Conrad Chow took part in the USG Academy during Team 27. The 8-week training was followed by the Team's Weekend Gathering in Tampa, Florida. Conrad is currently a basketball analyst at Pro Insight. We asked Conrad to share a few words about what his weekend experience was like: "The Tampa Weekend Gathering had a tremendous impact on me from both a professional and a spiritual standpoint. Within a small time window, the USG staff provided us with a diverse number of activities and sessions that challenged me the entire weekend. They included relevant Bible study content, applicable outreach opportunities, and in-depth personal strengths training. The bonds and fellowship we had is something I will remember and cherish." Thank you, Conrad! If you are interested in learning more about Uncommon Sports Group and the faith and career support we offer, check out our Member Benefits page or Contact Us. We'd love to hear from you!

The Christmas season is special for many reasons- the time we get to spend with family, the food we get to eat, the presents we get to give and receive- but above all else, it is special because we remember the fulfillment of God’s promise through the birth of Jesus. Paul eloquently writes in Galatians 4:4-5, “But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive adoption as sons.” It is sobering to think of the generations of Israelites that came before that day who patiently awaited the fulfillment of God’s promise to them. But, how can we be sure that Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s promise to Israel? How could so many of the Jews in His day not recognize Him as the Messiah? What proof is there that He was truly God’s Anointed One? In today’s article, we will be proving Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promise by looking at two convincing proofs: the profile evidence and the fingerprint evidence. The Profile Evidence If you have ever watched an episode of Criminal Minds, you know that the BAU (Behavioral Analysis Unit) convict suspects by analyzing the profile of the individual who committed the crime. What color was their hair? What car were they driving? What clothes were they wearing? If the BAU comes across a person that fits the profile they are looking for, they can know that the person committed the crime. In the case of Jesus, we can know if His claims to be God are accurate by analyzing His attributes to see if He fits the profile of the God we see in the Old Testament Scriptures. So, what was the profile of God in the Old Testament? God is described as omnipresent (Jeremiah 23:24), as omniscient (Psalm 147:5), as omnipotent (Jeremiah 32:17), as eternal (Deuteronomy 33:27), and as immutable (Malachi 3:6). If Jesus himself is God, then He must fit the profile of God that we see in the Old Testament. A common point that skeptics make against the divinity of Jesus is the language in the Scriptures that makes it seem that Jesus was begotten, or came to be, which would undermine the eternal attribute of Jesus. We see in many translations of John 3:16 that Jesus is called the “begotten”, or brought about, son of God. This verse can easily put a skeptic into a tailspin. How can Jesus be God if God had to bring Him into being? If we look back at the original Greek word, monogene, we see that it means “unique one”, and in the first century, this verse was used in a way to describe Jesus as the “unique one” of God. From this evidence, we can conclude that the original language did not intend to describe Jesus as being brought into being, but rather that He was the unique one of God. Another verse that seems to undermine Jesus’ eternality is Colossians 1:15, in which Paul calls Jesus the ‘firstborn of all creation. This is an obviously confusing text. How could Jesus be the firstborn of all creation if He is eternal? In the Old Testament, the term firstborn was used in reference to the family member who would receive the lion's share of the estate or would become the next king in the case of a royal family. The word firstborn, in Bible times, referred to the family member with the rights to the father. In using the word firstborn, Paul is describing Jesus as the One with the rights to the Father, as opposed to actually being born or brought into existence. We can affirm this by looking a little further down at Colossians 2:9 where Paul says, “For in Him all the fullness of the deity dwells in bodily form,”. Paul would not contradict himself by claiming that Jesus is the ‘firstborn’ and the ‘fullness of the deity in bodily form’ in the same letter. By looking at the contextual and historical evidence of the word ‘firstborn’, we can see that Colossians 1:15 does not undermine Jesus’ eternality. We have affirmed Jesus’ eternality, but what about the other attributes of God? Is Jesus omnipresent? In Matthew 18:20, Jesus states “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” Is Jesus omniscient? In John 16:30 Jesus’ disciples state, “Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this, we believe that You came from God.” Is Jesus omnipotent? In Matthew 28:18, Jesus says, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and