The pop culture calendar can give us great opportunities for Bible gateways, such as, the Super Bowl. As your students gear up for Super Bowl weekend, here are two sports related exercises that will tweak their Bible curiosity: 1) a Bible football team ice breaker; 2) a personal devo on Scripture’s great sports analogies.
1. ICE BREAKER
Try this quick and fun ice breaker for any of your youth gatherings this week. It’s an ice breaker that’s a mash up between two things that are on the minds of your students this week in particular: the Super Bowl and the Bible. (Well, one for sure is on their minds, and the other is hopefully on their minds.)
You can use this to open up Sunday school, your big weekly gathering, small-group Bible study, or your Super Bowl party. (If you’ve followed InWord for awhile, you may recognize this exercise; it is back by popular demand.)
It’s just a simple question. Whiteboard or project your group’s answers as they are given.
If you were to build a football team (or an entire football operation) using Bible people, who would you pick for what positions?
You may want to offer a position such as quarterback or running back, asking students who they’d pick for that position. As soon as you get your first response your group will be off and running. But if you need some ideas, check out the list below. (These answers came from a middle school Bible study group.) As the ideas flow, students may also think of people you DON’T want on your team; add those to your list. You’ll see a sample list below of those names, too.
Click here for a PDF doc of the sample answers below.
Team Members:
| Quarterback: | Jesus (of course; he’s all-time QB) |
| Running Backs: | Jacob, he has good fakes
Paul, he runs all over the place |
| Wide Receivers: | Andrew, James, John; they’re fisherman; they can catch anything |
| Offensive Line | Esau, Samson, Goliath (who cares that he’s a Philistine, he’s big) |
| Defensive Line: | Joshua, he breaks through walls |
| Middle Linebacker: | Peter, he’s a rock |
| Field Goal Kickers: | Shadrach, Meshach or Abednego; they can take the heat |
Team/Game Operations:
| Owner: | God |
| Coach: | King Solomon, he’s so wise |
| Team Doctor: | Luke, the physician |
| Head Referee: | Moses, he knows all the rules |
| Ticket Taker: | Matthew, good with numbers as a tax guy |
Support Personnel:
| Water Boy: | John the Baptist |
| Cheerleaders: | Mary, Martha, Mary Magdalene |
| Halftime Band: | Angels and David on his harp |
| Mascot: | Lion (of Judah) |
| Mascot Keeper: | Noah, but you need to have two mascots |
People you DON’T want on the team:
| Zaccheus: | Too small |
| Judas: | He may score for the other team |
| Jonah: | He’d get eaten up by the competition |
| Adam: | He doesn’t have a uniform; insists on playing naked |
| Pilate: | Too influenced by the other team |
| Thief on the cross: | Had a chance, and he blew it |
If you’d like some follow up questions:
In what ways is our youth ministry like a football team?
What do you feel about your involvement in God’s team? Are you an active team member or are you sitting on the bench?
Of all the positions we’ve mentioned (team positions, operation positions), which do you most identify with?
2. PERSONAL DEVO
The love of sports is woven into our culture. But we’re not the first to make sports such a high priority. In fact, the New Testament uses many sports analogies simply because the ancient Olympic games and similar events were a big deal in the Greek culture, maybe bigger than the Super Bowl is in ours.You’ll see this teen devo as a post to read and a PDF download to share.
CLICK HERE for a teen devo on Scripture’s sports analogies.
Have a super week!
Barry Shafer