Courtside Christianity

Courtside Christianity: Reflections on Relevance
Coming Out Of The Cheap Seats To The Premium Seat Where God Wants You
By
John Meeks
Tuesday, August 04, 2015

Usually at this point in the summer, as does every coach, I spend a significant amount of time reflecting
on the past season and changes that I feel we need to make within our program in order to make the
upcoming season the most relevant ever. Most of this reflection, however, centers on selfimprovement.
For that, as I look back to life events over the course of the last year (I have found that
social media can be an invaluable tool in this introspection), I can truly see God’s hand and how He has
shaped my life but, more importantly, my daily walk and relationship with Him.
I spent some time in this very area back in April, when a good friend called and asked if I would be
interested in speaking at the NCAA Final Four to coaches as part of the Athletes in Action (AIA) Coaches
Forum 2015. Although hesitant to do such a thing, as speaking in public is completely out of character
for me, once he revealed to me the topic, I felt as though my story could help coaches from all walks of
life. The topic, “Three Words on Winning,” centered on the words humility, listening, and obedience,
and how each was foundational to relevance, coaching, and winning…not just winning games, but
winning life. The word on which my friend asked me to focus was ‘obedience.’ I immediately thought of
the Apostle’s words in James: “You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the
world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and His way. And do you suppose God doesn’t
care? The proverb has it that ‘He’s a fiercely jealous lover.’ And what He gives in love is far better than
anything else you’ll find. It’s common knowledge that ‘God goes against the willful proud; God gives
grace to the willing humble.’” Oh how God would shape me over the course of the next few weeks in
reflection and preparation for this day. This is that story…
Since the first day I became a head coach, my motive was to teach players more about winning life than
winning games…to help them leave my program as better people but, more importantly, great husbands
and loving fathers, despite whatever model with which they might have grown up. There has always
been consistent church involvement with our team, as well as adoptive families that can mirror the
examples we want to set for our team. I constantly think back to the focus verse from the 2014 AIA
forum (I Corinthians 16:13-14), which models this concept: “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act
like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.” A picture of this verse now hangs in my home
and has become a building block within our program. But I am also well aware that Satan will try to
destroy any work meant for good and, for me, he often tries to shift my eyes to winning games more
than winning life. It was in a service before the 2014-2015 season started that God hit me square
between the eyes with this ‘shift.’ I prayed: “God, peel back the layers of who I am. Break down and take
away what has been built up. Fill my cup with nothing but you.” I had no idea the depths to which this
prayer would take me, event after hearing the words of local pastor Van Moody: “Your shift is coming…”
Days before our 2014-2015 season began, a close coaching friend, in an off-the-cuff phone conversation,
asked me, “What does your program stand for.” I mentioned relevance, prioritizing winning life over
winning games, and the concept of ‘building men for others.’ His response to my statements startled
me. Although he admitted that he knew me well and what I stood for, his question, that caused me to
stop in my tracks, still rings in my ears today: “If I had to ask your players the same question about your
program, what would be their response?” There are times in my life when I feel like God is speaking in
such an audible voice that I could reach out and touch Him. This audible voice came from my good

friend and was echoed more loudly in a church service entering our season. The voice said: “John, I will
test your faith in the area you love most. I am more interested in your character than your comfort.”
Despite many trials during the season, we entered game #27 of the year in a tie for first place. Kids were
battling, not just on a nightly basis in games, but on a daily basis in practices and workouts, holding
themselves accountable in nearly every area. However, as most teams do, we had hit a lull in practice.
Practices had not gone well for a few days and, after a particularly bad practice, we made the decision as
a staff to call a second practice that day. No one showed. I was floored! How could a team that is in first
place make such a decision? My anger built. How could a group of individuals knowingly disregard
authority?
I reached out to multiple coaches, many who I consider mentors in the profession, to ask their advice as
to what to do. We had a game in two days that could define the relevance of the remainder of our
season. To my dismay, no one had ever been through such an experience and could offer any advice.
That night, as I sat in my office, in near tears, I suddenly reflected upon notes from a recent church
service. Those words rang dear to my heart: “God wants you in the deepest part of the river so He can
direct wherever you go.” It was in the silence of my office late that night that I heard God’s voice, and
remembered what my good friend had, before the season, questioned as to what my program stood.
Would I stand up for everything I had said I was about, or would I crumble under the pressure to
win…and win big?
“Is it my will or God’s will? I want what God wants…PERIOD. If He’s not Lord of all, then He’s not Lord at
all.” The words of my pastor rang deep in my ears. In the end, I made the decision…a lasting
decision…and one that hurt me to the core. Because of their decision, I suspended the entire team for a
game that ultimately cost us our season. Winning games was not first…it did not make us relevant;
winning life was and did, and I would make the decision to put that value in its preeminent place, no
matter the cost. As Louie Giglio, pastor of Passion City Church, says: “You can be right where you are and
just move your eyes…to see a God that is above the winds and waves…and above your storm. Just shift
your eyes and look up. But no storm is more powerful than a person in the safe house of Jesus Christ.”
Giglio’s words, though powerful, are easier said than done. I found out first-hand. After chasing wins,
conference and national championships, I was lowered to a point where my team would not be playing
in March for the first time in my career. Reggie Dabbs, a national evangelist to teens, told our team,
earlier that year: “I either believe in my situation or the situator (my Savior).” God would carry me
through this, as He had done so many times before. His work would still be accomplished. In the midst
of my chaos, He would be King!
No matter how many times I tell this story, it remains one of the toughest times of my life. My daily
prayer is that God takes my mess and turns it into His message. When I finally settled into my seat at the
AIA Forum 2015 to tell an abbreviated version of the story once again, I finally understood the
connection between the ‘Three Words on Winning” my good friend had given me in preparation for this
time. Reliving my experience as I told it to a group of men I did not know, I realized that, in the situation
I had just experienced a little over a month earlier, I had to gain humility…to take myself and my wants,

desires, and needs out of the picture…before I could really listen to God’s will for my life and live in
obedience to Him. Not my will but HIS! This is relevance…in its truest of forms!
What can I leave you with? What have I learned? “I know my heart is to feel You near, and I know my
heart is to do Your will…this is my desire…to be used by You.” I now truly know that our circumstances
do not dictate, drive, determine, or even deter who we are. We are all HE says we are. The end.
Exclamation point! I know that my freshmen, after shedding tears in my office at the end of the season,
have returned to the team with a renewed sense of who they are in Christ, and to use the talents He has
given them, each and every day, for His honor and glory…not theirs. I know that my heart is to see their
lives impacted in a positive way, Godly and otherwise, and to see them impact others in return, so I have
made the decision to return to Wallace State and take our team on a mission trip this fall, to see this
vision come to fruition. Lastly, to borrow the words of Smokie Norful: “I have decided…determined…I’m
committed that I’ll run, no matter the cost, even though at times I may get lost. I’m going to finish my
race!” This race has relevance…find it!