Youth Basketball For God

Hey, this is Mike Zwick from If Not For God Podcast, our show.

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Wow, we are so blessed today. As we were talking about potential in the Christian Karga show, the potential of this kingdom of pursuits is outstanding because we have some amazing people with us. Randy Shepherd and Jamie Johnson with Crossfire Basketball Camps. And as you might imagine, they're good friends with our fearless leader, Stu Epperson, who himself loves basketball. And so, Randy, welcome back. We've had you on before, but it's been a number of years. We appreciate the opportunity. Appreciate Stu's friendship. Yeah, yeah. And so with you is, you've got Jamie Johnson as well, who we have, I don't think I've talked to before. Exactly.

You're the bear. Yeah, so Jamie, let's get a new perspective on Crossfire for the people that are listening. How would you describe Crossfire Basketball Camps?

Well, first of all, I'll say this. Randy and I are a lot bigger than basketball. We're not camps per se. We do a lot of things.

That's under our umbrella. We are a sports ministry that Randy and I came together in 1992. He'd already been playing for a while with Spirit Express out of Memphis, Tennessee. And Randy had been traveling the world playing top B-1 teams like Colorado, Colorado State, Alabama, Wake Forest, across the country, Tennessee, and sharing Christ at halftime.

And he was speaking on the prison trail, the church trail, the school trail, everywhere you could find a basketball, he was speaking. And we came together in 1992. I moved to Memphis, played with Randy, and he was my opponent growing up in middle high school, college. His team always beat me.

And I tell people I got smart. I decided I would just join them so I could win. And so Crossfire came together in 1993. And what we have are a number of things we'll talk about today, where we can share Christ as a platform of basketball and softball, 68 countries, 46 states. We've been blessed. I got the best teammate in the world. Randy's just an incredible athlete. I tell people, even when we work out on the side and quiet, that I've probably competed and shot with him in warm ups, thousand plus times.

I don't think I've ever beaten it. Maybe four or five times when we shoot threes, the guy can shoot the rock. Well, Kenny beat Stu. I've been with Stu. Stu's a good three point shooter. We've never had a contest, but we played about two, three months ago when I was speaking in Winston-Salem.

Me and him and John Perry and a couple other guys played some young guns, as you would call it. And we won every game over at Pastor Jay Boyce's church. So Stu's a great shooter though. And the best thing about Stu is he loves the Lord as well. Oh, yes, he does. He does.

He does. So, and you guys got some big events coming up that we got to let people know because, oh my goodness, what a difference this makes in young people's life. Because camp is just, you know, for my kids, they lived almost for the summer camps.

Yes, sir. I grew up going to basketball camps. I played high school ball with a gentleman by the name of Buzz Peterson.

Buzz is the assistant general manager now of the Charlotte Hornets. But Buzz and I grew up in Asheville going to camps together. And we went to Wake Forest Camp. We went to Clemson Camp. We had a unique experience. When I was 16 and Buzz was 17, we went to North Carolina basketball camp at Tar Heels.

Dean Smith was coaching then. And we checked into the Granville Towers there in Chapel Hill where all 400 campers were going to stay. And we went as two boys from Asheville, North Carolina.

Buzz was probably the best player in Asheville. He beat me every day. And we were suite mates with two African American guys from Wilmington, North Carolina. And one of the guys knocked on the door. He came through. He stuck his hand out. He was 17.

And I was 16. He said, I want to introduce myself to you. My name is Mike Jordan. Well, we know him today as Michael Jordan. But brother, the Lord worked it out that week.

And I think God had a hand in it. We got on the same team. And I tell kids and youth and adults when I speak that Michael made me look good.

I was throwing the ball to him up around the rim, and he was dunking it forwards and backwards. And there was a little assistant coach by the name of Roy Williams that had just been an assistant a couple years then. And Roy was coming in the gym saying, how are we going to get this kid to play basketball in North Carolina?

Well, the rest is history with Michael. We know where he went. And Buzz ended up playing at North Carolina.

Both of them became roommates there. I wasn't good enough to play in North Carolina. I played my four years at UNC Asheville. But when I got out of college, brother, the Lord had gotten a hold of my life.

