Planet Sport: On air in Australia

Australia is one nation that loves its sport and Planet Sport, our weekly 15-minute programme, is currently heard on ten radio stations there across the country.

99.9 Live FM broadcasts to Townsville in North Queensland.  They told us why they broadcast Planet Sport:

“The opportunity to hear about the faith of some of the world’s biggest sports stars.  My only criticism is that it’s not long enough.”

91.9 Fresh FM is also in Queensland, based in the town of Gladstone.  This is what they say about Planet Sport:

“We air your programmes because we are confident that the sporting news and interviews are not sensationalised and because they come from a Christian perspective.  That’s what our audience want.”

Further down the east coast in Erina, New South Wales is 94.9 FM Rhema Central Coast.  The aim of the station is to bring the Gospel of Jesus and a message of hope into a hurting community.  Their audience is between 10,000 and 20,000 listeners every month.

They told us why they broadcast Planet Sport every week:

“It’s great to be able to give our listeners some insight into the world of professional sport and to hear from believers that operate in that realm.”

The general feedback they receive is that people enjoy hearing sports news from a Christian worldview.

Planet Sport looks at sport around the world and hears from some of the world’s top sportsmen and women.

The programme started in 2005 and since then there have been over 530 episodes. We have covered major sports events such as the Fifa World Cup and Olympic Games and spoken to over a hundred top athletes about their sport and faith as followers of Jesus Christ.

Please pray for sports fans listening to Planet Sport on the ten stations in Australia every week as we seek to introduce them to Jesus.

Will you also consider making a gift to maintain the ministry so that sports fans can continue to hear sportsmen and women talking about their faith in the living, risen Lord Jesus Christ on Planet Sport every week?  Thank you.

Destination Rio Update

Great news – we have found suitable accommodation for our media team during the 2016 Rio Olympics which run from 5th – 21stAugust. We have been in contact with a pastor of a church near the site of the Olympic Park and he has arranged for us to stay in a property adjoining his church.

The price of accommodation in Rio de Janeiro is very high during the Olympics so we are grateful for this provision at a very reasonable cost. The church has an ongoing ministry to those affected by crime and family breakdown in the city and it is good to be partnering with them in reaching sports fans with the gospel during the games.

The accommodation is empty at the moment and needs to be equipped with furniture and a good Internet connection. We are hoping that a member of the church will be willing to act as an interpreter for us during our stay which will also give us valuable local knowledge of the city.

Most of our team were in Rio de Janeiro for the FIFA World Cup™ in 2014 so we know the layout of the city and the transport networks. Our aim is to record good quality interviews with Olympic athletes and to report on the many Christian activities that will take place during the Games.  Although English is spoken widely across Rio, Norman Brierley speaks Portuguese and this will be a great help.

Our two weekly programmes Planet Sport and Planet Sport Football Africa have a growing following on social media such as Facebook and Twitter and Social Media Manager Tom Ellis will be actively working to increase this by posting regular updates and blog posts. Producer Pedro Arias, originally from Colombia, will be producing reports in Spanish for radio audiences in Europe and Central and South America.

You can follow all our activities from our websites and social media. Please pray that we will finalise the practical arrangements soon and that we will be successful in raising the finances needed to fund this project. If you think this is something you’d like to support click the link below for more information.

Thank you.

Music: bensound.com/royalty-free-music.

Passion for Sport Supporters' Club

Week-by-week Passion for Sport produces radio programmes, Planet Sport and Planet Sport Football Africa, which are a regular presence in the lives of many sports fans in different parts of the world.

They not only listen to the programmes broadcast by our partner radio stations but also follow them on Facebook and post their comments on Twitter and WhatsApp.

Here are a couple of examples from listeners in The Gambia:

“I will listen to Steve [producer Planet Sport Football Africa] today. Please tell him Moses in the Gambia is a huge fan of Planet Sport Football Africa. He always follows the show in radio, Facebook and WhatsApp.” (Moses, The Gambia)

“I was almost in tears as I missed the broadcast yesterday… very unfortunate! Can you please summarise the programme for me” (Cherno, The Gambia)

Through our regular presence on-air and online, relationships are developed providing an open door for the Gospel. But regular, constant ministry like this needs regular and constant support.

This is where the Passion for Sport Supporters’ Club comes in. Members of the Supporters Club give £4 per month enabling the listeners of one of our partner radio stations to hear 15 minutes of our programmes each month.

Yes, that’s right. For the price of a latte and Danish pastry members of the Passion for Sport Supporters Club are helping introduce sports fans, listening on one radio station, to Jesus. Fantastic value!

To find out more about the Supporters Club and to join up today, take a look at our dedicated Supporters’ Club page.

Running for Passion for Sport

The Vitality British 10K London Run takes place in London in July and Passion for Sport has reserved places for six runners. These six brave souls will run to raise funds for Passion for Sport.

Already four of the six places have been taken but there’s still time to sign up for the remaining two!

Passion for Sport IT Manager, Pete Ellis, is one of those running. He says, “Although this is no marathon, as a non-runner it will still present me with quite a challenge. I’m up to 6km with my training and with three months to go I’m hoping that I will be able to run the distance without stopping.”

Along with Passion for Sport trustee Phil Dominy, Social Media Manager Tom Ellis is also running and you can read his story below (10th March).

So if you fancy a challenge and want to join together with others to help raise money Passion for Sport, check out the details and complete the registration form.

