Intrepid words from Rupert Murdoch when he said, "We intend…to use sports as a battering ram and a lead offering in all our pay TV operations."

D.H. Lawrence carefully palpated the Australian soul when he said, "Aussies play sport as if their lives depended on it." We can get insightful and ask why Aussies are this way, where it came from and how it can be answered. But just for a moment avoid scurrying into the murky depths of our psyche and leverage off Murdoch and Lawrence's insight. We have a powerful "hook" to captivate our communities for the Gospel.

Take a look at the morning paper. Pause and read the amount news articles fixated around sport and it's personalities. The ads, TV shows and product marketing. Sport sells. Sport captivates.

We can empathise with many a' house-widow's pain as the Australian male extols his patriarchal right to sit vehemently in line of site of the television consuming hours of free-to-air and PAY-TV sport. Australians love their sport - and are captivated at every level.

Fifteen years ago sporting personalities would enter politics to gain leadership clout. Today, the opposite is the same. Politicians and businessmen seek for association in sporting organisations only to see their ratings and stocks push through the roof. Sport commands respect. Rightfully or wrongly the masses are passionately attracted to the inherent quasi-religious qualities of sport. It captivates our nation. Let's not mistake the opportunity to use this somewhat distractive "battering ram" to hook people with a potent force for Christ.

As with emerging technologies in business, the church has, by-and-large been late adopters (for survival sake) of 'emerging ministries' - my hope is that at the outset of the new millennium we can tap into and leverage the enormous potential sport has to reach our nation with the real "Good News".