Here’s a unique ministry for kids, Amatuer Christian Wrestling, or better known as Wrestling for Greater Gold.
From the Wichita Eagle:
The members of Greater Gold Wrestling Club will do a double-leg takedown on opponents, press them in a bear hug and muscle on a headlock — all in the name of Jesus Christ. Greater Gold is one of about 180 USA Wrestling-Kansas youth clubs that teach the sport to children ages 5 to 17. But it’s the only faith-based club not affiliated with a church or religious school, said Mike Juby, state chairman of the organization.
Trying to make your product, organization or religion stick? Communication Nation has three pointers on how to get people to understand and believe in your story.
I think this is very useful for anyone who tells stories. Whether or not its the church, those in ministry, us in the media, bloggers or anyone.
Your story must be:
1. Relevant: People care about things that are relevant to them and their situation. To make a story relevant you need to get inside your audience’s heads. The more you understand how they see the world and what they care about, the more relevant your story will become.
2. Unique: The benefits you describe need to be unique to you and available nowhere else. If your benefits aren’t unique, you will become commoditized, and people won’t why they should come to you. You might have a great story that gets great results for someone else!
3. Memorable: The story must not only hold people’s attention, it’s got to be easy to remember. You can’t always control the timing, so you need to be sure people can recall the essentials at a later date. You also want a story that’s interesting enough to pass on to others, and easy enough to tell that people tell it consistently.
Lord God,
You spoke into darkness and chaos and then there was light;
You imagined this earth in its complexity and beauty and called it into being
You created humanity in your own image and gave us a home to live in
We believe you can do miracles But even if you don’t, you are still God
Lord God,
You walked with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego through the fiery furnace
You shut the mouths of hungry lions and kept Daniel safe until morning
You gave Hannah a family when she despaired of ever having a child
We believe you can do miracles But even if you don’t, you are still God
Lord God,
You changed water into wine so the wedding party could continue
You calmed a storm and your disciples with words of quiet authority
You transformed a boy’s picnic into a meal for a multitude with plenty left over
We believe you can do miracles But even if you don’t, you are still God
Lord God,
You healed a woman from 12 years of bleeding and rejection
You asked Bartimaeus what he wanted and then restored his sight
You watched a paralysed man being lowered through the roof and helped him to his feet
We believe you can do miracles But even if you don’t, you are still God
Lord God,
You called Lazarus from the tomb and restored him to life
You walked past the mourners at Jairus’ house and gave his daughter back to him
You suffered a horrendous crucifixion in order to defeat sin and death and give us life
We believe you can do miracles But even if you don’t, you are still God
Lord God,
You told your disciples that they would do greater things than you had done
We hear and read stories of miracles in our world – of you healing the sick,
setting prisoners free, releasing drug addicts from their addiction,
providing the right amount of money at just the right time
We believe you can do miracles But even if you don’t, you are still God
And yet, Lord, we don’t see many miracles happening around us
We have friends with cancer, and we pray, and they are not healed
We have friends who long for children, and we pray, and they do not conceive
Our doubt is mixed with faith
Our trust is accompanied by questions
We acknowledge the mystery of faith and prayer, and the ways in which they are connected
We acknowledge that you often do things differently to the way we would do them
We long to know you better, to understand more of your ways
And we believe you can do miracles But even if you don’t, you are still God
Thomas sent me a correction to my post about his mates over the pond.
Hey Jonathan… big thanks for the post… can I ask you to correct it slightly please? (my fault for not being clear)
Jonny Baker’s blog is : http://jonnybaker.blogs.com/jonnybaker/
Andrew Jones’ blog is : http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com/tallskinnykiwi/
They are the grandfathers of the whole “emerging church” thing and well worth reading regularly
Thanks for this, bro… Gonna post about Christian Wrestling shortly… I find it funny/ cool and will write it up accordingly.
Thanks for the correction and thanks for the CWF plug.
Maybe we’ll get some love and hop the pond to England someday.