earth.” Lastly, is Jesus immutable? The writers of Hebrews pens in chapter 13 verse 8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” It is clear that Jesus fits the exact profile of God and through this evidence, we can conclude that Jesus’ claims to be God are true! The Fingerprint Evidence A common practice in criminal law is using fingerprint evidence to convict a criminal. If a fingerprint is found on a surface near a crime scene, law officials can try and match the fingerprints of a suspect with the fingerprint found on the crime scene. If it matches, then law officials can be sure that the person in question was responsible for the crime. If it doesn't match, then it is likely that they were not at the crime scene. In His wisdom, God left fingerprint evidence for the Messiah through Old Testament prophecy, and only His true Messiah can fit this fingerprint evidence. In the Old Testament, we find over three hundred prophecies about the coming Messiah, ranging from the location of His birth to His genealogy, to how He would die. God wanted to be sure that His promised Messiah would be recognized, so that we may be sure when and how His promise would be fulfilled. Let’s first take a look at the life of Jesus in comparison to the Old Testament prophecies. Does Jesus fit the fingerprint evidence? In Genesis 28:14, it is prophesied that the Messiah would be a descendant of Jacob. In Luke’s gospel, he provides a genealogy of Jesus, and in Luke 3:34 he notes that Jesus was a descendant of Jacob. The prophet Isaiah writes in Isaiah 7:14 that, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.” This prophecy is fulfilled in the Christmas child, as we see in Luke 1:35, “The angel answered and said to her, ‘the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason, the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.” Micah prophesied that the Messiah would be born in the little town of Bethlehem. Micah 5:2 says, “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.” This prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus, as we read in Matthew 2:1-6. The prophet Isaiah also wrote in Isaiah 40:3-4 that the Messiah would be preceded by a forerunner. The Scripture makes clear in John 1:23 that the man in the wilderness, John the Baptist, was the one who paved the way for the Lord Jesus Christ. In Zechariah 11:12-13, we read that it was prophesied that Jesus would be betrayed with thirty pieces of silver and that the silver would be given to a potter. Amazingly, in Matthew 26:15 and Matthew 27:6-8 this prophecy was fulfilled to the letter. It is evident in just these five prophecies that Jesus is beginning to fit the fingerprint of God’s prophesied Messiah. However, despite the many prophecies fulfilled by Jesus, many skeptics use counterarguments to debunk these fulfilled prophecies. As any good investigator would let's look at these skeptical views to test their validity. The first argument is the coincidence argument. The skeptical view here is that Jesus fulfilled these prophecies by accident. His life somehow matched the prophecies of old without any supernatural plan at work. We can quickly dissolve this argument with a simple mathematical analysis of the situation. In Jesus’ life, He fulfilled to the letter over three hundred Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. If Jesus had just fulfilled forty-eight of these three hundred prophecies, the mathematical probability of that happening by random chance would be one chance in a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion. In case you don’t like counting, that is twelve trillion. We cannot even comprehend a number that high and that is the probability of Jesus fulfilling just forty-eight of the three hundred fulfilled prophecies about the Messiah! It is a simple mathematical fact that the coincidence argument is virtually impossible. The second argument from skeptics is the altered gospel argument. This argument points to the possibility that the gospel writers fabricated the details of their writings to make it appear that Jesus had fulfilled these prophecies. In God’s wonderful wisdom, we see that he created checks and balances both inside and outside of the Christian community to eliminate any skepticism. When the gospels and the epistles were being circulated, scores of eyewitnesses to Jesus’ life, both Jewish and Christian, were still alive and would have called out the writers of the New Testament if they were falsifying the story of Jesus to make him out to be the Messiah. Furthermore, we see the disciple Matthew in his gospel being very clear that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. Matthew was brutally killed in AD 60 by way of being staked and speared to the ground for preaching the gospel in Ethiopia. Logically, Matthew would not have been willing to sacrifice his life for something he knew was a lie and because of Matthew’s willingness to die, we can have confidence that everything he wrote down in his gospel is true. The third argument amongst skeptics is the intentional fulfillment argument. Skeptics claim that Jesus merely lived his life in a way to fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament. While