If, like me, your knees just can’t take it, there is the opportunity to support those running by making a donation. Visit Virgin Money Giving to see who’s running, click on their photo to go through to their individual collecting page.

Destination Rio Update

With just over four months to go until the Passion for Sport team travels out to Rio de Janeiro to cover the 2016 Olympic Games we are busy sorting out everything we need for our visit. The main need is for accommodation for the team of five ideally in a central location in order to be where the action is during the games.

We have a local contact based in Rio who is looking into accommodation options for us and he is making good progress with that. Once the location has been sorted the next most important thing is a good internet connection which is essential to deliver our audio content to partner radio stations and to our websites.

The Passion for Sport team of five media professionals consists of:

Norman Brierley, Team leader and journalist

Pedro Arias, journalist and Spanish language reporter

Tom Ellis, journalist and Social Media Manager

Andy Bloss, journalist

Peter Ellis IT Manager and technical support

Most of our team were in Rio de Janeiro for the FIFA World Cup in 2014 so we know the layout of the city and the transport networks. Our aim is to record good quality interviews with Olympic athletes and to report on the many Christian activities that will take place during the Games.  Although English is spoken widely across Rio, Norman Brierley speaks Portuguese and this will be a great help.

Our two weekly programmes Planet Sport and Planet Sport Football Africa have a growing following on social media such as Facebook and Twitter and Tom Ellis will be actively working to increase this by posting regular comments and blog posts.  Producer Pedro Arias, originally from Colombia, will be producing reports and interview in Spanish for radio audiences in Europe and Central and South America.

You can follow all our activities from our websites and social media. Please pray that we will finalise the practical arrangements soon and that we will be successful in raising the finances needed to fund this project. If you think this is something you’d like to support take a look at our short video for more information.

Thank you.

Planet Sport On The Run

With many of us leading increasingly busy lives it can be tough to find time for our passions.  And so last year we introduced the Planet Sport app to make it easier for you to keep up with news from sports events, nurture your relationship with Jesus and introduce others to him too.

The free Planet Sport app for Android and iPhones enables you to listen to this week’s Planet Sport programme and recent editions on demand directly from your phone.

Adrian Barnard, Passion for Sport, CEO, explains: “The Planet Sport phone app is a great way to hear the weekly programme on the move – on the train, out jogging or down at the gym. Be encouraged as you hear sportsmen and women talking about their faith, and introduce the show to your friends.”

The Planet Sport app was launched at Christian Vision for Men’s annual event, “The Gathering”, in Swindon last June. As well as sports news, discussion on sports-related issues and testimonies from Christian athletes, players and officials, the Planet Sport programmes are also an opportunity to pray for the listening audience worldwide. Planet Sport programmes are also available on demand online at www.planetsport.tv and are broadcast on over 50 radio stations in 19 countries.

Planet Sport is a great way to introduce sports fans to Jesus and the app is a great resource to share with friends on the fringes of the church who are interested in sport.  This week’s show includes a report from a futsal project offering hope to children living in violent communities in Rio de Janeiro and an interview with world 400 metres champion, South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk, in which he talks about the centrality of his faith as a follower of Jesus Christ.  Listen to the interview with Wayde here or you can listen to the whole Planet Sport show here. 

The Planet Sport app can be downloaded from the iPhone or Android app stores – just search for Planet Sport.

Running the Race

 I remember clearly my first ever cross country race.  I didn’t finish it. To this day, I’m unsure if it was my asthma or my mind that had got the better of me, but either way, I remember it being incredibly hard work. Following that first race at high school, I went on to compete at a lot more cross country events up and down the country and I made sure I finished every one. They were always tough going and there’d be moments, half-way around every gruelling course, where I’d tell myself, “never again”. The thing is, by the time you’ve finished and experienced the wonderful satisfaction that comes with crossing the line, you soon forget the pain and begin to look forward to the next one.

So here I am, over a decade on, agreeing to run 10k for Passion for Sport at this year’s Vitality British 10K London Run (at least it’s not a marathon, I guess!).

I’ve been part of the staff team at PfS for the past year, working as a Social Media Manager. This involves managing all our social networking profiles and accounts, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. We use these profiles to share content and to engage with listeners and sports fans across the world. We also keep supporters up to date with all that we’re doing, in using media to introduce sports fans to Jesus.

In the summer of 2014, I had the opportunity to travel to Rio de Janeiro with the Passion for Sport team for the Fifa World Cup™. My role was to produce a feature for our daily radio programme and capture some of the atmosphere in the city during the tournament. Alongside the audio content we produced videos, wrote blog articles and facilitated debates on social media.

The team is once again busy preparing to head out to Rio this summer for the Olympic Games. This time, I’ll be responsible for managing content production, including material for our two weekly radio programmes Planet Sport and Planet Sport Football Africa, video content and social media updates. It will be a great opportunity to record interviews with athletes, hear their testimonies,  speak to fans from around the world and explore some of the social issues and Christian projects in the city. These big sporting events bring people together, uniting those of different backgrounds, faiths, races and cultures. It’s a chance for many to share a single passion – a passion for sport. We also see it as an incredible opportunity to share the good news of Jesus.

We’d love it if you’d consider supporting us in this adventure. One way could be to join our team running the Vitality British 10K London Run on July 10 this year!  Three runners have signed up already and we have another three places available.  It may be tough, but we want to run this race together and raise money for Passion for Sport. So why not test your perseverance and endurance and come and join us?

Click here for information about running for Passion for Sport at the Vitality British 10K London Run on July 10.