Would It Be a Wise Choice for You to Join or Start Your Own Christ Centered Sports, Games, & Friendship Building Club? (Including How to Do It?)
If you are a youthful member of our Church, and you love the beautiful Christ centered teachings in our Church, from the Bible and Book of Mormon and from modern day prophets and apostles of Jesus Christ, as we do; would it be a wise and joyful choice for you to start a local Christ Centered Sports, Games & Friendship Club as an after school club in your local high school or college? – – – Yes, of course, – – if you can prayerfully sense that a Christ-Centered and Relationship-Centered life is the most joyful and wise choice, and if you would like to help others understand what our Church and members actually believe, teach and are, which will also help greatly to counter the 200 years of false slander against our Church and members. Anyone who carefully and prayerfully reads our website, and attends our activities, will soon start to understand the truth regarding what our Christian Church and members actually teach and are, and will clearly know that we are Bible believing Christians, who dearly love Jesus Christ as our Savior.
Many missionaries from our Church, may also want to set up Christ Centered Sports, Games, and Friendship Activities at the Church to help more friends choose to live a more Christ centered life, and enjoy a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, and to help many people to understand what our Church actually believes, teaches, and is. It can also greatly help friends who are learning about our Church to build good, joyful, and trusting relationships with members of the Church, who can help answer their questions, and support them long term in their new journey of choosing to live a more Christ centered life.
And how do you start your own Christ Centered Sports Club? – – – You just find one or two friends in our Church to start with, or others who love our Christian teachings, who also sense that living a Christ Centered life is the wisest choice for a joyful and fulfilling life on earth and eternity. Then, you invite a few more friends to join you. Then, you use our website information to simply copy some or all of the things we are doing here in the Loja, Ecuador area.
As participants, you all agree that focusing on building and maintaining trusting and loving relationships as Jesus Christ taught, is a far wiser choice than being overly concerned about who happens to win the point or game as you enjoy the friendship building sports and games. Many people have already figured out that winning any sport or game, even an Olympic gold medal, or one of the four biggest tennis tournaments in the world each year that has about a $3 million dollar cash prize is truly of no eternal importance. Therefore, they may have no interest in sports and games, even though sports can be a joyful way to build friendships for many of us. But they may still love coming to our gatherings, because the most important part is mingling and visiting and serving together, as you build quality trusting friendships with other people who also choose to live a Christ centered life.
You just follow these simple steps below for running the Christ Centered Sports and Games Activities:
# 1. You schedule playing sessions of about two hours each.
# 2. You start playing sports and games together and visiting with each other in a Christ-Centered way – – – with the focus on showing kindness, respect, love, and friendship toward everyone involved whether the point or game goes your way or not. At our location, we mainly play Ping-pong, Pickleball, foosball, Connect-4, basketball, and board games that people bring. Your local Club can choose whatever sports and games you desire.
# 3. Part way through the playing session – – – after those who are running late have arrived, and before some start to leave; you pause for about a 15 minute spiritually uplifting message with a prayer offered by any volunteer of any faith. Then sing one or more uplifting Sing-along songs from the music app described below, and at least one uplifting Power quote from the Bible quotes on our website or one of your own favorites, and one from the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ, and one from “other wise and helpful sources” – – many of which are from prophets, apostles, and other leaders of our Church.
You may also choose to share and discuss a Positive Affirmation or a Ben Franklin Chart group discussion as shown on those links on our website. Then, you can sing one more uplifting song together. Or, sometimes you may choose a short movie or half of a full length movie for the spiritual message. Sometimes, you may want to have a potluck dinner or snacks, and a full length movie, and less or no playing time. You may also sometimes share a Conference talk from one of our Church leaders, which are uplifting talks from modern day prophets, apostles, and other Church leaders including many amazing ladies who are leaders of our women, young women, and children’s groups. Many years of super uplifting Conference talks can be easily found on our Church website below or on the “Gospel Library” app for cell phones and tablets. You do a search for Conference talks, and many years of uplifting Conference talks will come up from the two 2 day conference sessions each year. As you listen to them, you will soon figure out how false the slander from the devil and his team against our Church and leaders is. The beautiful Christ Centered lessons they share, can bless and strengthen all of our relationships with our Father in Heaven, and His Son, Jesus Christ, with self, family members and others.
Then you can have a closing prayer or not; and then back to enjoying more time with sports, games, and visiting with good friends.
You may want to have two Christ Centered gatherings each week, with one being a regular night with sports and games, and a 15 minute Spiritual message sharing time and one being a movie night with less sports and games time, because of a movie taking up a big share of the time. Some of the movies on our suggested list below are only about 30 minutes long, but many are about 90 minutes. For the longer movies, you may want to show half of the movie at two sessions.