My junior year, I was saved when I was nine, but I'd come back to the Lord in my junior year at UNC Asheville. And I said, Lord, I want to have a basketball camp where we can teach everything that I always learned as a youngster at these major university camps. But I want to share God's word and about Jesus, because as you know, brother, you've been to secular camps, nothing against those universities, but not everybody there knows the Lord. And sometimes you hear the name of God or Jesus mentioned in a derogatory way. And I said, I want to have a camp where the name of Jesus is lifted up. So it's a real miracle to the Lord, brother. Jamie and I weren't together then.

He had graduated from Gardner Webb University, where he played collegiately, and he played also at Montreat. But as a great prayer request, I said, Lord, I want to have this camp. And I didn't have the name of Michael Jordan or LeBron James, wasn't even on the scene then, or Chris Paul. But I said, Lord, if you want me to have this camp, you can provide. So I began to pray. And I was in full-time ministry at the time with the team that Jamie mentioned in Memphis, Tennessee, Spirit Express. But after a support meeting one night, a businessman came up to me. He said, Randy, I can't help you financially with your support, but if you want to have a camp, you can use our gym, Asheville Christian Academy.

And I said, well, brother, you didn't know this, but I went to school there, fifth through the eighth grade, before I transferred to Asheville High. So I said, that's an answer prayer. And then another guy called.

It was less than a week later, brother. And he said, if you ever want to have a camp, I want to help you with the printing. Randy, I've been watching your life, and I appreciate what you're speaking to do for the Lord. And he said, I want to donate printing to you. Well, brother, glory to the Lord, 30 years later, he's probably given us a quarter of a million dollars worth of printing, free. So I said, the Lord wants me to have this camp.

So I began to pray. Said, Lord, if 100 boys comes to the camp, and one gives his life to Christ, and he learns basketball, it'll be a success. So we put the printing out that first summer in 1990, all over Western North Carolina, and 175 boys signed up with 35 on the waiting list, because the gym wasn't big enough. And we had over 100 that made first time decisions for the Lord that summer. And then some mama started calling and said, when are you going to have a girl's camp? We said, we'll pray about it. And the next summer, the Lord blessed with 65 girls, 240 boys, and we're bragging on Jesus now, and this will be our 31st summer, but we've seen over 22,000 young people come through the camp, and probably 14,000 or better have made a first time decision for the Lord.

So we can't take any credit, brother. We give the Lord all the praise and glory, and we do have our 31st annual camp coming up, and we appreciate y'all wanting to talk about that. Yeah, absolutely. And so yeah, we've got some as early in Asheville as June 21st through the 25th, right?

So it's like around the corner. You've got half-day camps, full-day camps, overnight camps, so you've got a whole host of things to choose from, and a host of ages, right, from 6 to 14? Yes, why don't you give a rundown on that, Jamie, and probably most of the people listening today would probably qualify for the overnight camp, because driving all that far for a half-a-day camp is probably not feasible, but if they want to, they can. They can get a hotel, they can come go see the Biltmore House during the day, drop their kids off with us, but Jamie, explain what all we got going there, brother. Sure, and you might be as a listener today, you might have a friend in the Asheville area that you'd want to let them know about the camps, so keep that in mind as well. The half-day camps do begin June 21st to 25th at Asheville Christian Academy, on the east side of town, Swannanoa side, and we have boys and girls ages 6 to 14. That's going to run a Monday through a Friday, 1 to 4.30. Wow, I hate to jump in there and stop you, Randy, but we got a break that's coming up, and so we also want to mention that Amy Cabo's The Cure is coming on today at one o'clock, and they're going to be talking about how to break away from people-pleasing, so that's going to be on at one, and we got a lot more with Randy Shepherd and Crossfire Ministries coming up on Kingdom Pursuits.

You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits, where we hear how God takes your passion and uses it to build the kingdom, and we're so blessed today to have with us Randy Shepherd and Jamie Johnson with Crossfire Ministries, but you know, it is Kingdom Pursuits, and so it would only be appropriate that at some point in time we have Robbie's riddles. So speaking of basketball, are you ready for this, Sean? Okay, so do you know the difference? And feel free, Jamie or Randy, if you know the answer to any of these riddles, jump on in there, and you might, because they're basketball riddles. So do you know the difference between being in prison and playing on a basketball team, Sean?

