The ministry I serve with, Athletes in Action, is hosting a virtual sports and faith event from August 8-12 (8pm-10pm each night) that your athletes need to know about. It’s called UTC Every. Here are 7 brief reasons why I would strongly encourage you to tell your athletes about this—and consider attending yourself.

Transformed Lives

We had 957 participants join us last year for this event. Of those individuals, 250 indicated a first time for Christ or recruited their life to Christ after the gospel presentation on the final day. Can God really move in an athlete’s heart through a digital initiative like this? He did last year in ways we haven’t seen before. We’re praying he does it again this year. Will your athletes be there to hear the good news and respond to the invitation?

Connection to Community

Each two hour session involves a time of worship, teaching, lab (where the teaching is applied), and small groups. Your athletes long to be connected to their peers who are wrestling with the same tensions of trying to figure out how to integrate faith and sport. They will be challenged, sharped, and discipled with 4-5 other athletes by a trained group leader. Here’s one of the comments we received last year:

Time Tested Content

Each night, during the teaching time, we will cover one of the five principles we have taught at our Ultimate Training Camps around the world since 1979. Each principle is grounded in the Word of God. These continue to hit the pressure points of athletes every single year. The five questions the principles answer are:

• Who or what do I worship?

• What is my motivation?

• How do I grow in my faith?

• How do I deal with pain and frustration?

• How do I live and play for God’s Kingdom instead of my own?

Again, here is what an athlete told us after last year’s inaugural event:

Practical Application

Each teaching session ends with the same basic refrain: “Ok, so how do I actually apply this stuff to my life as an athlete.” That’s what the lab times are for each night. We’ll give your athletes incredibly practical tips and skills to apply the truths they learn and put them into practice within their specific athletic context. 

Spiritual Legacies

We continue to hear stories of athletes from last year who made a decision for Christ, led a teammate to Christ, started a team Bible study, or actually started a ministry to all athletes on their campus. The ripple of effects of this event probably won’t be fully realized until eternity. But we are trusting that God is going to use this event as a spiritual springboard to change life trajectories, initiate spiritual conversations, launch new Bible studies, and ignite movements back at your campus. 

Low Risk, High Reward 

This is such a low risk opportunity for both you and your athletes. For you, it takes 30 seconds to send a mass email or a text message. You can even copy and paste this to save you 20 seconds of typing: “Hey everyone, I would strongly encourage you to check out this event hosted by Athletes in Action. I trust them and I’m confident you will find tremendous value in this. https://athletesinaction.org/camps/utc-every/ “

For your athletes, the risk involves money and time. Regarding money, this is about 1/10 of the price of a normal, in person camp. Athletes can sign up for $30 or $75 depending on how much gear and extras they want. 

Last testimonial, I promise. But read these words while asking if this was worth the risk for this athlete and whoever invited them:

Continued Resourcing

Yes, this is a one time event. But we are giving them and making them aware of everything we have in terms of resources at the intersection of faith and sport. Bibles, Bible studies, discipleship material, apps, and our latest book on the first principle (Audience of One).

We’ll also make them aware of future opportunities to be discipled and trained in sports ministry by our staff all around the country. 

We dream of a day when there is a Christ follower on EVERY team, in EVERY sport, in EVERY nation. And I strongly believe this event is another step in that direction. Would you join us by inviting your athletes this year as we go hard after that vision? 

The link for your athletes to sign up (and for you too) is right HERE.