The wonderful Music Sing-Along app that we use and recommend, can be downloaded on to any cell phone or tablet at no cost, by searching for it by the name: “Gospel for Kids, Stories, Art, Music”. Then you click on the music section, and start enjoying the beautiful sing-along songs. Even though it says for kids, it has amazingly beautiful and uplifting songs for any child of God up to at least 100 years old. My dear wife and I sing at least a couple of those beautiful songs together almost every morning with that app. We hope to get the designers of that app, to put the beautiful adult hymns back on the app also, like they were before.
There is also an option on the Sing-along app to create your own list of Song Favorites. You can do screen sharing on your cell phone or tablet or use an HDMI adapter to project the words of the songs with the beautiful photos that come with it, onto a big screen T.V. or projector T.V. for a large group to enjoy singing along together. It is very important that each individual sings out loud with enthusiasm and feeling – – – and without being concerned about whether you happen to be a good singer already or not. We all care way too much about each other to be concerned or critical about anyone’s singing skills. By feeling and singing the words of the songs out loud, it internalizes the beautiful messages of the songs deeply into your heart and soul, in a beautiful way that won’t happen if you don’t sing out loud with feeling and meaning.
For other great songs, you can also go to our Church “Gospel Library” app for cell phones and tablets or our Church website: www.ChurchofJesusChrist.org and search for “Hymns — For Home and Church” and you will find beautiful hymns to sing together from the new on-line hymnbook that will have new hymns added to it every few months in many languages, such as the beautiful hymns # 1004 “I will walk with Jesus” and # 1006 “Think a Sacred Song”.
You can also click on the power quote tabs on our website to read and share many dozens of power quotes in each of the categories, and you can choose or make up some of your own positive power quotes to store on your cell phone and computer. We encourage each member of the Club to read and ponder on the Power Quotes at home with their families, and share a couple at meal time as a family. And to have one in mind to share at the next team gathering. We share and discuss Power Quotes from the Bible and “The Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ”, because the Bible is the #1 most read self-help book and book of any kind in the world, and The Book of Mormon is the # 2 most read self-help book and # 6 most read book of any kind in the world with over 192 million copies in print. Both books have a proven track record of helping many millions of Christians and others who had no previous Christian experience to build more trusting and loving relationships with our Father in Heaven, and His Son, Jesus Christ, and with self, family members, and others. I know them to both be inspired by God through His prophets, and no one is wiser than God about what will help us build more trusting and loving relationships. To learn some fascinating facts about The Book of Mormon, click on the link: “Super Fascinating Facts About the Book of Mormon”, and you will start to understand why it is the #2 most read self-help book in the history of the world.
How do you gather the funds to buy your ping-pong tables, foosball tables, etc. for your local Club to get started?
I have a goal to help get “Christ Centered Sports, Games, and Friendship Clubs” going as after school clubs in as many high schools and colleges in the United States as possible, and in other places, such as right here in the Loja District of Ecuador. My wife and I will pay for two ping pong tables, and two foosball tables, and five Connect 4 games for at least the first three groups that want to start an after school Christ Centered Sports, Games, and Friendship Club in their high school in the United States and also for the first three within the Ecuador Guayaquil South Mission where we serve. However, if you later end up shutting down the Christ centered Club at your high school, then you need to agree that the ping pong tables and other supplies will be given to another Club near you.
The Connect 4 game may look too easy and childish at first glance, but it actually takes a lot of careful strategy and thinking to get good at that game. If you are interested in starting a Club in your local high school or college, please send me a message through the “Contact us” tab on the top right side of the website, and I will help you get it started.
There are many members of our Church and others, who I believe will be interested in donating for ping pong tables, etc. directly to your local high school Christ Centered Clubs in their community. If someone only wants to donate $20, then they can order two ping pong paddles or two Connect 4 games on Amazon.com or other sources, and have them delivered directly to the high school attn. “The Christ Centered Sports & Games Club” after youth let the school officials know that they want to get the Club going, and that materials for the club will be delivered soon. That way the donors know that 100% of all funds they donate go directly to buying items for the local Club at the high school.
That will be very helpful, because many people are nervous to donate to “non-profit groups”, because too many of them have a large portion of the donations going directly into the pockets of the founder of the non-profit, who is getting rich off of those donations. This website and the Clubs I personally help to get started, will cost me money, not bring any money to me, but I am O.K. with that, because I am delighted to do what I can to help as many people as possible to come unto Jesus Christ, and live a more Christ centered life. For anyone who likes our cause, they can also choose to hand deliver the donation items directly to the high school if they like, instead of ordering them on Amazon.com.
