Wrestling for Christ: Using Sports to Share the Gospel
Carl Dambman reveals how wrestling and sports became a global platform to share the gospel and bring hope to people across cultures and nations.
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Carl Dambman shares how God used his wrestling career as a powerful platform to spread the gospel across the globe—from national championships in the U.S. to life-changing missions behind the Iron Curtain. Through Athletes in Action, Carl discovered how sports can break down cultural barriers, open hearts, and serve as both evangelism and worship. Hear how athletes used their talents not for personal glory, but to declare God's greatness among the nations—proving that whatever you do, even in sports, can glorify the Lord.
Carl Dambman:
Sports was the foundation to have a platform to share our faith. Psalm 96 says to declare God's glory amongst the nations, to speak about Him amongst all tribes. And that's even the soccer football tribe. You know, sports is one of the greatest cultures in the world.
I’m with Athletes in Action. We're traveling around the U.S., sharing our faith. I'm competing. Our team won the national championship my first year, 1975. Best freestyle wrestling team in the whole country – Athletes in Action. Then travel all over the east of the U.S., sharing the gospel with a hundred thousand people roughly every year.
And so God has opened amazing doors through the platform of wrestling. I wasn't the best wrestler in the world, but God used what talent I had and the availability that I had using sports as the platform. And that took me to Europe to use sport – especially wrestling – behind the Iron Curtain.
They were amazed to meet Americans. First of all, we were the first Americans that many people ever met personally. And then, when I gave them a Bible, there were many times that people cried because they had never touched a Bible before in their life – because they were told that there was no God, or if there was a God, He was only for weak people.
And so here we were. One of my teammates was an Olympic champion. All five of us were national champions in the U.S., and they'll say, you’re a… you're a sportsman? And you're a Christian? Well, you must have stopped doing sports when you became a Christian. Of course, we say, no actually, because of my relationship with God, I'm able to compete better. I am able to compete for His glory, not for my own, and He gives me the ability to focus and work hard for Him.
The Bible says that whatever you do – in Colossians 3 – he says, whatever you do, do it with all your heart as under the Lord, and “whatever” includes sports. People say 80% of the people are involved in sports in some way, either watching it or participating in it. Sports are a fantastic part of our culture and in almost all cultures. So it breaks down barriers. We can do soccer and then open the Bible and talk to people. But it's not only good for evangelism, it's also a form of worship – that you use the talent that God has given you to bring glory to Him.
Why would an American wrestler who didn't understand the language, didn't speak the language… It was because God had changed my heart, had given me a purpose and had given me a hope. And here were people that had been hopeless for so long, and all of a sudden there was a chance for them to have a new hope.
There are people that need Jesus. I have so many Russian friends, so many Polish friends, so many African, Asian friends… Sport and my faith in Christ has opened up the whole world, and I feel very blessed to have a platform to share our faith.
