Basketball and Bible Study

ashlye.vanderworp@intervarsity.org — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 19:54:35 +0000

Ashlye Vanderworp

Basketball and Bible Study

Gabby was a college basketball star who went to church “maybe once a year.” She believed in God—mostly because she was afraid of what would happen otherwise.

“I couldn’t understand when people would say Jesus died for me. In my head, he didn’t even know me,” Gabby said. “I used to question God all the time, and I didn’t understand the Bible and its meaning.”

“God, like the real God, spoke to you?”

On a road trip in 2015, Gabby’s best friend and fellow basketball player on another campus talked about Rec Week, an annual ��ñ�� conference. Gabby’s friend shared how at Rec Week she grew in her love for Jesus and engaged in listening prayer.

Gabby was shocked, “God, like the real God, spoke to you? How?” Her curiosity was sparked, so she agreed to study the Bible with her friend over the summer.

The next semester, Gabby transferred with a basketball scholarship to Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) in San Antonio, Texas, her best friend’s school. Excited to join the same life-changing ��ñ�� chapter as her friend, Gabby regularly attended a Bible study led by Patrick Farris, an ��ñ�� staff minister.

Patrick convinced Gabby, along with her teammates, to go to Rec Week, the same conference her friend attended a year earlier. A call to faith was made. Gabby said yes and decided to follow Jesus.

“Jesus does know me! I know that now. I don’t have it all together, and I need him.”

“��ñ�� changed my life.”

The following year, after co-leading a Bible study for basketball players at OLLU, Gabby and her team attended Rec Week for the second time. There, they prayed for campuses with no ��ñ�� presence, including Sul Ross State University—the same campus where Gabby already accepted a role as Graduate Assistant Coach of the women’s basketball team.

“That,” Gabby said, “presented a great opportunity to start a chapter!”

Today, Gabby leads Wednesday night Bible studies for the Sul Ross women’s basketball team when they’re not on the road. Just like Gabby’s team at OLLU, God is transforming the lives of the players at Sul Ross. They’ve become more open and are reaching friends outside of the team. Plus, this May, three years since her best friend told her about the conference, four of the women agreed to attend Rec Week with Gabby—the first time for Sul Ross students.

“��ñ�� changed my life,” Gabby said. “It not only strengthened my relationships with friends I already had, but also brought into my life people whose faith kept my faith growing even more. I thought I was good before, but when I gave my life to God and felt his love for me, I realized I was far from good. I actually lacked everything.”

Will you consider giving to ��ñ��, so more students like Gabby and her team can come to know the God who knows them already? Just like Gabby, ��ñ�� wants to see more future leaders developed on campuses across the nation. For more information and to give, click the button below.

Donate to Develop Future Leaders

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Jeremy Lin's ��ñ�� Roots

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:47:45 +0000

Alumni Profile

News

Gordon Govier

Jeremy Lin's ��ñ�� Roots

Jeremy Lin’s ��ñ�� story was first written two years ago on ��ñ��’s StudentSoul website when he was still a student at Harvard. The interview revealed his passion for daily Bible study, weekly small group meetings, regular church attendance, and sharing the gospel with his teammates by word and by example.

In 2012, after Jeremy set an NBA record for the New York Knicks with an incredible stretch of 109 points scored in his first four starts, and the New York Times included a link to StudentSoul in one of its Jeremy Lin stories, page views went through the roof. The excitement was dubbed "Linsanity." Following the 2012 season, Lin went on to sign a contract with the Houston Rockets.

Harvard Campus Ministry

Because he was a varsity athlete, Jeremy’s involvement in the Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Christian Fellowship (HRAACF) and the broader Asian community at Harvard was somewhat limited, according to Adrian Tam, who was an ��ñ��/HRAACF Campus Staff Member during that period. “Jeremy was in the spotlight at Harvard before he was in the spotlight in the NBA,” Adrian said. “He showed that Asian Americans could be leaders, they could be athletic, and they could be bold and open about their faith in a winsome way.”

In a video testimony Jeremy said that he missed Christian community at Harvard until he connected with HRAACF. Adrian became a spiritual mentor to Jeremy, meeting with him regularly, studying the Bible together, and reading together such books as Too Busy Not to Pray. “He loved his roommates, spending lots of intense one-on-one time with them, leading investigative Bible studies with them, and just plain hanging out with them.”

Adrian said that what he remembers most about Jeremy, from the time they first met, was his humility. “Even though he was more accomplished, smarter, and just plain bigger than I was, he always treated me with respect and honor. He was real with me, earnestly desiring to follow God in all things. He had a quiet ambition—not only to be the best basketball player he could be, but also to be the best Christ-follower he could be.”

Asian American Ministries

“Jeremy Lin is the kind of alum that makes ��ñ�� Asian American Ministries proud,” said James Choung, director of ��ñ��’s Asian American Ministries (AAM). “I'm not talking about his prowess on the court, though it's fun to see. What I love is that when he's given the spotlight, he gives glory to God and others in a way where his humility shines through. And because of who he is, he's giving national attention to Asian American Christianity as a whole.”

HRAACF is one of eight ��ñ�� chapters at Harvard and currently has about 50 students regularly involved in its activities. Its history goes back 18 years to a time when ��ñ�� student leaders noticed a growing number of Asian American students who weren’t engaged by any campus ministry.

One of those leaders, Tom Lin, graduated in 1994 and joined ��ñ�� staff, commissioned to plant HRAACF. Today Tom Lin (no relation to Jeremy) is ��ñ��’s Vice President for Missions and the director of Urbana 12.

“Generations of staff and student leaders have influenced HRAACF students, and I think we all count it a great privilege and joy when we see world-changers like Jeremy,” Tom said. “I personally am inspired, and so thankful to God for the role that this ��ñ�� chapter has played in Jeremy Lin’s life.”

��ñ�� AAM chapters are operating on over two dozen other U.S. college campuses. However, more than two thirds of the Asian American students involved with ��ñ�� are a part of multiethnic chapters.

“AAM seeks to introduce Jesus to students who would never enter a majority culture fellowship,” said James Choung. “And with the growing numbers of Asian Americans on campus, we're needed more than ever before. As they take on more influence in our culture, like Jeremy Lin, we hope that our ministries will prepare Asian Americans to exert that influence with the love and values of Jesus.”

More coverage of Jeremy Lin, his faith foundation, and his ��ñ�� connection:

World on Campus - February 16, 2012
Washington Post - February 17, 2012
Washinton Post blogs - February 17, 2012
Christian Post - February 18, 2012
Baptist Press - February 20, 2012
Boston Herald - February 21, 2012
CNN - February 21, 2012
James Naismith & Jeremy Lin - February 21, 2012
Harvard Crimson - February 22, 2012
Her Campus - February 28, 2012
Jeremy Lin, Then and Now, World on Campus - March 1, 2012
Linsanity: Jeremy Lin's rise to stardom (Video) - April 7, 2013

News Keywords

basketball

Basketball and Bible Study

Basketball and Bible Study

“God, like the real God, spoke to you?”

“��ñ���� changed my life.”

Jeremy Lin's ��ñ���� Roots

Jeremy Lin's ��ñ���� Roots

“��ñ�� changed my life.”

Jeremy Lin's ��ñ�� Roots

Jeremy Lin's ��ñ�� Roots