Awards Night Celebration 3-5-09

Celebrate the 2009 Upward season at the Awards Night Celebration on Thursday, March 5 at 6:30 p.m. in the RHBC Worship Center! You'll be wowed, amazed, and thoroughly entertained by special guest Mark Lippard!

Doors open at 5:45 p.m. All players need to be in the church atrium no later than 6:10 p.m.

Don't miss this incredible night!

Master Game Schedule 2-7-09

Court 1

Court 2

National Signing Day

National Signing Day. For all of us college football junkies, today is as good as it gets in the offseason. Promise, potential, talent, hope, glory, championships. All of these words fill our heads as we dream about what these high school kids will bring to our beloved programs over the next several years. We refresh the recruiting website every couple of minutes to see if “that” kid has signed his letter of intent yet (ok, maybe that’s just me!). These high school boys have been recruited (i.e. pushed, pulled, swayed, pressured, persuaded, etc.) by coach after coach after coach for the past three years or more to attend a certain school. For months, they’ve constantly been asked by friends, family, classmates, and media what their decision will be. And, today the whole recruiting process comes to an end.

But what is it that finally causes a player to make a final decision about a school? How do coaches ensure they are selling their programs better than other programs? Many coaches claim that they just work to get the kids on their campus for a visit and that the school will then “sell itself.” The coaches claim to not feel pressured to sell the school. They are confident in the town, the school, and the facilities because they’ve lived it…they’ve seen others live it…they believe in it. Ultimately, they believe once a kid experiences it, the kid will also feel the same way.

Wow! Isn’t this what it means to share Christ with others? Christians don’t have to sell Jesus to others. All we do is try to invite them into our lives for them to experience Jesus themselves. He is certainly powerful enough to sell himself! Josh Hamilton (the all-star baseball player I referenced last week) alluded to this in his book “Beyond Belief.” When he and his wife are asked to share their testimony, he says the following…

“All we have to do is be honest and tell our stories, and let the power of our words and God’s mercy carry the day.”

That’s it! Josh doesn’t feel pressured to sell God to others. Matthew 5:16 states it like this…"let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Both men realize that the Creator of the universe doesn’t need us to sell him to anyone. God simply asks us to live him (my words), to introduce him to our friends, family, coworkers. He will do the rest! I challenge us all to simply try it…try Him!