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.”

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Leonard on Mon, February 22, 2010

The issues here for me are not as complex:

1) Should a pastor or a church use MMA to draw men with he express purpose of evangelizing and discipling them?

I say go for it. others say it is too violent. We will have to disagree.

I share the good news about Christ with people all the time. Sometimes I know them and they know me, other times I just met them and do not know anything about them. Sometimes I build a friend ship for the explicit purpose of putting seeds in fertile soil or watering seeds that were sown by others. Sometimes I preach (I do not do street preaching) and sometimes I interrupt conversations I hear at a food joint. It is a variety of ways and settings…

Most Sundays as I finish a sermon at church I will say something like this. It might be that you have never met this Jesus we are so excited to sing and talk about. I will invite people to turn from sin to Christ right there.

Every year I see literally hundreds upon hundreds of people begin by faith a friendship with Christ and begin to follow Him. Some through events, some through personal evangelism, some through divine appointments but most through the church or churches where I speak.

We built a mobile medical clinic in India that goes to villages and treats sickness, gives medicine, bandages wounds that would bring death but only need some cleaning and antibiotic… We see entire villages of Muslims come to Christ because of this work. The missionaries that do this work do not start by preaching but rather start by caring. In the few years this clinic has been running, thousands upon thousands of Muslims have met Christ.
CS on Mon, February 22, 2010

Tony:

No, I’m not suggesting that at all. And while I realize that some of my thoughts below are tangential or not covered in this post empirically, here my thoughts on this matter:

-Developing relationships as a means of evangelism often doesn’t lead to the very act for which it was designed. It can be disingenuous. (Good article here.)

-The Gospel must be clearly communicated for salvation to occur. Simply living a Christian life in front of others is not the qualification.

-There are plenty of things that churches and ministries are doing today to try to draw in the lost that are wrong. Using MMA fights as a means for evangelism is one of them.

—
CS
Leonard on Mon, February 22, 2010

CS I know of no person in my life (in this country) in all my circles that was converted to Christ through the means of street preaching. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. In 40+ years of following Christ, 30 years of ministry, preaching all over this country… I do not know anyone. I do know and have met literally in the hundreds of people who were turned off by street preaching.

I do know of hundreds, even into the thousands of those who have come to Christ through the means of relationship evangelism. That in my definition is when someone befriends another to share Christ with them.

I personally have used this process with the end result of a person coming to Christ, several hundred times. I see many of these people in my church on Sunday’s.

I have seen wild events put on for attacting people who might not attend any event (med clinics, youth rally’s, camps, Super Bowl Parties, hunting clubs, 4X4 clubs… and in these seen literally hundreds upon hundreds… into the thousands of people come to faith in Christ.

The most impacting thing I have ever seen in seeing people come to faith in Christ is a church service done well. There are many services that any unbeliever entering would think that Christians are ego centric, judgmental and rude and out of touch people.

Now before you get your bible panties in a wad I am not talking about seeker sensitive services. I am talking about a service that is simple enough for anyone to follow, where there is excellence in what is being used t lead the people, where the message is in common language that people from anyplace could understand and where the people who know Jesus are actually excited to celebrate together.

If fruit matters, then I am going to stick with what I see produce fruit. I already know your response so have at it.
Christopher Fontenot on Mon, February 22, 2010

Noah preached for 120 years and according to Scripture, never once had a single convert. God never told him to begin relationships as he built the ark…all he did was preach.

Jeremiah preached for some 40 years and wept because of the hardness of the hearts of his people.

Perhaps they should have organized some gladiator fights in order to “better” share the Word of God to everyone. Maybe they both should have tried to develop relationships with these people before they told them what God said to tell them. Perhaps they should have put on some sort of medical service outreach or cook some food for them before telling them the message that God wanted them to hear.

These street preachers were abject failures…according to the way most Christians believe are the measure of success. I witness to many people. Most have never met me before but that crazy Way of The Master method of using a tract as a stepping stone to go from the natural into the spiritual in the conversation actually seems to work. The Way of the Master method is a Biblical method which is to what I want to be accountable. I also use a method of sharing who Jesus is, what Jesus has done, and what our response should be as Ed Lacy teaches. I also use as many public events where people gather as a forum to share that weird message of sin, righteousness, judgment to come and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ known as the Gospel….just like Noah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Jesus, Paul, Peter, Phillip, John the Baptist and Barnabas did….in an open-air delivery. I can say that I have never heard of anyone coming to Christ as Lord and Savior. But as a follower of Christ Jesus, it is my commission to be faithful to preach the Gospel to all creation, not to count the numbers. I am either planting or watering but most of all, I am being faithful to tell as many as I can how they can flee the wrath that is to come. On the day I stand before Him, I want to hear, “Well done; My good and faithful servant.” I am glad it wasn’t the phrase “....good and successful servant.”

