{"id":886,"date":"2011-07-03T18:00:20","date_gmt":"2011-07-03T22:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/?p=886"},"modified":"2011-10-05T00:27:16","modified_gmt":"2011-10-05T04:27:16","slug":"st-louis-cardinals-outfielder-lance-berkman-on-christianity-and-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/07\/st-louis-cardinals-outfielder-lance-berkman-on-christianity-and-competition.html","title":{"rendered":"A conversation with St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lance Berkman"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share with friends!<\/strong><\/p>\n

It might still seem strange for diehard baseball fans to see Lance Berkman in a St. Louis Cardinals uniform. After all, he spent the previous 11 and a half seasons (Berkman played the second half of 2010 with the Yankees) as a core member of the Houston Astros.<\/p>\n

But no matter where Berkman is playing, there\u2019s one thing of which fans can be certain. The six-time All-Star is passionate about winning, but he\u2019s even more passionate about sharing his faith. Here\u2019s what Berkman told me about his spiritual journey, his love of the Bible and how living for God and competing hard are one and the same:<\/p>\n

Bonham: Tell me about your spiritual journey.<\/p>\n

Berkman: I was raised in church by Christian parents and I was baptized when I was 11 years old. But I didn\u2019t really have a good understanding of what the Gospel was really all about until college. It\u2019s a time when you\u2019re getting out from your parents\u2019 supervision and you\u2019re starting to think for yourself maybe for the first time. That was the case with me. That\u2019s when my faith became my own. The Lord used a lot of people to bring me to that point. One of them was my brother-in-law Jake Baker and the other was my wife Cara when we were dating. She continues to help me grow spiritually. So it really began my sophomore year at Rice (University) and it\u2019s a work in progress to this day.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lance Berkman (Photo by Tony Firriolo\/MLB Photos via Getty Images; Courtesy MLB)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bonham: What\u2019s your favorite Bible verse?<\/p>\n

Berkman: John 15:5<\/a>. It\u2019s my favorite because a lot of people who will say, \u201cWell, I\u2019m a good person.\u201d There\u2019s a theology out there that says if the good you do outweighs the bad that you do, that means you\u2019re a good person therefore you\u2019re in good standing with God. That verse really hits home for me because anything we do that\u2019s good apart from the power and the name of Jesus Christ, not that it doesn\u2019t count, but from a spiritual standpoint, it\u2019s not edifying. It\u2019s not worth much. The only way that we can truly have a purpose and an enriching life experience is to do all things in Christ and through the power of Christ. What happens when we\u2019re all about doing good works and we\u2019re doing that outside of the power of Christ is that we end up getting the glory and the whole point of this deal is that God gets the glory. That verse beautifully illustrates that point.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How important is it for you to use your influence as a clubhouse leader to share your faith?<\/p>\n

Berkman: It\u2019s extremely important. I don\u2019t think you can overstate the importance of using your platform or using the position that you\u2019ve been given to affect good in every circumstance that you\u2019re in. Obviously, the only reason I\u2019m where I am is because God has gifted me and He has seen fit to put me where I am. I have to honor that by using my influence and my status on the team and in the game of baseball for good and to His purpose.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How do you go about making a difference in the lives of your teammates?<\/p>\n

Berkman: The key to dealing with people in general is that they have to know that you care about them. You have to deal with people in gentleness. You have to come along side of them. You can\u2019t push them. You can\u2019t pull them. You have to walk with them. In order to do that, you\u2019ve got to demonstrate care for that individual. That\u2019s my whole thing. I want my teammates to know that I care about them personally. I care about what happens with them on and off the field. When you are in that position, you earn the right to speak into their lives. I try to let guys know that I do care about them and consequently I think they\u2019ll listen to me when I have something to say.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How encouraging is it to know that there are several players in the league who are also strong believers?<\/p>\n

Berkman: You certainly know the guys on the other teams that share your values and beliefs. There is sort of a loose fraternity. At the same time, I know that every time I\u2019m up there against Jake Peavy, I know he\u2019s trying to strike me out just as hard as I\u2019m trying to take him deep. The good thing about being a Christian is that you have that perspective. Then you can really have fun. Then it\u2019s a fun competition. After it\u2019s over with, it\u2019s over. That\u2019s actually a benefit to have some Christian guys competing because they understand that there\u2019s more than just the outcome to the confrontation that\u2019s important.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How do you use your platform as a leader in the clubhouse to speak into the lives of other players?<\/p>\n

Berkman: The key to dealing with people in general is that they have to know that you care about them. You have to deal with people in gentleness. You have to come along side of them. You can\u2019t push them. You can\u2019t pull them. You have to walk with them. In order to do that, you\u2019ve got to demonstrate care for that individual. That\u2019s my whole thing. I want my teammates to know that I care about them personally. I care about what happens with them on and off the field. When you are in that position, you earn the right to speak into their lives. I try to let guys know that I do care about them and consequently I think they\u2019ll listen to me when I have something to say. One thing I do enjoy as a guy who\u2019s been around for a while, I see these younger guys coming in and I always like to help them if I can and give them advice. It is difficult. Having been through it, I can reach out to those young guys and make sure that everything is good with them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share with friends! It might still seem strange for diehard baseball fans to see Lance Berkman in a St. Louis Cardinals uniform. After all, he spent the previous 11 and a half seasons (Berkman played the second half of 2010 with the Yankees) as a core member of the Houston Astros. But…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":418,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[383,410,5],"tags":[412,1398,414,71,411,415,18,396,296,72,413,19],"class_list":["post-886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baseball","category-bible","category-sports-features","tag-all-star","tag-bible","tag-god","tag-houston-astros","tag-jake-peavy","tag-jesus-christ","tag-lance-berkman","tag-mark-teixeira","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-rice-university","tag-st-louis-cardinals"],"yoast_head":"\nA conversation with St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lance Berkman - Inspiring Athletes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/07\/st-louis-cardinals-outfielder-lance-berkman-on-christianity-and-competition.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A conversation with St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lance Berkman - Inspiring Athletes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Click “Like” to share with friends! It might still seem strange for diehard baseball fans to see Lance Berkman in a St. Louis Cardinals uniform. After all, he spent the previous 11 and a half seasons (Berkman played the second half of 2010 with the Yankees) as a core member of the Houston Astros. 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Chad\u2019s professional journey began at the University of Tulsa where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (1993) while working extensively in athletic media relations and serving as a sports editor for The Collegian. Since then, he has written extensively for such publications as Relevant, CCM, Christian Retailing, New Man, Charisma, Today\u2019s Christian, Ministries Today, Breakaway, Brio, Sports Spectrum, Christian Single, Faith & Friends, Sharing the Victory and Gospel Today. He has authored, co-authored or ghost written and edited 13 books including Life in the Fairway (New Leaf Press), Glory of the Games (Cross Training), Wrestling with God (River Oak), Spiritual Journeys (Relevant) and the four-part Fellowship of Christian Athletes Core Value Series; Excellence, Teamwork, Serving and Integrity (Regal Books). Chad is currently working on five new books including Sooner Legacy, Husker Legacy and Lessons From Sooner Football (Cross Training) as well as The Faith of Stock Car Racing (Judson Press). When he's not writing, Chad lends his efforts to various independent television and film projects. He was the coordinating producer for Choosing Life (2010) and Life Happens (2011). Chad is currently serving as producer on a forthcoming documentary about Super Bowl champion Brian Kinchen. Chad and his wife Amy live in Broken Arrow, Okla., with sons Lance (September 2003), Cole (February 2008) and Quinn (February 2011).","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/author\/cbonham"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=886"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1745,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886\/revisions\/1745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}