this claim could be true for some of the fulfilled prophecies, such as Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem (Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:8-10), it is impossible for many of the other prophecies that Jesus fulfilled, such as being born of a virgin in the town of Bethlehem and being a descendent of Jacob. This argument is quickly dissolved when we see that many of the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled were completely out of his control and could not have been fulfilled by his own doing. The final argument among skeptics, especially Jewish skeptics, is the context argument. In this case, skeptics state that Christians misinterpret passages and rip them out of context to have them fit the story of Jesus. A common example that skeptics use is Isaiah 7:14, in which the prophet states that the Messiah would be born of a virgin. The claim is that this verse was mistranslated so that the word virgin appears in the text when the original language simply uses the Hebrew word almah which means young woman and not necessarily a young woman who is a virgin, and that the Hebrew world bethulah would have been used to depict a virgin woman. However, in the latest and most detailed linguistics studies of the Hebrew language, we have learned that the Hebrew word bethulah could refer to a widow or divorced woman, and not always a virgin. The original Hebrew word in the text, almah, was never used of a non-virgin, therefore it was the best word in the language to do the job of implying virginity. This example, among others, proves the validity of Jesus’ life matching the prophecies written in the Old Testament. Conclusion What proof is there that Jesus was truly God’s Anointed One? Well, the proof is in the pudding. Jesus not only fits the exact profile of the living God, but He matches the exact fingerprint of the prophesied Messiah in the Old Testament Scriptures. This Christmas season, we can be confident that our faith in Christ being the Messiah is not in vain. Not only do these proofs provide evidence of Jesus being the Messiah, but they provide assurance that Jesus Christ is truly alive. As you enjoy time with family and friends this week and celebrate the coming of our Savior, meditate on these truths and allow them to provide you with a peace that can only come from God. Jesus Christ is our Messiah and this week we celebrate His birth, His life, His death, and His resurrection, which sets captives free. Sources: Strobel, L. (2009). The case for Christmas. Zondervan. 55 Old testament prophecies about jesus. Jesus Film Project. (n.d.). Retrieved December 21, 2021

“Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever!” - 1st Chronicles 16:34 2021 marks the 8th year of our organizations’ existence and the first full year since our name change from Managers On A Mission to Uncommon Sports Group. We wanted to take a moment to share some of the most notable praises of 2021 below. USG Staff: We continue to be thankful for the Lord leading new individuals to join our team. We were blessed to add Noah Weiss and Suzanne Horner as new Ministry Engagement Associates, Zac Colburn as our Director of Operations in addition to JD Mathis, Erin Couwenhoven, Mike Moore, Daniel Peterfeso, and Joel Davis as Operations Associates. USG Board: Two of our longest serving Board Members, Chris King (since 2014) & Chad Atherton (since 2013) officially finished their final terms with our organization in 2021. While they will certainly be missed, God has faithfully led us to be able to add new Board Members in Angela Marin, Jalen Stone, Johnny Shelton, and Jason Romano. The new board members will begin their board terms next month. Chad and Chris were presented with USG “Game Balls” signed by the USG Staff and awarded to our longest serving Board Members. Chris King and Chad Atherton are stepping down from the board as their terms on the USG Board came to an end in December of 2021. We are grateful for their service over the last several years. Thank you! Scholarship Winners: We were once again able to award $40,000 in Scholarships this year! Our Fall 2021 Scholarship Winners are still being selected, but the top 3 winners for our Spring 2021 program were: Daniel Chaderjian - University of Southern California Mark Fairley - Liberty University Zachary Hopp - Washburn University Organizational Development: In addition to celebrating 1 year since our rebrand, 2021 has been a year of immense organizational development for USG. The most notable item has been our implementation of EOS, the Entrepreneurial Operating System. We have been fortunate to have our long-time partners at Four13 Group support us in its adoption. It has supported us in establishing further clarity and focus within our organization. Additionally, we have been able to work with our valuable partners at Helmet Tracker in further enhancing the efficiency of our e-commerce operation. Other major developments in 2021 were the launch of our exclusive members-only USG Connect App, and the USG podcast! Clean Out For A Cause: Our Clean Out For A Cause program has continued to be the engine that