What happens to the person who dies in their sins while I am wasting all the time I spend with him/her trying to make them like me? Do we try to befriend someone before rescuing them from a burning building? If you could go back to September 10th of 2001 and stand outside the Twin Towers, would you waste that day trying to befriend the people you want to warn about the impending disaster or would you risk looking like a fool as you preached to the top of your voice to warn them to not go into these buildings tomorrow? I know it sounds sarcastic but it is a legitimate question. We all are just one heartbeat away from eternity, so why would I waste one of them by waiting to tell them how they can have eternal life? Do we really believe the Scripture when Jesus told us they would hate us because of His name? Or are we actually believing that we can alter the message enough to make them like us while creating false converts in the process? Paul said “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel…” I am wondering if we can say the same if we choose to wait to tell someone God’s message of salvation?
Leonard on Mon, February 22, 2010

CF, you make no sense to me. what you seem to be saying is I would rather preach the Gospel in a way that no one responds than to actually care enough about people to share Christ in a way that works.

Noah, Jeremiah… they have nothing to do with this conversation about MMA and a pastor and the sharing of Christ with others.

When we get to heaven I hope you will hear… good and faithful servant. I hope that in hearing that, surrounding you is the fruit of your faithfulness.

I have been very faithful to share Christ with others. I see fruit too. This is not about counting numbers. I am sharing with you what I have seen bear fruit.

You go do what you do… I pray it bears fruit. I will do what I am doing… I know it bears fruit.
Peter Hamm on Tue, February 23, 2010

I can’t believe this argument about “how to share the Gospel” goes on in the 21st century.

Using Noah and Jeremiah as prescriptive examples of how to preach the gospel is sloppy exegesis. They are not prescriptive descriptions of how church and preaching should be done. For that matter, neither is all of Acts even.

For too many churches it’s a language issue. You speak, in both your church services and your evangelistic preaching, only the language of “christianese” and instead of being all things to all people, you become nothing to no one.

I would rather have somebody use something as flawed (imho) as this MMA thing than figure that people are going to respond to a preacher shouting about being “born again” (that phrase only appears once in the Bible), and using words like “redemption” and such.

We are not dumbing down the Gospel in our “seeker-sensitive” churches, we are merely trying to preach it in the language of the people who will hear it.
Leonard on Tue, February 23, 2010

Peter, what makes this conversation so interesting is that the whole Gospel being understood, repentance and the whole 9 years many people insits upon are outside of what I see happening in the world today.

For example - I became a Christian at 3 years of age. I did not know what repentance was other than to tell Jesus sorry. I said a sinners prayer (baptist church) and when I was 6 I got baptized. Here is what I know for sure. MY words to Christ spoken in faith brought the forgivness of God.

Both my kids came to Christ at the same age. My daughter said to me - Daddy, I love Jesus and want him to be in my heart. We talked about asking god for fogiveness and loving him. she prayed her own prayer.

My son said to me for months - Jesus is yucky, I don;t want him, I don’t love him. We simply said - in time bud, but you cant be rude to Jesus. One morning he tells me - Dad, I changed my mind. I decided I do love Jesus, I don’t think he is yucky and I told him last night on my be… Jesus com live in my heart… I changed my mind you are not yucky.

Both my children began to display a changed life. A sensitivity to Christ and both point back to those moments as when Christ became their Lord and Savior.

No law, no fear, no anything other than a response to God’s love. They didn’t know Greek, could not even read… Didn’t get convicted of their sinfulness and were not fearing hell. They simply believed us when we told them that Jesus loved them.

By the way, they are leading people to Christ on their campus, on their track team and I for one am a pretty happy dad.
CS on Tue, February 23, 2010

Peter:

“I can�t believe this argument about �how to share the Gospel� goes on in the 21st century.”

I agree, but I can’t believe we have circus churches out there today that don’t share it at all.

“Using Noah and Jeremiah as prescriptive examples of how to preach the gospel is sloppy exegesis. They are not prescriptive descriptions of how church and preaching should be done. For that matter, neither is all of Acts even.”

You’re right in that they should not be prescriptive, but they can be descriptive. A preacher who faithfully shares the Gospel clearly with people and sees no one come to faith in Christ is not a failure. That man’s obedience is a success because he is following God’s commands. In modern Christendom, he would be seen as a flop and ridiculed, but according to the Bible, he’s got men who had similar track records but were praised for their faithfulness.

“I would rather have somebody use something as flawed (imho) as this MMA thing than figure that people are going to respond to a preacher shouting about being �born again� (that phrase only appears once in the Bible), and using words like �redemption� and such.”

I would rather have someone who uses those words and explains what they mean in context than settle with people punching each other.

“We are not dumbing down the Gospel in our �seeker-sensitive� churches, we are merely trying to preach it in the language of the people who will hear it.”

You may not in yours, but there are plenty that do dumb it down or omit major portions of it entirely. I know; I was a member of one for two and a half years.

