Johnnie Standard 4-6-25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports ninet
twenty and your iHeart Radio app. I'm Mike mcgiver and
my my co host is back. He came back from
the Big Apple, Pastor Ken Keltner from Brookside Baptist Church.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Pastor, how you bet.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
I've been to it all right? That kind of came
down with a bad cold. But today's the best I've
had all week.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
So so does that mean you're not going to talk
a lot today or.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
I might not be able. I could lose my voice.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
It could be the best numbers that this show has
ever done. We are coming from.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
The Donovan to Jorgenson he did in Kooliad Studios dot
Van Jorgenson dot com. You're gonna have to turn your
AC on soon and make sure that it's ready to go.
Go to Donovan Jorgenson dot com and let them know
that you heard it on Faith in the Zone. They're
big fans of this show, so when you call in
to get them to come out and check your your

(00:53):
HVAC system, let them know that you're fans of the
show as well. Pastor, I'm looking forward to today's show,
Johnny Standard, I can tell you that he's the teaching
pastor and elder at Springfield, a Bible Church. His father
is a teaching pastor elder at Springfield Bible Church. So
you and him have a little bit in common.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
Yeah. Absolutely, Are are we talking Springfield, Illinois?

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yes, sir, right, yeah, Springfield. Here's the problem.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
And you got to let me know because you grew
up in Oklahoma, you could never be a Dallas Cowboy fan.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
Right, Well, hold up second, you could never. I'll tell
you it was nineteen sixty eight. I became a Dallas
Cowboy fan going to an exhibition game between the Cowboys
and the Detroit Lions in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Don Dandy, Don Meredith,
Bob Hayes fell in love with him until they got

(01:45):
rid of Tom Landry, and then I crashed and burned
with him. However, I got one son. He is a
huge Cowboy fan and you coached him.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
I didn't know that when I coached him, because I
would have had him sit next to me on the vegetab. Well,
I couldn't have your kids, said of the bet who
only won many games, that's for sure. Our special guest
Johnny Standard, again teaching pastor and an elder at Springfield
Bible Church. You can go to Springfield Bible dot org.
That's their website and pastor. Before last week, we had

(02:16):
Hunter Price on who's the youth pastor at Springfield Bible Church?
And uh, I wish that you were in town because
we made funny.

Speaker 3 (02:26):
We could have been youth pastor to youth past Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, now we can talk about being the head pastor.
Johnny doesn't word. He wears a few hats, but he's
not the youth pastor and he's chasing it.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yeah. The people that are critical of the teen ministry. Now,
I said, hold on a second, are you telling me
you'd like to, uh, you know, take a complaint to
the senior pastor about the youth pastor.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yeah, there you go. Yeah, you could fire the youth pastor.
You just have to get somebody in.

Speaker 4 (02:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
Sure, good.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
Hey Johnny, how you been.

Speaker 4 (02:56):
I'm doing great. It's great to be with you. Guys.
Just wanted to say, Pastor Ken, I knew that I
liked you because I heard about your your Dallas Cowboys story.
So man, we got Jesus and the Cowboys, let's go.

Speaker 3 (03:10):
I just never could never get over just I just
did it.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
For it's gonna be Mike McGivern the rest of the show. Yeah,
nobody else, you know, unless we're talking some Green Bay
Packer stuff. Look, I that's all right. You know pastors
at church, they can't be right in everything.

Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yeah, yeah, right, I mean another one of my sons,
you coach, and my oldest grandson. Huge Packer fans.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Love those guys, absolutely love those guys.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
Hey, Johnny, let's talk a little bit about did you
grow up in Springfield, Illinois?

Speaker 4 (03:47):
Yes, sir, so, I grew up in Springfield all the
way through high school, and uh grew up going to
the church that I'm serving at now. So pretty pretty
special to be back.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
Home and that.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
I do have a question about that upbringing. You know.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Look, as the guy that does some of the research
for this show, I'm wondering why you transferred to Glenwood
High School your senior year.

Speaker 4 (04:14):
That's a great question. So I love basketball, you probably
figured last week talking to Hunter, which I love that man,
by the way, what a what an amazing man who
loves Jesus. But we we vote here a love of basketball,
and I grew up basketball was was my my baby
and and loved it ever since. I was a little kid,

(04:36):
and kind of near the end of my junior year,
I had a really pretty poor junior year of basketball.
And and you know, in sports and in anything, confidence
is such a big deal. And by the end of
my junior year, my confidence was was terrible. And I remember,
I'm so thankful that my dad he waited until the

(04:59):
season was over and he said, you know, son, if
I will support what you want to do, but I
don't want you to go through life regretting certain things.
And if you want to go to a different school,
I will support that decision. And uh, there's a number
of factors that went into that, but I would say,

(05:19):
kind of in the in a nutshell, I was not
playing up to my potential and and and he he
gave me the opportunity to pursue a different school. And
that was a gift from him. And in a great experience.
The Lord really blessed our senior year and a great
group of guys to play without at Glenwood High School.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
Did you as a senior play against Springfield?

