Abstract: Participation in athletics, especially in a classical Christian school, can be a highly impactful platform for discipleship ministry for student athletes if leadership has the intentionality, personnel and tools to implement them. The Apostle Paul writes in Acts 17:28, “In Him (Jesus) we live and move and have our being.” Christians participating in athletics (and any endeavor we pursue) are called to do so with the reality of our faith and union in Christ informing the “why” and “how” we approach our efforts.
At the Providence Christian School of Texas, we have attempted to commit 5-10 minutes of devotional time during each practice for our Logic School athletics teams using a new curriculum, “In Christ We Play!” Each week, the curriculum provides discussion questions, Scripture and quotes from known athletes, coaches and theologians with regard to the “why” and “how” of participating in athletics grounded in our faith/union in Christ. We have developed a methodology of engaging our student-athletes in contemplation and discussion of specific elements of life in Christ applied to athletics and beyond into everyday life now and into the future.
In a sense, we are covering a systematic theology of athletics that is easy to understand and apply to the lives of teenagers, a critical stage of life when each student begins to form his/her own worldview, beliefs and habits. James K.A. Smith, in his book “Desiring the Kingdom” emphasizes the ways that ordinary activities form and shape us. “What constitutes our ultimate identities—what makes us who we are, the kind of people we are—is what we love… what, at the end of the day, gives us a sense of meaning, purpose, [and] understanding.” Those desires and loves, in turn, are “shaped and molded by the habit-forming practices in which we participate.”
Wes Boyd joined the Providence Christian School of Texas team in June 2021. His extensive experience in leadership, business, sports, and working with young people uniquely equip him for this important role. Raised in Dallas from fifth grade through high school, Wes points to many coaches and teachers, both in school and at church, who played significant roles during his formative years. After high school graduation, Wes studied economics and philosophy at Washington and Lee University where he played basketball and was a standout track and field athlete—a thirteen-time conference champion. After college, he served as a teacher and coach for basketball and track and field at the Darlington School in Georgia. He spent the next 26 years in sales and marketing, earning an MBA from the University of Texas along the way. He continued coaching sports as a father, and later returned to work in education as a basketball coach for the Covenant School of Dallas. Over his career at Covenant, Mr. Boyd worked with middle school boys and developed the school’s varsity girls’ basketball program. Wes’s experience as a church elder and in the business world gives him a seasoned ability to foster culture, disciple, attract and develop talent, and engage the community in Providence’s athletic philosophy.