No. So here you go, you're gonna like this. On a basketball team, your guards won't leave you hanging. And here's an oldie, but I do love it every time, and especially since we have a couple here, why was Cinderella a lousy basketball player? I have no clue, Robbie. Why?

Because she had a pumpkin for a coach, I mean, you know. That's good, buddy, I like those. And I don't know if you knew this, but you know when basketball stars die, they don't pass away, do you know what they do? Come on, you can get it. They pass the rock, pass the ball? I like that, but they cross over. It's a little dribbling trick if you happen to be a guard, you know what I mean by crossing over, but anyway, at the end of that, you knew we would actually have a riddle where you can call in and win today at 866-348-7884-8663 for truth. All you have to do is call in and tell us who in the Bible crossed over. Oh, 866-348-7884.

Just tell us who in the Bible crossed over, and if they do... Do we get to answer that, brother? If you want a t-shirt or something, you sure can, but let's let the listeners do it. So, Sean, tell them what they'll win. All right, Robbie, so if they get that correct for our winners, we've got a book called It's My Turn Now, Caregiving 101, a movie called By War By God, or a Christian Card Guide t-shirt.

It's your choice if you win, so let us know what you want. 866-348-7884, and all you have to do is tell us who in the Bible crossed over. Very interesting. I would love to hear your answers to that, but when we left our hero, Jamie, he was giving us the rundown.

The half-day camps are in Asheville coming up June 25th through 25th. Go ahead, Jamie. Sure, and like your riddles, Robbie, Sean, I won't give an answer, but me and Randy probably had the same answer for us who crossed over.

We'll be quiet there, but we'll tell you later, you ask us. No, yeah, we were talking earlier for those who might not have caught the earlier part with Randy explaining, you know, this camp that we have has been going on for its 31st year now. Randy began it back in 1990. Crossfire has been doing this for kids, boys and girls ages 6 to 18, 22,000 plus kids later, 14,000 professions of faith. Randy, when we started this whole thing, when he began it, he had a heart for Christ to be honored. He went to all the basketball camps across the South, the big ones, Duke, Wake Forest, Tennessee, you name it, and he didn't hear conversation about Jesus Christ.

It doesn't mean they didn't get basketball, but he wasn't hearing a lesson about who Christ was. So Randy wanted to start this camp, and our goal for those listening, moms, dads, grandparents, whoever, we want your sons and daughters, whether they are low level, they've never dribbled a ball, or they want to play in college and they're playing a higher level ball, we want to take them, Robbie, Sean, from A to Z, from ball handling, shooting, defense, team play, character, being a team player, whatever, we want them to get a total experience. So at the half day camps, and if you're listening, you have friends in the Asheville area, we give you a piece of the larger picture where the overnight full day, I'll mention as well, gives you more time to work with those kids.

Half day is like an appetizer, but it's very effective. I didn't go to camp growing up, Robbie, Sean, I didn't do that, not that my parents wouldn't have sent me, but I can see the results of what Randy did going to camp versus what I didn't have. And so at this camp, when you drop off your son or daughter, half day, full day, overnight, they're going to learn fundamentals. And Randy will tell you, we both know coaches that will say, high school, college level, kids are not learning fundamentals.

So that's what we teach. And so when they come to that camp, they're going to learn about ball handling, passing, shooting, defense, we're going to work on their skill set, we're going to try to break bad habits if they develop some, and then every day they're going to hear about Jesus Christ. That first camp half day, June 21 to 25, is at Asheville Christian Academy, east side of town, Asheville, Swannanoa area, and it'll be from 1 to 4.30 every day. Then you have another half day on a different side of Asheville, Hendersonville side, that is July 5 through 9, ages 6 to 12. The first one was 6 to 14, this one is 6 to 12, boys and girls, 1 to 4.30, Monday through Friday at First Baptist Hendersonville.