Speaker 4 (05:43):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (05:44):
So, uh at their place at your place.

Speaker 4 (05:49):
Both conference, So yeah, you know, I had a good,
great experience. It was at Springfield Southeast High school, great
group of guys to kind of paint a picture.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
Sure.

Speaker 4 (06:00):
When I was a freshman, I was kind of just
this tall, skinny, three point shooter. And then as a sophomore,
I kind of grew. I got to play JV in
varsity and grew more as a scorer than a shooter. Uh.
And then as a junior, I was I was a
starter there, but I was a shooter with no confidence.
And if you're a shooter and you're afraid to miss

(06:21):
a shot, you're not a good shooter. So that was
a that was a great life lesson of just the
importance of confidence and believing in yourself. And I was
given that by my father and we actually moved houses,
moved into a different school district. That was a huge
deal for our family, and by God's grace, we it

(06:45):
worked out wonderfully. We had a great group of men
and an awesome set of coaches at Glenwood, and I
ended up being an All state player at Glenwood. So
that was a neat, neat blessing for me in my life.

Speaker 1 (06:57):
Hey, Johnny, and look, I coach basketball a long time
and listening to your story and we can either go
down that path or not, but the coaches that that
don't instill confidence and kids that that comes from that side, right,
It is that one of the reasons that you at

(07:18):
least thought about moving over to Glenwood.

Speaker 4 (07:21):
Yeah. Yeah, nothing nothing against my coach at the other
school because he's a good man. But you know, I
I remember a game where I had hit I think
three threes in a row, and in the next position,
I came down and I missed a three, and the
coach called the time out and he said, what do
you do in shooting that shot? And that that kind
of and I remember my teammates are looking at me

(07:42):
and as the coach like he just he just hit
three threes in a row. What are you talking about?
So that, you know, that's kind of hard because then
you start thinking, well, I don't want to I don't
want to take this shot because I don't want to
miss the shot, and it just kind of messes with
your game and your mind. So that was something, uh
that that just it was really really a good thing

(08:03):
for our family and for me and and kind of
went to a place where they're like, hey, shoot, shoot, shoot,
we need you to shoot. So that was that was
a blessing. And great teammates to go with.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
Shoot to get hot, shoot to stay hot. I want
have taken a time out and said to my point guard,
get him three more looks, get him three more looks,
and let's see where he's at.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
He hit three to row.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
Let's see we get three more from him, and uh yeah,
I loved I love guys that that could shoot it.
In fact, we had a kid the last last team
I coached. It's a few years ago now, we had
a kid that could straight up shoot it. And he
went out of college and I talked to him and
he was three weeks into his college career and he goes, Coach,

(08:45):
can I ask you a question?

Speaker 2 (08:46):
I said, yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
He goes, we we we did a lot of drills
where you got me a lot of threes in practice
and I go, yeah. He said, we haven't done one yet,
and I go, you haven't. And I know Brian, I
know the head coach over there. He said, Coach, I said,
there are times that we would have been before a
practice that we had a big game. We knew that
we had to get you one hundred shots, one hundred

(09:09):
threes and figure out how to do that in a practice.
The day before the game and he goes.

Speaker 2 (09:14):
You guys talked about that.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
I go one hundred percent, Like we wanted to get
you four to five hundred shots of practice of the
week to make sure that we kept, you know, kept
you going. He ended up leading the state in three point.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
Shooting the percentage wise.

Speaker 1 (09:31):
And when I talked to this coach from the college
who said, hey, he wants to come here, he's a
really good fit.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
Obviously he can shoot it a little bit.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
He did free throw shooting was a little bit off,
and I go, okay, like he led the state in threes.
Then work on his free throws. We got him where
you need him to be to shoot three.

Speaker 4 (09:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
He ended up two years playing and then joined the
golf team and said, I, he said, coach, with the
whole year, he goes, he'd yell at me because I
wasn't hitting enough three. But we never practiced it. I'd
have to do all of that on my own. So
I get it for sure. Hey, if Pastor Kenn and I,
if we've got you and and Hunter Price up to
the Milwaukee area, we we got it. We got an

(10:12):
out outdoor hoop at Brook Scott.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
That's pretty nice. Yeah, how tall are you.

Speaker 4 (10:19):
I'm I'm six four six three.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
Okay, we'll play to a two man's zone or something
that guys, you're written all over pastor we'll go to
twenty one, but they got to give us fifteen maybe
something like that.

Speaker 4 (10:33):
You better not leave, you better not leave uncause.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
No, I could live in his look, he I. I
watched the coach at Bigfoot. I could live in his
in his mind, I would talk a little smack before
the game. I'd live in that boy's mind throughout that game.

Speaker 3 (10:49):
You know, But what what you shared here? Many go
about the You know, coaches have a huge influence on
kids as far as confidence and all that goes. And
and I thing, man I said, you see it even
on the college level today. You know. I don't want
to bring up Saint John's but uh that I mean

(11:09):
the announcers were basically saying, man if if he if
I was coaching him, I don't care if he's one
for forty, he's going to be in the last five
minutes of the game.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
Do you know that he's done that Patino three times
throughout his career, and Winter Winter Go Home games where
he's benched his best player, He's done that, Yeah, three
different time. I was kind of shocked by it.

