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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Block Heart Radia.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I am okay.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Hello everybody, Welcome to the show. This is Pamia Clark.
I'm founder and director of the New Heights Educational Group.
I know that normally you hear Caden's voice right now
Kanaan Behan, but she's traveling tonight and couldn't be with us,
So I am going to be the host for the
show tonight. Tonight we have this very special guest with us,
(01:24):
Boyd Myers, who's from the Christian Athletic League of America.
He is the founder and chairman of the board, and
he will discuss creating Christian sports teams here in northwest Ohio.
Welcome to the show, Boyd, thanks for having me. Oh,
you're welcome. So how are you tonight?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
I'm doing well. I just enjoyed watching my Michigan State
Spartans move on in the March Madness Tournament. So it's
been a good day.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Great sounds like a good day. So you want to
share a little bit about yourself and where you're from?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Sure? Yeah, In some ways I consider Toledo my home.
I was born in Toledo, raised nearby in Idam, Michigan,
And as I just alluded to, I am a graduate
of Michigan State University. I played football there from nineteen
eighty six through nineteen eighty nine. It's also the place
where my life hit rock bottom. I had to actually
(02:25):
walk away. Prior to my fifth year senior season, I
had dropped out of school for a couple of years.
In the middle of that, a good friend of mine
introduced me to Jesus Christ, and in August of nineteen
ninety I gave my life to the Lord and it's
been sweet through the ups and downs ever since. So yeah, yeah,
(02:48):
So after graduation, I've I'll just tell you briefly because
it does lead a little bit into what I'll discuss
about the league. I work professionally for the Michigan Department
of Corrections, and I I really responded to that as
what I believe was a call from the Lord after
looking where my own life had been, knowing that there's
(03:10):
some valuable souls, in fact, all of them are made
in the imagey of God, that it's a worthwhile pursuit
to try to minister to them. And so that's what
I've done professionally for roughly the last twenty years, the
last three and a half as a probation officer.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yeah, that's probably influenced you a lot too in your
personal life and with the call of what you're trying
to do now right.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah, it certainly has. When I began working on the
original name of the organization was the Christian Athletic League
of Michigan, and we had run the Michigan Christian Football
League of Michigan. I'm sorry now that we have a
team in Ohio and a team in Indiana. We wanted
to expand on that. I know, but guys don't like
(04:02):
to associate with the state of Michigan too much, and
because of the school down in the narbor I don't
blame them. But anyway, it began, and I knew somewhere
along the way, and we've seen fruit in this. I
knew along the way that we would be able to
take a very solid base of operation, in other words,
(04:26):
very solid people involved in all these teams, and it
could be a very effective outreach knowing that there are
a lot of kids falling through the cracks that enjoy sports,
and that we could use the tool of sport. Maybe
the lure might be the more accurate word to be
in the minister to kids.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Like that, and I really have a passion only with
signing the kids that maybe are troubled, but also the
ones that maybe don't get a play sports because they're
involved with all turnative education.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Choices, right, correct, correct, Yeah, I mean we have a
ton of flexibility, so you know, it's not just for
the at risk kids. And actually they're kind of the
they followed as the second population that we've been able
to reach Initially. It's just been truthfully with homeschoolers that
(05:22):
fueled the start of this. They were the one population
that did not have a place to play high school
tackle football, and because of that, they were very motivated.
And that's kind of where it started.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
And you were homeschooler yourself, right for your children, Yes.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Yes, that's correct. I have three daughters. Myldest daughter is
a she's actually a senior at Lance and Christian School
for her for her high school years. We just felt
like she just had such a hunger and thirst for
learning that we felt that we probably would not be
(06:02):
able to push her enough ourselves as homeschoolers, so we
looked around at different educational options. In fact, we were
in the Ann Arbor area at the time and just
didn't feel a sense of peace anywhere that we looked,
whether it was public school or Christian schools or any
type of alternatives, and we kind of stumbled upon Lands
(06:23):
and Christian and oddly enough, we moved primarily for that
purpose that we felt like that would be the place
for her. And I actually got some wonderful news Friday
from her. That is my oldest daughter. She will be
one of the valedictorians of her graduating class.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
So wonderful. Yeah, thank you, congratulations.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
But anyway, you know, we had homeschooled for a lot
of years, and you know, we understand that community and
a lot of the challenges and put sometimes when you
just step back and think about the challenges that they have,
and yet they're willing to do them because they know
how valuable their kids are. And so we're just we're
(07:09):
privileged to be able to offer the opportunity for homeschool yeah,
to play sports.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah. And I know, as being a homeschooler myself for
thirteen years, I've been in that community for a long
time and stuff. Many friends are still in schooling, and
I know that a lot of them were not allowed
to play in the local sports because they were homeschoolers
and that's public funds and so they were left out.