We use that church there at First Baptist for their gym because it's a nice gym, it's central, it works well, they even have a ministry to kids after school programs, so it's very much a visible gym accessible. Then the last two options run the same week, July 18 to the 22nd, a Sunday through a Thursday is the overnight portion, which is at Mars Hill University, north of Asheville, about 20 minutes. We've been there for probably 20 years, we use their facility, boys and girls ages 9 to 18, and we have some very good skill sets there. We have some that are learning and some that'll play college ball, and so they're going to have three sessions a day if they're at the overnight, two sessions a day at the full day. The full day begins the following Monday, July 19 through the 22nd, ages 9 to 18, boys and girls, and all the costs on the website at crossfireministry.com, but at that camp they're going to learn the fundamentals like the half day, but because of more time, Sean, Robbie, they get some five on five. They get a little more creativity of time because you've got three sessions versus one, and so we always tell parents if you're looking for a good camp experience, all of them are good. In fact, if you want to send them to the half day as a precursor, a month later send them to the full day, and they get a bit more in that camp setting, and Randy, you may want to add to that. Yeah, I think, Robbie, they can learn as much basketball as they could at Duke or Carolina, Virginia, Richmond, Coastal Carolina, wherever you're listening from.

We're going to incorporate Christian principles in God's word. We seek to get the best 20 to 25 high school players in the high school division of that camp from western North Carolina, and then glory to God, we probably have had campers come from 15 different states in 31 years, and we've even had a few. One camper came from Egypt. I had been speaking in Egypt, and she flew over to some relatives in Virginia and came to the camp, but she was living in Egypt, so we've had kids come from all over, and we know half a day is going to be an option for western North Carolina, but those that are listening further away are going to be an option for our full day overnight camp. Morrisville is a beautiful campus.

It's all-you-can-eat food in the cafeteria, the air-conditioned dormitories. This year, because of COVID, there'll be one camper to a room, but the girls are in one dorm, the boys are in another dorm, the staff is made up of former Christian Division I, Division II, NAIA players, and Christian high school coaches, and when we use that word Christian, Robbie, you know, we have guys that can compete on that level, but also know the Lord, because that's the whole purpose of the camp, is to teach the best of basketball, but more importantly, to share the truths of the Lord Jesus Christ, because we tell the young people, you know, and realistically, they've got a one in a million so forth chance of making it the NBA, but we're going to give them the things that once their career is over, if they don't play college ball or NBA ball, then they're going to have a fundamental basis of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and hopefully they'll come to know Christ that week. If they already know Christ, then they'll grow in their relationship with the Lord, and so we feel like we've got the best of both worlds to offer, and again, we take no credit, we give the credit to the Lord, and we try to have a spirit of excellency at the camp.

Yeah, thus the name Crossfire. I mean, you can't help but love that name. Well, the Lord gave us that name, Robbie. We were praying when we started the ministry in 1993, and in fact, you just had Charles Stanley on the commercial there in between spots there. We were listening to a message by Charles Stanley, and it was talking about, open your mouth wide, and God will fill it with His blessings, and we got the name Cross, which is our salvation. Fire is the Holy Spirit, and fire is also a basketball term, firing the net, so we got the word Crossfire, and we use our life verse on the back of the shirt, John 14 6, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but through me, and we also have basketballs that we give the campers at the end of the week, or they can purchase them to help the ministry, which have that verse on it. They get a camp t-shirt free, but everything we do, we want to put out the gospel, brother.

That is so awesome. Jamie, is there a particular young man or young woman that stands out in your mind that you saw, and you just saw God show up in a phenomenal way, and it's like, oh man, God no wonder you got me doing these camps. Tell them about John Cannon, Jamie. Well, I sure, I was thinking of John and Jeremy Woods. Yeah, John Cannon is one of our players now. He is 6'10", about 275, played at the University of Georgia, then finished at UNCA where Randy played, and he lives north of Asheville in the Bernsville area, loves the Lord, came to camp, and gave his life to Christ as a young boy, and came to ACC All-Star games that we haven't talked about, and really it's just been sold out to the Lord Jesus Christ.

He's been to the Philippines with us, overseas probably a half a dozen times, still dunked 10, 15, 20 times in a game. The other night we were playing ball at our church, my church gym, and we were playing the older guys, we're playing the younger guys, and we beat them six games a night. It was all over effort, and John just loves the Lord, plays hard, but he came to Christ through camp. Isn't that awesome? Yeah, that is, and that's, you know, just, and you know, what an opportunity camp is for those. So again, all this information is at KingdomPursuits.com as well, and we've got a lot more with Randy Shepherd and Jamey Johnson Crossfire Basketball.

