MIKESCHAIR formed while they were students at Belmont University.  The Lord has opened many doors for them and as they walk through those doors, they sing about their faith and even about the doubts and questions that they have along the way.  We recently caught up with Mike of MIKESCHAIR to talk about where the Lord is taking them and how the Lord is using them.

The Band

Q – Can you tell me how the band came together?

“We all came to Nashville, Tennessee, to go to Belmont University.  It’s a situation where within the first two weeks of our freshman year, MIKESCHAIR kind of formed.  I had written a song with a friend and we decided that we wanted to record it.  So, as we started recording the song, we need the electric guitar, bass, and drums; we needed all these instruments to make the song.  Right across the hall, our violin/keyboard player Jessie walks in one day while we were recording and was like, “Hey guys, I play violin.  Can I play with you?”  We were like, “Yeah, man.  Come on!”  So he kind of got on the track and the next thing you know, Sam, our guitar player, walks by the dorm room and was like, “Hey guys, I play electric guitar.”  We were like, “Dude, we need that.”  So he came in and got in on the song and then we went out and recruited John, our bass player.  At the time, it seemed so random, all these different people walking by the dorm room but we’ve been doing this now for six and a half years, so it’s very evident that God’s hand was very much in the formation of what we did.  Everybody wonders about the name.  The name came during that time where we were starting the band and recording.  All of the rest of the guys in the band lived on the first floor of our dorm.  I was the only one who lived on the third floor.  So, naturally, I spent all my time down with the rest of the guys to the point that I was sleeping on the floor in their room.  They always like to interject that I was eating their food, which I wasn’t (laughing).  One day, I came back from class and the guys had gotten me a chair, so that I would have something that was mine.  So, I wrote my name on it and every time we would play and record, the chair was involved.  For us, it’s just a reminder of where we started and how faithful God is to bring us from that dorm room to what we are doing today.”

The Music

Q – How have you seen god working through the music He’s given you?

“It’s countless stories.  Even early on, when we were starting the band, we played a lot on campus.  We had one story where this girl came up to us after we played.  She goes, “Guys, I don’t know what it is about your music, but every time I hear it, I cry.”  After talking to her a little longer, we found out that she was actually a Buddhist, so it was just an amazing opportunity to be like, “We know why, this is why this music touches you.”  Just being able to share Christ with her in that moment (was amazing).  It’s things like that all the time and even now, since we’ve had the blessing to be on the radio and for people to hear the songs in more ways, we hear stories from people who just found out they had cancer and our song came on the radio, one song in particular “Can’t Take Away”, and in that moment brought this one person hope.  That’s why we do what we do.  That’s why we’re writing music for the Lord.  That’s why we’re in Christian music because there’s so much more to what we do than just music and that’s what we get excited about.”

Q – How do you guys stay grounded in your faith?

“A huge thing for us is that we’re all deeply rooted in local churches here in Nashville.  Whenever we’re in town on a Sunday, we’re usually serving in some way.  A lot of us help with the worship at our church, just constantly being brought back to why we do what we do.  Another cool thing that we do, we call it marriage counseling.  There’s a really cool organization here in town called Porter’s Call.  Porter’s Call is simply a guy who felt called to minister to artists who are on the road full-time.  It’s free; it’s paid for by all the labels here in town.  Basically, it’s just an avenue for us to come as a band and sit down with somebody who asks us tough questions that most people don’t ask.  (Questions like) Are you loving each other well?  What are you doing on the road to stay connected with your church community?  What are you doing to stay connected in prayer and reading the Bible?  That’s been huge for us.”

Q – How has it helped your walk with God by being surrounded by fellow believers?

“It’s an incredible thing.  That’s a huge part of being a believer, being in community.  Being is such close community with guys that you know in and out…we’re like brothers at this point.  Guys who can call you out, guys who see past the surface, it’s something that’s incredible.”

Q – How important is the Word of God when you are writing songs?

“It’s an integral part of what we do.  A lot of songs that we write, maybe not directly from a Scripture verse, they usually always come out of a quiet time of reading the Bible and praying.  That’s our prayer.  Our prayer is always, “God, give us Your words.  What do You want Your people to hear?”  That’s directly rooted in reading the Bible and having that time.”

Q – Can you give us an overview of the album?

“Our hope is that when someone listens to our record, they are left asking questions that maybe they didn’t have before listening to the record.  Our prayer is that, in some way, God will connect with people through the music.  There are themes throughout our record.  I think faithfulness is one of them.  Honesty is one of the themes because whenever we write, we try to be as honest as we can about the joys of being a believer and about the hard times, the doubts, and the fears.  Overall, I would say hope is one of the overall themes as well.”

Advice and Insight

As Mike and I talked, you could hear the sincerity in his voice about what he believes and what the band has been called to do.  I asked him a couple of insight questions to see what God had revealed to him.

Q – Why is honesty so important in Christianity today?

“If it’s not honest, it’s not Christianity in my opinion.  So many people get caught up in the trap that the church is a place to put up the mask, to put up the guard.  One of the things I love about my community here in Nashville and my home church, the theme is that we have to be honest and real with each other for God to be able to make a difference in our lives.  If we’re not honest with ourselves and we’re not honest with each other and the Lord, then there’s so many things that we get caught up in just as fallen human beings that keep us away from our Creator.  As hard as it is to be truly honest with your friends and with your community and the Lord, it’s absolutely essential.”

Q – What is your favorite passage of Scripture and give us some insight as to why you choose that one?

“I’ll give you two.  There’s one verse that MIKESCHAIR has taken as almost a mission statement.  It comes from 1 Corinthians 13, and it’s basically verses 1-3.  It says, “If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, and didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”  Then it goes on to say that we can have all these gifts but if we don’t have love, then it means nothing.  That’s basically what we base everything we do on.  Is this adding to the noise or is it love?”

“Then, another one.  We have a song on our record called “Let The Waters Rise” and it’s actually our latest single that just came out.  There’s a verse in John, John 16:33, that says, “In this world, you’ll have trouble but take heart for I have overcome the world.”  Lately, that’s the verse that’s just been really encouraging me.  This life isn’t perfect and there are things we’re going to have to go through being in a fallen world, but the fact that Jesus has already overcome the world just brings so much hope to me and hopefully others.”

