TheGoal.com Presents The 1998 New York Yankees


	Chad: One of our phrases that we use; "God is not our good-luck charm, he's a life-giver." Which would you rather have? Would you rather be given eternal life through His Son, or be given good luck while you're walking the face of the earth? That's where the perspective comes in. We're more thankful to Him for what He's done for us here as a group than we are for the wins and losses. We are thankful for those wins and losses, but that's not our main concern. Our team goal is to win the World Series, but our group goal is that everybody we come in contact with here on our team enter eternity in heaven with God. What good is it for us to care about our teammates but then not be able to know that someday we're going to spend eternity with them. If we go about the season playing games but seeing souls lost—I wouldn't consider that a successful season. SS: What if you break the Cubs' record for wins in a season and then get upset in the World Series? Can a Christian give God the glory even if he doesn't achieve the goal?

Chad: Giving God the glory is not a matter of who won a game. Giving God the glory is giving Him the glory because He is God. He is in control.
I used to think of "giving God the glory" as when I hit a home run I've got to make sure I give Him credit. I've gotten beyond that. I realize that giving God the glory is accepting the failure in a way that still honors Him. I think last year Tony Fernandez was the perfect example of that. He had a game-winning home run against Baltimore that put his team into the World Series. When they were interviewing him he said, "Hey, I give God the glory for that. He's my Lord and Savior. He gives me the strength to do that." And then in the World Series, he booted a ball that cost them the whole World Series. After the game they interviewed him again, and he didn't turn around and say, "Oh well, I curse God because he didn't allow me to make the play." He said, "Jesus Christ is still my Savior and Lord, and I still honor Him. It just didn't work out the way I wanted it to." The game is not the end. The end is Christ.

SS: Scott, you're one of the newest members of this team. Were you surprised to find such a strong Christian influence with the Yankees?

Scott: One of the first nights we were here, a group of guys were sitting around talking about how they ended up with the Yankees. Everyone had the same story: ‘Boy, the last place I wanted to go was the Yankees,' or ‘When I was a free agent the Yankees were the last team on my list—yet here I am!' And here you have this whole group of Christians saying the same story. It became pretty apparent that this whole thing wasn't put together by us. This whole thing was God-driven. This group is together for a reason.

SS: Are you surprised by the closeness of the Christian group on this team? And are you surprised at how God has moved among you?

Chad: God is faithful to give us fellowship. There's also an element that we have to be obedient to assemble that fellowship together. This year we decided to do that, and I think God has honored us. I think of the group of guys on our team, I could name each one, and I could tell you areas that I've personally seen growth. I've seen guys grow spiritually this year. It says in the Bible "a tree is known by its fruit." The fruit that I've seen growing out of some of the guys this year has been positive. That's a testimony to the fact that God has been working on us.

Darren: On the teams I've played on in the past you usually have one guy that's a so-called "leader." Then, you usually have quite a few guys who are followers. Chad is our leader. Chad's a very good organizer, and he really takes the steps to get things going. But every guy in this room has shown leadership qualities. That's what's unique to me. I've seen a group of guys where there's not just one leader, but there's
4 or 5 leaders.

Andy: I came up with the organization, I'm in my fourth season, and it seems like I've been here longer than any other guy on the team. Scott talked about coming to spring training and guys saying this was the last place they wanted to be. I was at the point where I didn't even want to come this year because we lost some players I had gotten close to. We lost some good Christian guys I had fellowship with. I just got aggravated. But to see how it's worked out, where Christian brothers were coming over, and we've had some guys get saved—it's just been an unbelievable blessing!

Kevin Hunter is a freelance writer who lives in Long Beach, California, and works for the Orange County Register.