Daily Devotionals for the Christian Sports Fan

One minister, Ed McMinn, hit upon a winner – combine sports and faith into a set of daily devotional books.
By: Corfun Inc
 
Jan. 14, 2009 - PRLog -- All Christians should practice a rule of daily Bible reading and spiritual meditation. Unfortunately, most Christians don’t, and men are especially prone to skip daily time with God. That is a problem, but what can be done about it? How can you encourage Christians to spend more time in prayer and meditation with God’s word?

One minister, Ed McMinn, hit upon an unusual answer – combine sports and faith into a set of daily devotional books.

“I was looking for an outlet to take faith into the real world; to reach sports fans with a Christian message in unexpected, but realistic places,” McMinn says. “For many people, their faith is a one-day-a-week thing, maybe on Wednesday nights also, but the rest of the week it is a separate life. The point these devotional books make is that the things that you love outside of your church life are also places where God can be found.”

As a University of Georgia alumnus, McMinn understands how strongly fans feel about their sports team and encourages Christians to feel that strongly about their faith as well. His daily devotionals have emphasized university teams, and cover every sport that a university has to offer. Each day’s devotion begins with a Bible verse and then recounts a story of a university hero, legend, tradition, or great victory and relates it to scripture. The devotion moves from a sports moment to a moment of reflection about God. McMinn tackles many everyday issues including success, living faithfully, self-esteem, work, fatherhood, relationships, and pressure. The books are reader-friendly and non-denominational with a light but poignant theological perspective on integrating faith into other life passions.

McMinn’s God Bless the Vols and God Bless the Crimson Tide were published in 2007 by Howard Books, the Christian publishing arm of Simon & Schuster. Extra Point Publishers continued the series with the publications in 2007 of Daily Devotions for Die-Hard Fans: Georgia Bulldogs and Daily Devotions for Die-Hard Fans: Auburn Tigers. In 2008, the series continued with Florida Gators, Florida State Seminoles, and expanded outside collegiate athletics with the addition of NASCAR. The scheduled releases for 2009 include Georgia Tech, South Carolina, and Clemson.

“It’s all about passion,” states McMinn. “I frequently am asked how I came up with the idea and all I know to say is divine inspiration. It’s a joke, but also contains much truth. I am a pastor now, but I went into the ministry very late; for most of my life I was a newspaper guy and a college teacher. That love of English and of writing has stayed with me and coupled with being a sports ‘nut’, the idea came to try to meld the two: college sports and God. As a matter of fact, many people tell me they get so carried away with the stories that they read straight through the whole book in a few days and then go back and treat it like a devotional.”

The entire line of devotionals is proudly carried by SouthlandOutfitters.com.

“We loved this concept,” Southland’s merchandizing manager explained, “From the moment we saw this collection, we recognized these books as something special. For Christian sports fans, one of these books is the gift to give or get!”

Visit Southlandoutfitters.com today to view the complete line of daily devotionals – the perfect gift for the Christian sports fan!

About Ed McMinn

After being called into the ministry, he graduated from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology in May 2003 with a Master of Divinity. While he was in school, Ed served for three years as the pastor of Mt. Carmel United Methodist Church and Emory Chapel United Methodist Church in Coweta County and then briefly as the Associate Pastor of Perry United Methodist Church. He was the pastor at Grace Church of Perry from December 2003 until he retired in June 2008. Ed entered the ministry after an extended career as a newspaper editor and college teacher of journalism and English.

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