(07:40):
So I know that it's it's a real issue in
this area. And hopefully someone listening. I know I talked
to someone just last week that is pretty excited about this,
and hopefully people can call in and ask them questions tonight,
why we continue with our interview and you can tell
them more. I would like to go back a little
(08:01):
bit and talk about some of your time, you know,
working in the corrections, because I do think that there's
a lot I think that our society overlooks that a lot.
They just say, oh, well, that person made their choices,
blah blah blah. But it's really not that cut and
dry when you look at a lot of these kids
(08:24):
were the ones that fell through the cracks. I had
done a little bit of research and sixty eight percent
of the state prison inmates did not receive a high
school diploma. That's a huge number and that really sticks out.
I know that colleges are filled with those kind of
people that so a lot of them don't have much
(08:47):
of an education at all. They didn't even learn to read. Also,
I found out that about twenty six percent of the
state prison inmates said that they had completed the GED
while serving the correctional facility. And I know some inmates
that that fits perfectly just those first two two statistics.
(09:10):
And although I did find out that the percentage of
the state prisonmates who reported taking educational courses while confined
fell fifty seven percent in ninety one, which I thought
was interesting, and to fifty two percent in ninety seven,
I'm not sure why that is. Do you have what's
(09:32):
your experience with these numbers and what you've witnessed personally
with these people that have fallen through the cracks.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Well, you know absolutely, I mean everything you just talked
about is absolutely true, and you know that those are
some of the obstacles in the way for having a
successful life. Let me let me go to another statistic,
and this isn't I don't have the exact number. I
(10:00):
can give you a brief story that really illustrates the point,
but you know, the number of young men, and I
don't know the statistics for the ladies, but I think
this is just as important that are incarcerated or even
on probation or fellow the record or whatever. And I
see it every day in probation that almost every one
(10:20):
of my probationers does not have a dad involved in
his life, and those that knew their dads were not
good examples. Typically. To illustrate it, there's a man by
the name of Bill Glass. He played in the NFL
like he played for the Cleveland Browns for most of
(10:41):
his career back in the sixties, and he responded to
the call to be a preacher upon retiring from the NFL.
So I think for a few of the years in
the off season he pursued his seminary degree and he
stumbled in nineteen seventy three he stumbled in to and
in fact, I believe it was the prison in mary
(11:04):
in Ohio, and he really found a really open harvest field.
Maybe it was the best way to put it. Anyway,
Bill's devoted his life and I had the privilege of
having his ministry into the prison I worked at in
Nipsilanti for three years. We had him come up there,
and I've heard him deliver this little speech that he
(11:27):
would illustrate the power of a dad, and he gave
a great example of A guy by the name of
Jim Sunberg who played Major League baseball for a lot
of years for the Texas Rangers, and he used this
illustration that his dad, Jim's dad would tell him all
the time, so, you're going to be a major league
ball player someday. And even when he did really horribly
in a game, his dad always found found a way
(11:49):
to encourage him. And then and then Bill Glass would
tell this story to the prisoners that were watching this program,
and then he would ask them, he says, how many
of you never knew your dad? And it would break
your heart when you would see the number of men
that would raise their hand, and and to see their
face and to realize the hurt that's in their heart
(12:10):
because they never had that. And and that would pretty
much be almost all the population of those that didn't
raise their hands. He would ask for the rest of
you that did have a dad, how many how many
of you had your dad telling you all the time? Son?
You keep that up, you're gonna end up in prison
some day. And that pretty much that would cover the population.
