Phys Ed, "The Prestige," and Evangelism

Sometimes using a word in a new context can completely rejuvenate it. It happened for me when I heard that Jewish historian, Josephus, while a military commander, told a rebel to "Repent and follow me." It happened again this morning when I heard about a phys ed program called "Spark." "Spark" stands for Sports, Play, and Active Recreation for Kids. Basically, it finds ways to involve more kids in smaller groups in more engaging activities. Good stuff. One of the program directors was talking about Spark's ability to engage families in more physical activity because the kids are talking about it. He said, "The kids have become the evangelists."

I started thinking about how I'm an evangelist in all kinds of ways. I talk about my friends; I talk about my family; I talk about my successes. Consider a more subtle example. On Friday, I saw "The Prestige." It is an excellent movie: Great acting (Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine, and Christian Bale), great story, great plot, lots of mystery, no cheese. I have been telling people about this movie since then. "It's a great movie!" I have become an evangelist of "The Prestige," just as the kids have become evangelists for Spark. This leads me to thinking that being an evangelist isn't the hard part. We're evangelists all the time. The hard part is being an evangelist of God's Kingdom in creative, appropriate, and culturally meaningful ways.