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After 13 years of relatively low-profile outreach to professional athletes, the Austin, Texas-based Champions for Christ (CFC) ministry received big publicity in a blitz that included Sports Illustrated, espn, and several newspapers and magazines.

Under other circumstances, the ministry would have welcomed the attention, but CFC has been accused of demanding a tithe from its members and improper involvement in contract talks between players, agents, and teams. "Ludicrous and untrue," says Dave Jamerson, CFC national representative, adding that the allegations reflect "a lack of understanding of Christian culture."

COMPLAINTS FILED? The brouhaha started with summer contract negotiations involving Chicago Bears rookie Curtis Enis, who, after being converted to Christianity in a CFC outreach, fired his agent, former Raiders' safety Vann McElroy, and hired a Christian financial planner who is a friend of CFC leaders.

By some accounts, McElroy's firm lodged complaints with the National Football League (NFL) about CFC's influence and tactics. By other accounts, the Chicago Bears and Jacksonville Jaguars asked the league to investigate the ministry out of concern that CFC was asking players to give huge amounts of money to the organization.

The management of both teams declined interview requests, but NFL vice president of public relations Greg Aiello says CFC is "not an issue with this office—we don't deal with them." Aiello says the NFL has more concern about finances than faith issues. "There is a history of athletes being taken advantage of financially," he says.

Both the charges that CFC officially represents players and that it requires tithing from members have rankled the leadership of the nonprofit ministry, which emphasizes it does not negotiate contracts and makes no financial requirement for membership.

"Our sole mission is to promote the gospel of Jesus Christ to athletes and to build disciples for Christ," says Jamerson. "The majority of the athletes we do minister to never give a dime to us."

CFC's 1996 tax filings show that the ministry received $805,249 in donations. Jamerson says the 1997 figures are still being audited. "But it's probably around a million dollars," he reports. Though it is not a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, Jamerson says CFC is in the process of joining the watchdog organization and does follow its guidelines, submitting to an independent board and an annual audit. "Everybody who gives to CFC, we give them a year-end report," he says.

CFC has 20 chapters with 300 college athletes from 27 campuses. CFC began as a campus ministry, Jamerson says, and one of the first fruits of its efforts was the National Basketball Association's A. C. Green, a former Los Angeles Laker and current Dallas Mavericks forward, now a CFC vice president.

Jamerson asks, "Why not reach athletes out there not only to be champions on the fields, but champions in life?"

So why has CFC attracted this scrutiny? Washington Redskins cornerback Darrell Green, a nonvoting CFC board member and a part of the ministry for more than ten years, says it is a spiritual battle. He says "the enemy" does not "like the advance of the kingdom in an area where the Devil has ruled for years—professional athletics. I've done an in-depth investigation of Champions and these people are right [standing]," Green says. "This [controversy] is all about money—greed and money."

Greg Feste, founder of the Malachi Group in Sugar Land, Texas, is the new agent for Enis. The Malachi Group consists of three separate operations providing financial planning and investments, career management, and a venture capital corporation. Feste's publication, Wealth: By the Book, explores biblical views on money. He says sports media have misunderstood that his various operations promote biblical financial stewardship and principles. "They're thinking I'm this religious Bible thumper who's using that to promote his own agenda," Feste says.

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October 5 1998, Vol. 42, No. 11