Do you happen to know any brave youth in our Church, who would like to become gradually more like the apostle Paul or the faithful missionary Ammon, from the Book of Mormon, in bravely sharing the teachings of Jesus Christ with others by their righteous example and words and actions? If you are an adult, who believes in our cause, you can share this website with some brave youth in our Church in your area, to see if they are interested in starting a Club in their school.
The Clubs will also need a big screen T.V. or projector to view movies and the website links to Power Quotes from the Bible, Book of Mormon, and other sources, etc. But, most high schools in the United States at least, have big screen T.V.’s on wheels that can be borrowed for activities. You can click on “Mirror” on your cell phone, tablet, or laptop computer or use an HDMI connection cable to project what shows on your cell phone or tablet to your big screen T.V. or projector.
But, Elder Hunt, considering that the devil and his team have been spreading false slander against your Church for 200 years, and they don’t want anyone to listen to what you actually teach and believe; won’t the anti-Church of Jesus Christ groups be able to stop you from starting Christ Centered after school Clubs at local high schools, and reading Bible and Book of Mormon quotes, etc.? No, they will try, but the supreme court in the United States, by an overwhelming vote of 8 – 1, made the “Equal Access Act constitutional”, and thereby made it clear that no one can discriminate, and stop youth from starting and running any after school Clubs on the basis of their Religious views or other content of their speech at such meetings,- – even if they are prejudice against us by false slander.
Apostle David Bednar taught that the best way for youth to prepare to be a good full-time missionary, is by being a good missionary before their mission, – – and lovingly sharing the beautiful teachings of Jesus Christ with others, which is the most important message we can share with anyone, to bring increased real love, joy and inner peace into lives. One of my best missionary companions in Germany when I was on my first mission as a young man, liked to share some of the great videos from our Church with his friends before his mission, and he baptized seven of his friends during the couple of years before he started his full time mission at age 19, just from them learning to understand the teachings of our Church, and loving the beautiful truths they learned. Almost every open minded person will love the beautiful teachings of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ including the Plan of Happiness for the forever future of all of the children of God, if they just do a serious and prayerful study of it. And whether they happen to choose to ever join our Church or not, their lives will be transformed in positive and joyful ways if they choose to live a more Christ centered life and build positive friendships through our Christ Centered Club activities and focus.
Because of so much false slander against our Church, many parents who have been taught the slander; will initially be very hesitant about allowing their youth to attend the Christ Centered after school meetings, so the youth and parents can carefully check out our website, so they can start to understand that there is no more Christ centered Church than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and that the false slander against us is not true.
On the day that you have your after school Christ centered Club gatherings each week, I suggest that you all wear T-shirts with the message: “Christ Centered Sports, Games, & Friendship Club” and www.RcTeam.Club on the front of the shirt. Those shirts can be ordered for $10 on Amazon.com in various colors and sizes, or bought from other local sources. I suggest we go with the color “kelly green”, because green is a good color for a “new life”, as we are all seeking for a new and better life, centered in Jesus Christ, and His teachings. And if we all go with the same color, then many open minded people will start to recognize us as a great positive Christ Centered movement, as they start to see the same shirts all over. I heard a Christian pastor one day teach that wearing T-shirts with a positive Christian message, is one of the best ways to invite a lot of people to come unto Jesus Christ and His teachings. That is especially true, if you are a good and positive living example in your high school and everywhere you go of being a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ in the way you share genuine kindness, respect, and love in all of your interactions with others. If you live in the United States, you can copy and paste this link below in your internet browser, to order the same shirts for your local Club from Amazon.com After they do the first few, they will have their template set up, which will make it even easier for anyone to order more of these shirts from them.
Below is a copy of my Amazon.com shopping cart with one “Line Up 4” (Connect 4) game, one ping pong table, one printed T-shirt, and one foosball table with a total cost of $444. There is one little part on the Connect 4 game that is kind of fragile, so the “Line-Up 4” game is likely a better choice. You will need at least five “line up 4” (or Connect 4 games), and two ping pong tables and two foosball tables, and a bunch of T-shirts, so the cost will be about $1,000 to buy everything for one high school club in the United States on Amazon. The cost is close to $1,500 in Ecuador.
Shopping Cart
$239.00
- Only 2 left in stock – order soon.
- Shipped from: ANDRÉ
$22.99
- Only 18 left in stock – order soon.