Coming up. Oh, welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits, where we hear how God takes your passion and uses it to build the kingdom, and how about a passion for basketball? So many share that one, and today we have Randy Shepherd and Jamey Johnson with Crossfire Ministries.

So many different cool ways that they are reaching the world for Christ through their passion, which is basketball, but right now we have Amy Cabo, who's coming on at one o'clock today, and her show, really great topic, like how to say no. That was a song like that in the movie Oklahoma, as I recall, Amy. Amy, are you with me? Oh, you got Randy and Jamey still. I'm sorry, I had you on mute by mistake.

No, it's okay. Today we have Joyce Campbell, who's a play counselor for 24 years. She specializes in dysfunctional behavior, and today we're going to discuss the value of saying yes and the importance of saying no instead of feeling pressured to say yes.

In other words, how to be assertive and say what you mean, know what you want, and be clear about it in order to give opportunity to endless possibilities. Yeah, there you go, Amy. And, you know, again, it's a live show, it's on one o'clock on the Truth Network, and you got an opportunity to call in. So, you know, if you used to sing that song in the movie Oklahoma, you know, I'm just a girl that can't say no. Do you remember that song, Amy?

I can hear it in my head. That's a good one. But, you know, wow.

I mean, how many times have I done things to please somebody that I knew did not please God? And like, wow, how can we find that place, Amy? So I'm really excited you're doing that show today.

Yes, it's so important to be true to ourselves and others. So, and Boris is there, I hope? Oh, he's always there. Hopefully, God willing. It wouldn't be the cure without Amy and Boris.

So one o'clock coming up on the Truth Network. Thank you, Amy. God bless. Thank you. God bless you, too. Bye-bye.

Sorry, guys, I didn't mean to confuse you. But we do have Randy and Jamie with Crossfire Ministries. And so when we left our heroes, you were telling us about this young man, and he came to Christ at your camp. Was he 610 when he came to the camp? No, he was a nine-year-old, and actually he came to camp, and he also came to our big Crossfire ACC event, which we do every year. We started playing the ACC All-Stars in 1994, when Grant Hill was a senior at Duke. And our players that worked the camp and that minister internationally with Crossfire are former college and university players, not really any household names, but have all given their life to Christ and maybe didn't have the opportunity to play big-time basketball, although John did. But when he came to camp as a nine-year-old in our Crossfire ACC game, we played the likes of Grant Hill when he was at Duke, Tim Duncan when he was at Wake Forest, Tyler Hansborough when he was in North Carolina, J.J. Reddick when he was at Duke.

We still play those guys every year in a big game at UNC Asheville after March Madness. And we'll have about 4,000 fans in the UNC Asheville gym sold out, and then at halftime we'll bring an eight-foot cross to mid-court, and we'll have a testimony gospel presentation just like a Billy Graham crusade and invite people to come to Christ. And glory to God, Brother Robbie, probably in 26, 27 years of the games we've seen thousands come to the Lord, and we'll bring in people like yourself or Stu or a pastor, a student pastor, take these folks to a room and talk to them about the decision they just made, and then a local church in Asheville will follow up on those decisions, because many times those of us that are evangelists, we get accused of just people making decisions and not being followed up on.

We have a local church here in Asheville that follows up on all those decisions within two weeks and gives them an opportunity to get involved in a Bible-believing church. So John was a product of that when he got finished playing basketball at the University of Georgia for three years, and then he played his last year at UNC Asheville. He came to us and said, wow, I'd really like to do something like what you guys are doing. We said, well, brother, you're an answer to prayer, because we pray for godly players, but when you can get a godly 6'10 player, it's a real blessing, brother. I understand completely. You know, I really do.

So that's beyond cool. Is there another young man that stands out that you're just like, man, the kingdom is growing as a result of the vision that he gave you guys? Yeah, Jeremy, share about Jeremy Woods, which you were going to share with initially. Well, I mean, Randy, you've got a good feel of that story. Just tell him about his father being disabled and all that.

It's a great story. Well, his dad was a preacher up toward Burnsville, North Carolina, which is just north of where we have the overnight camp at Marshall University. And unfortunately, when Jeremy was in high school, he was driving his dad somewhere and got hit by a car. And brother Woods was paralyzed.

