Partners and Citizens

About an hour before the event, I spotted a beat-up car slowly wandering through the parking lot near the classic show vehicles. My heart rate skyrocketed. Certain this lone assassin was seconds away from totaling someone’s prized ’68 Camaro, I locked eyes on the threat and marched heroically toward the scene—only to walk directly into a metal No Parking sign.

With only two months to breathe life into a brand-new concept—and as the only person on the planning team actually employed by Central Church—I rushed straight to work. We decided early on that football would anchor our first Gameday event, since the season launches in August and resonates deeply with our community. But the goal was never just an evening of free food, bounce houses, and football décor. Our vision was to introduce Central Church, and the warmth of her people, to the community through a shared cultural love. Grilled hot dogs and games alone wouldn’t accomplish that.

Through my research, I found that men addicted to sports often become strangers in their own homes. This essay will explore where sports obsession began historically, how modern culture intensifies it, why men are ensnared by it, what consequences follow, and finally how Scripture speaks to the problem.

In the aftermath of the 2004 presidential election, scholars renewed their attention to the role of religion in American electoral politics. George W. Bush mobilized a sizable religious bloc in his reelection campaign against Senator John Kerry, strengthening the perception that highly religious voters tend to vote Republican while less religious voters tend to vote Democratic. This pattern became widely known as the “God Gap.” The implication was clear: if Democrats hoped to win back the White House, they would need to compete more effectively for religious voters. In 2008, Barack Obama made narrowing the “God Gap” a visible priority of his campaign.

In The Disappearing God Gap, six contributing authors analyze how religion functioned in Obama’s historic victory. The book argues that religion played a meaningful role throughout the campaign process—from both parties’ primaries through Election Day. While American public policy maintains a formal separation of church and state, the book insists that this does not mean religion and politics are separated in practice.

One of Nolan’s most compelling features, however, is easy to miss beneath the weight of plot twists, villains, and thrills: the relationship between Bruce Wayne/Batman and his butler, Alfred Pennyworth. This relationship becomes philosophically illuminating when read alongside Søren Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling, written in Berlin and published in 1843 under the pseudonym Johannes de Silentio (“John the Silent”). The title, drawn from Paul’s letter to the Philippians—“continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12)—signals Kierkegaard’s concern with the seriousness of faith. In a Kierkegaardian analysis of Nolan’s narrative, Bruce Wayne embodies the ethical individual who devotes himself to the universal common good, while Alfred—guardian, watchman, and provider—resembles the knight of faith, the religious individual.

When I began my role at Central Church in early 2022, I was stepping into a world that felt entirely new. I had never worked in a large evangelical church with a full team of support staff and an army of dedicated volunteers. As a part-time college pastor and cash-strapped church planter in previous seasons, “thinking big” was usually synonymous with “thinking cheaply.” Even so, I always loved dreaming up creative ways to do outreach.

A church’s success is rarely measured the way Christ measures it. In our culture, we love what is large, impressive, and successful. We celebrate churches with swelling attendance, polished branding, and seemingly endless resources. But Revelation 3 reminds us that Christ evaluates His church by a completely different standard. He is not impressed by what dazzles the world. He is moved by what is faithful to Him.

This trend has been building for years. Young adults are delaying marriage and children, and the preference for singlehood continues to rise. A recent study of 25–34-year-olds in 14 countries, published in The Economist, reveals just how deeply this shift has taken root. Yet beneath the statistics lies a deeper issue affecting many young adults today.

Baseball is the game of the long season, where small, incremental differences determine who wins games, series, and championships. When you go to the ballpark, you know you might win or you might lose. Nothing is certain. Baseball isn’t a game for those who demand victory every time. The best team will lose a third of its games, and the worst team will win a third. The difference lies in the middle third. The best hitters succeed only 25 to 30 percent of the time. Failure happens far more often than success.

Why do church offices matter? Not because they save us, but because they shape us.

Many leaders treat church polity as a side topic—tertiary, practical, even negotiable. It is true: we are not debating an attribute of God or the doctrine of inerrancy. Yet if Scripture speaks about the church’s structure, then wisdom invites us to listen. God, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth, reveals His purposes not only in doctrines to believe but also in patterns to embody. Polity is one of those patterns.