Mike assured me that they will be out on the road in 2010 and will be ministering to people.  Their music is touching lives in ways that they never thought possible when they were sitting in that dorm room at Belmont University, but they found that being honest with people can have a great impact.  Their message is one of hope, a message that we all need each and every day.

Most of my days are spent understanding what God has called me to do, but too fearful to step into it because of finances and other obstacles. At twenty-four, I believed I could lead the world to Christ, but at thirty-three, I can only see a handful that I have impacted. Most of that is because I was focused on me and my will rather than God’s will for my life, only doing that which was convenient. Could I have done more with these thirty-three years of life? More could have been done if only God had been in control of my life throughout that time.

The most incredible thing about God is that He opens our eyes and helps us to see where we should be going. In Luke 9:51, the Bible says, “When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem.” It was the turning point for Jesus. Today, God has given me the chance to have a turning point in my life and in the ministry that He has given me, where I can stop looking at the temporal and begin focusing on the eternal. Today, I am making that turn in my life, with the help of the Holy Spirit. It is the most exciting time of my life.

As I turn thirty-three, I thank you for reading the pieces that I have written for Prodigal Magazine over the last four years. Today, I ask one thing of you. Will you make the same turn in your life? Will you investigate your life today to see if Christ is truly the Lord of your life or is He simply there when it is convenient? These wasted days of self-indulgence cannot be replaced and will one day leave us feeling empty. As I turn thirty-three, I am turning my gaze to heaven and my heart is set on taking everyone I can with me to spend eternity with Christ. Will you come with me? I want you to be there too.

I recently caught up with Jonny and we spoke about how God had redirected his life and how God was using his music to speak to people all over the world.  His song, “More Beautiful You” shot up the charts and people began to listen to this message that the Lord was laying on his heart.

His Life

Q – Can you tell me your testimony?

“I came from a Christian family so I honestly have believed in Christ as my Savoir for as long as I can remember.  My testimony has kind of been that journey of understanding that more and knowing what that means and learning how to live because of that more and more each year and each day, really.  A big turning point for me was in college.  I went to Florida State on a baseball scholarship and really had plans to play baseball and hopefully pursue that professionally.  That’s when God called me into music and called me to lay down my desires and lay down baseball.  It was at that point in my life that I really had to decide who I was going to serve.  Was I going to go according to what I wanted or was I going to give me life to God in His service?

Q – How hard of a decision was that for you to make, laying down baseball and pursuing music?

“It was very tough.  I really wish that I could say that I obeyed God immediately when God laid that on my heart but I didn’t.  I wrestled with God for about six months and kind of hit a low point because God was telling me something I didn’t want to hear.  I was doing my best to ignore the fact that He even existed.  Ultimately, I just realized through reaching that low point that the only place where I was going to find contentment and the only place where I was really going to find the joy that I was looking for was in God’s plan for my life, instead of my own.”

Q – As you look back now, how do you see that obedience to God has changed your life?

“Right now, He’s got me playing music.  It looks like He’s really using the music I’m creating, which is awesome.  I can tell you that I don’t want to do this a day longer than I’m supposed to.  Just making that decision, just proclaiming it with my mouth and my actions that I’m going to follow in God’s footsteps is a big thing for me.  One thing I think is funny is that all my life I’ve dreamed of being a baseball player and hopefully playing on a major league field someday in a major league stadium.  Last August, right about a year ago, I was able to play after a Braves game, opening up for Steven Curtis Chapman at Turner Field.  My brother plays baseball on the team and I played music afterwards and I thought that was kind of funny, like God has a sense of humor.  It’s like, because I obeyed, I actually did get to play in a Major League stadium; it just wasn’t exactly how I thought it would be!”

His music

Jonny’s music has touched the lives of millions of people throughout the world.  One of his songs was even featured on an Atlanta Braves program and through it all, God has opened doors for Jonny to minister to people all over the world.

Q – What inspires you when you are writing music?

“Anything.  To me, writing songs is so tough that anything that comes along that inspires a song, I try and latch on to it, whether it’s something I’m going through, whether it’s my wife, or students that I spend time with.  A song can come from anywhere.”

Q – What inspired “More Beautiful You”?

“That one, I wrote after spending time with a bunch of students in Tennessee.  I got to spend a week with a bunch of high school students and we were just kind of observing them, watching these girls try so hard to fit into a mold that they were never really created to fit into.  If you watch that long enough, it’s something that will really start to break your heart.  I wrote “More Beautiful You” just really to speak to groups like that, to youth groups and to camps and to things like that.  I never really had any desire to put it on the radio so the fact that it actually became a number one song on the radio kind of blows my mind.  God had bigger plans than I did, by far.”

Q – How have you noticed changes in your life since the song became so popular?

“In the past, playing concerts has very much been an introduction of my music to the group that was there.  Even if I was the only one playing or if I was an opener, I was really introducing my music for the first time, but lately, I’ve been able to go places and its’ fun to hear them singing along and know the songs, at least “More Beautiful You”.  Hopefully, they’ll get to know more as I keep playing and keep releasing radio songs.  It’s kind of been fun.  It’s opened doors outside of the southeast.  Over the last few years, I’ve really toured a lot in the southeast but thanks to “More Beautiful You” and its’ success, I’ve been able to head out west and I’m going up to Canada.”

Q – What’s one aspect of a musician’s life that most people don’t understand?

“I think that one thing people don’t understand is that we typically do work about a forty hour week.  It’s just very different hours.  We may get to the venue between two and three o’clock and have to start setting up gear and setting up merchandise, sound-checking, then we have a break for dinner, then we play the concert, then have a meet and greet where we sign autographs and sell things afterwards, and then tear down.  By the time we tear down, its’ typically eleven o’clock before we get out of there.  So, we really put in an eight hour day.  It’s just not a typical eight-hour day at all.”

Q – Who has influenced you musically?

