Reaching Student Athletes For Christ!

Nothing says Christmas like a water buffalo. For a poor family in Asia, getting a water buffalo is like getting a farm tractor to pull a plow, or getting a milk truck full of delicious milk, or getting a stand at the market to sell cheese. A water buffalo opens the door for work, food, and income. More importantly, it opens the door to talk about Jesus.

And nothing says Christmas better than that. Hi, this is Joanne Vigner with the podcast It's Storytime Meemaw, an answered prayer for stories that point children to God. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds.

Enjoy it, share it. But most of all, thank you for listening to the Truth Podcast Network. Hi, this is Joanne Vigner with the podcast It's Storytime Meemaw, an answered prayer for stories that point children to God. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. A story that's coming to an end. class of Greensboro day school he is Wayne Robinson and he's sitting right next to me good to have you on the radio he's got a great radio voice too oh thank you so much still we really appreciate it the privilege is certainly all in God's hands to have a chance to come and speak to you a little bit about FCA well and the the FCA is really at your heart in the ministry you've been doing ministry for 30 years and it's neat to see the if you don't know what FCA is it stands for the fellowship of Christian athletes Wayne give the mission and then I want to tear a little bit at your testimony but give the mission of FCA and kind of what drives that whole ministry you know for us to be able to be a part of a ministry that clearly identifies the fact that we want coaches and athletes to have a mature personal relationship with the Lord and we know that it's through the coaches that the lives of student-athletes can change it really encapsulates what FCA is all about and so we just know that as long as we continue to stay true to what God is saying that we should do with that then we'll see the lives of coaches and athletes change yeah thousands of coaches what's that what's that quote from Billy Graham about coaches it's just that gets me every time about the influence that one coach can have one coach can influence in the course of a year more student-athletes and coaches than any parent or any coach could possibly or let me just say it this way many people try to influence the lives of young people but coaches have more influence over them than just about anyone Wow so there you were a freshman in Blacksburg Virginia at Virginia Tech the Hokies and you're gonna play some basketball for them and you're in the dorm and a knock came at the door take us back to that you must have been what 17 18 years old 18 years old 1976 to FCA huddle leaders come to our athletic dorm back then all the athletes stayed in dorms and so it was easy for the coaches to keep up with us and we lived on the third floor there at Virginia Tech and they were committed to try to build relationships with student-athletes and so lo and behold one Thursday evening I got a knock at the door back doing those days there were old rotary phones or all the players were calling each other saying don't open the doors these FCA guys they didn't even know what FCA meant and I was the only one on the floor that opened the door they came in they identified the fact that I had a Bible that I had not opened the graduation present there you go graduation present for my grandmother and lo and behold within the course of about 15 minutes they led me in the prayer of salvation I was in tears I knew my life had to change and it did change that night and from that point forward God had a plan and he began to open my eyes and ears in my heart to see that plan unfold now take us through your journey a little bit Wayne Robinson you've you know your name a lot of folks know you as a you know playing basketball in the in now of course you're using that platform for the kingdom of God it's just it's amazing and we just talked about the legacy of Tom Landry here you have a guy who was a coach who could easily plan his name to make tons of money and do all kinds of things but how many people have come to Christ because he's been a part of FCA he's been a part of someone invited him to a Bible study back in the maybe in the 60s right and and everything changed that day that's exactly right and you never know but you have to trust that God's going to open doors for you that no man can open and when he closed his doors he shouldn't look back now as a former athlete professional athlete thinking that the world was my stage and then I could do anything and everything I wanted to do it took a mighty hand of God a mighty move for me to begin to see that I no longer needed to identify myself with material things as such he I didn't have to go around looking for public opinion I needed to follow what God's plan was to learn more about him through the word and then to commit myself to walking that lifestyle each and every day so from one day to the next from one year to the next I began to see more of God and less of me in the midst still enjoying my life family children but knowing that there were new new territories that I had to explore because he was leading me in a path that he wanted so that I could help him advance the kingdom of God yeah look at your life and I think about like you know you you did really well with