all the people who watch are thinking… I am not trying to be demeaning, but go look over your words again.
As for those you can or cannot imagine watching or participating, that is an irrelevant argument. I bet none of them played electric guitar and sang Chris Tomlin songs either. None of them used video to illustrate a truth, none ever pastored churches that met in a school,none ever had a buss ministry, none ever sang in the church choir, none ever invited a bunch of guys over to watch the super bowl so he could share Christ with them… oh yeah most were also not expository preachers either. oh well.
Peter Hamm on Fri, February 12, 2010
Leonard,
When I hear friends (Christian friends btw) discussing these fights and what they really enjoyed about them, I really wonder. It just seems like something that someone who follows Christ shouldn’t celebrate. My own bias? Yes, I don’t have anyone else’s. But I get a sick feeling when I hear these fights even described.
Just for grins, I just called up a few video highlights.
Maybe I can’t get past my “bias”, but it sickens me. It’s almost (for some maybe it is) pornographc. I don’t think it’s avoiding the appearance of evil one single bit. Yuk.
Peter Hamm on Fri, February 12, 2010
Also… I just noticed this again from the original article.
�But what led me to find Christ was that Jesus was a fighter.�
You mean the part where he let them crucify Him?
Leonard on Fri, February 12, 2010
Peter, METAPHOR,
Jesus didn’t fight stereotypes, racism, classism, gender issues… He didn’t fight the issues of legalism?
Of course he was a fighter. He was not a boxer or a MMA fighter but he was a fighter. Jesus was not a bird with feathers but said he wanted to gather people under his wings…
It is okay not to like this, but it is about style
Christopher Fontenot on Fri, February 12, 2010
Friendship with the world is enmity with God. Leonard, I have found in my short 6 years of witnessing that many “Christians” will say just about anything to justify the things of the world that they love. Drinking, gambling, smoking, even smoking marijuana and pornography. Jesus never once “specifically” addressed these worldly activities so by your reasoning, they must be fine as well.
Leonard on Fri, February 12, 2010
CF, that is ridiculous… your argument has no connection to this topic. Nothing I said indicated I am okay with the things you mention. what a huge gift to know what is in the hearts of all men, now mine.
Peter Hamm on Fri, February 12, 2010
Leonard,
We’ll agree to disagree, which you will have to admit is rare for you and I. I am still convinced it is not about style at all, and I can’t imagine Jesus celebrating or encouraging this sport at all.
Leonard on Fri, February 12, 2010
I am good with that… Just a question. how much sports did you participate in growing up? I was immersed all the way through college and then into city leagues after college with some sports. For me this has shaped how I see this.
Peter Hamm on Fri, February 12, 2010
I did some track and field but was awful at it. Wore glasses so I didn’t do football or baseball. I enjoy Football, really like NASCAR (especially as its gotten safer), and LOVE baseball. Despise boxing, only like Olympic hockey because pro hockey seems to be an excuse to fight, find basketball boring, love the olympics like crazy, too.
CS on Fri, February 12, 2010
Just for my background, I did play some football and wrestling in high school. I’ve also got over 15 years of martial arts experience and possess a black belt. But the reasons I decided to study it was (1) for health and wellness, (2) to learn to protect myself and my family, (3) to help others learn self-defense (since I am a huge guy and a good dummy for practice), and (4) so I could mimic Neo and say, “I know Kung Fu.”
And, with that experience, I can say that I understand the goals, risks, and aim in both these, “conventional,” sports and in MMA. And like Peter, what I see in UFC-style fighting is not something compatible with what should be taking place with trying to get people into the church and to meet Jesus.
You can cite all of the safety records for MMA, compare them to field sports injuries, and point out the skill and technique in the fighters all you want, but that doesn’t change that the goal of the, “sport,” is to bludgeon someone. The goal is to hurt someone willfully. And it’s shameful, much like Christopher said, that this is being used as the interlude to a Gospel presentation.
—
CS
Leonard on Fri, February 12, 2010
CS, I would simply have to disagree with you here on whether this is fitting or not. He is not using this as a replacement for church. I like it and see nothing wrong with it.
Peter Hamm on Fri, February 12, 2010
Somebody pinch me… I disagree quite a lot with Leonard and yet agree (strongly) with CS on something.
A combo I don’t see very often.
That said, it’s not a salvation issue is it…
Love you guys!
Leonard on Fri, February 12, 2010
I blame global warming…
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