One of the most “un-churched" groups in the United States is the 18 -34 year old male. This guy is typically not attracted to the traditional view of the church and by most accounts, he does not see much relevance in the Jesus we are preaching about.

Books such as “Why Men Hate Church” have been written and studies have been documented, but the bottom line is that this group of men is largely missing from the church today. An interesting point is that this demographic has been missing from more than just the church, traditional marketing techniques and methods have failed to capture the attention of the young male and this has caused marketing firms to rethink their effectiveness in this category.

What the marketing groups discovered during the first season of Ultimate Fighter reality show was that the 18-34 year old male would watch fighting. The resulting revenue from paid advertising is in large part responsible for the rapid growth of the sport. On October 10th, 2006 more 18-34 year old males watched Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock (1.6 million) than watched the baseball playoff game between the A’s and the Tigers (1.1 million) and the sport had officially hit the radar of the corporate marketing budgets.

God has already been working in the fight culture.

As the church, we need to embrace what these numbers bear out. The sport of fighting, along with its culture and icons have captured the attention of a large demographic in a way that nothing else has been able to accomplish in recent years. However, unlike other "un-churched" groups and cultures we do not need to spend years training people to send as missionaries so that they know the language, history, etc… God has raised up for His purposes some of the very men who have created this fight culture and are now the people defining it! God has went ahead of us and paved the way for His church to reach these young men. Therefore, each of us need to become familiar with the sport of fighting so that we can more effectively present the gospel to this culture and be faithful with this opportunity we have been given. And in the same way I will be using this blog to train you in fighting, I will help you to understand this culture by bringing you videos and interviews with many of the Christian fighters.

Your first assignment

So here is your first assignment—if you choose to follow God into this fight, start to familiarize yourself with this sport, it's culture, and the believing fighters that participate in it. To that end, you have an exciting option coming up in the next month. On October 4th, Ken Shamrock is fighting live on CBS television at 9 EST in an event that could potentially be the most watched fight in MMA history. So grab some buddies and watch a brother in Christ mix it up in the ring on national television!

And then come back here as I bring you specific training from real fighters, and the Apostle Paul, on how to fight "good"!