basketball God really blessed you he gave you a talent of course not many people are built you know 285 6 foot 9 and muscular big hands 17 17 I thought my 14th were big I saw your seventies right there those are serious but then but you know Wayne I just it's it's kind of encouraging to me to see a man who you're not spinning consumed with going to find the next Tesla going and chasing the little white ball going and trying to get it all back you know showing up at all the events you're going you're still in basketball to lead people to Christ and you're pouring your heart and soul 24-7 into the fellowship of Christian athletes to get coaches I love what you said to help coaches and athletes know and grow I mean I can't think of a better mission and that's what you're you know someone might say what do you are you nuts Wayne why don't you trade on your big name and your illustrious career and go out there and get some more money but you're pouring into helping athletes and coaches know and grow what would you say to that do it comes down to relationship and once an individual makes a true decision to become a part of God's plan to grow in their vertical alignment is what I call it with God then you begin to see the world differently and once that begins to happen then those things which motivated you in the past though they still have importance don't necessarily motivate you moving forward I believe that as God opened my mind in my heart to know his plan I had to begin to make a decision and it was such that I saw evidence that children as well as adults came into a new relationship because someone to whom they thought was iconic at a level was willing to tell them about what the truth really is from that we begin to see change you know the Bible says that you will know a tree by its fruit a good tree is going to produce good fruit and when a person makes a decision for the Lord you all of a sudden become a good tree now you got to produce and to produce means you got to get out here and share and begin to look at your priorities and then help other people understand how to seek Kingdom first Matthew 633 says seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and then everything else you desire will be added unto you all God is saying is he can help us change our priorities if we trust him enough and allow him to lead us that's the voice of Wayne Robinson with FCA fellowship of Christian athletes one of the main leaders here in North Carolina of course you guys are nationwide worldwide really you're involved with the camps you know Johnny Evans of course in Raleigh ahead of the state FCA famous world-renowned football player at NC State and in just using that platform to share Jesus all your guys are in Burshan you know the area guy here and just a great team we were at Forsyth Country Club in Winston-Salem so you might hear a little bit of noise but this is kind of a neat place to do an interview and I don't know that I've ever done for you I don't know if I'm saying we're part of Country Club Christianity Wayne but it's fun to do an interview here it is it is and I just can't say enough about Burshan Thompson and his efforts early on in Forsyth and Stokes County he's a young man who's on fire for God he's building relationships he's beginning to understand the culture here because he's not from this area and God is opening up doors for him because he's giving him favor when you have favor from God then it's not as difficult as you think to try to build relationships with people that you don't know so we see evidence right now today was one example as he goes to the schools it's another example as he goes to churches and talks to pastors another example and all of a sudden we begin to see a network forming that's going to hopefully and prayerfully and we believe this to be true to see Forsyth and Stokes County which are his two areas turn into a very vibrant community where student athletes and coaches can really grow and see their lives change and hopefully change the lives of non athletes because FCA wants to do that as well and one of the coaches at East Forsyth got up and said we ran an ad for FCA at East Forsyth that said FCA you're invited if you're not a Christian and you're not an athlete you're still invited they had a kid come that wanted to come get saved and and you know it's interesting story after story of athletes that got there they got it they hit the big shot they made the they got the big scholarship they got to the NBA even you know we had Rusty LaRue in here in this meeting Skip Brown but they found that there's something missing and that myth thing missing was Jesus Christ now give us a quick snapshot we left you in Blacksburg you're a freshman you got led to Christ by these FCA guys you're the only guy that opened the door and they led you to Jesus tell us what happened briefly give us a quick synopsis of your career you played you know obviously your college years at Virginia Tech did great there then off a little bit the NBA did you give us a quick just a blow-by-blow of where God took you what he did in your life through those those years of playing surely I was so blessed to be a part of the Virginia Tech community and it gave me a chance to graduate in four years my degree is in finance and accounting I had no idea stew that I was gonna be drafted as high as I was and during that time 250 players were drafted at 10 rounds back