helps drive our mission forward. We have been blessed to see our total pounds of donations grow to over 100,000 pounds annually. Donations of used and excess sports gear continue to come in from hundreds of college and pro sports teams throughout the country. The introduction of returnable poly bags in addition to the normal donation collection boxes has also led to hundreds of first-time donors throughout the year. USG Academy: 2021 was an important year in the launching of our new primary discipleship program, the USG Academy. This academy consists of an 8-week curriculum that future leaders of the sport industry complete remotely alongside 15-20 other members of their team. The USG Academy challenges participants to grow spiritually and professionally through weekly calls to action, discussions, and coaching sessions with our USG Staff. USG covers the costs for every individual who successfully completes the 8-week program to come together for an in-person weekend event. These “Weekend Gatherings” provide an opportunity for attendees to put what they have learned into action through facility tours, guest speakers, Bible Studies, and outreach projects. We are thrilled to have each of the following individuals officially join USG through their completion of the Academy in 2021: 2021 Academy Members Team 24 Aaron Crowell - James Madison Ally Ginkens - Kansas Ashley Weingartz - Hofstra Austin Thompson - Pittsburgh Bekah Wyatt - former USG intern Bryan Peters - St. John’s Chris Riewald - Idaho State graduate Cody Crump - Houston Garrett Sons - Oklahoma Jalen Stone - Michigan Justin Wrenn - Georgia Tech Kelsey Witkay - Florida Atlantic graduate Kevin McNamara - St. John’s graduate Kyle Richardson - Central Florida Luke Berge - Baylor graduate Maggie Vlasaty - Minnesota graduate Miranda Rivera - USA Volleyball Payten Martin - South Carolina Shaun Nestor - Immaculata University Steven Rudd - St. John’s Thomas Arteaga - ETSU Zoe Lamb - Pittsburgh Pirates Team 25 (Weekend Event Location: Miami, FL) Adaeze Iheoma - Texas State Addison Patrick - Oklahoma Annalese Lamke - Loyola Antonio Borjas - Fresno State Ashton Pilz - Kansas Dominique Ridley - West Virginia Elyssa Melton - NAIA Ian Silva - GCU graduate Jenna Ladd - Washington Football Team Kaitlin Taylor - Purdue Katie Suits - Baylor Kyle Yost - Taylor University Michael McGinnis - Columbia International Preston Manthei - Taylor University Scott Daughtry - Tennessee Sean Callahan - Taylor University Zachary Moore - ASU graduate Zachary Hopp - Washburn University Team 26 (Weekend Event Location: Minneapolis, MN) Erin Couwenhoven - Indiana Wesleyan Josiah Filegar - Trevecca Nazarene Elijah Gill - Minnesota Timberwolves Nicholas Lachney - St. John’s Gillian Manske - Bethel graduate Justin Ratanataya - Longwood Jacob Stonick - Taylor University Sam Wilkinson - Taylor University Samantha Williams - UMKC Team 27 (Weekend Event Location: Tampa, FL) Conrad Chow - Nevada-Reno Chance Collingwood - Taylor University Ansley Doster - 17 Tournaments Nickolas Fairley - Liberty graduate Joshua Fenwick - Taylor University Hannah Conlisk - Daytona Motor Speedway Lucas Marroquin - St. Louis City SC Elijah Minso - Ashland University Dave Nedbalek - Oral Roberts Mikayla Padilla - GCU Kevin Roussey - Pro Skills Basketball Hunter Snyder - Daktronics Macy Terry - 17 Tournaments Therese VanderPutten - Kansas Chris Barbre - UT-Martin Mission Trip to Kenya The summer ministry highlight for 2021 was our mission trip to Kenya. COVID-19 complications forced us to cancel our Uganda mission trip at the last minute, but the Lord provided us with an opportunity to serve in Kenya. The USG staff led a team of current and future leaders of the sport industry to Nairobi, Kenya for a 2-week missions trip. Highlights of the trip included hosting a 2-day clinic for over 40 local sports coaches and daily sports camps for over 300 kids. You can read one of the participants’ reflections on their time in Kenya here. What a year it has been! The Lord’s hand has been evident in every aspect of Uncommon Sports Group’s 2021. We are grateful to our supporters, network, and partners and are eager to see what the future has in store. Above all, we are thankful for the Lord’s faithfulness, mercy, and grace. “To you alone, O Lord, to you alone, and not to us, must glory be given because of your constant love and faithfulness.” - Psalm 115:1 In Christ Alone, Drew Boe

