The Christian Athlete

03/27/2026

Youth sports increasingly competes with Sunday worship. How can parents of sports-playing kids faithfully navigate this tension?

03/17/2026

When we release ourselves of the need to use sport for significance, we can aim our ambition at freely serving others.

What is holy ambition in sport? Learn how Christian athletes can pursue greatness, excellence, and competition without grounding their identity in performance.

03/10/2026

Sometimes the most loving thing we can do for them (even though it may be the hardest for us) is stand nearby while our kids wrestle with something difficult.

02/17/2026

Without hardship, perseverance doesn’t develop. What does this mean for those of us involved in sports?

It means a growing recognition that God’s ultimate aim is not championships, scholarships, or trophies.

It’s Christlikeness.

Is quitting ever the right choice? A biblical look at perseverance, burnout, and how Christians involved in sport can navigate hardships in a way that glorifies God.

02/10/2026

The greatest and most important thing you can do in life is love God and love others. But what does that look like within the context of sports?

If we want to live out our calling as Jesus followers, we need to create spaces for people to experience the love of God—including sport. Not for the purpose of competitive advantage but because it brings the Kingdom of God near.

02/03/2026

Sport is a formation machine, and it’s often malforming us in ways that push us further away from Jesus and gospel-kingdom values.

We need a fresh vision, from the pulpit, about how to think about sport and the role it play in our lives.

Pastor, it's time to talk about sport! (and not just because the Super Bowl is right around the corner)

There’s plenty of legitimate explanations for not preaching a good theology of sport and play, but it’s time we not only leaned into the conversation but also gave Christian people a vision of God-glorifying play.

01/16/2026

Trends for Sport Ministries to Consider in 2026:

Identity

Holistic Athlete Formation

Burnout (coaches, support staff, and ministry leaders)

Belonging

Youth Sports and Parents

The Church and Sport Relationship

The Rise of Sports Gambling

Mental Health

Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) & the Transfer Portal

Resources, Social Media, and Technology

The Christian Athlete Report identifies ten major shifts shaping the sports world and highlights how each creates new spaces for meaningful, thoughtful ministry.

12/09/2025

The email landed in my inbox at 1:37 a.m. It was from a guy on the track team—someone I’d just met a few nights earlier at a team Bible study. We’d planned to get together later that week, but clearly something was weighing on him. This is what he wrote:

“We don’t really know each other well yet, but if we’re going to meet and talk, I want you to know exactly where I’m coming from..."

If we build our lives on the pursuit of pleasure, performance, or identity apart from God, we will eventually hit rock bottom. When that moment comes—and it always does—there are only two options: Return to the Father’s embrace or continue chase another short season of false promises.

12/06/2025

Today’s youth sports culture presents an opportunity to do what ministry leaders should do best: help our people learn how to live in the world but not be of the world.

How can youth sports function practically as a church’s unsuspecting teammate instead of as a primary competitor?

11/27/2025

Athletes, we need to intentionally build habits that will grow the muscle of gratitude in our lives.

Gratitude is like a muscle—it gets stronger if we consistently give it attention and push it beyond its level of comfort. Conversely, if we fail to exercise it consistently, our ability to be thankful atrophies. It needs to become a habit.

11/11/2025

I’m a disciple of Jesus. But I'm also a competitor. And over the last 35 years, I’ve been discipled by a sports culture that reminds me over and over again that the most measurable form of my worth is a direct result of my latest performance. If I’m not careful, I easily drift into places where I find my worth and significance in what I do and how I perform.

The problem is not that I am a competitor. It’s that I have turned up the volume so loudly on what my performance produces that I neglect to hear greater truths being declared over me by God. I allow my identity that’s gained or lost through competition to drown out my identity in Christ. What if I turned the volume down on what everyone else is saying about me and spent more time listening to God’s version of who I am? What would I hear?

I am more than an athlete.

Our identity is a diversified and curated playlist of what we do, how we’re wired, what we like, how we relate to others—but most importantly, it’s what God says about us. As athletes, we need to turn the volume down on letting our performance define us and crank up the volume on what God decl...

11/04/2025

Christian Athlete:

God’s face is toward you.
God is happy to be with you.
God’s face is smiling upon you.

And nothing that happens within the bounds of a sporting event will change that. https://www.thechristianathlete.com/blog/god-smiles-when-you-compete-ao1