- Color: orange
$11.83
- Style: 2 Player Set
$10.89
FREE delivery Fri, Aug 2
$9.99
- In Stock
- Shipped from: Fencov
$149.99
- #1 Best Seller
in Foosball Tables
- In Stock
- Shipped from: Best Choice Products Inc
- FREE delivery Mon, Aug 5
- Color: Light Brown
Subtotal (6 items): $444.69
Some of the movies that we like to share at our Christ Centered Gatherings are below. They can all be found on YouTube in both English and Spanish. These movies were produced by our Christian Church or by members of our Church. And why are we showing movies produced by our Church? Because they are great, interesting, and very uplifting movies. And also, a part of our purpose is to help people understand the truth about our Church and what we actually believe and teach, and to help counter the 200 years of false slander against our Church.
- ( 1 hr + 1 min) “Joseph Smith The Prophet of the Restoration”
Spanish: Español “Jose Smith: El Profeta de la Restauracion.”
- (27 min) “Our Heavenly Father’s Plan”
Español: “El Plan de Nuestro Padre Celestial”
- (19 min) “The Restoration” “Our Heavenly Father’s Plan” (I believe the one hour video in #1 above is better, but this is also good if don’t have time for the longer movie.)
Español: “La Restauracion” (El video de una hora del número 1 anterior es mejor, pero es bueno si no tienes tiempo para la película más larga.)
- (30 min) “Together Forever”
Español: “Justos Para Siempre”
- (1 hr + 5 min) “How Rare a Possession – The Book of Mormon”.
Español: “Una Posesión Preciosa: El Libro de Mormón”.
- (52 min): “Legacy”
Español: “Legado”
- ( 1 hr + 42 min) “17 Miracles”
Español: “17 Milagros”
- (1 hr + 37 min): “Ephraim’s Rescue”
Español: “El Rescate de Efrain”
- (32 min). “On the Way Home”
Español: “Del Camino a Casa”
- (1 hora + 48 min) “The Other Side of Heaven”
Español: “Al Otro Lado del Cielo”
- (1 hora + 57 min) “The Other Side of Heaven # 2”
Español: “El Otro lado del Cielo # 2”
- (1 hora + 5 min) “Special Witnesses of Christ”
Español: “Testigos Especiales de Cristo.
- (24 min) “Johnny Lingo”.
Español: “La Leyenda De Johnny Lingo Pelicula SUD”
- (1 hr + 25 min) “The Legend of Johnny Lingo”. (Later longer version).
Español: “La Leyenda De Johnny Lingo”. (Versión posterior más larga)
- 1 hr. + 12 min: “The Mountain of the Lord”
Español: “El monte del Señor”
- (30 min) “The Prodigal Son”
Español: “El Hijo Prodigo SUD completo”
- (30 Min) “The Plan of Happiness” (with Henry B. Eyring).
Español: El Plan de La Felicidad SUD”
- (20 min): “Treasure in Heaven: The John Tanner Story”.
Español: “Tesoro en el Cielo: La Historia de John Tanner”.
- (1 hr + 5 min). “The Testaments of one Fold and one Shepherd”
Español: “Los Testamentos: de un Rebaño y un Pastor”
- ( 15 min). “Only a Stonecutter”. (The Joseph Millett Story)
Español: “Tan Solo un Cantero” (La Historia de Joseph Millett).
- (18 min.). “Act For Themselves” (1993)
Español: “Actuar por Si Mismos SUD”
- (26 min). “What is Real?”
Español: “¿Qué es real?”
- (1 hr. + 50 min): “The Work and the Glory”.
Español: “La Obra y la Gloria – Una Columna de Luz”
24 (1 hr + 39 min): “The Work and the Glory II : Zion in America”
Español: “La Obra y la Gloria – Sión en América”
25: ( 1 hr + 32 min): “The Work and the Glory III : A house divided”
Español: “La Obra y la Gloria III Una Casa Dividida”
Below are some other good movies in English with Subtitle option in Spanish
- (1 hora + 55 min) “Saturday’s Warrior” Movie in English w Spanish subtitles.
“El Guerrero del Sábado” Película en inglés con subtítulos en español.
- (34 min) “John Baker’s Last Race” In English w Spanish subtitles
- (29 min). “The Three Witnesses” In English w Spanish subtitles
- (24 min). “Mormons: A Labor of Love”. In English with Spanish Subtitles
The first 25 movies above, will take one half of a year or more to complete, if you watch one movie each week, or for some longer movies, you may take two weeks of showing half of the movie each week. By then, your viewers will be ready to start over watching them, because many of the viewers will be new, and the movies are so good, that those that saw them the first time, will want to watch them again, and bring a friend the 2nd time.