“I admire people who do what I’m trying to do, guitar players and singer-songwriters.  On the secular side, I really like John Mayer, Jack Johnson, and guys who are able to do some pretty cool things with a guitar.  On the Christian side, I really like Brandon Heath, Bebo Norman, Caedmon’s Call, and some of the more “storyteller” type of artists.”

Q – Can you give me an overview of the album?

“Musically, it’s acoustic led.  You can tell that I play guitar and that I wrote the songs while playing the acoustic guitar, but it’s pretty eclectic.  I tend to get bored while writing songs so there are songs that sound like acoustic rock, there are songs that sound more like pop-country, and there are songs that, believe it or not, almost have a reggae-island feel to them.  Lyrically, I realize that my audiences are people that are already in the church.  Rather than using my lyrics to introduce people to grace or introduce people to Jesus Christ, I try to use my lyrics to deal with different aspects of the Christian faith.  “More Beautiful You” deals with the aspect of self-image and how you view yourself.  “Stand For You” deals with the idea that we are going to face opposition but we need to stand up to it.  So really, it’s intended to inspire, challenge, and encourage the body of Christ.”

Q – What has God taught you in this journey as a Christian musician?

“The value of relationships has become so apparent, which is ironic because, when I go to a city and I have an hour to play on stage before I head off to the next city, I really don’t get to develop many relationships with the audience; not to a deep level at least.  I feel like God has really challenged me to hopefully encourage those relationships within the body so that maybe six months or a year later, when I come back, I can see that some amazing things have been happening through those relationships. Scriptures tell us that God is love, so simply by loving and spending time with other people, I think that’s our best way to really introduce people to Him.”

Q – What is something about this album that you want our readers to know?

“One interesting thing is that it was actually recorded as my fourth independent record.  It wasn’t until the record was completely done and mastered that it gained the attention of INO Records and they released it nationally.  I think it’s really neat that the record is actually exactly what I wanted it to be because I was completely in charge of the process, so there were no people looking over my shoulder saying that it needed to be this, that it needed to sound this way, you need to have three singles on it or anything like that.  It really was just the record that God laid on my heart to make and that’s what we made.  I’m so proud of how it came out and I hope the listeners appreciate that.”

His Advice

Though Jonny is still a young man, he has seen many things in his life.  He has witnessed God working through his music.  He has watched as God altered the plans he had made for his life.  He has ministered to numerous people and has felt the hand of God upon him as he travels for the sake of glorifying his Maker.

Q – How refreshing was it spiritually when you stepped into God’s will for your life?

“That’s just it…the beauty of surrender.  Realizing that I don’t have to be in control and I shouldn’t be in control.  It was so much of a rejuvenating thing, just being able to pass over those decisions to God because I knew He had what’s best for me in mind.”

Q – What is your advice to Christian men in how to live our lives better on a daily basis for God?

“I believe that everything we do, we should strive to be Christ-like and so, as men, we can really get to know the character of Jesus by reading Scripture and by studying Scripture.  If we take all of our pointers and allow Him to be our guru and just kind of model ourselves after Him as best as possible, we are going to see amazing things happen to our lives.”

Q – What is your favorite passage of Scripture?

“It kind of changes, but I’d probably say Micah 6:8 because it’s such a great call for us.  It just gives us such a specific challenge as believers.”

Speaking to Jonny, you caught the sense of a man who was amazed at what God has done in his life and what God is going to do in the future.  I asked him to tell me one thing that most people didn’t know about him and he asked his wife.  He said to me, “She says that I can balance the guitar on my chin.  Perhaps the most impressive thing I can do on a guitar is balance it on my chin.” We shared that laugh but just in that moment, I could see that Jonny saw everything that has happened in his career and his life being a result of what God is doing.  When we understand that it is what God can do and the plans that He has for our lives, we no longer have to resist when God tries to redirect us.  We can see that the redirection will create in us a more beautiful person, one more reflective of Jesus Christ.

*Special thanks to Stacie Vining for her help in lining up this interview with Jonny Diaz.  Without her help, this interview would not have been possible.

Scott Brosius is now the head baseball coach at his alma mater.  He is in our Men of God spotlight this week and we recently caught up with Scott over the phone to talk about faith and baseball.

His Life

Scott grew up in Oregon and would attend college at Linfield College.   His roots were not in the church, but Scott had attended various churches while growing up.  After being drafted and playing in the minor leagues, Scott would meet someone who helped him to learn about Jesus.

Q – Can you share your testimony with us?

