The English word opportunity comes from a Latin word that means "toward the port." It carries with it the idea of a ship taking advantage of the wind and tide to arrive safely in the harbor. The shortness of life is a strong argument for making the best use of the opportunities God gives us to share the Gospel message. It is one of the main reasons why Denise and I are still at Penn State University working with the athletes. One of my seminary professors used to always tell us "evangelism must be done where the lost people are." Every year I see more and more freshmen coming to this great institution who have never stepped foot inside a church. We believe that God has given us something to say that our audience desperately needs to hear.
One way that we have seized the opportunity to share the Gospel message was through a special outreach activity called "Capture-the-Flag" or "Hot Pursuit. " The guys in one of my Bible studies decided it would be a good idea to use this means to reach some of the men on their team for Christ. This game, if you are at all familiar with it, is a high intensity game where the players use paint ball guns to "tag" their opponents. During the course of the games, we stopped play to share Biblical principles that relate to cooperation, com~mu''icalion, team work, unity and also shared the Gospel message. Some may wonder if shooting each other promotes violence; to answer the question, the context has to be considered. Context is everything! Through such activities as this we are creating a context or environment for fun and for learning important Biblical principles at the same time that relate to life. In this way we feel this game no more promotes violence than does playing any other contact sport.
If you are interested in participating in paintball with us, contact Tim McGill at tam20@psu.edu.