When Fincastle Baptist Church  held its first summer sports camp in late June, nearly four times the expected 25 children signed up. The church ran out of the T-shirts and free footballs promised to each day camper.

Move over, vacation Bible school.

“Sports camps are a great way to promote who we are as a church and to show we’re not just about Sunday morning and coats and ties,” said Brian Horton , Fincastle Baptist’s associate pastor of children and education.

Church-sponsored camps where youngsters — usually from kindergarten age through fifth grade or so — get non competitive exposure to a variety of games, gymnastics, archery and even cheerleading, are increasingly popular religious outreach efforts. They’re yet another form of God-spreading sports programs such as Upward Basketball . The nonprofit Upward leagues, based in Spartanburg, S.C. , have grown from 77,000 basketball participants in 1999 to nearly 330,000 in 2007, and they now include flag football, soccer and more.

So popular are the sports camps that the Assemblies of God , headquartered in Springfield, Mo. , has started selling an interdenominational starter kit for such venues. Marketed to churches, the $99 package includes a DVD on recruitment, a CD with religious music and teaching materials that draw parallels between character traits desirable in athletes and Christians.

Since the Assemblies of God started selling the starter packages in 2005, it has surveyed churches for attendance figures and  children’s responses. Julie Horner , research and development director for  Assemblies’ Gospel Publishing House , said, “Based on the surveys, we estimate conservatively that about 55,000 kids have come to Christ through these sports camps.”

Proponents of the camps say they have a practical advantage over church sports leagues:  The camps’ activities are usually at most a week long, compared with the nearly two months of games and practices that are typically required for league play. The smaller commitment of time can be more attractive to parents — especially in wooing them to volunteer for coaching and other duties. “This is more appealing than the leagues to a lot of people because it doesn’t drag out so long and we still get a chance to grow God’s kingdom,” said J.R. Graybill ,  minister of students at Mill Creek Baptist Church  in Botetourt County.

Graybill helped organize a weeklong camp earlier in July at the church-owned Limestone Park  that drew up to 160  children daily. It’s the fifth year for the Botetourt Sports Camp, which attracted only 60 participants in 2004.  “Word is getting around,” Graybill said.

Sponsored by Mill Creek Baptist, the Botetourt County  Parks, Recreation and Tourism  and nine other churches — including Methodist and Presbyterian congregations, the camp charges just $10 for the week. It relies heavily on such volunteers as student athletes and coaches from James River High School.

The camp’s participants are organized in groups by school grade. On Friday,  the last day of this year’s event, it won the endorsement of 10-year-old Jordan Bowers. “I tried things I never did before, like volleyball.” Also new to archery, he said, “We popped balloons.”

Graybill’s camp consists of nine “stations” for different sports — designated areas spread across Limestone Park’s 5 acres of fields, tennis courts and a swimming pool. Starting at 9 a.m., the children rotated among the stations each half hour at the sound of Graybill’s whistle and his voice on a loudspeaker directing them to the next stop.

 It’s not like clockwork.

“Where do I go?” asked a thumb-sucking kindergarten-age boy in sandals just a minute  after Graybill  had finished his instructions. “Kindergart ners to softball,” Graybill said gently, pointing the way.

The camp’s numerous stations and limited time at each are a strategy to keep the  children from getting bored. Organizers reason that if someone discovers a new favorite sport,  he or she can explore that later in a specialized camp or league. That worked for Kaitlyn Barger,  who fell in love with volleyball while attending the camp during three past summers. Now, a seventh-grader at Central Academy  Middle School, she plans to try out for the varsity volleyball team this fall. “I’m really glad I learned about volleyball here,” she said.

At the Botetourt Sports Camp, none of the church sponsors makes a pitch for their particular congregation. “We’re not trying to snake people into our church,” said the Rev. Randy Daniels , pastor of Mill Creek Baptist. “But everything in life is based on relationships. And if we can get the kids thinking about getting to know God, then this is very worthwhile.”

At noon Graybill assembled the sweaty multitudes under a pavilion  for a lunch of hot dogs — donated by the churches — and a 10-minute discussion about the Lord’s Prayer led by Al Soltis , a construction company executive who volunteers as chairman of the Roanoke Valley Fellowship of Christian Athletes . He can see that many in his audience are tired as they sit on picnic table benches. But weary athletes may give more attention than those brimming with energy, he said: “Sometimes you like to wind them down a little bit before talking.”