(ANALYSIS) The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris have sparked a discussion about whether female Muslim athletes who wear a headscarf should be allowed to compete. While the International Olympic Committee announced that athletes participating in the Paris Games can wear a hijab without any restriction, French athletes will be barred from wearing a hijab.
Read MoreThousands of people from across the globe will descend on the city that’s home to the Eiffel Tower for the Olympics. The IMB has ministered at many Olympics, and volunteers who’ve traveled to the global cities have long been crucial to its ministry strategy. While ministry has been successful, interactions are often fleeting as visitors scatter. That’s where digital engagement strategies come in.
Read MoreThe Great Supper is the name Christians in Brazil’s northeastern state of Paraiba give to their annual gathering. And this year, the 25th Great Supper brought 120 believers, representing 14 Churches of Christ, to the city of Cajazeiras. They shared more than a meal, said Mike Pruitt, a longtime missionary in Recife, a coastal city about 340 miles east of Cajazeiras.
Read MoreA Lifeway Research study of both U.S. Protestant pastors and churchgoers found most in both groups believe it’s OK to miss church occasionally for a kid’s game or travel sporting event, but those in the pews are laxer on the issue than those behind the pulpit. More than one in three Protestant pastors say it’s never OK to skip a weekly worship service for kid’s games or travel sporting events.
Read MoreDelaware Raceway Ministry is running strong after 31 years. And though the ministry techniques have evolved, the emphasis remains the same: sowing seeds, building relationships and sharing Jesus. Volunteers from area churches worked together to serve the raceway staff and thousands of NASCAR enthusiasts who camped around the track earlier this month.
Read MoreSometimes a baseball game is about more than a baseball game. That was J.C. Bailey III’s thinking when he invited a group of North Texas ministers to enjoy a Texas Rangers game from his law firm’s suite. Fans who pay attention to the advertising along the Rangers’ home run wall at Globe Life Field might recognize the name Bailey & Galyen.
Read MoreMadagascar, the world’s fourth-largest island, is renowned for its beautiful avenues of baobab trees and its most famous, wide-eyed resident, the ring-tailed lemur. The island — 250 miles east of southern Africa — is also “one of the most underrated surfing destinations in the world.” Madagascar’s southwest Toliara region has 12 sites that the website designates as “world-class” for catching waves.
Read MoreSome find the constant pop of the wiffle ball batted about by oversized ping pong paddles annoying. Others see a sport encouraging exercise, multigenerational competition, and camaraderie. Regardless, pickleball is here to stay. It’s called the fastest-growing recreational sport in the U.S., although it has been around since 1965.
Read MoreWith its manicured greens, blooming azaleas and a spectator menu featuring prices from yesteryear, the scene at Augusta National Golf Club in the first full week of April is, indeed, a tradition unlike any other. The subject of faith can also be raised. Scottie Scheffler, the top-ranked golfer in the world who earned his first green jacket in 2022, talked about how the sport doesn’t define him, but his faith does.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Fourteen of the NBA’s 30 franchise owners are Jewish. Two of them absolutely despise each other. And it has nothing to do with basketball. Instead, it’s about … mortgages? The rivalry between Mat Ishbia, owner of the Phoenix Suns, and Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, dates to long before Ishbia bought the Suns in 2022.
Read MoreIowa basketball star Caitlin Clark is a lot of things to many people. To fans, she’s known for breaking NCAA records. To her teammates, she’s the one they are looking at to spearhead a national title run after getting Iowa to the Final Four. And to those in the sports marketing business, she’s a budding star who will be playing in the WNBA next season. She’s also Catholic.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Because of concerns to preserve the country's cramped view of "secularism," French authorities are denying Muslim soccer players accommodation for their religiously required Ramadan fasting. This reveals very different understandings of what is meant by the term "secular" and thereby the very meaning of the now much debated "secular state.”
Read MoreThe University of Connecticut’s basketball team won the men’s NCAA title last year. A year later, the Huskies are again hungry for a championship. The team reached the Final Four with three practicing Muslims who have had to deal with more than just scoring points over the last few weeks. The trio join a growing group of practicing Muslims who are balancing basketball and fasting this spring.
Read MoreWhen you grow to 6-foot-4 and 297 pounds by the time you’re 16, “Joshua Alan” just doesn’t fit the script the way “Bear” does. With two years of ball left for Cass High in White, Georgia, Bear continues to collect offers even after the recruit made a verbal commitment to Arkansas. When the state of Georgia approved Name, Image and Likeness deals for high school athletes, it opened up opportunities for players like Bear to reap a big windfall.
Read MoreThis isn’t “Hoosiers” — a feel-good story about a small-town basketball team overcoming steep odds to win the state title. In fact, the Lady Eagles of Oklahoma Christian Academy went 0-14 this season, losing by scores of 67-21, 43-11 and 85-10. But their story is every bit as inspiring as that of the fictional Indiana team coached by Gene Hackman.
Read MoreMuslim athletes face a unique challenge when Ramadan coincides with their training and competition schedules. Throughout the month-long period, practicing Muslims fast from dawn until sunset, abstaining from both food and drink. For athletes, this can be particularly demanding as they need to maintain their energy and performance levels.
Read MoreAnother March Madness is once again upon us. The NCAA’s men’s Division I basketball tournament will enthrall millions with its bracket-busting upsets. It is, for many sports fans, the best time of the year. This year’s 68-team field features seven Catholic schools. In addition, five are Protestant and one Mormon. Here’s a look at how they stack up.
Read MoreOn a hazy morning with an aura of high spirit and enthusiasm, Mohammad Abdullah Dar, 84, wearing a tracksuit and a skull cap, starts jogging in the playground of the Amar Singh College in Srinagar, the capital of Jammu and Kashmir. He’s been on a mission to teach soccer to women and help them excel at it in a part of the world not always enthusiastic about female sports.
Read MoreFor 14 seasons, Pastor Rod Hairston served as a chaplain for the Baltimore Ravens, where he helped the NFL franchise build a winning culture among the front office executives, coaches and players. After two Super Bowl rings and serving as a sports chaplain from Howard University to UCLA, Hairston, 57, is a “life coach” working with couples.
Read MoreEven before last week’s shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl rally, Branden Mims was focused on reducing violence in this city that amassed a record 182 homicides in 2023. Mims, the 35-year-old minister for the Greater Metropolitan Church of Christ, leads a nonprofit called Greater Impact that served more than 400 shooting victims last year.
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