Alabama sports teams reach out to churches

Traditionally attending a baseball game means hot dogs, the seventh-inning stretch and dreams of catching a foul ball. But for 262 people attending an August Huntsville Stars game, their time in the stands was a moment to meet God.
   
The Stars, a minor league team that is an AA affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers organization, had set up a Safe at Home night with Scott Dawson Evangelistic Association, Point of Grace, Toby Mac, Kevin Derryberry and Rick and Bubba during a doubleheader against the Mississippi Braves.
   
At the end of the second game, Scott Dawson spoke, and the people responded by walking onto the field to make decisions. Of those, 215 made decisions to follow Christ as their Savior.
   
“It was quite different,” said Bryan Neece, director of media relations for the Stars and a member of Park City Baptist Church, Fayetteville, Tenn. “This was a baseball stadium and Scott Dawson kept referring to it as a worship service. It was pretty neat.”
   
For 300 members of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Hazel Green, in Madison Baptist Association, the game was their Sunday night worship service. And for seven of those, it was decision time. 
   
“It was a great night,” said Lon Ostrzycki, Bethlehem Baptist youth minister. “We had a great mix of youth and adults.”
   
Usually the church sends its youth group to the Stars’ Pray-n-Play nights for churches, but this time, the church shut its doors and extended a churchwide invitation to the game, explained Ostrzycki. 
   
He said church nights put on by the Stars and Huntsville’s former NBA development team, the Huntsville Flight, are a great way to introduce teenagers to Christian fellowship outside the church, as well as giving Christian teens a chance to meet other Christians.
   
“It shows the Huntsville Stars and other teams that do (church nights) are trying to invest in the community and help it,” Ostrzycki said.
   
Neece echoed that intent. “The general manager wanted to do something for local churches,” he said.
So every Sunday during the season, fans who bring in their church bulletin get half-price tickets. 
   
Known as Pray-n-Play, the nights are sponsored by the local Christian radio station, Way FM. And although the team’s last Pray-n-Play is Aug. 28, Neece said the team plans to continue with Sundays next year.
   
From Huntsville down to Mobile, sports teams across the state are holding “Faith Nights” or “Church Nights” to do something for the community.
   
Neece noted that while attendance is always good at these events, it is not necessarily greater than the usual attendance at games. 
   
For Scott Myers, owner and managing partner of the Birmingham Steeldogs, “It’s providing family entertainment and an opportunity for families and churches to get together.” 
   
The arena football team has partnered with the Birmingham Christian radio station, WDJC; churches; and others to sponsor its Church Nights.
   
Dawson Memorial Baptist Church, Homewood, has partnered with both the Steeldogs and the Birmingham Barons, a minor league baseball team, to have Dawson nights.
   
Chris Hunsberger, Dawson Memorial Baptist’s minister of recreation, said Tuesday nights during the summer are “Dawson Night at the Met.” Church members invite family and friends to attend the game for a special ticket rate, and Dawson members sing the national anthem or throw the first pitch.
   
“It’s a time where we can all hang out,” Hunsberger said. “We see it as something different, to get away from the four walls of the church building.”
   
In a world that increasingly seeks to separate faith from daily life, one might expect the teams or their management to face opposition or have doubts about holding nights obviously dedicated to church.
   
Not so, Myers said. “I myself am a believer, and I don’t look to separate church or my faith from anything,” he said.
   
Huntsville’s Neece added that being in Alabama helps. “In this area, being the Bible Belt, it’s probably a lot easier to do this sort of thing than it might be (elsewhere).”
   
Personal faith is what prompted Bill Shanahan, president and general manager of the Mobile BayBears, to hold Christian events in the minor league baseball team’s Hank Aaron Stadium.
   
“I’ve been involved (in the BayBears) since the beginning,” Shanahan said. 
   
That, coupled with Integrity Music being located in Mobile, led the team to hold one Faith Night each season featuring Integrity’s Christian artists. This year, the team held multiple Faith Nights. The team also hosts Christian events throughout the year, such as New Year’s Eve and Christmas concerts.
   
“It is very important to us to provide opportunities for Christians,” said Shanahan, who is a member of Christ Presbyterian Church (in America) in Mobile.
   
The team’s desire to provide Christian events led to the partnership with Third Coast Sports, a Nashville-based company that helps minor league baseball teams organize Faith Nights.
   
Third Coast has also partnered with the Barons to hold a Faith Night Sept. 3.
   
Blair Holden, Barons group ticket manager, said while they have Church Fellowship Nights three times a year, the partnership with Third Coast will allow the team to bring in national as well as regional recording artists.
   
“There are so many church groups in the Birmingham area, we want to let them know we have an environment safe to their groups,” he said.