Yesterday we completed our fifth Faith RX’d training camp in warm Tampa Florida. Because we only do three of these camps a year, I always forget how much I enjoy them and how much the Lord uses them to mold together the gospel and CrossFit. This past Camp was no different.
Every camp we try to create an environment with a healthy blend of CrossFit training as well as Christian teaching. We always do a skill session teaching the snatch, a skill session teaching gymnastics movements, and a monostructural skill session talking about rowing efficiency. Furthermore we also gather together for three teaching sessions around three different Scripture references. Since our last camp in Cincinnati, we revamped our mission statement to say the following: “strengthening our fitness community for Christ – centered living and impact.” With that mission statement in mind we did three talks on the strength of the Gospel, how the Gospel promotes Christ centered living, and how the Gospel creates Christ centered impact.
Every camp something unique about the attendees of the environment or the sessions grabs my attention. At this camp, I think what most caught my attention was the eagerness of the attendees to know how specifically to talk to their friends in their community about who Christ is. They understood and assess the need for why but don’t follow through. Furthermore they even desire to be obedient to God’s command to share the Gospel. What I heard most was a desire to know exactly when and how that should happen. This was wildly different from some of our other camps because many of the other camp attendees were still trying to figure out why it was necessary for them to share the Gospel or how the Gospel had any business in there gym. This camp seemed to understand both of those concepts but seem to lack basic application.
My encouragement to those attendees who asked these questions with simple. There’s three steps I use when determining whether or not or how to talk to people about the Gospel.
The first step for me is always relational. I try to connect to that person relationally even if it is the only time I will ever talk to them or spend time with them. Even in one-time situations like on an airplane I always attempt to connect relationally first.
The second step for me when I talk about my faith and share who the message of Jesus is a level of discernment that can only come from the prompting of the Holy Spirit. I know this can become an excuse for many to not share the Gospel ever but ultimately the work of salvation is in God’s hands and only he can reveal the validity of the Gospel to those who don’t believe. Therefore it is crucial for me, as a believer, to make sure that I am prompted to share my faith in situations where the Holy Spirit seems to be stirring that prompting. I know this can seem like a cop out or a cowardly excuse but if we’re honest with our own hearts and we’re honest with when and where the Holy Spirit presses us and doesn’t press us, then this is the perfect second step.
The third step is when sharing the Gospel with someone is to make sure I’m not peddling an agenda or forcefully condemning sin. What I mean by that is most often I try to relate how the Lord convicted me in the midst of my sin and in the midst of my rebellion and show how I fail on a regular basis. I think Christians can often come off self-righteous and self-absorbed when they share the Gospel because they elevate themselves in the story of what God has actually done. When sharing the Gospel it is critical to share how all Christians aren’t perfect and God didn’t wait for them to be perfect before He saved them. Transparency about our own sin and failure is not only a daily requirement for our own affection for the Lord but ultimately reveals the truth about grace. Any other foundation from which grace is preached is a false, conceded understanding of the Gospel.
I love these camps because they often reveal some of my own weaknesses and some of the areas that I need work on. What I mean by that is, before every camp start the Lord starts chipping away at an area of my life that I don’t know I’m holding tight to in preparation for the camp. I don’t know why it’s always these camps that seem to do it but for some reason that seems to be the case. I look forward to the next one June 19-21 in Baltimore, Maryland. I pray you would consider coming to the next one.