Seminary Student Sees Sports Field as a Mission Field for the next 17 years, becoming an
“Sports were a big deal in my family,” says Erskine Seminary student Steve Pink,
school. My dad played football, and I played football—it was a huge part of my identity as a person,” he explains. “While I’m still involved in sports to this day, the - ence of a friend. This change was accompanied by some life-altering insights. “As I was dealing with my own personal issues and shortcomings, the Lord opened my eyes to see clearly the moral problems that, sadly, often accompany sports culture and end up leading young men down a worldly path,” Pink says. “Even back then as a high school student playing on the football team, I recognized the need for mentorship, especially Christian mentorship, for athletes both on and
He left football during his senior year because he believed that certain aspects of sports culture created impediments to his spiritual growth as a Christian. “My ex- “I was maturing, I was changing, and I knew that I needed to leave that life and that identity behind.”
Following this new path turned the young man’s world upside down. He was no longer a football player, no longer known as the big man on campus. The status he had been accorded as a high school athlete was gone. Meanwhile, academically minded students were deemed successful as they were admitted to the colleges of “All of a sudden, I realized not only that my identity had changed, but that I had focused so much on sports that I had neglected academics to the point where I did not get into any of the colleges I applied to,” he says.
For the high school senior, it was an identity crisis. Looking back on that time, he sees how the Lord was at work. “This was a turning point in my life where God was leading me out of my strictly worldly iden- tity and into a more conscious and intentional Christian identity.” During college, he tutored high school students and found that he This led him to become a high school history teacher. Encouraged by friends from college who were also teachers, he made his way back to high school football, this time as an assistant coach.
“By that time in my life I was able to see high school and football in a new light,” Pink says. “As a teacher
and mentor, I could combine my investment in students with my role as a coach. And I could do this in a different way than I had experienced it as an athlete.” Eventually, he left high school teaching and became involved with Young Life—a Christian ministry to middle school, high school, and college students—
area director for the ministry. “It was a natural progression because now my vocation was even more focused on mentoring youth.”
Pink continued working with sports teams, building relationships with high school students through football and basketball, and even serving for a time as chaplain of the Charlotte Ea- gles professional soccer team. He has now moved into local church ministry, working with young professionals in their twenties and thirties.
Meanwhile, he continues mentoring young people, serving as an assistant football coach at a local high school. How does he approach that role? He believes building relationships starts with a common interest or goal, and sharing a common interest or goal creates moments for conversations. “Once trust and respect are estab- lished, those small conversations turn to the big questions about life,” Pink says. “It all leads up to that 30-minute bus ride home from a game where deep dialogue occurs, and I can be a witness for Christ. That’s the sports culture I seek to grow.”
In many ways, through sports min-
istry, he relives his own experience as a high school athlete wrestling with is- sues of identity.
“I see a lot of myself in those young men I mentor,” he says. “And I want them to know what I wish I had known back then—it’s not the image you por- tray to others that matters. Your iden- tity is secure and stable throughout all of life’s changes if your identity is in Christ.”
Steve Pink is pursuing a Master of Divinity degree at Erskine Theological Seminary. He serves as Director of Young Profes- sionals at First Presbyterian Church (ARP) in Columbia, South Carolina, and as Assistant Coach for the Ben Lippen Falcons Football team. He and his wife Katie are the parents of three daughters.
March/April 2023
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Erskine Seminary
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