Three Lessons From A Professional Ddr Player

Three Lessons from a Professional DDR Player

Sterling C. Franklin

(known by many as ‘ DJ Sterf ’ or ’ The Dancing Preacher ’)

Originally given at Libertyville Covenant Church, 2007 - Libertyville, IL

Basic outline:

Lesson 1: Your life should be completely lived in service to God.

Lesson 2: Develop your talents, but not for your own glory.

Lesson 3: Follow God’s Calling on your life.

Concerning God-given Talent…

I’m known by many as ’DJ Sterf,’ the world-record holding Dance Dance Revolution player. I once was a Radio DJ, but those days are long gone. I also put out an album, which was hilarious, but I kept the nickname for my time playing rhythm games. In living your life, you may be given gifts and talents that bring you to interesting places that you would never have imagined. This is the way DDR has been for me.

Proverbs 18:16 (NASB)

A man’s gift makes room for him

And brings him before great men.

What[so]ever you do…

What do you do with these opportunities? We are called to do everything to God’s glory, and we are called to do all things well, as if we were standing before the Lord and serving Him.

Colossians 3:17

Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to the God and the Father through Him.

Do all things heartily…

Colossians 3:23 (NASB)

Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men…

Two worlds?

Calling vs. Activities/Hobbies -- Should there be a separation, or should your calling fuel everything else you do?

A single world…

Lesson 1: Your life should be completely lived in service to God.

Romans 12:1 – Offer up your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing unto God.

Glorify God and reach others through your hobbies! What do you like to do? Who has God allowed you to meet through those hobbies? Why not share Jesus with those people? God has put us in this world to be lights shining in the midst of darkness -- those who have not yet seen the light of hope through Jesus need to hear.

Hobby & Calling

God can and often will use a person’s talents and interests for His Glory. We are indeed called to use the spiritual gifts and abilities we’ve been given by God in each area of our lives. One of my major gifts is Evangelism, or telling others about the good news of Jesus Christ -- that He died for our sins, rose from the grave, and provides forgiveness and eternal hope to those who put their faith in Him. We are all called to evangelize, and even more, make disciples of all people groups. Who can we reach with the message of Jesus?

…DDR & Ministry?

I toured around many states of the United States as the ’Dancing Preacher.’ In those shows, I would be invited mainly because of my excellence at my hobby, but I would also be adamant on sharing Jesus, as my calling is to preach the Gospel. I’ve done hundreds of charity events and church services because of my odd talents, but I have been able to share Jesus with many and encourage others because of these opportunities.

What have I accomplished with DDR?

I’m pretty much done with everything there is to do. I have a AAA on every song’s hardest difficulties on the first ten years of American-released mixes on Single play, and on Double play, I have about 600 more perfect scores to add to the list. My rank is 1 on the major global scoretrackers.

I hold Guinness World Records at the game. Guinness Gamers is a publication that the company puts out, and I’ve had records published in there as well as Twin Galaxies publications, which is another major gaming score organization. The most recent Guinness Gamers record is a perfect score on a set of DDR, which can only be tied now.

I have videos on YouTube, Ustream, Motion.TV, and Google Video. I present evangelistic messages in various ways in these videos, whether it be a challenging Scripture, a direct invite to know Jesus, or even an illustration, but I have over 3 million hits to my videos alone, not including my website or outreaches that I am involved in.

This has been a neat evangelistic endeavor that I would never have imagined having, even five years ago. I evangelize in different ways -- sometimes I go up to people on the street, go to college campuses, or even have Bible studies online. Church is not the only place to evangelize! We need to go where people are in the world in order to reach them -- we can’t rely on someone coming to visit a church building to find Jesus. How will they hear without a preacher? (That may be you!)