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.”

Comments

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Christopher Fontenot on Tue, February 23, 2010

It seems to me that what is being lost in the debates on “style” or “method” is the Sovereignty of God. If I change the delivery or the language in an attempt to make it more understandable then have I just discounted the ability of God to make them understand His message of salvation? Jesus told His disciples that He was about to be delivered up into the hands of men but He concealed the meaning of it from them. (Luke 9: 44-45) In the case of Lydia, it was God who opened her heart to receive what Paul was teaching. (Acts 16: 14) God hardened Pharoah’s heart as well so there is a work of God that must first take place before ANYONE can understand His Word.

1 Cor 1:18 “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but for us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

1 Cor 2:7-10 “But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him’- these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.”

1 Cor 2:14 “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”

I believe that if Christians are faithful to preach HIS GOSPEL of who Jesus is (Lord, God, Judge, Savior), what He has done, and what our response should be, then when God chooses to open their hearts, their salvation will be to HIS glory! Planting or watering is our business…God gives the increase. I trust that God understood we would be in a different culture in 2010 than in the 1st century yet His message given in the Scriptures does not change. Can we do different kinds of things in order to get the message out? Absolutely! But to engage in something that is SO UNCHRIST-LIKE while doing it brings reproach on the Church.
Tony Scialdone on Tue, February 23, 2010

>> Can we do different kinds of things in order to get the message out? Absolutely! But to engage in something that is SO UNCHRIST-LIKE while doing it brings reproach on the Church.

I don’t remember anybody condemning sports in the New Testament…and what happened in those decades was much, much more violent than MMA. Suggesting that it’s (quote) SO UNCHRIST-LIKE (unquote) isn’t applying any sort of Biblical standard, but your own. This is the kind of “discernment” that the church does NOT need…straining at gnats and swallowing camels:

GNATS: using methods, strategies, and situations as *one* method of spreading the gospel.

CAMELS: not using any methods, strategies, or situations to spread the gospel.

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Jesus taught His disciples to be as wise as SERPENTS. That hardly sounds “Christ-like”, but that’s what He said they should be like. We should also be as wise as SERPENTS.

Paul used the philosophy of his day to reach philosophical people in Athens. That hardly sounds “Christ-like”, but it worked…and it was in line with that other thing he taught about becoming all things to all people so that he might win some. We should also become all things to all people so WE might win some.
Leonard on Wed, February 24, 2010

CF, your reasoning makes no sense to me. It is not in dispute here that God is the one who draws people to Himself. But your argument about the sovereignty of God is a stretch. If we follow your reasoning, then it doesn’t really matter at all what language I speak… God will sort it out.

In fact I do not need to learn any other language anywhere, just go preach and if God’s a knocking… done deal.
Dan Smith on Fri, February 26, 2010

I really think all of you maniacs are wasting WAY too much or your limited Kingdom time on these kind of stupid debates when you know you will never really change each other’s minds. And Peter, get back to work.
Peter Hamm on Fri, February 26, 2010

btw everybody… Dan’s my boss.

—peter
Brett Glover on Thu, March 04, 2010

Mixed martial Arts, blood sport is brutal and gives martial Arts a bad name. As a Christian Theologian and Karate student just about ready to go to black Belt I found the culture dangerous and ungodly. Firstly all karate is about defense, and defense only! every Kata opens with a block and response. Many of my skills are designed to stop violence. In fact our Dojo has a sign that says we are against violence. It is an art to stop violence and help the weak. Jesus was against violence and encourage love. Perhaps these churches could start a Karate Ministry with solid ethics that encourage exercise, self defense and seeks to stop violence not promote it.