Wrestlers bringing religion to the mat

I’ve seen several different versions of this story, this one seems to be the most complete…

Miami Herald
GREG BLUESTEIN
Associated Press
Chase ”Darkness” Cliett eagerly straddled the rope above his opponent, a dazed-looking wrestler in a red, devil’s costume. Flashing his tongue like a rock star, Cliett spun backward and snapped both his legs toward the horned wrestler, a convincing thud echoing his acrobatics.
Later, a few matches after the devil got knocked out, the pastor of the Wrestling for Jesus ministry, took center stage of the community center gym and preached.
”If you don’t have peace in your heart, when are you going to get it?” said Steve Vaughn, who also doubled as the emcee of the event in August, Ga. “There’s a bigger plan, a greater scale — someone who’s greater than you. When are you going to finally get real with God?”
His question begs another: Can professional-style wrestling really be the next frontier for Christian outreach?
Small bands of masked evangelists, clad in tights and armed with biblical names, argue it is — and bring their message into the squared circle almost every week. The violence and intensity of wrestling, they claim, can be the perfect way to attract the alternative, younger crowd.
”I’m not going to sit here and listen to a shirt-and-tie preacher. But I might listen to a guy in spandex because he’s like me,” said Timothy ”T-Money” Blackmon, who wears tight black shorts with a ”T” on one buttock and a dollar sign on the other.
TRAVELING SHOW
The group he owns, Wrestling for Jesus, based in Beech Island, S.C., has a core of a dozen wrestlers who perform in community centers, churches, neighborhood festivals and anywhere else that books them. Started in 2003, the group travels to as many as 50 shows each year, most attracting no more than 100 curious fans.
They’re not the only wrestling group to heed the call.
Texas-based Christian Wrestling Federation boasts a board of eight preachers in addition to a core of dozen entertainers that use each match as a ”tool” to entertain a crowd while preaching a religious moral.
Ultimate Christian Wrestling, based in Athens, Ga., features a glitzy show backed by pounding music and special effects. Funded by a host of local sponsors, the group attracts as many as 500 a show and headlines big-name wrestlers such as ”Glacier,” a former WCW star.
Each wrestler for Ultimate Christian Wrestling is expected to live up to a code of conduct and must graduate from a wrestling academy before stepping in the ring.
”We want people to know we take this very seriously,” said Rob Fields, a school teacher who wrestles under the name Rob Adonis. “This isn’t for us to go out there and play. It’s a lifestyle, a commitment you’ve got to make.”
It’s a sharp contrast from Wrestling for Jesus, which trains its wrestlers at a rustic backyard ring near Burnettown, S.C., where chickens cluck angrily at each visitor. The wrestlers, many fresh out of high school, often sport tattoos and piercings that they say give them more credibility with the audience they try to reach.
If not the glitz of a more professional match, the group’s shows meet a lot of the other standards: Prattling announcers, cheesy nicknames, tag-team matchups and, of course, heckling fans. Many in the crowd of 50 were jawing at the wrestlers throughout the recent show in Augusta, and more than one hot dog mysteriously found its way onto the ring.
DIVINE ASPIRATIONS
But rather than plots revolving around money and sex, the Christian wrestling matches aspire to be more divine.
At the beginning of some shows, Cliett is strapped to a massive wooden cross on stage as piercing music is played. A group of evil wrestlers beats and bloodies him before the good guys dramatically come to his rescue.
In another plot, a wrestler about to face a feared champion is injured, and a weaker character volunteers to take his place.
After the match’s end, the injured wrestler asks why the other saved him. ”Because Jesus did it for me,” comes the response.
Vaughn, the group’s pastor, calls himself an ”oddball” who has always searched for different ways to outreach. ”If you spin that attitude with a Christian message,” he says of wrestling, “it works.”
Not completely. Many churches won’t even consider letting them perform. Once, a disgusted group of deacons barred the troupe from ever returning after seeing a show, said James ”Hunter” Barrett, the group’s vice president and one of the show’s stars.
LED ASTRAY
And there’s always the danger of a live performance going disastrously awry. During the Augusta show, that’s just what happened: Blackmon got into a squabble with a spindly 17-year-old referee that soon got out of hand.
Before long, the two were really fighting, with the teen angrily cursing while Blackmon pounded on his back. Babies began screaming, organizers froze and the confused audience of 50 awkwardly looked on.
Soon, the teen’s parents had ditched their posts at the concession stand and jumped in the ring to break up the fight, helped by confused performers who had long-since changed into street clothes.
Before the red-faced announcers dismissed the stunned audience, a panting Blackmon took the mike, blaming the fight on personal problems.
”I’m supposed to be a man of God and I wasn’t,” he said, kneeling in the center of the ring. “To show that I am, I want to get down in front of everyone and pray.”
After an uncomfortable silence, he stretched face-down on the center of the ring and wept.
Sometimes, even the wrestlers who aim to bring their audience closer to God can be all too human.