And he's a paraplegic now. But Jeremy and his brother John had come to our camp from a very young age, and both of them are in full-time ministry now. Jeremy is the pastor, just took a pastorate at a church in Myrtle Beach, Conway area, where I think this program could be going out as well. But Jeremy was on staff at Biltmore Church here in Asheville for many years. This was a Southern Baptist church, and he recently took a position in Myrtle Beach as the satellite pastor there. But he grew up coming to our camps.

He played at Pfeiffer College, which is not far from Winston-Salem, and then now he's a pastor reaching hundreds for Christ. So that's Jeremy, and his little brother John is a student pastor here in the Asheville area. So that's two wonderful testimonies, glory to God, of young men that came up through the camp and now are in full-time ministry. Darrell Bock Wow, and if I was understanding the story, that when they—apparently you knew the young men from being at the camps, and then the accident happened.

Did you know it at the time that this had happened to your players? Jeremy Yeah, well, we had preached in his daddy's church. We also speak in churches. If there's any pastors listening, we come to a crossfire service for you where we challenge your church with our testimonies, or we can challenge your church on soul winning and evangelism. Dr. Graham once said that he believed, Billy Graham, that 95% of Christians don't share their faith.

And I was in that category for way too long, the sin of silence, until God gave me a burden to witness, and now we try to witness wherever we go. But yes, we had preached for his daddy in his church near Burnsville, and they were little boys then coming to camp. And then when they were in high school, still coming to camp, they had an accident where the dad was injured, pastor, and he became a paraplegic, and he had to step down from the pastorate. But now he does paintings with his teeth, which are remarkable, and he's still alive.

His sweet wife takes care of him. Obviously, Jeremy and John are probably close to 30 years old now, and they're in full-time ministry themselves, but it was a very difficult story that God used in their high school years, and now has really turned it around for the glory of God. Isn't that amazing how God allows you to—as you stepped into faith? Because, you know, when you start out, the whole idea of starting these camps, obviously you loved the game, you loved the Lord, and he gave you a way to work within your calling.

It's really a beautiful, amazing thing, I know, that you continue to see. So are there some exciting younger players we need to be looking out for that you guys have been working with? We get an opportunity every summer. Before COVID, we would get four or five hundred campers a summer, half day, full day, and overnight, and we give them the best of basketball. There's some that have gone on that are playing college basketball now. We don't have any household names as of yet. Back, way back, a kid that played in North Carolina named Rashad McCants came to our camp when he was young, and Rashad went on to play in the NBA. He's out of the league now, but he did come to camp, and we had a chance to minister to him. So Robbie, whether they're household names or whether they play on a small Christian school team, they're important to God, and they're important to us, and if they never make their high school team and just come to camp to be a player and have fun, learn the drills, hang out for a week with us, that's what counts is planting seeds for the kingdom. I couldn't agree more.

I used to tell my son who played all the way into Division One basketball that, you know, the secret of the whole thing is to have fun. It really is. So when we come back, we got one more segment with Randy Shepherd and Jamie Johnson. It is Crossfire Ministries. You can find out all about it at KingdomPursuits.com.

All those dates, registrations, all available there. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits, where we hear how God takes your passion and uses it to build the kingdom, which we're so blessed today to have Jamie Johnson and Randy Shepherd here with Crossfire Ministries. They have a lot of stuff going on we're going to find out about in this, but you know, this is your last segment. If you want to win today, you know, all you had to do is tell us who crossed over in the Bible. 866-348-7884.

It's not a trick question, really, isn't it? 866-348-7884. So Randy, you guys, you've got the basketball stuff, but you were talking about you've got other things. You've got softball.

Tell us what else is available. Yes, I'll let Jamie share that with you. He headed up our softball ministry. We also preach at churches. We do student rallies.

We play in prison. So, Jamie, give them a little idea of that, brother. Well, boy, sure.

You know, let me just give you a quick backdrop. My father was a pastor. I buried him two years ago. He was my hero. He went to Wake Forest University, business major, turned pastor, served in the Navy, loved kingdom work, understood as a pastor the need to disciple to reach the community.

When I left the business world and joined Randy and moved to Memphis and came back to Asheville, he understood the very thing of what you have said on this program, doing your passion to build the kingdom. He knew as a pastor that there were people not coming to church on Sunday. Reality is, in America, on Sunday, people are not at the church. They're at home. They're at the golf course. They're mowing their grass. They're watching whatever, and that's what lost people do.