They either didn't know their dad or they had a
dad that they rated them and and you know, I'll
(12:33):
talk down on them. And and that's that issue itself
is coming to the forefront in society and the movie
Courageous illustrated it extremely well because they utilized law enforcement
criminal behavior. They even cault some of the statistics in
the movie. And really, even as our league, we're kind
(12:54):
of moving towards that because when we look at, Okay,
how can we best minister to these at risk kids,
we've got to we've got to go for their father figures.
Maybe there's a chance to educate them and motivate them
to be good dads and to show them that contrast
and maybe be able to work with them. And you know,
quite likely some of these at risk kids won't even
(13:15):
have a dad. So you know, our other challenges go
into the churches and saying, where are you men that
will be willing to stand in the gap, because that'll
make all the difference in these kids' lives if they
can have a man who would teach them what it
means to be a godly man.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Yeah, and that's not the only factor. That's a big factor.
But also if they don't have education, or if they
fall through at their studies because of their troubled home
life and they can't, you know, get theirselves out of
the situation their home life was in, then I've seen
a lot where you know that repeats. A literacy breeds
(13:56):
a literacy, and alcoholism, you know, causes more generations of
alcoholism drug addictions, and not every time, but a lot
of times that repeats. So haven't you found that in
your case? Also?
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Oh yeah, without a doubt, without a doubt. And I think,
you know, maybe the heart of the issue is, I
think where the I think these things complement themselves. And
I think the importance of the dad is to have
really almost that cheerleader that's pushing you on. And so
education woul obviously be one of the things that, you know,
(14:31):
if there was a dad involved or a positive male
role model that would teach them, Hey, this is very important.
I mean, this is what I have to do with
my probationers. They're really almost all of them are their
children in grown men bodies, and yeah, you don't understand
how important it. And so they need somebody that will
come alongside them encourage them that, hey, you can do it,
(14:54):
you can overcome these obstacles. I'm going to be here
for you. You know, if you ever need anything, you
let me know, because I'm here to help you. And
I'm gonna I'm going to try to point you towards
somebody that can't help you, and and for a lot
of them, they just and refer to the probationers as
they have no sense of hope. And I know that
that trickles back to childhood, you know, when when things
(15:17):
are rough and there's there's nobody to come alongside them
to say, you know what it's going to be okay.
You know, they have a lot of fear and insecurity
and a lack of love, and and it's just yeah,
we uh, we could probably use the whole program talking
about this and then some because I know.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
I know, but I want to touch on a little
bit because you do have a background in that and
you've seen a lot of things and I think a
lot of times, I mean with new heights of mission,
you know, and trying to prove improve you know, literacy
in Northwest Ohio and beyond, I think that a lot
of people just kind of think, well, we can, we
(15:55):
can wait. That's you know, there's so much chaos going
on in the world. We can put these things off
for a little bit more. But if you don't have education,
society will fail. I mean, if you don't give a
child a well rounded education, and give them alternatives to
education and activities like what you're offering to start up
(16:19):
here in northwest Ohio. The kids that are already even
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Lost, they will just give up, yeah, no doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
And they're going to fall through the cracks if they
don't have an education. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Ye.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
You're just not going to make it in this world
if you don't have it.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
So in two thousand and seven you begin working on
forming a high school tackle football league that gives opportunities
to those that were on the outside looking at the
public school monopoly on high school football. Can you tell
me a little bit about that and what You've started?
(16:57):
A lot of teams up now for the Christian Athletic
League of America.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Dozens, right, yeah, Well I wish it were dozens. It's
about at a dozen right now. We initially got seven
teams off the ground, and you know that. I think
the unfortunate part is we don't have a we don't
have a captive audience, so to speak. So the difficulty
in getting new teams started is you got to find
(17:20):
the people that want to do it. You got to
find the right leadership that understands it. First of all,
and I'll kind of roll in one of the things
I had, you know, previously thrown your way as far
as a question, you know, what makes us different from
the public school is, you know, we need the right
men in place, because ultimately it's not and right now,
(17:42):
football is the sport that we're kind of that we
kind of lashed onto because it's more needed that. There's
a lot of other options for other sports, but football
is the one that if you don't fit in the
public school monopoly, you don't play at the high school level.
So we've started with that one. What makes us different
is that we're not going to make this all about football.