In the next blog in our Throwback Series, we continue to share the stories, testimonies, and experiences of members during our time as Managers on a Mission. Although we've rebranded to Uncommon Sports Group, the lessons the Lord has taught us and those that attended our events are still important and impactful. Read on to hear how the Lord worked in Dan Young's life during our 2019 Uganda Mission Trip: Some of life’s most beautiful moments happen when things don’t go exactly as planned. Each day I encounter circumstances that force me to change my plans on the fly. Life is too short to worry and complain about these circumstances. Instead, I try to see God’s beauty in these moments, which is much easier said than done. Most of the time, it isn’t until afterward that I see the beauty of the moment. For example, we planned on having 350 children for our first sports camp in Jinja, only to discover that we’d only have 50 children upon arrival. However, once the camp started, kids from every corner of the streets came to join us, and the number was once again close to 350. At the time, it was chaotic, stressful, and annoying. The kids didn’t always seem interested in what we were teaching, their English speaking was minimal, and the sun was beating down. When the day was all said and done, and I had time to reflect on it, the beauty was there even though I couldn’t see it at the time. That was probably the first time any of those children had experienced anything like that and something they will remember for a long time. Despite the lack of actual skills that we were able to teach the kids, we changed their lives differently by showing them love. Another roadblock (literally a roadblock) that we experienced happened when we were leaving the first day of our sports camp in Gulu. Earlier that day, some of the kids had washed our bus and ended up creating a mud pile beneath it. Long story short, we didn’t leave right then. It probably took an hour or more to get the bus unstuck. There was so much going on, many people trying to help, and so many different ideas. For the first half of the process, the bus wouldn’t budge, and it seemed like we were never getting out. The only appropriate response was to laugh away the worries and take advantage of each moment. When the wheels finally caught some traction, I just remember feeling the beauty and excitement of that moment. The point of these two stories is that no matter what plans I make, God’s plans are better. If I’m not constantly on the lookout for these “unplanned” moments, I will miss out on God’s beauty in my life. I may have a plan for my life, but God’s plan will rule every time. What gives me the right to complain and stress about these wonderful moments God carefully places in my life? This theme has persisted throughout my life, and this trip has opened my eyes to its true beauty. It is an experience that I will hold onto for the rest of my life. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us, Dan! Every USG Academy participant is provided the opportunity to attend an Impact Weekend, a final exclamation point to the eight weeks of training they have completed. If you are interested in experiencing a trip similar to Dan's, and if you'd like to invest in your faith and your career in the sports industry, consider applying to the USG Academy today. If you'd like to know more about USG or would like to get in touch, please contact us. We'd love to hear from you. Thank you for your time, and God bless!

Butler University's Sr. Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Health, Performance and Well-Being., Ralph Reiff, joins the Uncommon Podcast to talk about his career journey, which got its start at Butler University and took some exciting turns. Ralph, who was inducted into the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) Hall of Fame in 2013, shares some insightful thoughts on a career in sports and how to master your discipline within the college and pro sport industry. A new episode of the Uncommon Podcast is released every two weeks. You can find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, right here on our website, or wherever you get your podcasts. Check out this week's episode, and be sure to follow our podcast to get alerts when new episodes are released! Curious about Uncommon Sports Group and what our ministry has to offer? Contact us to learn more here! Do you want to join the largest community of future Christian leaders of the college and pro sport industry? Apply to join here!

Hannah Conlisk, who is currently the Guest Services Coordinator at the Daytona International Speedway, was a valuable part of our Team 27 cohort that attended our Tampa, Florida USG Impact Weekend. Here is what she had to say about her experience: "The USG Weekend trip was an amazing time of community with other brothers and sisters in Christ who also share the same passions about working in sports. It was a weekend filled with encouraging testimony, spiritual and professional growth, and fun! In a short time, I met new friends from across the country who daily live out their mission for the Lord while also passionately working in sports. I left Tampa feeling on fire for the Lord, ignited by others to glorify God in my workplace. In an industry that can be spiritually absent, the USG weekend trip turned my focus from myself to glorifying God; and I saw others come to the same realization. I'm so thankful for my new USG family and excited to see what this network of believers can do for the Lord through the field of sports!” Thank you, Hannah! If you are interested in learning more about how Uncommon Sports Group can come alongside you in your faith and career, check out our Member Benefits page or Contact Us. We'd love to hear from you! Don't forget to check out our Uncommon Podcast. We have new episodes dropping every Thursday. Thanks for stopping by, we hope to hear from you soon!