Thomas Lehmann – Feb 11, 1947 – March 23, 2006

Tom Lehmann
LEHMANN,, THOMAS VICTOR 59, went to be with his Lord and Savior Thursday, March 23, 2006. Tom was born Feb. 11, 1947, in San Diego, Calif. to Robert and Lorraine Lehmann. He met his wife Susan Hinton in front of the Dixie Dog Stand in Sulphur, Okla., where both were attending a church camp revival meeting. The two married soon afterwards in Dallas at the Boulder Drive Church of Christ on Jan. 19, 1968. Tom was a traveling evangelist and he and his wife started their new family as they served at at various churches in Georgia, Ohio, Missouri, California and Texas. The two finally settled in the Dallas area in 1971. For the next 31 years Tom worked in route sales including a 16 1/2 year career with Little Debbie. Tom was an active member at Metropolitan Bible Church in Dallas for over three decades. He served as a youth worker, deacon, and Sunday school teacher. Tom was known among his friends and co-workers as a man of integrity with a great sense of humor. He was a humble, sweet spirit who loved his entire family, especially his grandchildren, but most of all the Lord Jesus Christ. He often expressed himself through his music and humor and showed demonstrative love to everyone he came in contact with. His parents, brother Robert, and son’s fiancee Amy Blundell preceded Tom in death. He is survived by his wife, Susan, four sons and their families; Paul and Naomi of Mesquite. Tim and Amber of Rowlett, Aaron and Keri of Cedar Hill and Matt of Waxahachie; five granddaughters; one grandson; two step-granddaughters and two step-great-grandsons, and sister Darlene Lehmann of Lakeside, CA. Visitation will be held 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday. March 27, at Grove Hill Funeral Home in Dallas. Funeral services will be held at 10a.m., Tuesday. March 28, at Metropolitan Bible Church in Dallas, with Rev. Keith Treadway and Rev. Charles R. Diffee officiating, Interment will follow at Grove Hill Memorial Park. Memorials may be made to the Amy Elizabeth Blundell Memorial Camp Scholarship at Metropolitan Bible Church. 8501 Bruton Rd., Dallas, Texas. 73217 Dignity Memorial Grove Hill 3920 Samuell Blvd. Dallas (214) 388-8887

Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship

Phil and I visited Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, with pastor Dr. Tony Evans this morn.

It was a great experience I thought. Definitely a church with it’s finger on the pulse of the community.

This is a church that’s been reported on in several places for it’s outreach to the community. I’ve always thought that a church should be judged on the impact it makes on the local community. If the church were to suddenly close down, what type of effect/impact would it have on the local neigbhorhood. Is the church really reaching out to its neighbors, or just benefiting the saints?

A surprise to the visit was a visit by Fred Hammond. The church didn’t advertise him coming or being there, he just came out mid-service. Dr. Evans said, “Look what you would have missed if you had stayed home. And some people will say, ‘But you didn’t tell us Fred was coming.’ That’s right, we wanted you to come to church for God not Fred. There’s no telling who will show up next week.”

Good stuff.

Anyways, Dr Evans had a great message on Luke 4:1-13, about Jesus’ time in the wilderness. Thought I’d share some of my notes.

Luke 4:1 – “Jesus full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness.”

We should be constantly be under the influence of the Spirit

The Spirit was in full control of Jesus

The Spirit led him into the wilderness

So many times we get frustrated about being in the wilderness, but sometimes the Spirit will lead us into the wilderness

The Spirit led Jesus/leads us into a hot, barron, isolated wilderness

Luke 4:2 – For forty days, being tempted by the devil.

Satan came to tempt Jesus in the very place the Spirit had led Jesus

The Spirit gives you a test, but the devil will tempt you

Often tests and temptation can happen side by side

Luke 4:2,3 – And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry. And the devil said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to turn to bread.”

