Sermon Central
-
Baseball And Golf
Contributed by Peter Loughman on May 15, 2008 (message contributor)
BASEBALL AND GOLF
One of my tasks as an associate pastor was to go through the list of people who were on the rolls, but didn't come to church anymore. My task was to visit these people, find out why they chose not to attend the church anymore, and then try to convince them to give it another try. So late one morning I went out to visit an elderly gentleman who was on the church rolls, but never attended.
He had a beautiful house, quite large and elaborate, not unusual for the members of that congregation. We sat down in the living room to talk and after a little chit chat he informed me that he had some friends he needed to join for a round of golf – clearly, he was not thrilled that his wife had said yes to me coming to visit that day.
I asked him if he had been playing golf long, or if he was just learning to play the game. He looked at me as if I was completely out of my mind and blurted out, "Don't you know who I am? How could you say an insulting thing like that?"
Now, I had no idea who he was, to me, he was a name on a list of church non-attendees that I needed to visit. To me, he was just an fairly well off retired American who wasn’t going to church
Well, he got quite animated and told me that not only was he a retired professional golfer, but that he was also a retired professional baseball pitcher. He went on and on about the tournaments he had won and about the different professional baseball teams he had played for. Well, I'm not a sports guy, and so all of his references just had me drawing a blank. Finally, exasperated he led me to his trophy room.
His trophy room was lined with trophies and awards. There were signed baseball bats and gloves. There were piles of old baseballs, several sets of golf clubs and quite a few old photographs. He led me over to the photos and pointed himself out, clearly a player for professional baseball teams. "What do you think of all this?" he inquired at the exact same time that I blurted out – "Hey I know these guys, that's the Mr. Coffee guy, Joe DiMaggio and that's Mickey Mantle." Indeed, the man I was visiting was in uniform in the photo standing next right next to Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle.
All this turned out to be too much for this man. He shouted at me, "You recognize Joe DiMaggio and you recognize Mickey Mantle, but you don't know who I am!" and he ushered me right out of the house.
As I walked to my car, I thought, "THAT didn’t go too well," realizing that he certainly wasn't coming back to church anytime soon.
Related Sermon Illustrations
-
Plato On Politics PRO
Contributed by Tim Najpaver on Oct 23, 2004
The philosopher Plato said The penalty that good men pay for not being interested in politics is to be ...read more
-
Charles Finney On Christians And Politics
Contributed by Tim Najpaver on Oct 23, 2004
Charles Finney once wrote The church must take right ground in regard to politics. Politics are a part of a religion in a country as this, and Christians must do their duty to the country as a part of their duty to God...He will ...read more
-
Patrick Henry On The Founding Of Our Nation
Contributed by Tim Najpaver on Oct 23, 2004
Patrick Henry said, It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians, ...read more
-
Generosity Isn't Always As Generous As It Might ... PRO
Contributed by Charles Wilkerson on Nov 14, 2003
Generosity isn’t always as generous as it might seem. There is a story out of Miami, Florida about six Royal Palm trees that had been vandalized and cut down along Miami’s Flager Street. Due to the expense involved in replacing them Dade County wasn’t sure how soon, if ever. they would be ...read more
-
John Newton Wrote To A Young Minister Advising ...
Contributed by Peter Bines on Sep 22, 2005
John Newton wrote to a young minister advising that God leads his people through distresses, including a sense of their sinfulness. And His purpose? To: ’…preserve in you a due sense of your own unworthiness, and to convince you, that your ...read more
Related Sermons
-
-
Drawing Near To God Series
Contributed by Lonnie Erwin on Nov 17, 2015
James primary reason for writing his book was to bring Christians closer to God. He has illustrated the pitfalls and blessings for the Christian who desire to develop a closer relationship to getting closer to God by avoiding the pitfalls.
-
Lust For Power - Adonijah Series
Contributed by Bala Samson on Aug 19, 2012
There is a fierce lust for power in every sphere of life these days, that includes the Christian circle as well.
-
The Rich Man And Lazarus
Contributed by Howard Gunter on Sep 24, 2019
Of means and privilege versus poverty and dispair
-
Who Told You?
Contributed by Dr.w.samuel Legon on Dec 3, 2011
Who in the world are you letting lead you?