“Growing up, I had gone to church at a lot of different places, but as a family, we weren’t really a church attending family.  I would hop on the church buses and go wherever they took me and went with my friends as a kid but I never really understood what it meant to have a personal relationship with Christ or knowing God in a personal way.  As a kid, it was that eye in the sky and you just wanted to mind your business.  Growing up through high school and even in college, I didn’t have one of those wild lifestyles.  I lived a pretty normal, focused life, stayed away from all the trouble, but as far as the church goes, I never really attended in high school or in college much.  When people would talk to me about who Jesus was and was wanting me to become a Christian, I just sat on the fence, trying to figure this whole thing out.  I tried to figure out what that meant and was kind of afraid to jump off.  Like it is for a lot of people, sometimes it takes something in your life to kind of push you and for me, it was dealing with the death of my mom.  She was battling cancer and I was in the minor leagues playing Double A baseball, and to that point in my life, everything had kind of gone exactly as planned.  I had a goal of playing baseball from the time I was four or five years old and I got the opportunity to play in high school and play in college, a chance to get drafted and play professionally and I was just working my way through the minor leagues and everything was going as planned.  Then all of the sudden, something happened that was out of my control, the first real negative thing that I had to deal with.  I think it was really kind of through that process that I ultimately ended up making that decision.  I had a former player in Huntsville, Alabama named Rocky Coyle, who I was working out with in the offseason.  He was very active.  He was the youth pastor for years and years but as I knew him, he was just a few years out of baseball.  He was talking to me quite a bit about what it meant to be a Christian and what that meant in your life.  At that point, I was still really hesitant to make that commitment.  I just didn’t get it and I was a little fearful of what that meant and how it could change my life.  My mom was in the middle of a bone marrow transplant.  I was in Alabama and she was in California.  She worsened quickly so I had flown back to California to see her.  My stepdad called and said, “I think you need to get out here. It doesn’t look real good for her.”  So I got out there, I guess on a Wednesday.  I got to the hospital and stayed that the hospital for the first day, overnight, and it was apparent that she was getting worse.  On Thursday morning, the doctors came in and talked to us about her situation and said that at this point, it didn’t look like they were going to be able to save her; they were just going to try to make her as comfortable as possible.  It was pretty devastating news to deal with the reality that my mom was going to die in the near future.  I left the hospital that morning and went back to the house and cleaned up, showered, just trying to gather myself a little bit.  A few hours later, I went back to the hospital.  I got to the hospital and my sister met me at the front door.  She was crying and said, “Mom died while you were gone.”  The thing that I remember about that moment was just this overwhelming kind of panic feeling.  I started taking off and just running through the hospital, just kind of blowing through the doors, just banging through all the doors.  The cancer unit was kind of in the back of the hospital.  I was just running, feeling like I had to get there to see her and just feeling this panic.  When I got to those glass doors, this sliding door that went into the unit where she was at, this mom was walking out with this brand-new, newborn baby.  To this day, I still don’t know why they would have been in that part of the hospital.  But she came walking out with this little, tiny baby and just made me stop dead in my tracks and I just looked at this baby.   I heard this voice inside me that said, “It’s ok.  With her death, she has new life.”  It was just as clear as a bell, the words.  I hung there for a second and the thing that hit me at that moment was all the panic was gone.  The pain, of course, and everything else that I was feeling was still there, but that overwhelming panic was gone.  It was replaced with some kind of peace.  After the funeral, I came back and was talking to Rocky about what happened and about what I heard and what I felt.  He looked at me and said, “Scott, you’ve got to know, don’t you?  You have to know that God is real and God is personal and He just spoke to you in a way that nobody else could have spoken to you.  No human could have said anything at that point that could have taken away those feelings that you had, but they were taken away.”  As I was sitting with them, it was a real rainy day; we weren’t working and were just sitting in his Bronco and talking about all of this.  He was like, “You can’t deny this anymore.  You’ve got to understand that God is real.  Don’t you want that?”  I was like, “You know, you’re right.  I can’t deny this and if that’s who God is and can be that personal and help me through something like that, then I want that.”  It was in the car that afternoon that I prayed with Rocky.”

His Career

Scott made it up through the minors and took over at third base for the Oakland A’s.    He hit a home run in his first game and held the position until the end of 1997, a season of struggles for Scott.  The A’s traded Scott for Kenny Rogers and Scott would find his new home in New York would propel him to the top of the baseball world.

Q – What was the highlight of your career?

“It would be hard to pick one out.  I think getting called up to the big leagues for the first time was certainly a highlight.  It happened on my dad’s birthday.  Being able to call him and say, “Hey!  Happy Birthday!  By the way, do you want to come to Oakland and watch me play?” that was a pretty special time.  Your first game in the big leagues is something that you will never forget.  Of course, going to New York and having the chance to play in four World Series and winning three of them.  Each World Series was special in its’ own way.  I think that there’s something about the first time you that you do it.  So, 1998 and that season, winning the World Series.  My dad, at that point, was diagnosed with cancer as well and had gone through surgery earlier in that year, but I made the All-Star team and was able to fly him out and share the weekend with him at the All-Star game.  There are a lot of things in that 1998 season that stood out as special.

Q- Who was the toughest pitcher you faced in your career?

“I wish that I could say there was only one but there were a whole bunch of guys that seemed pretty tough on me.  I think the guy that stands out to me quite a bit is Randy Johnson.  I thought he was tough and I think the thing that was interesting about Randy was that overall, I was a pretty good fastball hitter and he’s a fastball pitcher.  I still had trouble with him.  He was probably the toughest lefty that I remember facing.  There are a couple of guys that stand out.  A couple of guys I didn’t have to face too much.  Rivera, obviously, I got to be on the right side of him, playing defense instead of facing him quite a bit.  Jack Morris was a guy that when I first came up, I got to face him and he was pretty nasty.  There are a lot of them that were tough.”

Q – How did faith influence your career?

“For all of us, there’s a lot of growth that happens.  A huge part for me was dealing with adversity.  In baseball, just like any time in life, it’s not if the adversity is going to happen, it’s when it is going to happen.  There was a season going through them.  My 1997 season in Oakland, I had an absolutely horrible year, injury-filled, didn’t play well.  The team didn’t play well.  I was away from my wife and kids more as they were getting older.  It was really a kind of miserable year.  I remember coming home after that season and talking to my wife, just saying, “I can’t do this again.  I can’t play like this.  If this is what baseball’s going to be, I’m going to walk away from it.”  As we talked and prayed about it, I think god kind of hit me over the head a little bit that offseason and said, “You know. To this point, you’ve turned over everything in your life but baseball.”  For me, baseball’s like, “Yeah, I’m the guy facing the ninety-five mile per hour fastball and I’m the guy that has to catch it.  I’m the guy who’s got to do this kind of stuff.”  I think I was holding on pretty tight.  I think God was saying, “Look, you need to let go.  Can you trust Me with baseball as well?”  Growing after that 97 season, just making the commitment that from here on out, this is no longer my thing.  I’ll play it under God’s terms and not mine.  I got traded to New York, which was probably the last place I would have ever chosen for myself to get traded to, but it ended up being the time of my life.  Going through the adversity that I did and coming to a point where I said, “Man, I’ve really got to let go of this, play hard, and do all of those things, but don’t worry about the things you don’t control.”

His Advice

Scott retired after the 2001 season, walking away with three World Series rings, a Gold Glove, an All-Star game appearance, and the MVP trophy of the 1998 World Series.  He has stayed in baseball, teaching young men about the things that he learned along the way.

Q – How is faith influential in your career now as a coach?

