(First off, let me give this preface. I know that to say that that professional wrestling is a sport is a bit of a stretch but just go with me on this one.)
I enjoy watching professional wrestling (or sports entertainment as some like to call it) from time to time. Watching wrestling usually goes in cycles for me. When I was a kid, I was a huge wrestling fan. Growing up in the 80s, I was a big fan of Hulk Hogan, "Macho Man" Randy Savage and the Ultimate Warrior. During my junior high/high school years, it was Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. When I was in college, my watching of wrestling was off and on but I kept tabs on it now and then. Since college, I have went in cycles. There are times when I watch a lot of it and other times not so much. To this day, I will still watch old matches in large part due to the nostalgia factor.
Recently (because I've had more access to cable), I've been watching more wrestling. I would attribute this in due part to the "storyline" of one wrestler. His name is CM Punk. For those who don't know who that is, he's a wrestler from Chicago, IL. Prior to working in the WWE, he wrestled in several wrestling organizations around the world. He was been world champion in various organization, including several times in the WWE. His "gimmick" is tied into his real life in that he is straight edge. The straight edge lifestyle is one in which a person refrains from alcohol, tobacco and recreational drugs. There are others who hold to this lifestyle in sports including Texas Rangers pitcher C.J. Wilson.
Punk has played both the "face" (good guy) and the "heel" (bad guy) during his time in the WWE. When he was a "face", his straight edge life was protrayed as a positive thing in which his "drug" was competition and winning. When he was a "heel", his straight edge life was protrayed as a negative thing in which he was holier than thou with the fans and the "face" wrestlers.
Recently, his character had been kind of floundering and wasn't among the "top card" wrestlers. However, that changed when he was named the #1 Contender to the WWE title. This also coincided with the fact that his contract with the company was about to expire in real life. So on June 27th, CM Punk came out on Monday Night Raw and told the fact that his contract was expiring. He then went on to say that he was leaving the company and taking the belt with him.
What really stood out was the "shoot" message he gave at the end of the show. A "shoot" is a real not fake thing. What he did that night was a "worked shoot", which meant he had permission to say what he said but it was pretty real. Usually if a worked shoot is done well, people don't know the difference and that night was a clear example of that.
That night onward leading up to the pay-per-view event "Money in the Bank", CM Punk created a buzz that even drew into mainstream media. By the time of the event in his hometown, it was at a fever pitch. His entrance to the ring was one of the loudest I have ever heard. If you get a chance, watch his entrance. There's no fireworks, nothing super flashy. But the response of the crowd was loud. Punk went on to win the match against John Cena and took the belt with him. This has led to the storyline of there being two champions and will be settled I'm sure at the next PPV.
What got me thinking was about was does this translate into reaching out into a community with the Gospel and if so how? What lessons (if any) can we learn?
1.) Let the Gospel make an impact. We, as followers of Jesus, are called to share the Gospel. We are not responsible for what happens afterwards. We leave that up to God. God will use our words and actions to change hearts and minds. He is the one, through the work of the Holy Spirit, that makes that impact happen. We are called to be faithful to share.
2) When Christ is at work, there will be a buzz. When the impact of the Gospel happens in a community, it's hard not to tell others about it. Word spreads all around. People talk about it, even those you don't expect to talk about it. It has an impact in people's lives.
3) Keep the message in the forefront. After winning the title, Punk kept popping up at various events with the title to let people know he was around and had the belt. As followers of Jesus, we're to keep the message of the Gospel out there, popping up in various places as we travel along sharing our stories.
It will be interesting to see how the storyline goes with CM Punk and the title. But it'll be more interesting to see how God uses believers to continue to reach the world with the Gospel in the various contexts that He has placed us.
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