That's what I would do. So, Dad realized that for Randy and myself and Crossfire, we were an asset to him as a pastor, and many pastors realized that we're not a threat. We're not replacing the church. We are the church, and so what we get to do is use different platforms, outreaches, to connect the world to the body of Christ, because they're not coming to church.

We bring Christ to them. That camp idea we've shared is one. The ACC ball game is one, but then we have other things. We have a softball ministry where we go to tournaments.

We play across the southeast. Before after the game, we share our testimony with the gospel to players, and we've seen hundreds every year of grown men give their life to Christ. Prison ministry. We've been in prisons across the southeast.

You go in there. You might say you're going to have a Bible study. You might get five percent out for a Bible study, but if you tell them you've got a team coming in to play basketball, they come out of their cell block. They hear the gospel. They love a game, and they give their life to Christ. Church setting, as Randy mentioned. We love to come into the churches to preach truth, to love the body of Christ, and to maybe give them creative ideas as the Spirit leads on how we can share the gospel of Jesus Christ, because Randy's right. What Graham said is most people probably don't share their faith, and that's a lot of times because they're afraid to. They're nervous.

No one showed them how. So we can challenge the church, encourage them, not beat them up, about creative ways to share your faith from God's word. So we go into schools. Sometimes that's through the FCA, Fellowship of Christian-Athlete Total Group, or it could be a Bible study group, or it could be some kind of family setup where they've got people coming in to be a part of an assembly program. Yeah, Christian school or otherwise, and we share Christ with that and reach out to these kids.

Randy, you might want to add. Yeah, I just echo that, brother, as evangelist. You know, unfortunately, brother, you probably would realize this. Evangelist has kind of become extinct in our world, and it's definitely not extinct in the book of Acts, and I would encourage pastors to use evangelists to come in that have a gifting or a calling. You know, when Billy Graham gave the gospel, people came forward, and that wasn't because of Billy Graham was manipulating them, it was because he had an anointing of an evangelist and how to explain the gospel, and then when someone makes a decision for Christ, the pastor, the student pastor comes in, gets the name of that person, hopefully gets them in a Bible-believing church where they can grow in Christ. And we're not against friendship evangelism, brother, but we read the book of Acts that I believe, we believe, like Bill Bright, who was with Campus Crusade for Christ, and like Dr. Adrian Rogers, who was one of our mentors, said, you know, every Christian has the gift of evangelism, but every Christian should be an evangelist. So if you're a plumber, a doctor, a lawyer, Christian radio, basketball, baseball, football, God is putting people in your path that if you ask Him for the words to say, you learn the Roman road, you write your testimony down, two or three minutes, God will give you opportunities to share the gospel, then it's the Holy Spirit that does the work. But if we don't share, we're guilty of the sin of silence, and I was guilty of that for way too long.

So God brings us into churches, pastor might have us preach a Sunday morning, we preach on fishing for men, we give examples, we challenge the church and give them an opportunity to say, hey, God can use me at Western Auto, or God can use me at Walmart, or God can use me at my job to influence people for Christ that my pastor or a well-known evangelist might not ever reach. So that's what we're trying to do through all the different areas of Crossfire, brother. That's so awesome, and I'm sure if you're listening right now, like me, and going, gee, where could I send my grandkids, where could I send my kids to not only get the basketball fundamentals and be somewhere where they have fun playing the game where it doesn't beat down their throats, you know, that actually has got Christian values to it, you can hear these guys' hearts.

I mean, you're like, okay, we get this. Like, this would be the place. It's called Crossfire Ministries. Of course, if you go to KingdomPursuits.com, that's KingdomPursuits.com, you can see there how to register. It's right on the front page. Or go to their website, which is just Crossfire, isn't it, dot org?

Crossfire, CrossfireMinistry.com, CrossfireMinistry.com, where you can call us at 828-255-9111, 828-255-9111, or CrossfireMinistry.com. And Brother Robbie, we appreciate the station of Truth, and you guys having us on the air today, and Brother Stu, and all the staff there. Oh, it was great fun, great fun. Thank you again, Jamie.

It was great having you on as well. Now, everybody, guess what? We got so much truth coming at you on the Truth Network. Encouraging prayers up next? This is the Truth Network.