{"id":2823,"date":"2014-07-26T07:02:18","date_gmt":"2014-07-26T12:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thomrainer.wpengine.com?p=2823"},"modified":"2020-02-07T15:09:27","modified_gmt":"2020-02-07T21:09:27","slug":"11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/","title":{"rendered":"11 Differences between a College Football Fan and a Church Member"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Warning: The article below is a bit of sarcastic humor. I am speaking in hyperbole to make a point. The football fan noted represents a very rabid football fan. The church member represents some, but certainly not all, church members.<\/p>\n<p>Disclosure: I tend to be a rabid college football fan. I see my allegiance as an area of devotion that needs significant adjustments downwardly. So I don\u2019t necessarily practice what I preach. For example, even as I type these words, I am reminded that the kickoff for my team\u2019s first game of the season is exactly five weeks from today.<\/p>\n<p>Caution: While I do write these comparisons with some humor and a lot of hyperbole, you might get just a bit uncomfortable reading them. That may indicate there is some truth in each of them.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>A college football fan loves to win. The typical church member never wins someone to Christ.<\/li>\n<li>A college football fan gets excited if a game goes into overtime. A church member gets mad if the pastor preaches one minute past the allocated time.<\/li>\n<li>A college football fan is loyal to his or her team no matter what. A church member stops attending if things are not going well.<\/li>\n<li>A college football fan is easily recognized by his or her sportswear, bumper stickers, and team flags. Many church members cannot even be recognized as Christians by people with whom they associate.<\/li>\n<li>A college football fan pays huge dollars for tickets, travel, and refreshments for games. A church member may or may not give to his or her church.<\/li>\n<li>A college football fan reads about his or her football team every day. A church member rarely reads the Bible once in the course of a week.<\/li>\n<li>A college football fan attends the game no matter how bad the weather is. A church member stays home if there is a 20 percent chance of rain.<\/li>\n<li>A college football fan invites others to watch the game every week. A church member rarely invites someone to church.<\/li>\n<li>A college football fan is known for his or her passion for the football team. A church member is rarely known for his or her passion for the gospel.<\/li>\n<li>A college football fan will adjust gladly to changes in kickoff time. A church member gets mad if his or her service time is changed by just a few minutes.<\/li>\n<li>A college football fan is loyal even if he or she never gets to meet the coach. A church member gets mad if the pastor does not visit for every possible occasion.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Yes, I admit I do enjoy college football. But I really love Christ\u2019s churches even more. I need to demonstrate that reality more readily. Do you?<\/p>\n<p><strong>So . . . what would you add to my somewhat sarcastic list? Do you see the humor? Do you see some truth?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yes, I admit I do enjoy college football. But I really love Christ\u2019s churches even more.","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"","publish_post_category":"","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,184,175],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-answers","category-discipleship","category-grow"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>11 Differences between a College Football Fan and a Church Member | Church Answers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yes, I admit I do enjoy college football. But I really love Christ\u2019s churches even more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"11 Differences between a College Football Fan and a Church Member | Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yes, I admit I do enjoy college football. But I really love Christ\u2019s churches even more.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-26T12:02:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-07T21:09:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Bryant-Denny_Stadium_panorama2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"343\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Thom S. Rainer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Thom S. Rainer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Thom S. Rainer\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/47ecb0b82afa1c1b6a9d1003673d2e90\"},\"headline\":\"11 Differences between a College Football Fan and a Church Member\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-26T12:02:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-07T21:09:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/\"},\"wordCount\":486,\"commentCount\":103,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Bryant-Denny_Stadium_panorama2.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Church Answers\",\"Discipleship\",\"Grow\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/\",\"name\":\"11 Differences between a College Football Fan and a Church Member | Church Answers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Bryant-Denny_Stadium_panorama2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-26T12:02:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-07T21:09:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/47ecb0b82afa1c1b6a9d1003673d2e90\"},\"description\":\"Yes, I admit I do enjoy college football. But I really love Christ\u2019s churches even more.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Bryant-Denny_Stadium_panorama2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Bryant-Denny_Stadium_panorama2.jpg\",\"width\":750,\"height\":343},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"11 Differences between a College Football Fan and a Church Member\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/\",\"name\":\"Church Answers\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/47ecb0b82afa1c1b6a9d1003673d2e90\",\"name\":\"Thom S. Rainer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8c3ff1affa60c1a7bb88c4be178b40a86d32ab697f24a7e5802cc5875ab6eae?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8c3ff1affa60c1a7bb88c4be178b40a86d32ab697f24a7e5802cc5875ab6eae?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Thom S. Rainer\"},\"description\":\"With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/author\/thomrainer\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"11 Differences between a College Football Fan and a Church Member | Church Answers","description":"Yes, I admit I do enjoy college football. But I really love Christ\u2019s churches even more.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"11 Differences between a College Football Fan and a Church Member | Church Answers","og_description":"Yes, I admit I do enjoy college football. But I really love Christ\u2019s churches even more.","og_url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/","og_site_name":"Church Answers","article_published_time":"2014-07-26T12:02:18+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-02-07T21:09:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":343,"url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Bryant-Denny_Stadium_panorama2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Thom S. Rainer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Thom S. Rainer","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/"},"author":{"name":"Thom S. Rainer","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/47ecb0b82afa1c1b6a9d1003673d2e90"},"headline":"11 Differences between a College Football Fan and a Church Member","datePublished":"2014-07-26T12:02:18+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-07T21:09:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/"},"wordCount":486,"commentCount":103,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Bryant-Denny_Stadium_panorama2.jpg","articleSection":["Church Answers","Discipleship","Grow"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/","name":"11 Differences between a College Football Fan and a Church Member | Church Answers","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Bryant-Denny_Stadium_panorama2.jpg","datePublished":"2014-07-26T12:02:18+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-07T21:09:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/47ecb0b82afa1c1b6a9d1003673d2e90"},"description":"Yes, I admit I do enjoy college football. But I really love Christ\u2019s churches even more.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Bryant-Denny_Stadium_panorama2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Bryant-Denny_Stadium_panorama2.jpg","width":750,"height":343},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-differences-college-football-fan-church-member\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"11 Differences between a College Football Fan and a Church Member"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/","name":"Church Answers","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/47ecb0b82afa1c1b6a9d1003673d2e90","name":"Thom S. Rainer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8c3ff1affa60c1a7bb88c4be178b40a86d32ab697f24a7e5802cc5875ab6eae?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8c3ff1affa60c1a7bb88c4be178b40a86d32ab697f24a7e5802cc5875ab6eae?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Thom S. Rainer"},"description":"With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/author\/thomrainer\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2823"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":696623,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2823\/revisions\/696623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}