Speaker 3 (11:29):
But I'm telling you you could tell by watching his
the kid had great body language going through something like that,
but you could tell in his eyes, man, he was hurting.

Speaker 2 (11:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
As a coach, I'm trying to get him something going
to the basket so we can see the ball go
through the hoop. Get get him off off of you
know a flex or U c l a screen or
curl and go to the basket and lay it in.
Whatever our best play that gets somebody an open look
coming down of the lane, have him see or get fouled,
see the ball go through the hoop for the free

(11:59):
throw line. But that's just me that' hey, we we've
done a segment. This sounds like my high school sports
show that I do hate, Johnny.

Speaker 2 (12:07):
Johnny.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
Before we get to a break, can we talk about
your decision and will and I'm sure that that that
we'll get the end of this year the second or
third segment. But your decision to go home and be
a pastor at your home church. Was that an easy
decision for you?

Speaker 4 (12:24):
It was just the way the Lord had orchestrated the circumstances. Uh,
My wife and I had been married for a couple
of years at the time. We're living in Dallas, Texas,
and the Lord had been opening opening up that door
pretty clearly. We felt very good about coming home, so
it was it was great. I mean, obviously there's there's

(12:45):
still challenges. You guys, there's nothing in life that's easy, right,
or at least things that are are good, They rarely
come easily. So even coming home doesn't mean it's easy,
but it's it's been a a true blessing to our
family and I'm so glad that we did.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
That, and that's awesome.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
He is Johnny Standard teaching and pastor, uh teaching pastor
and elder at Springfield Bible Church. Go to Springfield Bible
dot org to any information you'd like on this church.
And last week's guest, Hunter Priceer, was really good and
Hunter talked a lot about Johnny and uh, you know,

(13:26):
one thing he said to me off there is Johnny
was a really good basketball player, played at Wheaton and
he said, he's not gonna tell you how good he was,
but I'm telling you, man, not only that he could
still shoot it a little bit, Pastor that two on
two game, man, we got to get that set up.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
We got to get it set up.

Speaker 3 (13:42):
And when I go down to Tulsa to see my
father in law, we go through Springfield, Illinois all the time.

Speaker 4 (13:49):
There you go, well, well please call us up. Yeah,
I will, I will get yeah.

Speaker 3 (13:56):
Yeah, I might bring somebody with me.

Speaker 2 (13:59):
Not me. I'm not you know what. I'm on page
two on that list.

Speaker 1 (14:03):
And the people you're gonna break, We're gonna get to
a break second second segment. As I was, we will
ask Johnny Standard, our special guest for the entire hour,
for his testimony. This is Faith in the Zone on
Fox Sports nine twenty and Your iHeart Radio App. Welcome
back to Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports ninety
twenty and your iHeart Radio App. Coming from the Donovan

(14:26):
and Jorganson Heating and Cooling Studios. I Mike McGivern alongside
the head pastor at a brook Side Baptist Church.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
Pastor great message by the way on Sunday, Well thank you.

Speaker 3 (14:38):
That was all the Lord, because I was not doing
well Sunday and I tried to get one of the
other pastors to take it and they go, so I said,
you know what, I'm just I'm just gonna lean on
the Lord to help me get through it, to.

Speaker 2 (14:50):
Come out and ask your valet drive.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
I kind of talked to high school sports for that
forty minutes or something.

Speaker 3 (14:55):
Like that could have done that, you know, Johnny, I
grew up in a Bible church. My dad pastored in
two Bible churches for fifty years and wow. Yeah, so
he always gave me a hard time when I, you know,
found myself in a Baptist church. So that's what our
church really reminds me of the church I grew up in.
So we study the Bible, we love the Lord, and

(15:16):
we want to reach people. That's the bottom line.

Speaker 4 (15:19):
You've got amen.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
Amen, Hey, Johnny, our second segment is by far the favorite,
and not only Pastor Ken and I, but the people
that listen to this show. I get a lot of
coaches in this area that that talk about second segment
and how much they enjoy the different stories and the
different ways that people have have have been brought to

(15:41):
the Lord. And if you would share your testimony with
us in this segment, that would.

Speaker 4 (15:45):
Be so kind, yes, sir. So when when sometimes people
they listen to the Dave Ramsey Show, they might ask
Dave how he's doing, and he says, better than I deserve.
And I think of that phrase when I think about
my testimony. It is so much better than I deserve.
Is God's grace, which is undeserved favor. And one of

(16:09):
the foundational parts of God's grace was raising me in
a home by my parents, John and Gracie, to godly people,
to the godly people I know. And they genuinely, passionately
loved Jesus, and they genuinely and passionately loved their children.
So I was one of four children in the house,

(16:29):
and they shared the Gospel with us early and often,
and I was in a gospel preaching church that I
clearly heard and understood and received the gospel as a
young boy, I was probably about six years old, and
I trusted. I realized that I was a sinner and
I deserved a penalty for my sin. And I understood

