{"id":6141,"date":"2015-02-02T14:38:39","date_gmt":"2015-02-02T14:38:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/?p=6141"},"modified":"2015-06-02T14:41:43","modified_gmt":"2015-06-02T14:41:43","slug":"one-mans-story-of-football-family-and-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/rawfaith\/one-mans-story-of-football-family-and-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"ONE MAN&#8217;S STORY OF FOOTBALL, FAMILY AND FAITH"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;The Soul of Football&#8217; is a new book from Mark Chester of Who Let the Dads Out.\u00a0One man&#8217;s story of football, family and faith by Mark Chester<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"\/assets\/html_editor\/Soul-of-Football.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" align=\"right\" hspace=\"5\" vspace=\"5\" \/><\/p>\n<ul style=\"font-size: 12px;\">\n<li>Cloning Jamie Carragher<\/li>\n<li>Lionel Messi&#8217;s mistakes<\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s all Wayne Rooney&#8217;s fault\u2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8230; are just three of the issues BRF&#8217;s Who Let The Dads Out? founder Mark Chester reflects on in his new book The Soul of Football.<\/p>\n<p>You only have to listen to a match commentary or read game reports to know that football has a unique and widely accepted language quite unlike any other. Could that language be used to explore the deeper issues of life and faith and spark conversations with football fans across the UK and beyond?<\/p>\n<p>In this book of two halves Mark delves into his footballing story of success and dreams of success, of the joys of winning and the sadness of one of the worst football stadium disasters in history at Hillsborough. This is a story of a long search for the soul of football, its true essence and its essential and emotional nature &#8211; a search he very nearly did not conclude.<\/p>\n<p>In the second half, &#8216;Soccer soul&#8217;, Mark weaves together his football and faith experiences, using the language of football learnt so well over the years to begin to explore 15 key areas of the Christian faith.<\/p>\n<p>Football offers us great enjoyment, whether to school kids playing in a park with jumpers as goal posts or to crowds watching a vital game in one of our mega stadia. Winning seems to bring most happiness, but for those who look deeper, football offers more: a chance to contribute to a team; an opportunity to improve on one&#8217;s best, to win by playing the right way, to be tested by the challenge the opposition provides; and the possibility of learning lessons in the present for use in the future. This book gets beyond the surface of football, and reminds us that we need to get beyond the surface of life, too. Revd John K. Boyers, Chaplain, Manchester United<\/p>\n<p>Read a <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.brfonline.org.uk\/pdfs\/9781841016542.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">sample chapter&#8230;<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Find out <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.brfonline.org.uk\/9781841016542\/\" target=\"_blank\">more and buy.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Available for Kindle Jan 2015<\/p>\n<p>Find out more about Who Let The Dads Out?, a BRF (Bible Reading Fellowship) ministry to dads, father figures and their children <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wholetthedadsout.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.wholetthedadsout.org.uk<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"linkwithin_hook\" id=\"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/rawfaith\/one-mans-story-of-football-family-and-faith\/\"><\/div><script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png?w=750\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;The Soul of Football&#8217; is a new book from Mark Chester of Who Let the Dads Out.\u00a0One man&#8217;s story of football, family and faith by Mark Chester Cloning Jamie Carragher Lionel Messi&#8217;s mistakes It&#8217;s all Wayne Rooney&#8217;s fault\u2026 &#8230; are just three of the issues BRF&#8217;s Who Let The Dads Out? founder Mark Chester reflects [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":6075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1073],"tags":[26,1076,83,699,156,1077],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Soul-of-Football.jpg?fit=250%2C382&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7PoLK-1B3","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7756,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/friends-of-cvm\/breakdown-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":6141,"position":0},"title":"Breakdown","date":"16 November 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I think I\u2019m having a mid-life crisis. I\u2019m 46 years old and I bought some ripped jeans recently. My 16 year old son was horrified. \u201cI\u2019d like the old dad back,\u201d he said. \u201cThe one who wears smart jeans, a button down shirt and a v-neck jumper.\u201d Then I tried\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Friends of CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/breakdown.png?fit=565%2C350&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6658,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/rawfaith\/the-side-to-life-even-football-cant-solve\/","url_meta":{"origin":6141,"position":1},"title":"The Side To Life Even Football Can\u2019t Solve","date":"6 January 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"While the chaos of a hectic Christmas fixture list has dominated the news over the past couple of weeks, there was one piece of breaking news that unfortunately showed a side to life that even football can\u2019t solve. A week ago, Martin Ling, now ex manager of Swindon Town FC,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Rawfaith&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1961,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/uncategorized\/robs-round-up-36\/","url_meta":{"origin":6141,"position":2},"title":"Rob&#8217;s Round Up","date":"28 November 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Football was mourning Gary Speed after the Wales manager was found dead at his home in Chester. The 42-year-old former midfielder won 85 international caps and had been national team boss for 10 games. Speed helped Leeds United win the 1992 First Division title, the season before the Premier League\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Blog\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":868,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/uncategorized\/captured-by-a-better-vision\/","url_meta":{"origin":6141,"position":3},"title":"Captured By A Better Vision","date":"3 August 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been out for a little while now but we wanted to highlight and commend to you Tim Chester's latest book, 'Captured By A Better Vision'. The blurb ... You long to be free but \u2026 Pornography has reached epidemic proportions. And in God\u2019s eyes porn is ugly. \u2018Unbearably ugly,\u2019\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"book\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/captured_by_a_better_vision.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":766,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/robert-green-missing-the-mark\/","url_meta":{"origin":6141,"position":4},"title":"Robert Green: Missing The Mark","date":"14 June 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"By now the jokes are all over the place \u2026 \u201cBefore he got into football, Robert Green was a bus driver. But he got fired because he couldn't make any stops.\u201d \u2026 or \u2026 \u201cAt least that's one British spillage the Americans won't be moaning about...\u201c And so on and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Team CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/team-CVM-blog-640x360.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7552,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/wanted-biblical-hooligans\/","url_meta":{"origin":6141,"position":5},"title":"Wanted: Biblical Hooligans","date":"23 May 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This blog was originally published\u00a0by The Diocese of London and can be found here. CVM seeks strategic partnerships to be able to encourage and enable others to share the gospel. One such involvement is with the Diocese of London and its Sports Network Initiative. This month, our Director for London\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Team CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6141"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6141"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6145,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6141\/revisions\/6145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}