—
CS
Leonard on Tue, February 23, 2010

CS, I don’t think anyone here is calling a faithful preacher of the Gospel who does not see converts a failure. I would not.

I find that when someone bears fruit we tend to condemn and castigate the fruit bearing Christian. I agree that a giant circus should not be the norm of a worship service, however this pastor has a ministry that is not about Sunday’s but rather using who he is and what he knows to share the Gospel with those who may never give audience to the Gospel. He has figured out how to turn his interensts into a tool for sharing Christ.

I know people who do this with computers, medicine, 4X4’s hunting, fishing, camping, reading, knitting and many other activities. They simply gain a hearing from those who have like interests. It is not because they do not believe in the power of the Gospel or of God the Holy Spirit to work, but rather because they do. It is because they know how amazingly important the message is and what is at stake.

But for some reason we feel the need to criticism people who are seeing others won to Christ through their lives and ministries and give credence to those who are not seeing fruit. Bearing fruit is a huge deal. The fruit Jesus spoke of in John 15, IMO is souls saved.

Paul gave much more grace for those who preached Christ, even those with bad motives than I see here. Evangelism boiled down to a formula will often put the strength of man as the catalyst. Listen to God’s Spirit. If street preaching is what you are called to do, then do it. but do it well. If one on one is what you are called to do. Do it well. I honestly do not care… just do it.

I practice what I preach. I do share Christ with others in a huge variety of ways. I was a missionary for 11 years. I get it. what leaves me scratching my head is how harsh some can be towards another person who is doing what God is leading them to do.
Q. on Tue, February 23, 2010

well said Leonard…
Leonard on Tue, February 23, 2010

Are you the Q. from star trek or are you a different one? thanks
Peter Hamm on Tue, February 23, 2010

Leonard writes [CS, I don�t think anyone here is calling a faithful preacher of the Gospel who does not see converts a failure. I would not.] If you’re talking about somebody who sees NO disciples made as the result of his ministry, I think I would call this person a failure in some sense. Especially if the person never reflected on his methods (perhaps they are needlessly offensive) or delivery (perhaps it is needlessly obtuse).

Too many people who “preach the Gospel” are merely trying to make it harder to understand and follow, and are trying to make the narrow way even narrower. Often they will not listen to anybody’s suggestions or critique. That is not “successful”, and I would argue it is not faithful.
CS on Tue, February 23, 2010

Leonard:

“But for some reason we feel the need to criticism people who are seeing others won to Christ through their lives and ministries and give credence to those who are not seeing fruit. Bearing fruit is a huge deal. The fruit Jesus spoke of in John 15, IMO is souls saved.”

If that’s your interpretation of that chapter, then there’s some real problems when you get to verses 1, 2, and 6. By your standard, a person who does not see any souls saved (by your definition of, “seeing fruit”) is going to be taken away by God and cast into fire. Would you say that people who see no disciples, but dutifully preach the Gospel, are destined for Hell?

“Paul gave much more grace for those who preached Christ, even those with bad motives than I see here.”

I agree with Philippians 1 as well. I will say that historically, usually in these circumstances of outreach under the banner of something that appeals to the world, Christ is not fully preached. That’s the catch.

“what leaves me scratching my head is how harsh some can be towards another person who is doing what God is leading them to do.”

If we apply this thought to this post, then we would be saying that God is leading a man to have people fight each other in combat as a means of sharing the Gospel. How does that harmonize with God’s loving nature, in having someone encourage others to beat each other?

Peter:

“If you’re talking about somebody who sees NO disciples made as the result of his ministry, I think I would call this person a failure in some sense. Especially if the person never reflected on his methods (perhaps they are needlessly offensive) or delivery (perhaps it is needlessly obtuse).”

With that standard, would you have called Noah or Jeremiah a failure? I bet with 100+ years, Noah tried more than a couple of techniques in his time.

I agree in review and constructive criticism, done in a biblical way, but disagree with the pragmatism that so often dominates these sorts of attempts at outreach. Saying, “Hey, it works,” does not make it right.

—
CS
Leonard on Tue, February 23, 2010

Peter, I do agree with you in this. For those who believe that their preaching is to make the way narrow, they are failing. They way itself is narrow but (to mix my metaphor’s) I cast as broad a net as possible. Highways and byways…

Many feel that since the road is narrow, their job in preaching is to guard it and make it even more narrow. Far too many excuse their own offensive style with the offense of the Gospel. I see myself as a greeter on this road not a guardian on this road.

I think there are a good many churches that preach the word but not the gospel. Their concern is not finding lost people but taking care of found people. Luke 15 tells me that God cares deeply about lost people.

CS and CF, this is something I really appreciate in you both. I think we are miles and miles apart on a lot of different things, but what we are not miles and miles apart is that we must preach Christ.

So preach away my brothers.
Leonard on Tue, February 23, 2010

CS, I would not see that as what is being said in John 15.