“I think that’s part of the real fun of coaching kids at this age.   They’re coming to a point in their lives now where they’re making decisions that will impact the rest of their lives.  (It’s fun) Being able to speak into that a little bit, you know.  “Let’s talk about the things that really have true importance.”  Everybody talks about getting a job and making money and all these types of things that college-aged kids talk about but being able to talk to them about the bigger picture things and things that do have more importance than just the things that we do.  We talk quite a bit about how people are going to remember who you are as a person and what you believe a lot more than they’re going to remember what kind of average you had or what you did and things like that.  My faith is the foundation of everything that I talk to these guys about when we talk about these big picture things.”

Q – In your opinion, what does it mean to be a man of God?

“It’s a journey that never ends, that we never get figured (out completely).  Even last night, in our small groups and in our Bible studies, as we’re talking about things, it’s just learning to understand and learning to recognize God in everything that we do.  I think that sometimes for me, I get focused on the do’s and the don’ts and the trying to do this and sometimes, I think it’s just being able to slow down and live a life that’s in recognition of the joy that God brings to our life.  As we talk to our kids, friends, and people around me, maybe help people to see that they might be missing as well.”

With every new door that God has opened in Scott’s life, with every adversity he has had to face, with every change in scenery and with every opportunity, Scott has been able to see that God stand by His Word and has never left him.  Each day brings those opportunities for each of us to see what Scott has seen in his life.  God is there and God is waiting for us to turn everything over, understanding that this life is not our own.  It is a chance for us to praise God, glorify God, and to spread God’s Word and love to a world that is desperately in need.

Upper 90 Ministry was founded by Chris and Stephanie Hampton, two former collegiate soccer players at Mount Olive College.   Their passion for their Savior and their passion for the sport of soccer led them to start a ministry that would reach kids with the message of Jesus through the gift of a soccer ball and a pump.  Chris told me, “Ever since I accepted my salvation, I knew I wanted to bring this relationship to other people and my passion for soccer was going to be the tool in which I would do it.  As most new born-again Christians often do, I wanted to jump right into it, but God knew that I had to mature in my walk with Christ before it could ever happen.  Six years later, He opened the doors for me to use soccer as a witnessing tool.  It was apparent to me that I could work with another world-wide ministry to help distribute soccer balls to children in desperate situations around the world.  Since soccer is a global sport, a brand new ball and pump given to children that most likely have never received a brand new gift at all would bring so much hope to them, all while being told that God loves them.”

As Chris seeks the Lord with the support and help of his wife, they know the goal that lies before them and are taking aim, understanding that we only have a few shots in life to show people the love of Jesus.  Chris added, “My overall goal is to bring joy and hope to children while sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ and letting them know that God loves them, no matter what their situation is in life.  So, when they go out and kick the ball around with their friends, they can share their story about how they received this brand new ball and how God loves them.  Before you know it, we have little children playing soccer all over the world and sharing God’s love with other children.”

Upper 90 Ministry has set a goal of 1,000 soccer balls and pumps to be distributed.  They are seeking to raise enough money by October 31^st, 2009 so that the balls and pumps can be ordered and ready to be distributed by January 2010.

Here is how you can help:

1 – Pray for Chris and Stephanie – Let each of us pray that God will open doors and provide all that is needed for this ministry to reach its’ maximum impact.

2 – Donate – For only $8, you can provide a soccer ball and a pump, and more importantly the message of the love of God, to a child in desperate need.  If you would like to donate, simply go to their website to learn how to donate.  My youth group is raising money throughout September, hoping to donate as many soccer balls as possible to this ministry.  Team up with your friends at work or your church group to join in on this worthy cause.

3 – Tell others about the ministry.  Word of mouth is one of the ways that Prodigal Magazine has grown over the years.  As you begin to support Upper 90 Ministry, let’s spread the word to others that we know, telling them how they can also get involved.

The Bible tells us that we need the faith of a child in order to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Let’s all help this ministry to give children something to have faith in even when it appears there is nothing to believe in where they live.

For more information, please visit their website at www.upper90ministry.org

Travis Fryman would have a stellar career and now, finds himself still in the game of baseball but looking at the game from a different perspective, as he is in the managerial role.  I spoke with Travis on the phone to talk about baseball, life, and the Giver of all good things.

His Life

Travis grew up with a love of baseball and was raised in a Christian environment.  It would take years for him to begin to grasp what it meant to be a follower of Christ, as he told me in his testimony.

Q – Travis, when did you give your life to Christ?

“It was the offseason of 1994-1995.  I grew up in a Christian home.  I even invited Christ into my life as a child, but I really didn’t understand what it meant to surrender my life to Christ until February 25^th, 1995, at my home church.  I had just gotten to that place in my life where I began to understand what that really meant.”

His life would be changed from that point.  For years, he had experienced success on multiple levels, but his viewpoint of what matters the most in life changed.

His Career

Travis came up with the Detroit Tigers in 1990 and would play for the Tigers until 1997 and then finished his career with the Cleveland Indians.  Multiple times, Travis was selected to the All-Star game and won a Gold Glove award during his career.

Q – How did your faith influence your career?

“In dramatic ways.  Had you known me before Christ and after Christ, certainly there were some significant differences.  The greatest difference in my life before Christ and after Christ was that before Christ, I really didn’t care that much about the men that I played with.  If they played hard and worked as hard as I did and they wanted to win as much as I did, I liked them.  If they didn’t, I really didn’t want anything to do with them.  I didn’t know if they were married or had kids or anything about their personal life and again, I didn’t really care.  After I gave my life to Christ, God really gave me a great love for my teammates and I began to look for ways to love them and serve them, and for the opportunity to share the gospel.  I am not a person who believes you check your faith at the door to the locker room.  I believe that if you are a follower of Christ, that Christ is central in your life, and that relationship with Him permeates every relationship in your life and everything that you do in your life.  There is really no area in my life that my relationship is not impacted by.”

Q – What was the highlight of your career?