We're going to learn how to play the game. We're
(18:03):
going to learn to play it right, we're going to
learn to play it safe. But it's really a fulfillment
of Jesus's promise of Matthew six thirty three that if
we see versus kingdom and his righteousness, all this will
be given to you as well. So if we're seeking
firstus kingdom and his righteousness, the football will come as well.
And we're coming from that perspective. So we've got to
have the right men on board. We can't just take
(18:24):
a guy who's a gung hold football coach but doesn't
have a heart of Christ and expect that we're really
going to be able to minister to kids at the
level they need to be ministered to. And you know, ultimately,
the original model of the Christian Football League of Michigan
was building leaders and servants through football. That's that's the
(18:45):
basis that we're starting from, is that we form these
teams because the young men that will come our way
and God will bring them our way. And yeah, it's
for the sake of playing football, but we're going to
use the football experience because football is the ultimate of
team sports because you have kids with all kinds of
body types, all kinds of skills, and they can all
come together and they can find a place to contribute.
(19:08):
And the challenge to every one of those kids is
forget about yourself and contribute to this team based on
what the coach asks of you, what your teammates are
asking of you. And that's so akin to the gospel
message because Jesus has always called his followers to forget
(19:29):
about themselves and to seek. You know, what his will is,
his kingdom, his righteousness, living for this other world. That
is to come and in the meantime, what you're calling
is is to sacrifice for the sake of the Gospel.
And so that's really the starting point. And so we
(19:52):
got to find the right men. Without the right men,
we can't really, we really can't pull this off. And
so you know, I guess.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
They say this, you're not offering this to young women
at all, or it's just for young men, is that correct?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Take my comments more as a generalization. We had an
encountered We've had the question come up, and I honestly
I don't see a biblical mandate that says, oh, girls
can't play this. Are we actually out trying to push
and say, hey, let's get girls involved in this. We're
not really doing that. But you know, if if there
was a young lady that wanted to play and it
was something that their parents were supportive of, you know,
(20:31):
I don't see that it would be a problem and
we would do that.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
But what are the ages that you're looking at to serve?
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Well, you know, we really want to get to as
many ages as possible. But it started with high schoolers
because that was the one population that they had to
have something like this, because they just don't have an option.
A lot of a lot of places still in middle school,
you could find a place to play in your your community.
(21:01):
That's not exclusive because we've heard of other kids that
have been shut out to even at the middle school level,
but we know at the high school level there's no chance.
And that was the initial thrust, was kids that were
coming from that perspective. Now we heard from younger, you know,
middle school age kids. So a lot of our teams
you know, did start out with what we call seventy
(21:24):
eight or seventh and eighth grade kids. We've tried to
combine onto teams, so we we roughly had ten high
school age teams last year and we had six seventh
and eighth grade teams. We'd like to get younger, and again,
a lot is just having the resources, and more specifically,
it's it's the leadership. We'll be able to branch lower.
(21:48):
We think we could go higher. We think we could
go to post high school, we could have college club ministries,
and this would I think kind of come more along
your alley as well. Yeah, that would be a great
opportunity for kids that you know, maybe they they had
a horrible high school career, but maybe they're starting to
get it together and now they're past high school age,
(22:10):
they'd loved to still play sports and that that lure
of sport could be a wonderful way to keep them
pursuing education. We just haven't got there yet, just because
we you know, we pray for the Whord to keep
sending the workers that we're going to need to do this,
and and I know he will do it. I have
I have full confidence that it will happen because I've
(22:31):
seen this come together. You know, we're working on, you know,
going into our sixth season, which you know has entailed
almost seven years of effort, and just bit by bit,
I see the Lord put this together. And lot times
I think, you know, we come across the new idea
that boy, this is going to be the big breakthrough,
and it's always helped, but it hasn't. It's not a
(22:53):
you know, click your fingers and now everything's different because
of it. But we just keep persevering and uh, you know,
it keeps growing, and I'm confident we'll be in Toledo
this fall. We have one young man that's been working
hard getting worded out, and we've already got four or
five kids that are interested and that doesn't sound like much,
but trust me, at this time of year, if you
(23:14):
have four or five kids that have an interest, you've
got a chance to have a team. Because we've seen
it over and over that you just kind of have
to persevere and have some faith right now, because once
you get into June, and especially late June into July,
all of a sudden, people start thinking about football again,
and that's when you really start. Instead of having one
kid every couple of weeks, you start getting two kids
(23:36):
a week showing up and you know, finding out about
what you're doing and wanting to do it. And unfortunately
that again, that takes a lot of faith though to
look at what you have right now with four or
five kids and think you're going to be able to
have a football team. So sometimes that's how we lose
certain areas where they don't really follow through. But there's
some other coaches that have come along with that had contact
(23:57):
with and we're going to firm up some things in
the next couple week, so I'm pretty confident we'll have
a presence in the total area.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Yeah, and I know that this isn't only just you know,
targeted to you know, homeschoolers, even though that you know,
for you, for me, both is an important part of
who we serve and are. My audience knows that we
serve off families regardless of school choice, but we're looking
(24:27):
at homeschool and charter school families to reach them because
they're not in the public school and they're often left
out of these sports. Is there any message that you'd
like to share with the homeschool or charter school students
that maybe aren't at risk and how you can help them?
