After a long day at work, Jason Jones pulls on a catcher’s mask and pops his hand in his mitt. He is ready for action as a member of the Spring Hill Baptist Church, Mobile, “Felts Team,” coached by Marty Felts and Tremaine Martin.
As Jones plays, sweat rolls from his face, red dirt covers him and his body aches from being hit with the ball. He will make a choice tonight how he reacts when something doesn’t go his way.
In church leagues, where control of the emotions is more important than control of the ball, thousands of Alabama Baptists find themselves with the chance to be “all-stars” by the behavior they exhibit under the bright lights of competition.
“They get together and have a great time of interchurch fellowship, but one of the best things that it can do is to be a witness to other folks in the ballpark,” said Bobby Butler, minister of recreation/activities at Spring Hill Baptist.
Across the state, church teams play under the banner of Christianity at several different county- and city-owned parks alongside secular teams representing business, industry and civic groups.
In Mobile, Cottage Hill Baptist Church, Cypress Shores Baptist Church, Spring Hill Baptist and church teams of other denominations, such as Assembly of God and Church of Christ, represent a substantial part of the interdenominational church league, sponsored by the city of Mobile Department of Parks and Recreation.
“There are probably four games going on when they’re playing out there,” Butler said, referring to Monday night men’s teams at just one of several parks in the city.
“Just the way they conduct themselves on and off the field can be a witness. People look at them and say, ‘that’s what Spring Hill Baptist Church is,’ ” he said. “Or, it can be very negative — if someone loses their cool. “Sports opens up doors. It’s not just going out to play ball,” he said. “When you put the church and Christ on, you need to really remember what you’re doing.”
Keeping emotions in check and walking the moral high ground of behavior during the intensity of a game is a highly visible way to be a witness for Christ on the ball field, ministers of recreation agree. But difficulties are faced.
“It’s a challenge to not lose your temper,” Jones said. “But you’re there in fellowship with other Christians and that helps.
“We’re not there just to play softball, we talk about what’s going on in our lives, and we pray before and after the games,” Jones said. “I’m not a great athlete by any means, and it’s great that they don’t expect me to be,” he noted.
“They enjoy being my friend and my company. When I strike out, I’m not greeted with resentment — you don’t always get that with secular teams,” Jones said
He said the fellowship and friendship with the team members, who are other Christian men from the Adult 9 Sunday School class of which he and his wife, Cindy, are members, makes the team close.
“We try to promote a good image for Christianity,” he said. Jerry Harris, minister of recreation at Shades Mountain Baptist Church, Vestavia Hills, said establishing teams as Sunday School departments means accountability through an existing organization within the church.
Harris said Shades Mountain Baptist Church’s softball teams play on church leagues through community recreation programs.
Harris also noted that one team made up of church members chooses to play in an open league, in order to have a Christian influence on the secular teams they play against.
Shades Mountain basketball teams play through Birmingham Baptist Association (BBA).
BBA had 149 basketball teams playing in 13 gyms this past season. These teams represented 33 of the association’s 140 churches and represented age categories from first-graders to 39-year-olds.
As coordinator, Barbara Bencko said the BBA organizes its basketball league through a recreation task force.
A league commissioner is hired to oversee the operation of the league and a person is contracted on an outsourced basis to secure referees to call all of the games that the 149 teams play.
The commissioner wears a beeper at all times. He is paged if a referee doesn’t show up to call a game, to handle complaints or unsportsmanlike conduct and to interpret rules for their league.
Before a church decides to form a league, careful attention should be given to the establishment of teams, Bencko said.
When establishing sports teams there are many issues to take into consideration.
David Burnham, director of recreational ministries at the Family Life Center of First Baptist Church, Dothan, offers seven steps for establishing church sports teams:
- Evaluate interests of church members.
- Develop programs based on age groups, gender and levels of competition.
- Formulate or adopt rules and guidelines for each program.
- Promote the sports program through the church and community.
- Establish a committee to guide and maintain the league or program.
- Acquire reliable leadership, such as a director to lead the program from start to finish.
- Educate coaches with appropriate training.
Once established, teams usually join a league. However, there are options among leagues, according to John Garner, director of sports and recreation ministries at LifeWay Christian Resources. He suggests three ways for churches to become involved in leagues.
The first suggestion is to simply have intramurals within their own churches focusing on outreach, evangelism and fellowship.
His second suggestion is for the church to join a city-sponsored church league that is interdenominational. The church signs up with the city leagues for a fee which includes fields, umpires, etc., and the church provides team uniforms and equipment.
This can be done by way of the church budget or team members paying some of the cost.
The third option is for a church to establish its own league, or join an established one. The league could be administered through the church’s association; through one or more of the involved churches; by a committee or a person on the church staff.
The association or church would do the organizing of the league as well as the game scheduling and the training or securing of the umpires and referees.
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