Let me watch you play soccer for 20 minutes and I will tell you what I think of your Christian Character!

Let me watch you play soccer for 20 minutes and I will tell you what I think of your Christian Character!

It is easy to put on nice clothes and listen politely to a sermon and smile and greet people after a church service. But it is hard to hide your true colors when you are playing sports.

Sports can bring out the best and the worst in us. Much to my shame I remember one time I was playing soccer in Haiti and swung my fist at my adversary after a particularly hard tackle.

During the training we had lots of opportunities to share the Gospel with the approximately 20 coaches that were not part of our program. I told how my Father was murdered and I was shot, and how God had worked in my life through those events. We also showed three evangelistic films in Creole and gave a seminar on what it means to be a Christian coach. Many nodded their heads in agreement and some even said they were Christians.

But the real test came when a team made up of AFH (Ambassadors Football Haiti) coaches faced a team made up of non-AFH coaches in the intramural futsal tournament final on Saturday night.

I volunteered to referee the game and quickly realized I had made a mistake. The non-AFH players argued every call and even threw the ball off the field when they didn’t like what I decided. On one occasion a player yelled obscenities from the sideline and I gave him a red card. This demonstrated a lack of respect for authority.

They played rough and dirty and tried to dribble the ball through 3 defenders instead of passing. This was an example of selfishness. When I tried to remind them to think about their behavior and what message they would be sending to the young players they work with if they were there, they ignored me and went back to arguing. This showed they did not have a teachable spirit.

Not surprisingly, the AFH team won the game fair and square 3-2, much to the disappointment and protest of the other team.
So what did I learn from this? No matter what people say, it is in their actions that they show their true selves, particularly in sports. People can say they are “Christians”, but on the field and anywhere else, actions speak louder than words.
It also helped me realize how much Haiti needs godly coaches to teach young players how to respect authority, play like a team, encourage one another, and develop a life-long habit of learning. Any coach has a chance to influence his players, either for good or for bad.

I was proud of the way our coaches handled themselves in the face of adversity and realized more than ever that our leaders’ Christian example on and off the field will help our players develop godly self-control.