October 12, 2009 - Mascots

Because I direct a sports ministry I have often thought about what our mascot would be if we had a traveling team. When we are on the road for mission trips I simply call the participants “Ambassadors”, taken from 2 Corinthians 5:20. That term is one I can use to teach each player about his role in the body of Christ. It means something. It is a term with some power.

That got me thinking about some of the lame mascots that are out there in the sporting world. Just looking at the college ranks we see teams called:

Gophers – harmless little animals

Buckeyes – nuts from a tree

Orange – a fruit

Sooners – a wagon

And even Banana Slugs (See University of California Santa Cruz)

There is simply no power in and of those names (even though 4 of the 5 schools represented have strong athletics.)

Other names I thought of for an InBounds Ministries team:

Iguanas – reptiles never stop growing

Lions or Eagles – obviously some Biblical references that can be found

Yet one that probably would not stand well on its own is the Lambs. That just doesn’t sound very strong does it? Yet the Scriptures tell us to be gentle and kind. They tell us to be meek and even harmless. But these things should be balanced with strength. In fact the word meek literally means “strength under control.”

One of the great titles I have ever heard for the Christian team: Roaring Lambs.

The late Bob Briner wrote about the idea that we should be infiltrating our culture in a gentle, yet loud fashion. We should be humble while still bold. We should be difference makers. We should be culture changers.

I often tell youth that I want them to learn to be thermostats, not thermometers!

How about you? Are you a good ambassador? Are you an iguana that is continually growing? Are you a roaring lamb that is shaping the culture around you?

2 Corinthians 10: 3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.