then 25 players per round I was the 30th pick in the draft in 1980 first draft choice of Los Angeles Lakers had a chance to play there for a short stint before I was traded to the Detroit Pistons played there for a couple years bad boys yeah well we were bad because we weren't that good they were good and they were bad so but I had a chance to play against a phenomenal players during that period of time spent a couple years in the NBA had a chance to go to Europe lived in Italy for a couple years played in Spain I played for the world-famous Real Madrid basketball team traveled all over the world played again every Western European capital been the Russia checklist of vodka Poland and all of those wonderful countries a great experience retired from basketball at the age of 32 but not from life because during that time this was before ESPN and this was before collective bargaining guys weren't making a ton of money but my wife and I we were good stewards and we were able to take advantage of that opportunity and come home and then have choices as to what we were going to do still didn't know God was calling me into the ministry but lo and behold I had that experience like so many have you know that kind of epiphany where God says listen I need you to start working with young people we opened up an after-school and summer enrichment program right there in the heart of Greensboro right in the inner city did that for eight years hundreds of kids came through was a program called the Center for Champions right in the drug-infested area of southeast Greensboro but yet God protected those students and they were coming from more than 20 different schools that set the stage for me to really understand the importance of evangelism outreach ministry ministering the parents learning more about the challenges that they had and from there God called me into ministry full-time I became a youth pastor at a very large church was there for six or seven years became a pastor for Christian education and then subsequently I launched a ministry the new millennium Christian Center where I've been the senior pastor there for 17 years you're still pastoring right now still pastoring so I've been by I've been by vocational so long I don't know what it's like to not have just single a single focus but it's been great the ministry is doing well but my passion is certainly certainly for the Lord and FCA is a vital part of that well thanks for sharing that what a blessing FCA you can go you can google the website Google Wayne Robinson looks for some of the old highlights right banging it up with those guys that was the I mean that was magic and bird those are some norm that was when Norm Nixon was still with the Lakers when you were out you know there was some good guys and and you met another fellow Christian who I actually played ball with you this okay here's a blast from the past I actually played pickup with Bobby Jones and what a treat to see a man that loved Jesus but all world all-american guy with a 76er but you kind of ran with guys like that and got to see them both then and now in the faith in Christ they have huh that's exactly right Bobby Jones Kent Benson those these guys were tremendous examples of what it meant to be a true Christian athlete at the professional level and even to this day Bobby's doing some tremendous things down in the Charlotte greater Charlotte area so that's a great great experience for anybody who wants to know people like that I mean we've got so many guys even during the times in which we bring in special speakers I mean we could go through a laundry list of men and women coaches and athletes who all are committed now more so than ever Dabo Sweeney is a perfect example of that someone who is saying you know what I'm a head football coach man and I've got a lot of responsibilities but I love the Lord and he is first and I just think that when you have people like him and others that have come alongside we see that FCA is not going anywhere the gospel is not going anywhere in fact we're gonna be here long after many of these other organizations pass away and I don't mean that in a negative way but because God is in the midst because FCA was founded on the word that it's going to survive well thank you for using your platform of all the things you talked this guy about he could brag about NBA he could buy all that stuff that's the least thing you talked about just now in our meeting you talked about Jesus and helping coaches and student-athletes know Christ grow in Christ reaching souls with the gospel so thanks for using your platform and as we get out of here challenge everyone about what they need to do with their platform what God's given them they may be a gifted builder they may be a gifted musician how do they use their platform to the glory of God we don't have much time left do we brother we certainly don't and though we're not prognosticating we're not trying to bring forth a prophetic utterance what we want people to know is that the times indicate that we need to reassess where we are and if we are willing to trust God enough to ask him the Bible says if we ask him we can receive if we seek we can find if we knock the door shall be open let's let God show us exactly what to do and how to do it and we'll see changes that we know will affect our lives our families lives and maybe a generation or generations to come this is the truth Network