For those of you who like to keep things like faith and religion separate from your sports, stop reading now.
For the rest of you, keep going, and you might find the next few moments of your time well spent.
I’ve been in love with sports journalism almost as long as I’ve been in love with God and the idea that I’d somehow be used by God for a purpose much bigger than myself.
In fact, I got my first inkling or premonition of that when I was 11 years old. It happened as I sat in the empty sanctuary of the church I grew up in back in Omaha, Nebraska. I was waiting for my mom to finish up a meeting, and since I wasn’t old enough yet to drive, I had no choice but to exercise some patience in order to get home.
But it was in that sanctuary where I felt this…”something” telling me that God had need of me and that God would one day call me to serve His church.
This came almost one year exactly after I first saw my name in a piece of newsprint.
That happened when I opened up the Omaha World Herald newspaper one Saturday morning during college football season and, much to my delight, saw that my submission into the sports pages’ “Voice From the Grandstand” fan column was accepted.
I was sounding off about how Nebraska’s legendary football coach Tom Osborne had let the game pass him by. That they’d never beat the likes of Florida State and Miami with an old, archaic, outdated I-formation triple option offense.
Three years later, Osborne and Nebraska began one of the most impressive runs in modern college football history. I’m glad the Cornhusker brass didn’t listen to the 10-year-old me.
Suffice it to say, my love for God and love for sports journalism have been playing tag with each other for more than 30 years.
At times it’s caused me great confusion. Like when I was a college intern at the World Herald and my internship advisor quite frankly told me that I’d never be able to be both a journalist and a pastor because the two were a natural conflict of interest and that I’d have to pick one or the other.
Naturally, my naive, 21-year-old self dropped journalism and opted for an emphasis on God and ministry that took me through a soiree into youth pastoring and prison chaplaincy before moving to metro Atlanta at age 26. It was there that I’d pastor my first church. But even through all that, the love for journalism was never far away as I’d find ways to dust off my chops through a freelance assignment or two here and there.
But it was in 2010 when both my chief passions stopped flirting with each other and conjoined in a marriage of sorts. I left my first pastorate after four years and began a church plant. Not sure how much you know about church planting, but one thing all church planters know is that starting a church — or anything from the ground up for that matter — is not part of anyone’s “get rich” formula.
Because I was no longer getting paid my full-time pastor’s salary, I knew I needed to get back into the “regular workforce” to make ends meet and provide for my family.
I asked God what to do. He told me, “Use what’s in your hand.” Immediately I took that to mean my ability to write.
I took on freelance gigs at the Clayton News Daily and Henry Daily Herald newspapers in metro Atlanta until I’d impressed (or bugged) then-sports editor Derrick Mahone enough to where he gave me my first full time job as a sportswriter.
Not long after, when people found out I was a sports scribe by day and a pastor by night (and, of course, Sundays), a new door of opportunity was opened for me.
I began volunteering as a huddle speaker for the South Metro chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. I also started feeling more comfortable with inserting elements of faith, culture and life into my sports writing.
I recall being told a story of a then 8-year-old boy reading a column I wrote about the faith of a local high school athlete and deciding he wanted to follow in that athlete’s footsteps.
I had opportunities to share the gospel with student-athletes I’d also profiled in newsprint for their exploits on the courts and fields of play. I saw a few come to Christ. I led a few to Christ as well.
It was then that I realized my former journalism advisor, though well-intended I’m sure, lied to me. God was showing me that I absolutely could fuse these two passions He gave me into a healthy, hearty co-existence. And I’ve been doing my best to navigate it ever since.
My latest reminder of how your work can also become your ministry came last Sunday when the Augusta church plant I lead celebrated its 2-year anniversary and first-ever baptism service.
On that day, we baptized three college-aged young people. The first to go in the water that day? Cross Creek graduate and soon-to-be Morgan State freshman basketball player Michaela Bogans. Her brother Michael and family friend Miyana followed after.
I first met Michaela almost three years ago while writing sports stories about her prowess on the basketball court as one of Georgia’s best high school point guards.
I covered her in the state playoffs. I covered her scholarship signing ceremony to Morgan State. And as awesome as that was, none of that topped covering her in baptism waters.
The cool thing is, it may not have ever happened if my opportunities to cover her on the basketball court didn’t connect her mom to our ministry.
I know that this tale may not tug at the heart strings of some as it may do for others who share my faith. And that’s okay. I’m not here to judge. But I want to use this occasion to say this:
Don’t let anyone limit your understanding and view of the impact you can have on people through multiple facets of life.
Don’t let the limited vision of others cause you to put blinders on your own. Each of us have been given different levels of capacity to do different, yet equally amazing and impactful things with our lives. And those things are designed to impact more than just ourselves.
I’m grateful Michaela didn’t limit herself to just being a success on the basketball court. Now, when she goes away to college, she’ll be armed with something much more powerful that will help her live her best life beyond the game she loves.
I’m grateful God wouldn’t let me limit myself to doing things based on a status quo that may fit some but is far from being one-size-fits-all.
And finally, I’m grateful that some of you reading this are going to — perhaps for the first time — think twice about the limits you’ve placed on yourself and determine to use what you currently do and where you currently are to make a profound difference in the lives of someone other than yourself.
As a child, there was a song I used to hear the older folks in my home church sing. Part of the lyrics say, “There’s no secret to what God can do. What He’s done for others, He’ll do the same for you.”
Those lyrics have been seared into my heart and have provided constant inspiration over the years when life has gotten hard and I began feeling insignificant to the grand scheme of things. I used to compare myself to others until I realized that everyone has a race to run, and just because mine doesn’t look like another’s doesn’t mean God can’t still find ways to use who I am and what I’ve got for good. In fact, I’m proof of it. So are Michaela, Michael and Miyana.
And here’s the best part: Just as the song says, if God can do it for me and if God can do it for them, there’s nothing that says He won’t do it for you too — just the way you are.
Gabriel Stovall is the sports editor of The Augusta Press. You can reach him at gabrielstovall@theaugustapress.com.