(16:52):
that Jesus is the son of God and that he
died on the cross to pay for my sins. And
I placed my faith in Christ as a young child.
And like every Christian, you start off kind of baby
steps in your understanding of God. But I do believe
I was saved early on by making that decision to

(17:12):
trust in Jesus, and then high school kind of fast forward.
I grew up in a faithful church with many saints
to help pour into my growth as a believer. But
it was in high school when I went to both
you know, both of those high schools are big public schools,
and I realized that I needed my faith to be

(17:35):
my own. It wasn't just my parents' faith or being
associated with my dad being a pastor, but I needed
to take ownership of my faith. And God surrounded me,
specifically with godly men through Fellowship of Christian Athletes FCA,
powerful ministry in my life. Three men, Brian McKenzie, Kevin Elliott,

(17:58):
Doug Pollock, all who still work with FCA, although in
different capacities today. And what they did was they showed me,
by modeling it in their own lives, that you could
be a masculine, muscular, sports loving guy and you can
love Jesus at the same time. And I needed to

(18:18):
see that. I needed to see someone who was passionate
about sports, one of the things I was very passionate about,
and they were unashamedly passionate about Jesus. So high school
was a very formative season in my life where I
grew in my faith and God brought people into my
life to show me not only with what they were saying,

(18:39):
but how they were living their lives that I could
love Jesus and for me, loved basketball at the same time,
and I could give Jesus glory in the way that
I played basketball and the way that I treated my
coaches and teammates and opponents. So that was a big
thing for me. When you're in a big public high
school as a believer, you know you are the minority

(18:59):
and learn to make decisions of I can either live
and honor the Lord or I can choose to list
them myself. And I'm so thankful that God put men
in my life that encouraged me and influenced me to
want to follow Jesus.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
More boy, Hi, I love that, And Pastor I in
today's world, you know, what he just talked about is
needed so so so much. And when he talked about look,
I needed to to see people that love sports, that
were masculine, that could were you know, had that combination

(19:34):
to know.

Speaker 2 (19:35):
That that that that's the direction and I needed to
be able to see that firsthand and how they lived
their life.

Speaker 3 (19:41):
Yeah, Johnny, One thing that I always make a comment
on is that you see the genius of God in
the Gospel plan of people coming to Christ that were sinners,
and that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our
sin and God made it so simple children can understand

(20:03):
it and accept Christ. I I too, came to the
Lord early in my life, you know, when I was
very young, and again it was it was my parents,
it was being in sure. Nobody had to convince me
I was a sinner. I knew I was a sinner,
and you know, and so I'm thankful for that upbringing too.
And my my, you know, my struggle was that I

(20:26):
didn't really want to be a youth pastor one day,
and I really fought the Lord on that until until
I was miserable to the point that I made that
right with him. And then I was a youth pastor
for about twenty years and loved every minute of it.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
So and back again. Yeah, but Lord has humor die.
He will never leave your you know what. He just
reminded you that you said no to him for a while.

Speaker 1 (20:51):
Hey, Johnny, can I ask you and pastor like I
I've I I know that Pastor's four boys really well,
and though they might have not used the same verbiage
that you did take ownership of your faith, but it's
it's same feeling and words that his boys have used
on this show where they said, look, my father was

(21:12):
a pastor and I but I needed, I needed at
one point in my life to reassess where I was
and to take ownership of my faith and and it
had to be mine. And I love the fact that
that you you say that because I think that that's
an important transition into this story of your testimony.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
Correct.

Speaker 4 (21:33):
Absolutely, And you know, I before Hunter Price came on
as our staff youth pastor, I was a youth pastor
for twelve years myself, working with my wife, And that's
probably one of the biggest goals burdens that we had,
was for our students to take ownership of their faith,
because you see, you see so many kids grow up

(21:55):
in a church and they kind of are like passive
in that perspective of oh, yeah, like this is my
family's faith, and I would try to push back, well, no,
it's not. It's got to be your faith. You have
to own this because one day you're not going to
be living with your parents and what are you going
to do? Who are you going to follow when when

(22:17):
you're on your own. So I just see that as
such an important kind of concept for high schoolers to
understand and wrap their minds around, even in college, of
this has to be your own faith because because once
you're out of the house, mom and dad aren't there
to in the sense make it easy for you to

(22:38):
go to church, like, hey, we're going to church, Well
they're not there anymore. So you got to make that decision,
and you got to pursue the Lord yourself if you
want to walk with them. So that's it. I agree,
that's such a huge facet. I know in my own
life this is kind of fast forwarding a little bit,
but I went to Wheaton College, which is a great
Christian school, and I remember kind of going there is

(22:59):
really looking forward to going to a Christian school, being
on a team with brothers in the ward and basketball,
and I just assumed that going to this Christian school
where you had to go to chapel three days a
week and you're around kind of Christians and going to church,
I just assumed I was going to grow spiritually. And
I remember at the end of my first semester, I
was back home briefly for Christmas break, and I remember

(23:22):
just kind of reflecting and I said, I'm not growing
and it was like, why am I not growing? I'm
in this amazing like Christian utopia. And it was like
a light bulb went off. The Lord showed me of, well,
because you're not personally pursuing me, I wasn't spending time
with him every day, and so that was something that
was just a kind of a huge light bulb for

(23:43):
me spiritually. Was that Christmas break of my first year
of college. And then I realized if I want to
grow spiritually, I need to take initiative to seek the
Lord personally. It's not just kind of by osmosis of
being around other people. So that is something that was
very formative in my own life and still is, of

(24:04):
spending time with the Lord every day, in unrushed quiet
time with him.

