Using Athletes As Christian Personalities
Gary Warner
July 1, 1981
So you think you'd like a celebrity athlete to speak in your church?
First, ask yourself several questions: Why do I want an athlete in my church? Because I'm a sports nut? Because I want to get the attention of some people I've not been able to reach? Because I want to draw a crowd? (Be honest on this one. There's nothing inherently evil about numbers.) Because I'm getting pressure from key people in the church to do so? Because everybody's doing it? Because I know an athlete who has something solid to offer as Christ's representative?
Let's deal with the best reason: you know of a celebrity athlete who can minister to your congregation. Now you can move without restraint on the "yes," but with common sense as to the "how."
Charlie Getty, former Penn Stater and a veteran offensive lineman with the Kansas City Chiefs, speaks "about fifty or sixty times" between January and June. Says Getty, "Be selective; know something about the athlete, either through correspondence or a phone call. One of my best friends is a pastor who would not have me in his church until we'd had lunch and he could check me out. That impressed me-."
The next step is to determine exactly what you want the athlete to do. Speak at a father/son or mother/daughter banquet? (Don't chuckle; women's sports is the fastest growing phase of interscholastic and amateur sports in America.) Appear during evangelistic services? Be "showcased" for a brief testimony during a Sunday morning worship service and also speak to a combined youth Sunday school class? Deliver the sermon?
Most of this will be determined-should be determined-by the kind of person you get. If it's an athlete deeper in the faith such as a Getty, utilize him to capacity. He says, "I like to speak. I ...
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