The weekend of November 19th-21st the USG Team headed to Tampa, FL with the most recent training cohort! The focus of the weekend was learning to live out the core values of USG: Called, Committed, and Connected. We kicked off the weekend with a "Play to Your Strengths" training session, supporting our students as they explored their Strength Finder Profiles. We discussed the importance of learning how to work in a team with others who have different and complementary Strengths. We spent the rest of the evening at TopGolf where we enjoyed some friendly competition, a great meal, and quality bonding time. As the day came to a close we split into prayer groups which was a powerful time of prayer and vulnerability for some of the team's students. We had a packed schedule on Saturday! We started with a dive into one of USG's favorite passages of scripture, Acts 2:42-47. This study, "The Fellowship of Believers", covers the four qualities of believers in the Acts 2 church: relentless devotion, heartfelt affection, sacrificial giving, and contagious joy. The Bible study was followed by a tour of the University of South Florida Athletics facilities. Tara Arnold, the Executive Administrative Specialist at USF, gave us a great in-depth tour of the entire athletic complex and we wrapped up with a Q&A session. Our next session was at the Tampa Tarpons Baseball facility at Steinbrenner Field, the New York Yankees spring training facility. At the Tarpons, we learned from a panel of industry leaders: Doug Gilchrist, the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Chaplin, David Adams, a former professional baseball player and the current Tampa Tarpons Manager, and Justin Watson, a current Wide Receiver for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. What a crew! Everyone left this session feeling on fire, with a renewed sense of purpose, passion, and confidence to be a light for Christ in the sports industry! After the panel, we made it back to the hotel for some downtime before jumping into our next session on outreach. We reviewed the SHARE Life and GOSPEL models for initiating spiritual conversation. Then, we headed into the city with a collection of Impact bags which we handed out to those in need. This provided us with the opportunity to pray for those we met. After the outreach, the team gathered at Harpoon Harry's for a great seafood dinner and lots of laughs. The day ended at the hotel. We walked through how to write and share your testimony in 15 seconds and discussed the writing of a life purpose statement. Sunday began with commissioning from Matthew 13:1-23, the parable of the sower: “But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.” Together we attended Radiant Church at their Heights location for the Sunday morning service. Being able to worship together as a team was a great way to wrap up a truly powerful weekend! If you'd like to experience our USG Academy and a USG Impact Weekend, please contact us. Uncommon Sports Group exists to provide faith-based training to future leaders of the sport industry. If you're interested, you can learn more about our member benefits here. We hope to hear from you soon! If you feel like you are ready to become a USG member, don't wait. Apply today!

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” - Isaiah 7:14 NKJV My focus this Christmas is simple: Behold Him. Behold the One who created heaven and earth. The One who divided time 2k+ years ago. The One who fulfilled over 300 prophecies. The One Who is fully God, yet became fully man and entered the world as an infant. Emmanuel. The God Almighty Who is with us. To behold something is to fix attention upon that thing. English poet William Blake observes that “What you behold, you become.” Science has proven by neuroplasticity that our brain is constantly being formed and shaped. It’s not a matter of IF our brain is being formed or shaped, but of WHAT is it being shaped into. What we are beholding is the answer to that question. For some of us the answer may be career aspirations, a spouse, or financial prosperity. When we behold these items too highly, we discover that it begins to change everything about us. We make great sacrifices for these things, fixate on them, and may find ourselves lying awake at night dwelling on them. I propose that, while all of those items I just mentioned can be great and important things, they were never intended to bear the weight as something worthy to Behold. God alone is the only One worthy of our worship. Psalm 96:4 reminds us “For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.” I’m continuously amazed at how strangely dim the challenges, trials, and pressures of this earthly life become during the times I am truly in awe of Who God is: I reflect on the reality that He alone is sovereign and in full control of all of creation. I am aware that not even a sparrow falls to the ground without Him knowing. I recognize that God Almighty is mindful of me. Corrie Ten Boom summarized it like this, “If you look at the world, you will be distressed. If you look within, you will be depressed. If you look at God, you will be at rest.” Not only do I find rest, I also find transformation; “What you behold, you become.” To illustrate this point, I’d like to share something Pastor Aaron Etheridge of Ethos Church in Nashville, TN recently shared in a sermon. As a guitar player, growing up, he became obsessed with a few rock guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix. He found himself constantly listening to their music, and watching videos about them. Before long he noticed that he was starting to not only strum his guitar like them, but began to dress like them, grow his hair like them, and model his behavior on them. He adds that his transformation into something similar to these rock stars he so admired was born not of an obligation to be like them, but instead out of his fascination with them. Our transformation into image-bearers of God is born not of obligation, but out of the fascination with God. Let us grow in our fascination with God this Christmas season. Meditate on the historical reality that 2k+ years ago God came to earth as a baby. Revisit the many prophecies that were fulfilled simply through His birth. Grow in awe of how grand God truly is. Reflect upon the beauty of His attributes and promises. As we do this, we will be amazed how it begins to change our peace, our ability to love others, and everything about us. I’ve included “Behold Him”, by Paul Baloche below as a reflection opportunity. I’d encourage you to take a moment to focus your mind’s eye on our Father, and the gift of his one and only Son, sent to earth to purchase our salvation on a cross. John 1:29 - “...“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

At only twenty-six years old, Tommy McClelland was given the opportunity to be the Athletic Director at McNeese State. Since then, he has been able to learn so much about athletic administration, and that is the topic of conversation in this episode of the Uncommon Podcast. A new episode of the Uncommon Podcast is released every two weeks. You can find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, right here on our website, or wherever you get your podcasts. Check out this week's episode, and be sure to follow our podcast to get alerts when new episodes are released! Curious about Uncommon Sports Group and what our ministry has to offer? Contact us to learn more here! Do you want to join the largest community of future Christian leaders of the college and pro sport industry? Apply to join here!