Speaker 1 (24:09):
Pastor last week Hunter had a line that stuck in
my head and he said, look, if you if you're
going to garage, it didn't make you a car, right,
You're going to going because you sit in church on
a Sunday morning for a half hour doesn't make you
a Christian, And I thought, man, that's a great line.
Like you know, you walk and close the door and
you stand in the garage, that doesn't make you a car.

(24:33):
And I thought, and then when when Johnny's talking about look,
I couldn't understand why I wasn't moving the ball forward
a little bit. And for the Lord to say, because
you're no longer pursuing me, like you got to get
back in the Bible. I love the fact that you
mentioned the guys from FCA, because we've had some FCA
guys on and I think they do a marvelous job.

(24:54):
And I love the fact that you give three of
those guys credit by saying, Look, they really helped me
in this walk, and I hope they know the impact
that they had out of your life.

Speaker 3 (25:05):
Johnny and Johnny, Yeah, go ahead, Johnny.

Speaker 4 (25:10):
I was just gonna say, I'm so grateful for them,
and they still part of discipleship. Is follow up, They're
still part of my life. Yeah, they still check in
and I'm so grateful. Just godly faithful men.

Speaker 3 (25:22):
No, I was just thinking of your what the Lord
was really kind of dealing with you on that first
Christmas just reminded me that passage and James that just
just simply says, draw near to God, and he will
draw near to you. And so it's a conditional promise,
but it has to start off with us first. So hey,
what one comment I had for you too? I mean,

(25:43):
Wheaton uh is really historical in my mind, you know,
I love missions and Jim Elliott outstanding missionary martyred there
by the Alca Indians and Keto Ecuador. I mean he
he he was, from what I understand, and a great
leader on campus when he was at Wheaton. I'm sure

(26:05):
do they have any kind of display or anything up
about Jim Elliot and his life's there on campus any place?

Speaker 4 (26:13):
Yes, So that that story of those missionaries. I think
the mccaulay's mccullay field is what Wheaton football field is.
I think what's his name? I lived in Saint Paul,
which I forget which is it's either Steve Saint or
Nate Saint. One is the dad wants to Nate st

(26:33):
So I lived in Haul Jim Elliott. You know that
I grew up with a mom who read Elizabeth Elliott
to us all the time. Jim and Elizabeth Elliott their
story and you know they made a movie Into the
Spirit was very very impactful message and they are definitely

(26:53):
remembered it. We can call us very well.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
Hey Johnny before we get you a break, and I
should have given you a heads up on this, but
I'm going to ask it, and we've asked other guests this.
Were you more comfortable sharing your faith in the locker
room out at Wheaton more than I guess the public
high school? But at Wheaton were you more comfortable inside
the locker room talking about your faith or outside.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
Of the locker room.

Speaker 4 (27:19):
That's a great question. I've never thought of it that way.
I think it was easier to talk kind of directly
spiritual conversations at Wheaton because that was, you know, easy
to talk about. It was brought up sometimes in conversations,
Hey I heard this in church this week, or somebody
at chapel said this, So it was it kind of

(27:40):
flowed easier. But at the same time, I kind of
enjoyed the conversations in the public school where you had
an opportunity to bring up Jesus in an area arena
where people weren't doing that.

Speaker 3 (27:55):
That was going to be my question to you, how
you did you know? How was it there in the
public school for you.

Speaker 4 (28:00):
Yeah, you know, FCA was a really wonderful opportunity to
do that. So they made it very easy for us
to have events where you would invite your teammates, Hey,
we've got FCA tonight, and they would always have pizza.
And our FCA huddles got pretty big. I mean we
had sometimes they could be sixty sixty kids. And one

(28:22):
of the beautiful things about FCA is that they it
is student led, so the person teaching the Bible lesson
is the student, and that the adults help you and
they mentor and coach you. But that was an opportunity
for me to kind of share my faith in a
very specific and direct way was through FCA huddles. And

(28:44):
I think maybe the Lord, as I'm actually talking right now,
like definitely, that was the way the Lord was developing
that gift and passion and burden even in high school,
of wanting to teach the truth in reaching people with
the gospel.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
Special guest for the entire hour. He's Johnny Standard. He's
a teaching pastor and elder at Springfield Bible Church and
from what I understand.

Speaker 2 (29:09):
He belongs in our club. By the way, the out
kicked your coverage. Yeah, I understand that you all kicked
your coverage a little bit. Uh Catherine, is she's too
good looking for you?

