John Perritt

Solid and trustworthy perspective on the world of athletics. The author drives home a lot of needed points in the realm of youth sports. No doubt, some of the content will land like a shockwave to many parents, coaches, and athletes today, but these things must be said.

Perritt rightly criticizes the tendency to expect young people to devote hours of time, effort, and energy into athletic pursuits while Bible's remain unopened, private prayer a foreign concept, and time around other believers nonexistent. It's no wonder so many young people leave the faith. They've been trained in advance that life's pursuits are more important than spiritual ones. Furthermore, they are wrongly inculcated with the idea that worship only takes place on Sundays. Sadly, these are the realities today. Scholarships are more important than discipleship and glory takes precedence over godliness. Personal holiness, learning a biblical worldview, and developing discernment in young people is not on the radar of many parents and coaches. Perritt says it ought not be so. Young souls are eternal, and the time on earth should reflect eternal priorities, not earthly ones.

Before Perritt is ruled out though, be mindful that he doesn't rule out sports altogether. Instead of buying into a sacred/secular divide, Perritt labors to show what a right outlook and pursuit of athletics can look like. He builds the case on sports from the standpoint of stewardship.

He begins with a warning against idolatry and then defines stewardship in terms of identity, time, the body, money, and service. It is a very good and useful book for anyone thinking through these matters.

Perhaps the best section was on stewardship of identity. He makes the following points:
Christians must realize we too are stewards. We are not our own, but bought at a price (1 Cor. 6:20). In competition, this means laboring to be the best and greatest you can possibly be. But athletes must remember that identity or security is not found in the results. Those are taken care of. Because we are secure in Christ, there is great freedom to play and great peace about competing. With a secure identity, no athlete is out to prove anything about themselves. Players with this mindset don't live and die by the win/loss column. Someone else has given ultimate purpose for life. In this way, sports can be an early training ground to practice focusing one's identity as grounded in Christ and not the results of a competition. The athlete who disciplines himself to think this way won’t fall prey to this line of thinking later in life when engaged in a vocation. Sports are an advanced training ground for not conflating what we do with who we are in Christ.
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