In this episode of the Uncommon Podcast, Noah is joined by the former Athletic Director at the University of Minnesota, Joel Maturi, to hear his career journey from student manager to power-5 AD. Listen to Joel share about the successes and challenges that he has faced as a sport industry professional, as well as some advice that he gives young professionals within the college and pro sport industry. A new episode of the Uncommon Podcast is released every two weeks. You can find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, right here on our website, or wherever you get your podcasts. Check out this week's episode, and be sure to follow our podcast to get alerts when new episodes are released! Curious about Uncommon Sports Group and what our ministry has to offer? Contact us to learn more here! Do you want to join the largest community of future Christian leaders of the college and pro sport industry? Apply to join here!

There are many ways to get ahead of the game as a young professional in the sport industry, but few are as effective as the handwritten note. In this episode of the Uncommon Podcast, USG's Senior Engagement Associate, Michael Carpenter, and former Director of Student-Athlete Development at the University of Minnesota, Anissa Lightner, talk about the importance of writing handwritten notes to your network within the sport industry and the impact of it! A new episode of the Uncommon Podcast is released every two weeks. You can find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, right here on our website, or wherever you get your podcasts. Check out this week's episode, and be sure to follow our podcast to get alerts when new episodes are released! Curious about Uncommon Sports Group and what our ministry has to offer? Contact us to learn more here! Do you want to join the largest community of future Christian leaders of the college and pro sport industry? Apply to join here!

Managers On A Mission (MOAM) is excited to announce the addition of Seth Ralston to its Full Time staff starting in January, 2018. Seth will be serving as MOAMs 1st ever Director of Discipleship & Programs. Seth’s role will be focused on expanding the depth and reach of MOAMs Discipleship of Future Leaders of Sport, in addition to working with the collegiate and professional teams supporting MOAMs innovative Clean Out For A Cause program. Seth’s unique blend of experience in the sports industry and international sports ministry has greatly equipped him for this role. ​ Seth first started in the sports industry while spending four years at Western Kentucky University working 2 season each for both the Men’s & Women’s Basketball teams. Following graduation, Seth held positions in Basketball Operations, spending two seasons with Austin Peay Women’s Basketball and one season with Mercer Women’s Basketball. Throughout his career, Seth has been highly involved with global missions—participating in and leading sports camps in over 10 countries. Seth has been closely connected to MOAM throughout the past 2 years as he has led multiple MOAM teams on summer mission trips. Seth led his first MOAM team to Uganda in 2016, and then to Ghana this past summer. Seth has spent the previous 7 months in Istanbul, Turkey serving as Athletic Director for an international school. Managers On A Mission (MOAM) is a 501c3 non-profit committed to developing uncommon future leaders of sports who will utilize the platform of sport for God’s glory. MOAMs programs are focused on Student Managers, Interns, and other aspiring sports professionals. These individuals are engaged in MOAM’s annual mission trips, service projects, and scholarship programs. MOAM collects new and gently used sports apparel from collegiate and professional teams and coaches throughout the country. MOAM’s vision is to see the world positively impacted by the faith, talent, and resources of the sports industry.