Introduction
The Play of the Week is a weekly resource built by sports leaders for sports leaders. It’s for those who live at the intersection of faith, leadership, and sport, leaders committed to their roles on the field and in the lives of the people they influence. Every week delivers three tools to build you up, encourage you, and challenge you as a leader: one devotion, two resources, and three quotes. Expect no fluff. Just applicable truth.
Purpose
This document guides how we build the Play of the Week. Each week runs on three components, working together to shape a sports leader’s faith and leadership.
- Devotion. A leadership-focused message written with a competitive mindset. It challenges you to grow in your faith and infuse life into your sports community. We ask writers to share insight, not preach.
- Resources. Two tools we hand-pick and attach each week. Articles, guides, videos, whatever serves the moment. Built to be used, not just read.
- Quotes. Three quotes selected to encourage and equip you. Short. Sharp. Worth carrying into the week ahead.
Our hope is simple. God uses these three pieces to strengthen a sports leader’s faith, sharpen their leadership, and multiply Kingdom impact in the sports world.
Our Audience
SportsLife is driven by a fundamental conviction: we serve entire sports communities by first developing their leaders. While many sports ministries broadly reach athletes and coaches, we focus on depth. We prioritize developing and ministering to recognized leaders within specific sports, organizing our efforts by sport. Our target audience includes:
- Coaches who shape culture
- Captains who influence peers
- Program directors who create systems
- Leaders who bring Kingdom impact in sports
We aim for multiplied impact, focusing on depth.
Target Audience Characteristics
The target is a SportsLife Leader who is a Christ-centered, discipleship-driven sports leader who uses their position to:
- MODEL Christ-like character when it’s hard, not just when it’s easy.
- MENTOR others in Christ by investing intentionally, not casually.
- MULTIPLY Kingdom impact by seeing their platform as a responsibility, not a status.
Competitive Mindset
To effectively minister to our audience’s needs, we emphasize the competitive mindset and experience. A sports leader’s journey is shaped by the relationships, emotions, and events experienced in the world of sports. When developing each week’s devotion, we will continually ask:
- Does this devotion engage the competitive mindset?
- How does it guide a sports leader in their discipleship journey?
- Does it use stories, scripture, principles, and questions to encourage Christ-like behavior both on and off the field?
Personal Experience
Utilizing personal experiences of sports leaders is the most effective way to create a connection. Simply having a sports analogy doesn’t mean it resonates with the sports world. The key is to use a story or illustration (whether sports-related or not) and connect the insight and principle to the realm of sports. While sports analogies can effectively illustrate a point, personal sports experiences and illustrations often create a deeper connection with the reader. We desire for each devotion to be grounded in Scripture and applicable to sports leadership.
Ultimately, our goal is to ensure that every story or illustration leads to actionable insights for sports leaders, enhancing their ability to bring Kingdom impact into the sports arena.
Example of Application Approaches
General Christian Approach
- Start with a sports analogy.
- Have you struggled to find your true identity and purpose?
- Are you willing to spend time daily with God and His Word?
Competitive Mindset Approach
- Start with a personal experience (sports-related or not).
- What challenges have you faced as a sports leader in discovering your true identity and purpose?
- How can daily time spent with God and His Word transform you into a Christ-centered, discipleship-driven leader?
Framework of the Play of the Week
Each week runs on three components: Devotion, Resources, and Quotes.
Devotion
Each devotion must have faith as the foundation, leadership as the structure, and the sports community as the target audience. Simple and direct, it follows a straightforward structure for growth:
- THE PLAY – A devotional title and big idea (key principle) to lock in your focus.
- THE PLAYBOOK – A foundational scripture to anchor the play.
- THE WORKOUT – A spiritual leadership message that challenges you to grow in your faith and infuse life into your sports community.
- THE CHALLENGE – Two questions for reflection and a specific challenge to put your faith into action this week.
Resources
Two resources selected and attached each week. Chosen to equip a sports leader for real use, whether that’s an article, a guide, a tool, or a video. Every resource should connect back to the week’s devotion and serve a leader’s growth on and off the field.
Quotes
Three quotes chosen to encourage and challenge sports leaders. Short, sharp, and memorable. Pulled from Scripture, sports leaders, or voices worth carrying into the week.
This is about how you lead when no one’s watching, how you show up when it costs you something, and how you build people, not just performance.
You’re not just in sports. You’re shaping lives through it.