Speaker 4 (29:23):
Or oh, oh my goodness, I'm so glad you brought
her up because I was thinking I can't go this
sec this segment without bringing up my wife Catherine, because she,
other than my relationship with the Lord, she is the
greatest gift God's ever given to me. She's amazing. She
is the godliest person I know. She loves Jesus, She

(29:43):
sacrificially serves our family, and as a bonus, she's smoking hot.
So hey, perfect, So.

Speaker 3 (29:51):
Did you did you meet her a week?

Speaker 2 (29:53):
Did you meet her at Well?

Speaker 4 (29:55):
No, I met her when I was in Dallas. I'm
a couple of years older than Catherine, and I was
living in a house with a couple Baylor guys and
my wife, Katherine went to Baylor, and one of my
roommates in this house said, Hey, there's this girl I
grew up with small town West Texas named Catherine. I

(30:18):
think you and Catherine would be great together. Is it
okay if we invite her to the next Baylor football game,
because we would go down, we'd take like an hour
and a half drive from Dallas to Waco to go
to Baylor games. And I thought, hey, man, these things
never work out, but if you want to bring her
to the football game, so be it. And from the
drive down from Dallas to Waco, we walk in the

(30:39):
stadium and I look at my buddy. I said, I'm
going to date that girl, and he just started cracking
up and he said, I knew this was going to happen.
So the Lord, the Lord directed our steps. God's grace.
He's given us four amazing children, and I couldn't I
couldn't be doing ministry without her. She is the best
teammate in the world. I'm so thank well.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
I'm glad I brought her up because I was told
that I put notes down that you might want to
ask him because you kind of similar to the other
boy over at Springfield Bible Church who all kicked his
coverage a bit as well. So the four of us
are well, I'm the president, pastor can be.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
On the board. You're on the board. We're gonna get
to a break.

Speaker 1 (31:21):
Other side of the break will continue our conversation with
Johnny Standard again teaching pastor and elder at Springfield Bible Church.
Also former college basketball player at Wheaton, former high school
basketball player, and we'll continue our conversation with him on
the other side.

Speaker 2 (31:37):
This is Faith in the.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty and your iHeart Radio App.
Welcome back to Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports
nine twenty and your iHeart Radio App. I'm Mike McGivern
alongside Pastor Ken Keltner from Brookside Baptist Church. Coming from
the Donovan and Jordansen Heating and Cooling Studios. Our special
guest Johnny Standard. I could tell this pastor that when

(32:02):
you drive, when you drive through Springfield, I would I'd
buy these guys lunch.

Speaker 3 (32:07):
I'm gonna stop. Yeah, I'll get them lunch. Yeah. Absolutely,
How you get you got up for you?

Speaker 2 (32:14):
Oh? You got you know what? They might not show up.
They might see you at Chick fil A.

Speaker 3 (32:20):
They'll say, hey, man, we're up on you. So where
all you want?

Speaker 2 (32:25):
I love that. Hey, Johnny, growing up, were you a
multi sport athlete?

Speaker 4 (32:31):
Yes, not very well. I mean I swam soccer, track,
cross country, but then by the time I was in
high school, I was exclusively basketball.

Speaker 2 (32:40):
Hey did back then? Were you playing a U stuff?
And traveling in the summertime or were you a from
November to March kind of guy?

Speaker 4 (32:49):
A little bit of both. I mean, leading up in
junior high we did we had pretty competitive summer leagues
in our area in central Illinois, so we did a
lot of summer league basketball that was not AAU specific,
but it would be similar to like what we'd call
club teams now. And then in high school, I was

(33:10):
not traveling on the weekends a lot, and a lot
of that decision was and I as from the parent side, now,
I'm so thankful that my parents, We're not gonna have
you miss church all every weekend for the next ten
weekends for an AAU tournament. Now, there was a there
was a couple of tournaments I would go to, you know, uh,
but but for the most part I was in town.

Speaker 2 (33:31):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (33:32):
And that's something Hunter and I discussed a lot of
My son is pretty good at basketball as a fifth grader,
and he's like, what are you going to do when
when clubs, team club teams and travel teams start doing
things on Sundays? And it's just right now, I'm not
like a Sabbatarian. You can't play sports on a Sunday.
That's not my conviction. Like we are kids. If they've

(33:53):
got a game Sunday afternoon in town, I have no
problem with that, but I do think it sends a
really poor message when, at least in my conviction, I
don't want my family to be missing worshiping the Lord
regularly for a sports tournament. I know that's the hot topic.

Speaker 3 (34:11):
I totally agree with you, totally, with no doubt.

Speaker 2 (34:14):
Do you coach the fifth grade team or are you
just a parent sitting there watching.

Speaker 4 (34:19):
I was the coach of the fifth and sixteen for
my son this year, so that was that was hard.
I've coached him for four years before that in like
a rec league, but this was the first time for
his school team, and it was hard, hard for me working,
you know, kind of separating that coach dad hat and

(34:41):
just you know, my wife captain has been so good about.

Speaker 2 (34:44):
Yes being the picture.