“Certainly, the opportunity to play for Sparky Anderson was an incredible thrill for me.  He was the perfect manager for me to come under.  Being able to play with Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker, which was a big thrill for me.  Playing in Cleveland at a time when they were sold out every night and we were in the postseason three of the five years that I was there, that was very exciting.  Participating in All-Star games, those things were fun.  Certainly those are some high points in my career, but if I look back on my career, the things that mean the most to me are not anything that really happened between the chalk lines.  The things that mean the most to me in my career were the relationships that I formed with the men that I played with, the Bible studies that I participated in, how God worked through you in the lives of other people and just those opportunities that come really on a daily basis in the locker room as you’re building those relationships.  Having God working through you in their lives is an exciting thing and I don’t believe there is anything more exciting or more fulfilling in your life than being part of when God calls someone to Himself and they give their lives to Christ and you’ve been a part of that process.  I think that’s the most rewarding thing to participate in.”

Q – Who was the toughest pitcher you faced in your career?

“No question in my mind, statistically speaking, Pedro Martinez pretty much owned me.  I just had tremendous struggles against him.  I didn’t pick the ball up very well.  I don’t know what my career numbers were off him.  I think they’re somewhere in the neighborhood of two for fifty-something, which isn’t very good.  I did not have a great deal of success off of Pedro.  Aside from Pedro, no one really jumps out at me.  But I can say, with great assurance, that Pedro pretty much owned me.”

His life today and his insight

Travis has now become a manager and I wanted to see how God had shifted his viewpoint in this new career.  Travis helped me to understand purpose and to understand what our lives are to be about, something that God has taught him over the years.

Q – How do you see God using you now in the managerial role?

“In purpose, it’s no different than my purpose in any other area of life.  I really believe that there is a difference between God’s purpose for your life and God’s plans for your life.  I believe that God’s purpose for your life and for mine are exactly the same.  God’s purpose for our lives is for us to enter into a relationship with Him and to enjoy that relationship for all of eternity.  His purpose for us also is to glorify Him within the world.  His plans for Andy and His plans for Travis are unique to each of us.  Where the Scripture says in Jeremiah 29:11, “I know” God’s saying, “I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord “plans to prosper you, not to harm you and to give you a hope and a future.”  It says that He knows those plans and those plans are unique to you and to me.  It’s not God’s purpose that’s a mystery to me; it’s God’s plans that are a mystery to us.  I’ll never know all of God’s plans for my life but I have decided that I want to embrace God’s purpose for my life wherever I am, whether that’s at home with my family, whether that’s serving at my local church, whether that was as a Major League Baseball player or now as a minor league manager.  I’m going to pursue my relationship with God; that’s an intimate love relationship with Him and I’m going to bring glory to Him right where I’m at and I do that in a variety of ways.  (I do that) Through my relationships with men who are entrusted to my care, through my interaction with my peers, other coaches and managers, through the platform that I’m given, an opportunity to share or speak and communicate what God’s done in my life and just through conversations that I have with people.  Everybody has to decide, I believe, to embrace God’s purpose for your life and if you want to embrace God’s purposes for your life right where you are, I believe God’s plans for your life begin to be unrolled or unveiled in your life.  I don’t get too caught up worrying about what tomorrow holds.  I’ve just decided I’m going to embrace God’s purpose for my life today where I’m at.”

Q – Do you have a favorite passage?

“At this point in my life, I really do.  It’s 1 Corinthians 9:19.  It’s a great passage of Scripture.  God put that on my heart about three years ago.  It says, “For though I am free from all men, I’ve made myself a servant to all, in order that I might win the more.”  It really defines my life.  The first part says, “Though I am free from all men” and God’s given me great freedom.  Anything I’m involved in now, I’m involved with it because I choose to be there, not because I have to be and that says a lot about what the desires of my heart are.  “Though I am free from all men, I’ve made myself a servant to all” and it’s a reminder to me why I am here.  I am here to serve those who are around me, to be the aroma of Christ where I am and to put others before myself, but I do that, according to the last part of that verse, “in order that I might win the more”.  The goal of my life is to share Christ with those who are around me in the hopes that they would come to know Him.  That verse really guides my life.”

Travis Fryman lives his life in a manner that he wants others to come to know the peace and the joy that he has found in Jesus Christ.  He once loved victories in baseball but now, he is obsessed with the victory that we find in Jesus Christ.  It isn’t the love of the game that drives him today.  It is the love of the team, the team of believers that he is a part of that God is using daily.

I agree with those who chastised the individual who made the video.  What he did to Erin Andrews is despicable at best.  That individual deserves the punishment that is coming their way and will hopefully see the light of the mistake made, never to repeat it.  For Erin Andrews, we must pray for her that God can heal the hurt that she feels over this video and that God will give her a feeling of security, something that she probably does not feel after being violated in this manner.

There is a larger problem that is at stake here in this incident, but one that will get little television coverage due to the nature of the television industry today.  The problem that we have is that our society is too sex-driven today.  With every commercial break, there are advertisements for medications solely intended for increasing sex drive, sexual stamina, etc.  Movies are more sexually driven than they were before and television shows are filled with innuendos and sexual scenes.  Our society thinks about sex ninety percent more than they think about anything else and the result is that it is killing our society, intruding on people’s privacy, and leading people to make more and more mistakes because their minds are stuck on the wrong things.

We would like to think that this is just the world’s problem and that Christians are far removed from it, but in all reality, we are caught up in the midst of it ourselves.  I can remember a time when I was serving as a youth pastor at my first church.  The preacher had to preach a message about how to dress reverently because the women in our church continuously dressed provocatively.  Even the church has fallen prey to this idea that thinking about sex all of the time is not such a bad thing.  That is the common belief, but when something like this happens to someone like Ms. Andrews, who did nothing to provoke it, we get all up in arms about how something like this can happen.

We have become our own worst enemy.  Sexual predators are everywhere and the more sexual-based our society becomes, the higher the number will grow.  In my past, I can see how the influence of sexual material affected decisions that I made.  None of those decisions were good and I praise God that He forgives us when we make mistakes.  I had to stop watching television and movies with racy scenes in them, keeping my mind focused more on God and off of the world.  It wasn’t fixed overnight, but through time and after meeting my wife, God has helped to control it.

Jesus, in Matthew 22:37, said that the greatest commandment is that we should, “Love the Lord your God with all heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”  If we can strive to do that, the lust and the sexual temptation that is so prevalent will be pushed aside because our entire being will be focused on pleasing and loving God.  With that lifestyle, we will be able to battle the temptations in a better manner, turning our minds back to the glory of God rather than allowing the temptation to grow within our hearts and minds.

