Echo Fall 2024 - 21

O
ne hundred people surveyed. Top six
answers are on the board. Here's the question:
" What would you say is the goal of athletic
competition? " Can you picture yourself
lunging for the button, then confidently
saying, " Winning championships! " Of course.
If you are involved in a sport or the fan of a team,
winning championships matters. After all, that is
society's scoreboard. It records wins and losses!
Those wins and losses show up on websites, league
standings and seed championship tournaments. Oh,
and if you are a coach and don't want to win, you
should likely find a new vocation.
But is that really all there is-or is there something
more?
There is more. It's found in the LBC Athletic
Department mission of " pursuing excellence in
athletics and cultivating Christ-centered relationships
that impact others. " Of course, we want to experience
success on society's scoreboard. We pursue
championships. But our main push is a second
scoreboard-maybe a lesser known but profoundly
important one that matters most to God.
At LBC, this means that we want to live " set apart " in
our approach to athletics. In addition to being about
the business of winning championships, we first want
to be about building championship-level human
beings and followers of Christ. You see, if we're not
careful while pursuing society's scoreboard, we may
also begin to find our identity in sport instead of
firmly rooted in our relationship with Christ.
When we allow for our wins in life to let us feel like
we are on the top of the world, we give equal power
to allowing our losses to make us feel like the weight
of the world is on our shoulders. Therefore, we
remind our student-athletes about why we are really
here. It's not merely to spike a volleyball, score runs,
drop threes or throw a javelin. We are not merely here
at LBC to go to class, engage in chapel or join a club.
Jesus, in some of His final words in the Sermon on
the Mount, says it clearly: " Let me tell you why you
are here ... You're here to be light. "
What we do in athletics is meant to look different
from the world-to go public with God through sport.
It's found in our mantras like " person over player, " an
approach that values and invests in players as people
rather than solely being concerned about what they
can do for us on a field or court.
It's about our coaches taking on the role of a
shepherd, serving as living curriculum in front of the
student-athletes entrusted to their care.
And it is about our vision to compete and treat
opponents and spectators in ways that look different
than society's standards, in ways that invite them to
learn more about the God that prompts us to love
and treat others with respect.
LBC's coaches and student-athletes have discovered
that we can win on both scoreboards. As a matter of
fact, we have found that while investing in ways to
build championship-level followers of Christ, we have
strengthened our ability to compete-and ultimately
to do it in ways that shine a light on Christ in front of
spectators, officials and opponents who may not yet
know Him.
So when it comes to shining for Christ, it happens as
our women's volleyball team hands a small plastic
bag with a rubber bracelet to each opponent that
says " Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, " accompanied
by a note that reads: " To know and be known is a
powerful thing. To love and be loved is a beautiful
thing. To know your purpose and fulfill it is priceless.
But to know God and be known and loved by Him is
better than life itself. "
It happens as our softball program hands out
personalized Bibles to opponents and shares a Bible
study with a team in a hotel over spring break, when
one of those young women dedicates her life to the
Lord.
It happens as our student-athletes pray with
opponents before races and after contests, and as
our baseball team refrains from taunting-even if it is
" just part of the game. "
Although these are individual examples, they are not
uncommon to all LBC athletic programs.
Our students have caught the vision.
People sometimes ask me why I do what I do. It's
not at all difficult to answer. Simply put, I believe sport
is the greatest classroom on the planet. It is both a
builder and a revealer of character. When intentional
about teaching, there are constant spiritual life lessons
to be learned and applied.
You might also ask why I choose to do it at Lancaster
Bible College, and I would tell you because there are
fewer and fewer places in our world that are training
a generation of students to reach their generation
with the gospel. That makes LBC an amazing place
to connect sport to the real reason we are here.
What a blessing to watch LBC athletes living set apart.
With every opportunity, conversation and contest,
they are ready to rise and shine!
" In addition to
being about
the business
of winning
championships,
we first want to
be about building
championshiplevel
human
beings and
followers of
Christ. "
- Rod Baughman
ECHO 21

Echo Fall 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Echo Fall 2024

Echo Fall 2024 - 1
Echo Fall 2024 - 2
Echo Fall 2024 - 3
Echo Fall 2024 - 4
Echo Fall 2024 - 5
Echo Fall 2024 - 6
Echo Fall 2024 - 7
Echo Fall 2024 - 8
Echo Fall 2024 - 9
Echo Fall 2024 - 10
Echo Fall 2024 - 11
Echo Fall 2024 - 12
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Echo Fall 2024 - 15
Echo Fall 2024 - 16
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Echo Fall 2024 - 21
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Echo Fall 2024 - 38
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Echo Fall 2024 - 40
Echo Fall 2024 - 41
Echo Fall 2024 - 42
Echo Fall 2024 - 43
Echo Fall 2024 - 44
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