Speaker 4 (34:46):
Hey, think about this twenty years down the road laughing.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
We both are are we're both coaches, and there's a
special place in having for coaches wives.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
I believe. I believe it.

Speaker 3 (34:58):
I mean, I'm telling you the one game I have
an unsaved friend helping me coach my kid's soccer game
and first game of the season. Before the game even starts,
I tell him, Hey, I already had a parent come
up and talk to me. He goes, you got to
be kidding me. He goes, it was I.

Speaker 2 (35:15):
It was my wife. My wife, yeah, trust me. I
had pastor's wife talked to me a few times. This
her son's coach as well.

Speaker 1 (35:23):
And she's still yelling at me for taking her son
out of games. And I said, Mattie, he had three turnovers.
And she said, my son never had three turnovers. You sure,
She goes, well, maybe it was bad coaching. I said, yes,
it was, Yes, Johnny, I got to tell you there.
And I don't even know if it's on the market anymore.
But there was a high school of basketball coaching Wisconsin

(35:45):
coach Tank Uh. He wrote a book called Coaching Our Sons,
and I coached mine a lot, and I was.

Speaker 2 (35:52):
The adult in the room.

Speaker 1 (35:53):
And after I read that book, I was the one
who had to adjust some of my thought process.

Speaker 2 (35:58):
And my thought process was during the basketball season. I
was his coach.

Speaker 1 (36:03):
Oh yeah, yeah, it's father too, But let's talk about
why you turn the ball over so much? And then
I read that book and it's all Wisconsin coaches and
some of the good and bad and really ugly. I
mean family's breaking up because of it. And I recommend
that to anybody coaching their their their their kids, but
sons or daughters, because it really opened my eyes on

(36:24):
some things that I needed to adjust. And there, you know,
once we got to the kitchen table, I was his
father after a game or after a practice, and and
that helped us.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
The first year I coached him at high school basketball.

Speaker 1 (36:37):
His software year, we struggled a little bit and it
wasn't him, it was me, and so I needed I
needed to get on my knees a little bit and say, Lord,
I need some help.

Speaker 2 (36:46):
And this book came into my life.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
And I would if you get a chance, going to
Amazon coaching our sons and coach Tank from Dodgeville, Wisconsin
wrote the book.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
Yeah, I would highly highly recommend.

Speaker 3 (36:59):
It was this smiling. I mean, I just remember the
time outs after Matt took a bad shot or something,
you know, watching the dialogue between you.

Speaker 1 (37:07):
And well you know what, I still have video, thanks
to your wife, of some of that stuff. And I
can tell you that, you know, when he went to
Marinatha Baptist Bible College started playing there. I think it
was harder to be a parent because I knew most
of the refs, and I knew the coach a little bit,
and you know who I'm talking about, wasn't quite sure

(37:29):
that he knew exactly what he was doing.

Speaker 3 (37:31):
But it was just someone that didn't probably give confidence
there to his son, Matt.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
No, it did not, It did not.

Speaker 1 (37:39):
And I could tell you this, Johnny, when I became
a parent. After game one and he started for four
years in high school, he was their point guard. In college,
he was their their their point guard. And after game one,
on the way home, my wife said, look, we're not
gonna be able to sit next to each other during games.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
And I said.

Speaker 1 (37:57):
Wow, and she said, because you don't cheer correctly. You
don't cheer correctly, and you can't sit next to me.
So for four years, or two minutes to go and
warm ups, she'd say, who's moving me or you? And
I'd go, I'd move the pastor and show up in
a game and I'd tell him you couldn't sit next
to me because.

Speaker 2 (38:15):
He didn't cheer correctly. So I had to.

Speaker 1 (38:18):
Sit up in the corner by myself and most of
the referees at that level. I knew because the night
before they did my game, they did my high school game,
and I'd be like, what.

Speaker 2 (38:28):
Do you look at that kind of stuff. So, hey, guys,
we got to get to a break.

Speaker 1 (38:32):
Other side of the break, our special guest Johnny Standard.
He is a teaching pastor and an elder at Springfield
Bible Church Springfield at bible dot org. Go on their website.
I've spent a lot of time on their website and
go into their stream live stream and looking at you
know what this church with the leadership, what their core
is and pastor, I can tell you it matches up

(38:55):
very very closely to Brookside Baptist Church. And if I'm
ember that area on a Sunday, that's this is where
I'm going to church.

Speaker 3 (39:03):
And as long as you're in church and a good church.

Speaker 1 (39:06):
Well you know what this church and I know my
wife looked at the faith at their website and said
I'll go to that church with you.

Speaker 2 (39:12):
I said, I know you will, honey.

Speaker 1 (39:14):
So on the other side of the break, our special break,
our special guest Johnny Standard will give us his answer.
All the uniforms he's ever put on, and he was
a multi sport athlete growing up, but that it's strictly
a basketball player. We put him in a closet. He
gets to pick one uniform out. What uniform is it,
who does he play against?

