Fight Pastor

Fight Pastor is a Christian ministry organization led by Pastor Brandon Beals of Canyon Creek Church in Mill Creek, Washington. The ministry is based around the mixed martial arts (MMA) community, and is focused on a wide range of activities including chaplaincy and MMA news from a Christian perspective.

History

Fight Pastor was started by Beals in 2009 as a blog on the Canyon Creek Church website.[1] Beals is an avid MMA fan and decided to start a separate MMA blog at FightPastor.com.

Beals was interviewed at UFC 100 by the Las Vegas Review-Journal[2] and soon after Yahoo Sports [3] due to the unusual nature of his work. Shortly thereafter, a handful of other media outlets took notice.

Fight Pastor was featured by The New York Times after a reporter stumbled upon Beals' blog and featured it in an article with front page column space.[4]

Ministry Focus

The main focus of the Fight Pastor ministry outlined as:

The ministry of Fight Pastor has been featured on NBC affiliates in Seattle, WA,[6] Montgomery, Alabama,[7] Fort Meyers, FL [8] and Augusta, GA [9] as well as international television stations Canal+ and ARD.[10] The Fight Pastor has also been featured in many newspapers nationally from The Herald (Everett, Washington)[11] to Seattle Post-Intelligencer.[12] The May 2011 issue of Ultimate MMA Magazine features an article called "Religious Firestorm" that discusses the Christian faith in mixed martial arts, and Beals' ministry to provide spiritual direction to fighters.[13]

Chaplaincy and Fighter Sponsorship

Another purpose of Fight Pastor is to provide a chaplain presence in the MMA community, as well as sponsor fighters. Currently, Fight Pastor sponsors Justin Wren [14] and Demico Rogers [15] who were competitors on the 10th season of The Ultimate Fighter.

In 2010 The Fight Pastor began sponsoring and chaplaining Joe Brammer[16] who fought Aaron Riley at UFC 114. Fight Pastor also chaplains Jeremy Stephens and Otto Olson.

References

  1. ↑ Canyon Creek Church: Pastor Brandon's Blog
  2. ↑ Hill, Adam (2009-07-09). "Simple formula fuels UFC's appeal". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
  3. ↑ Cofield, Steve (2009-07-09). "UFC 100: WWJD? Of course watch UFC at the church". Yahoo Sports.
  4. ↑ Schneiderman, R.M. (2010-02-01). "Flock Is Now a Fight Team in Some Ministries". The New York Times.
  5. ↑ FightPastor.com: About Us
  6. ↑ King 5: NBC Seattle, WA
  7. ↑ WSFA: NBC Montgomery, AL
  8. ↑ NBC-2: NBC Fort Meyers, FL
  9. ↑ NBC Augusta, GA
  10. ↑ http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/weltspiegel260.html
  11. ↑ The Herald: Pastor Uses Martial Arts to Reach Athletes
  12. ↑ The Seattle Post-Intelligencer: The Fight Pastor
  13. ↑ Religious Firestorm: Ultimate MMA Magazine
  14. ↑ fightpastor.com: Justin Wren Fights, Fight Pastor Prays
  15. ↑ DemicoRogers.com: Fight Pastor now sponsoring Demico
  16. ↑ http://fightpastor.com/2010/04/30/fight-pastor-partnering-with-joe-brammer

External links

  1. Fight Pastor's home page
  2. Canyon Creek online