Pastor Tracey was recently published in Presbyterian Outlook with an article about the fantasy football league at Grace. What follows is an excerpt from the article. You can find the full article at Building church community through Fantasy Football – The Presbyterian Outlook (pres-outlook.org)
Could fun be what we need to draw us closer to each other and the Lord? Tracey Davenport shares her church’s ministry of Fantasy Football.
I was raised on football. My father volunteered with some local high school teams and taught me, his oldest daughter, to run patterns and catch passes. He passionately rooted for Ole Miss, and, therefore, SEC football was our Saturday entertainment. Professional football was enjoyed as well — after church, of course! One of my most vivid childhood memories is watching Walter Payton break the single-game rushing record in 1977 against the Saints at Soldier Field. We cheered him on from our living room on the Naval base in Newport, Rhode Island. Football is in my blood.
Apart from a few sermon illustrations, my love of football had not crossed into the realm of my faith or ministry until last year. Our elder for member engagement (a.k.a. elder for fun) launched a church fantasy football league at Grace Presbyterian Church in Plano, Texas. I enrolled. Draft Day arrived and I noticed something wonderful at our tailgate lunch and draft event. The room was filled with people who were contemporary and traditional worshipers, evangelicals and progressives, Republicans and Democrats, men and women, gay and straight, members and non-members, ages 9-79, and held all levels of football acumen. Together, we ate and laughed; we schemed and strategized; we stressed over our time-based drafts and moaned when our favorite player was selected by someone else. I have rarely seen such a diverse gathering at our church…