Jesus had given up what He craved to get what He really needed

This was great – God/The Spirit will lead you to the devil, not so the devil can defeat you, but so you can defeat the devil

Satan called on Jesus to meet His own needs, independent of God

Satan will tempt us to fix our own problems without God’s help

Jesus found a parallel situation in scripture to find the solution for His problem

In the wilderness God will show you He is God

When you don’t develop in the wilderness, God won’t lead you to your destiny or the promised land

Luke 4:6,7 – And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.”

Satan told Jesus that he could bless Him

God didn’t give the world over to Satan – Adam did

God gave Adam the rule over the world, but Adam gave that over to Satan when Eve and Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden

Often our blessings come from Satan

We walk around saying “Blessed! Blessed!” when the blessings are not from God

The blessings of the Lord bring no sorrow

If the blessings bring sorrow – we may be enjoying blessings from the wrong blessor

Luke 4:12 – And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”

You don’t back God into a corner to make Him do a miracle

Then Evans went Kayfabe on us with a wrestling illustration, that got everyone up and fired up.

He asked if anyone watched professional wrestling. I think I may have been the only one who raised my hand.

“Let me let you in on a secret,” Evans said. “The winner is chosen before each match. But they have to entertain the crowd. They have to show you how the victor became the victor. They have to make a profit. So when the match starts the victor already knows he’s going to win. That’s why when he gets power slammed it doesn’t really phase him. When he gets body slammed it doesn’t really phase him. If he gets a litle bloody, that’s OK because he knows who’s going to win in the end.”

We already know who’s going to win in the end. We already know we’ll win in the end — as members of God’s kingdom. So when the devil attacks and slams us to the mat – we know it’s not that bad, because we win in the end.

House of Prayer/Community

Richard, Phil and I met this morning at the Waxahachie IHOP for coffee, fellowship and discussion on this “new thing” we’ve begun.
I don’t know if any of us are sure on how we should classify it. Is it a house church? Emergent church? House of prayer? It’s so fluid right now and exciting.
I jotted down a few notes and thought this would be a good place to keep track of them and maybe get some feedback.
Here are some ideas/visions we discussed:
No building – the church is not a building, its the people. We want to think out of the box with meetings in homes, not a big spacious auditorium.
A heart of ministry and worship – maybe self explanitory, but we want to have a heart that’s reaching out and ministering to people while we worship God.
Relational – we don’t want anyone to feel like a number, or just a dude sitting in a pew, seat whatever. We want to build relationships and in that fellowship, learn from each other and grow together.
Constant communication – we want to build a community where people feel comfortable sharing ideas, prayer requests, concerns, needs.
Diverse
Smaller groups – in each house church group we envision smaller groups that meet outside the typical “community meetings.” Such as women’s groups, mens groups etc.
Christ seekers – we don’t claim to know everything. We’re just souls seeking God and a Christ-like life.
Multiplication – we envision the community growing and multiplying. How great would it be to know that every Saturday or Sunday people are getting together in a house in each neighborhood in Waxahachie, or Dallas, or Texas or the US to pray and draw close to God.
Ministry – we need to be involved in doing ministry in our community regularly. Whether we have 3 people or 30 people, we need to be out working in our community and sharing God’s love.
10-15 people ideal – each house group will grow till 10-15 people are gathering weekly. From that, smaller groups will split off and start their own house groups in their neighborhood.
Monthly corporate meetings – each month all the house groups will gather for worship, sharing and testimony to share how God is working in their lives/groups/communities.
Ownership of faith – group members take ownership in their faith and put it to use.
Tithing – each person should be responsible for tithing to the church/community. This brings up a whole other topic of issues that we’re not familiar with. Non-profit organization, bank accounts, etc. Something to study and look into: what is tithing? Is 10 percent scripturally required, or is that “man’s standard?”
So those are some of our thoughts and ideas we discussed this morning. I’d love to hear other ideas and thoughts. Especially from those of you already involved in the emergent church movement.

Take action

World Vision has set up a form letter to send to your U.S. Senators and Congressman on the war and child abductions in Uganda.
I’m not normally a fan of form letters, I’ve been told by most congressmen I’ve met, that they don’t read them, but it never hurts to take a minute or so to remind them that you’re concerned about a topic.
So take some time and educate yourself on the issue, then take a minute, fill out the form, change the letter if you’d like (at least change the subject line) and let Washington know you’re concerned.
Then take the next stop and make a phone call. Find out who your representatives are in Washington and let them know you care with a phone call.
Be polite, be graceful, and show them the respect you would want.