Speaker 2 (39:33):
And why. We'll get that answer on the other side.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
This is Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports nine
twenty and your iHeart Radio App. Welcome back to Faith
in the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty in your
iHeart Radio app. Coming from the Donovan and Jorgenson Heating
and Cooling Studios. Our special guest Johnny Standard again, teaching
pastor and an elder at Springfield Bible Church Springfield Bible

(39:57):
dot Org. John Day this last segment. We've been doing
this now for a while and a lot of people
ask me about it. It was a throwaway question and
I love the answers. All the uniforms you've ever put
on your entire life, we put them in a closet
and you pull one uniform out to get one more
game with that team.

Speaker 2 (40:16):
What uniform is it, who do you play against? And why?

Speaker 4 (40:20):
That's easy. I'm putting on my senior year high school
glen Wood, Jersey and we're playing in the regional final
game against Edwardsville, the team that ended our season. And
to paint a picture, We're down three with two seconds left,
inbounding the ball at half court and I'm on about

(40:40):
the free throw line. I come off of a double screen,
catch it at the volleyball line and drain of three
and send us into overtime. And then in overtime I
did absolutely nothing and we ended up losing. And that
was honestly, it was the greatest group of guys playing
with senior year. And the team that we lost to

(41:02):
ended up losing the next week to a team that
we had beaten earlier in the season that went pretty
far after that. So I wanted to continue that season.
That was such a fun, fun season, and I think
if we could have gotten gotten past edwards Ville in overtime,
we might have been able to make some noise the
next week.

Speaker 2 (41:20):
Please please tell me the teams they got beat. I
wasn't Springfield, no o that?

Speaker 4 (41:26):
Yep, we exited the dance at the same time, so
we were kind of parallel there.

Speaker 2 (41:32):
Did did did the student section let you know it?
When you went over and play that Springfield? Did they
blew you?

Speaker 1 (41:38):
And you know already introductions and if you got it
if you threw up an airball or had a turnover.

Speaker 2 (41:44):
Did they let you know it a little bit?

Speaker 1 (41:46):
They?

Speaker 4 (41:47):
They they were for the most part pretty nice, but
there were there were some that let me know it
or let me know it, and and uh it was
it was all in good, good fun.

Speaker 2 (41:56):
Hey. Who could you hear more during your games? Your
mom or dad?

Speaker 4 (42:02):
My dad was silent, so I could never hear him
because he would not say a word.

Speaker 2 (42:08):
That now I could have coached young man. Did your
mom get after a little bit?

Speaker 4 (42:14):
She she was super encouraging, positive, so she would She
was awesome. But that dad was awesome too, But you
wouldn't have That's an easy answer because he would never
say a word. He would just watch the game. He's
pretty reserved guy, so definitely supportive, but but pretty uh,
pretty static on the emotion during a game.

Speaker 2 (42:35):
Does does he know the game a little bit?

Speaker 4 (42:38):
Oh yeah, so fun fun thing with my dad. Even
though basketball was not his sport. He was a swimmer.
He was a scholarship competitive swimmer for l s U.
So he's a big sports guy too. Uh And and
just you know, love love football and basketball and swimming
of course, so in soccer, He coached all of us
kids growing up in soccer and high school, so he's

(43:01):
pretty sports savvy guy.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
Hey, Pastor, and we only have a minute left.

Speaker 1 (43:05):
But you know, as as a Packer fan, I don't
like the Bears, don't like the Lions, really don't like
the Cowboys. As a Brewer fan, who would like my
least favorite team being.

Speaker 3 (43:14):
I would probably say the Cardinals.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
The Chicago Cubs.

Speaker 3 (43:17):
Oh yeah, Cubs would be.

Speaker 1 (43:19):
Guess get guess what, John standard Johnny's dad his favorite
team in the world.

Speaker 2 (43:24):
Cubs, The Cubs, Cubs, Cowboys. I'm not sure we're ever
gonna air this show. I got to be honest with you.

Speaker 3 (43:35):
Well, you know it's an alliteration. You know, it's Cubs
and Cowboys. I mean that's you know, pastors can kind
of do that kind of thing.

Speaker 1 (43:42):
Well, we maybe we'll get his dad out one time
and get him to be a Brewer fan and a
and a Green Bay Packer fan. Johnny, I really appreciate
your time and keep up the good work. I can
tell you that have a lot of respect for Hunter Price,
and he has a ton of respect and love for you.
And I think going from being an athlete into ministry.

(44:04):
I think there's a lot of synergy to that, and
Hunter being a high school coach into being a youth pastor,
I think is a perfect, uh just direction for him.
And I'm glad that that he is with you guys,
and and he uh you know, the Lord was pushing
him to do this, and I'm glad that he has
has been a part of what you guys are doing
at Springfield Bible Church, and I think he'll.

Speaker 2 (44:25):
Be there for a long time to come.

Speaker 1 (44:28):
Our special guest, Johnny Standard against Springfield Bible Church. Thanks
a lot for a couple of minutes of your time.

Speaker 4 (44:35):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (44:35):
Thank you both, pastor, thank you. It's good to see you.

Speaker 3 (44:38):
That's great.

Speaker 2 (44:38):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (44:39):
This is Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports nineteen
twenty in your iHeart Radio app.