Why does this matter?  It matters because the longer that Christians continue to conform to the world, the worse things will become because the only moral voice that exists is that of a Christian who acts upon the Word of God.  It matters because we are called to serve God with every area of our lives and to do so at all times.  It matters because one day, it may be our wives or our daughters, ourselves or our sons that are taking advantage of in the same manner that Erin Andrews was taken advantage of in this video.  Finally, it matters because we are called to point a lost world to the way that leads to Jesus, which we cannot do if we are joining in with the world and its’ sexual obsessions.

Let’s all take a moment to pray for Erin, as well as the person who did this to her.  May God heal the hurt that Erin is experiencing and may God help the person who committed the crime to see that there is more to life that what he/she is experiencing.  Let’s also pray for protection of our minds, protection for our families, and a turn in the mindset of our society.

It is not an easy job.  On the field, he makes a hundred or more decisions throughout one game, trying to baffle the hitter so the Houston Astros can win the game.  JR Towles has learned how to game plan for Major League hitters and he calls the shots for the pitcher during the game.  In his life, though, he has learned that it is God who is calling the shots and he walks humbly down the trail that God has cut for him.

I caught up with JR in Kissimmee, FL this season during Spring Training.  He stood there intent on talking about a faith that has changed his life in more than one way.

Faith

JR Towles grew up loving the game of baseball and at an early age in life, he heard the gospel and gave his life to Jesus Christ.  His two great passions began to develop and to grow deeper as his life progressed and before long, JR would see how God would use his passion for baseball to give JR an audience to share the gospel with others who were looking for answers for their lives.

Career

Q – How has your faith influenced your career?

“It (faith) has everything to do with it.  If it wasn’t for Him, I wouldn’t have anything.  Like my favorite verse says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” He’s where all your strength comes from and without Him, nothing’s possible.”

Q – How hard is it to stand strong in your faith in the world of Major League Baseball?

“I don’t think it’s too hard for me.  He’s given you everything and everything comes from Him.  As long as you give Him credit and try to do everything you can to glorify Him, it’s going to be alright.”

Q – How do you stay focused?

“We have Bible Studies some times.  I wake up early in the mornings and read the Bible.  (You) just try to hang around people who believe in Christ and talk about it.  It’s really hard to get going in a church because you’re playing games all the time but you have chapel and that helps you.”

Q – What is the highlight of your career so far?

“Getting to the Big Leagues was the highlight.”

Q – How do you stay positive when you know that failure can come?

“You can’t let your highs get too high or your lows get too low; you have to keep it on an even level.  Last year was real tough for me.  Just try to stay mentally positive and know that everything happens for a reason.  (You have to) Believe that He wouldn’t put you through it if He’s not going to get you through it.”

Q – In life, how have you handled setbacks?

“I’ve always been an underdog in my life.  I’ve always had to work the hardest.  You just have to overcome them.  Like I said before, everything happens for a reason and you just have to keep a positive attitude about it.”

Advice

Knowing that JR had always been an underdog, I felt like most of us could resonate with the drive it has taken him to get to where he is in life.  We all have had to push hard to get to the places where God has us and if we learn anything from the Bible, God loves to use underdogs for His purpose and to further His kingdom.

Q – What is your advice for those who have made mistakes in life?

“God’s a forgiving God.  He sent His Son to die on the cross for you so if you believe in Him, everything’s going to be alright.”

Q – How can men do a better job living their faith in day to day life?

“Always put Him first.  If you always put Him first, then everything else is going to get taken care of.  Just try to live the life that He has for you and try to please Him in any way you can and try to touch someone in a Christian way.  Try to be a good example to others, which is going to please Him.”

JR Towles’ story teaches us that anything is possible when it comes to a loving God who only wants what is best for His creation.  Regardless of the odds we face, we have God with us who is even bigger.  Regardless of what we have done in the past, we have God who forgives us and loves us unconditionally.  We may seem like underdogs but underdogs just happen to be what God loves to use.

* – Special thanks to Sally Gunter of the Houston Astros for helping us line up this interview.

            I am not a doomsday person.  I never have been nor will I be at any time.  I do, however, believe in reality.  In my life, when I decided to choose things outside of the will of God, I found the power of God to humble me waiting in the distance.  I would meet that power all too often to say that it was circumstance or coincidence.  It is reality.  The reality that most people choose not to believe is there.

            We live in a society where churches are more concerned with political correctness than truth.  Pastors are too afraid to preach certain truths from the Bible out of fear of losing their jobs because they know their people are engaging in those sins.  People come to church to feel justified and to be told that God forgives but very few will stay in the pews if they feel an ounce of conviction.  Thus, we have watered down grace and mercy and created a society who thinks that it is truly acceptable to walk in the darkness.

            Are we concerned at all?  Is there any sign of accountability left in our lives at this time?  Do we realize that sitting idle is in fact standing with the devil?  God will not continue to allow this to happen.  Sodom and Gomorrah was judged harshly for being a haven for all the wrong things.  The entire world was destroyed in the days of Noah as God looked and saw nothing but wickedness.  Do we think we are exempt?  Do we think we can force our way past it as the lone superpower left in the world? 

            It comes back to the decisions that we are making in this moment.  Are we on our knees before the Lord or will we sit on the couch and continue to watch the deterioration of the world around us?  God stands against so many things that have become common in our society.  Listed in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 are some of the most prevalent lifestyles that God cannot tolerate and if we read that passage and weigh it against the American culture, we will see that those unacceptable lifestyles are now accepted by the world and by the church.  Where does this end?

            It ends when God says that He has had enough.  Our economy has stumbled and tumbled for some time but has not caused many to investigate what God may be teaching us through the crisis.  Crime is rising as the economy deteriorates but rather than seeking wisdom, we simply say that the world is going crazy. 

            Chronicles tells us that God will hear us if we humble ourselves and pray.  Are we going to get on our knees?  Are we going to lead others to do the same?  Our response to those questions may just be the answer to the original questions…when and how will God choose to humble this nation?