Speaker 2 (24:43):
And yeah, and and you know, it's just amazing that
there's so many specific ministry that has developed through these teams.
And the one that I think we have to offer
the homeschool athletes. The first ones obvious, Hey, we got
a they should play high school tackle football. That can
be very important because I've had I've had mothers crying
(25:05):
on the phone. Oh thank you. This is an answer
to our prayer because you know, uh, you know, seventh
eighth grade John or Mike. You know, they're thinking they
head to high school and they're begging their parents, let
me go to the school because I want to play
high school football. So obviously, right away we're providing an
opportunity for them. But I think beyond that is, you know,
(25:27):
we're we're we're bringing along some other populations that they
need Christ. Maybe they're not coming from as solid as
a family. And I know naturally some homeschool families get
a little nervous about this, but I've seen it time
and time again. It has been these football teams have
been such a ministry to the their young Christian kid
(25:49):
who you know, they've heard the commands, they've they've heard
the teaching, sometimes over and over to where they seem
oblivious to it and they don't want to you know,
they don't don't seem to have this really exuberant faith. Well,
we see their eyes start to open up when we
teach them that you know, you have an interest in
this and there's other people that they're not headed to
(26:12):
heaven right now. They're headed to hell and they need
they need Jesus Christ. And you know, these coaches do
such a great job at leading the players in this
and their eyes start to open up and they're hearing
the scripture every day when they come to practice. We've
had testimonies from families saying, we can't believe the change
in our son he comes home every night, he wants
(26:33):
to be the one leading in prayer, and he wants
to make sure we're doing a Bible study or a
devotional after dinner every night. And it's because of the
influence of their coaches that they see somebody that's not
their their dad. And I'm sure they love their dad,
but sometimes you know, they get tired of hearing what
Dyad asked to say for whatever reason, it's just maybe more.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Yeah, there's ones that are around them that's you know,
like the broken record and just because not know something's
right or wrong. I mean, I've experienced this in New Heights,
just trying through my actions actions to reach kids without
being you know, you want to reach them, but you
don't want to push it down their throat. But you
do that through action and through always treating them with
(27:15):
respect and treating them the same, and treating them and
teaching them that you know, do unto others as you
want done unto you, and and sticking to that right
and when and when people see that you mean that,
you walk, that you do that, then you'll have respect.
And I've seen that a lot with New Heights, and
(27:37):
I understand exactly what you're saying, because we mean it's
that way too sure.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
So yeah, there there, it's a fresh approach and and
you know they're responding, and uh, it's just been a
great thing because the environment, this is where you know,
our our commitment to all the Christian families is you're
going to be pleased with the environment. You know, no
no holds barred. We're going to do our best to
live up to the standards of Christ and the way
(28:05):
we conduct ourselves. And I think that's what's so important
and a lot of the reason they leave public school
education is because they know it's going to be the opposite,
that they're going to be an environment that pushes them
the other way. Well, we are being aggressive at telling
kids we're going to live down or the Lord all
the time, and in our football that's what you're going
to see. Now we're not perfect at it, but we
(28:25):
keep striving for it and it keeps getting better and
better in that way. So it's a great place for
homeschool families to get involved and the Lord's using them
and it's it's just changing some of these young men's
lives and it's just been a terrific Why don't.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
You share your side and contact info with the audience.
