justin

On June 2, 2002 a young man in our church by the name of Justin Sullivan was named High School baseball player of the year by the Daily Oklahoman. But what the members of our congregation knew about Justin was something that ran much deeper than his recognition as an athlete or mere athletic skill.

Justin was a young man who was passionate about his faith. He had a walk with Christ that was emphatic and disciplined. He shared his faith with others. He was humble and gracious. He was heavily involved in the youth group even though baseball took a great deal of his time. He studied his Bible. He kept a daily journal and logged his spiritual growth.

Chris Wall, our youth pastor at the time and now one of our lead pastors said that he believed Justin would one day be a pro player who would have significant impact on the sport of baseball for the cause of Christ.

But the following day on June 3, Justin was tragically killed on Hefner Parkway when a semi tractor trailer tire dislodged from a truck bed and collided with his car.

It was one of the most devastating weeks in the life of our church.

When a life so full of promise is taken away from us, it is impossible get over. The grief of his loss is close to surface even today. Until we get to eternity some day and can see clearly we will never fully understand something this tragic. We naturally have many questions on this side of the veil that will not be answered.

But although we don't have all the answers, last Sunday we saw one of the answers.

Last Sunday we commissioned a baseball team to do ministry and missions throughout the central U.S. utilizing Justin's life and testimony as a model and inspiration.

As many of you know, Chris Wall took Justin's prayer journal and wrote a book with it. The book is an 8 week discipleship course designed especially for baseball players and utilizes many of the daily quotations from Justin's journal.

The book has become so popular it is now in it's third printing.

All of the proceeds of the book are supporting a competitive High School baseball team that has been put together for the purpose of leading baseball clinics and spreading the gospel of Christ.

The head coach of the team is Lee Tunnel. Lee and his family first came to our church the week that Justin was killed. He was especially drawn to Justin's story because of his own passion for ministry and his love for baseball.

Lee was the pitching coach for the Oklahoma City Redhawks and former pro baseball pitcher (He pitched in the 82 World Series with the Cardinals). When Lee was about Justin's age, he surrendered into the ministry, but three weeks later was drafted into professional baseball. He played and coached in baseball for many years but always had in the back of his mind that he would go into full time ministry at some point in his life.

Earlier this year Lee and Chris Wall began to plan together for the convergence of Lee's ministry passion and for what God was doing through the new book about Justin's life. The result is a baseball ministry that has a unique missions platform.

This past weekend the team lead their first clinic. At the end of the day, 10 young people and 4 parents came to know Christ.

Last Tuesday they played their first game.

Chris Wall called me just minutes before the game started and said, "do you know what today is?"

"Tell me", I said.

"Today is the day 6 years ago that Justin was killed". He said.

"Did you plan it that way?", I asked.

"No, we didn't." Chris said.

"But just think, God in His providence worked this out for us. It is six years almost to the very moment that Justin was taken from us that we launch this new ministry and this team starts playing baseball."

"God is good." I said.

God is good all the time.

Even when we don't have all the answers.

For more information about the baseball ministry or to purchase the book , "A Life Worth Following, click here.