            Stephen Curry also held that dream.  His father had excelled in the NBA and he dreamed of going to an ACC school or an SEC school, but they took a pass on him during the recruiting process.  Faced with the disappointment of not making it to where he thought he would have been, Stephen had to decide whether to give it all up or go somewhere else and make history.  He chose Davidson and history would be rewritten in the next few years.  We caught up with Stephen recently and he is our Men of God Spotlight.

His Life

            Stephen Curry was born in 1988, the son of Dell Curry who was making a name for himself as an NBA player.  Stephen attended high school in Charlotte and as his senior year came, he waited to see who would offer him a scholarship.  He would receive an offer from tiny Davidson College and accepted the offer to play for Coach Bob McKillop.  His game would never be the same.  His faith in God, however, started at an earlier age.

Q – When did you give your life to Christ?

“It was in the fifth grade.  I used to go to Central Church of God in Charlotte and I gave my life to Christ, went down to the altar down at the youth service, one Wednesday night.”

Q – How have you noticed that your life has changed since then?

“I think it’s just kept me focused in the life that I have going right now.  My desire is to play basketball and I think my relationship with Christ has helped me to stay focused and give glory to heaven and reach people through the talent He’s given me.  Case in point, last year’s NCAA Tournament and things like that.  Just allowing the talents He’s given me to give glory to Him and further His kingdom through that.”

Q – When did you start writing Bible Verses on your shoes?

“That was when I first came to Davidson.  I’d just opened up my first pair of team shoes and had a Sharpie next to me.  I thought that was a pretty good idea to write down some verses.  My mom’s favorite verse is Romans 8:28, which is on one side.  The Philippians 4:13 was one that I thought about when I started to play basketball all of the time.  I thought that would be a good daily reminder to have it on my shoes.”

His Game

           Stephen Curry came onto the scene as a freshman at Davidson.  He led the Wildcats to the NCAA Tournament after posting the second highest scoring average as a freshman in the NCAA.  He scored 30 against the University of Maryland in an opening-round loss in the NCAA Tournament.  The next year, he would explode, leading Davidson to the Final Eight while wowing the world with his shooting and unselfish play.

Q – What was the highlight for you from last season’s tournament?

“All of the games were a lot of fun.  Playing at Ford Field in front of 70,000 people is just crazy.  But I think that it was that first win that we had against Gonzaga in Raleigh and it was our first NCAA win for our school in, I think, 40+ years.  Coach had been here, I think that was his twentieth year and they had been to the tournament a lot and hadn’t won one.  We finally got him one and got the ball rolling.  It was a pretty special time for us.  You could see it on his face after we won.  He was proud to coach us.  We got him that one.”

Q – You were passed over by some bigger schools during the recruiting process.  How do you think God used that to help you to get where you are now?

“I think I could have gotten caught up in the hype of going to a big name school and possibly lost my foundation of what I grew up on.  For maybe a month or two, that’s all I thought about.  I thought about how I needed to impress all these people to get in to the ACC and SEC schools.  I needed to play outside of my game and do something extra special.  Once it came down to it, everything happens for a reason and I think God wanted me here at Davidson just so that this story could unfold the way it has so far.”

Q – The disadvantages of playing at a small college are well-documented.  When tournament time comes, often times, if you don’t win your conference tournament, you don’t get in the Big Dance.  What, in your opinion, is an advantage to attending a small school like Davidson?

“I think the fact that we get to know everybody on campus is a very unique situation.  Me and my teammates, after games, go to the Student Union and we’ll talk to all of our friends and our classmates, who we all know.  You can sit down and have a conversation with them and thank them for coming to the game.  I don’t think you really get that at a big school where the athletes kind of go missing from game to game.  Academically, it’s nice with the student to teacher ratio.”

Q – Your name was hot last year after the tournament.  What made you decide to come back to school for another year?

“Just realizing that I wasn’t ready for that jump yet.   I’ve been blessed to have my dad play 16 years in the NBA, so he can give me his insight about when the right time comes to go to the next level and what I needed to do to get better, so I wasn’t rushed into a decision.  I love college and I love my teammates so it wasn’t a hard decision to come back.  It’s something I wanted to do and it’s worked out so far.  I’ve had the opportunity to get better and make my game a whole lot better.”

            Stephen constantly reflected attention back to his teammates and his coaches as we spoke.  It was not an act.  That is who he is as a person.  He holds an understanding that in basketball and in life, we need others to make it through to the next level.  In today’s world, that is a rare quality for an athlete to have.

His Outlook

            His humility was shocking and his overall nature and demeanor was refreshing to see in a world consumed with self and greed.  Stephen is someone who looks to see things beneath the surface, not settling for simple appearance but looking for depth.  It is how he is as a person, having great depth of character for someone who is only twenty years old.

Q – Why do you think God has given you this opportunity to be in the spotlight?

“I’m not sure, to be honest with you.  It is a blessing to have everything happen the way that it has, so far, since I’ve been here at school.  I try to stay as humble and use every opportunity to deflect attention off of me to Him.  So I have that little sign I do after the game and during games and Bible verses on my shoes and use my humility and the situation that I’m in to bring glory to Him.  The people who are watching basketball games might not know that somebody’s trying to witness to them while they’re playing, but it’s something that I try to do.”

Q – With all of the attention you are getting now, you still seem to be team-focused, which is odd in today’s sports world.  What keeps you grounded and focused?

“Just knowing that basketball is a blessing and a gift.  My coach here at Davidson, Coach McKillop, preaches that in his own way.  (He says) That we have a blessed opportunity to play basketball and right now, you have to just cherish that.  I think to be selfish about it or take the spotlight, put all of the attention on yourself, would take advantage of that situation.  Personally, I know that my teammates, coaches, and everyone else involved are as much of a part of it as I am.  With that in mind, I give glory to God for my talents and whoever is helping me, they get the credit too.

            Davidson is working towards another NCAA Tournament berth this season.  If they make it, the cameras will again shine upon this young star as the media will chronicle each step Davidson and Stephen Curry make along the way.  Stephen, however, will continue to point the cameras and the world to a Savior who has changed his life.  He wants history to say that he stood for Christ in everything.