Some of you may be thinking; “Charles, are you sure it is O.K. and not against any Church rules, for you to post these things on Social media and encourage others to start their own “Christ Centered Sports, Games, and Friendship Clubs” to help spread the teachings of Jesus Christ from both the Bible and Book of Mormon, etc?
Below are some of my thoughts to answer your question.
What is Social Media? I found this definition on a Google search: “Social media refers to the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks.”
Another definition said: “Social media is digital technology that allows the sharing of ideas and information, including text and visuals, through virtual networks and communities.”
Below are some quotes and a link to the talk called “Flood the Earth through Social Media” from a modern day living apostle of Jesus Christ, David A. Bednar. This website and the Christ Centered Sports, Games, & Friendship Club movement is a part of my efforts to help flood the earth through social media, as he very clearly encouraged us all to do:
Below are some quotes from his talk:
“The Lord is hastening His work, and it is no coincidence that these powerful communication innovations and inventions are occurring in the dispensation of the fullness of times. Social media channels are global tools that can personally and positively impact large numbers of individuals and families. And I believe the time has come for us as disciples of Christ to use these inspired tools appropriately and more effectively to testify of God the Eternal Father, His plan of happiness for His children, and His Son, Jesus Christ, as the Savior of the world; to proclaim the reality of the Restoration of the gospel in the latter days; and to accomplish the Lord’s work.”
“An Apostolic Invitation
What has been accomplished thus far in this dispensation communicating gospel messages through social media channels is a good beginning—but only a small trickle. I now extend to you the invitation to help transform the trickle into a flood. Beginning this day, I exhort you to sweep the earth with messages filled with righteousness and truth—messages that are authentic, edifying, and praiseworthy—and literally to sweep the earth as with a flood (see Moses 7:59–62). . . .
“Imagine the impact we can have as hundreds of thousands and millions of members of the Lord’s restored Church contribute in seemingly small ways to the rising floodwaters. May our many small, individual efforts produce a steady rainfall of righteousness and truth that gradually swells a multitude of streams and rivers—and ultimately becomes a flood that sweeps the earth. “Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great” (D&C 64:33).”
Clearly, the devil and his team are flooding the earth with social media full of false slander against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, so shouldn’t we spread even more of the beautiful truths about Jesus Christ and his Church that He has restored on the earth?
To read the whole talk by David A. Bednar, click on the link below:
I prayed and fasted a lot for guidance from God regarding the articles and information that I have written and posted on this website. I know that my motives and desires are righteous and good. I dearly love the beautiful teachings of Jesus Christ, and His Restored gospel, and I delight in sharing these priceless truths to any and all that I can. The website and movement that I am encouraging to get Christ Centered Sports, Games & Friendship Clubs in as many high schools and colleges, etc. as possible is surely not perfect, and needs to be improved, but I am convinced that many of the ideas and things on this website can help countless people to start learning the truths about the Church of Jesus Christ, that He himself restored on the earth and leads today through a prophet and apostles, instead of trusting the 200 years of false slander from the devil and his team of deceivers. If some of you are interested in using this website in other languages all over the world, please message me on the “Contact Us” link on the top right of the website, and maybe you can translate the English documents on our website, to other languages with the Google Translate app, like I did to translate it from English to Spanish.
Jesus Christ taught his apostles in Matthew 28: 19 – 20: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you”.
When I was a young boy, the prophet, David O. McKay, made it clear that we should all share the beautiful teachings of Jesus Christ with others, and he called me and all of us members of our Church on a life-time mission when he coined the phrase: “Every member a missionary”. And why not, for those who have studied the teachings of Jesus Christ, and chosen to live by them; they soon sense that it is the most important message in the world, and following the teachings of Jesus Christ brings far more real love, joy, inner peace, goodness, and faith into our lives and relationships than any other teachings.
In Doctrine and Covenants Section 58: 26 – 27: the Lord taught us: “For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.
Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness”.
If you are a full time missionary or a life-time member missionary, and if you have a friend who you feel could benefit by having them read any one of the articles on the website, such as “Fascinating Facts about the Book of Mormon”, or “God’s Plan of Happiness/Salvation (Plan A) vs. One Heaven & One Hell (Plan B)”, etc., then you can open that article on the website, and then copy and paste the website link in your internet browser into a note to them, and encourage them to read it by clicking on the link, which will immediately take them to that article on the website. After reading it, they will still be on the website, so they can read any other articles on the website that attract their interest.