We're running out of time here and well we've.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Yeah, we've set up a special email address. It's Kayla
Ohio which is c A L A the word Ohio
at gmail. That would really be the best starting point.
We do have an office number five one seven area
code eight eight two seven five zero zero, but please
(29:11):
you send us an inquiry. We could tell you obviously
a lot more, fill you in on some of the
gaps and hope to hear from you, and just pray
for us too. We have a lot of way to go,
but it's going to happen here in Ohio and we're
just excited about what the Lord's doing.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Thank you so much, Boyd for joining us. And our
website is new Height education dot org and you can
also call us from more info for one nine seven
eighty six he or two four seven. Next week's show
is going to be on graduation tips and helps and
we look forward to having you all back then and
hopefully getting some phone calls.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Come on your soul, yeh too long. He can be
Block Heart Radia.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I am okay.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Hello everybody, Welcome to the show. This is Pamia Clark.
I'm founder and director of the New Heights Educational Group.
I know that normally you hear Caden's voice right now
Kanaan Behan, but she's traveling tonight and couldn't be with us,
So I am going to be the host for the
show tonight. Tonight we have this very special guest with us,
(01:24):
Boyd Myers, who's from the Christian Athletic League of America.
He is the founder and chairman of the board, and
he will discuss creating Christian sports teams here in northwest Ohio.
Welcome to the show, Boyd, thanks for having me. Oh,
you're welcome. So how are you tonight?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
I'm doing well. I just enjoyed watching my Michigan State
Spartans move on in the March Madness Tournament. So it's
been a good day.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Great sounds like a good day. So you want to
share a little bit about yourself and where you're from?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Sure? Yeah, In some ways I consider Toledo my home.
I was born in Toledo, raised nearby in Idam, Michigan,
And as I just alluded to, I am a graduate
of Michigan State University. I played football there from nineteen
eighty six through nineteen eighty nine. It's also the place
where my life hit rock bottom. I had to actually
(02:25):
walk away. Prior to my fifth year senior season, I
had dropped out of school for a couple of years.
In the middle of that, a good friend of mine
introduced me to Jesus Christ, and in August of nineteen
ninety I gave my life to the Lord and it's
been sweet through the ups and downs ever since. So yeah, yeah,
(02:48):
So after graduation, I've I'll just tell you briefly because
it does lead a little bit into what I'll discuss
about the league. I work professionally for the Michigan Department
of Corrections, and I I really responded to that as
what I believe was a call from the Lord after
looking where my own life had been, knowing that there's
(03:10):
some valuable souls, in fact, all of them are made
in the imagey of God, that it's a worthwhile pursuit
to try to minister to them. And so that's what
I've done professionally for roughly the last twenty years, the
last three and a half as a probation officer.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yeah, that's probably influenced you a lot too in your
personal life and with the call of what you're trying
to do now right.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah, it certainly has. When I began working on the
original name of the organization was the Christian Athletic League
of Michigan, and we had run the Michigan Christian Football
League of Michigan. I'm sorry now that we have a
team in Ohio and a team in Indiana. We wanted
to expand on that. I know, but guys don't like
(04:02):
to associate with the state of Michigan too much, and
because of the school down in the narbor I don't
blame them. But anyway, it began, and I knew somewhere
along the way, and we've seen fruit in this. I
knew along the way that we would be able to
take a very solid base of operation, in other words,
(04:26):
very solid people involved in all these teams, and it
could be a very effective outreach knowing that there are
a lot of kids falling through the cracks that enjoy sports,
and that we could use the tool of sport. Maybe
the lure might be the more accurate word to be
in the minister to kids.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Like that, and I really have a passion only with
signing the kids that maybe are troubled, but also the
ones that maybe don't get a play sports because they're
involved with all turnative education.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Choices, right, correct, correct, Yeah, I mean we have a
ton of flexibility, so you know, it's not just for
the at risk kids. And actually they're kind of the
they followed as the second population that we've been able
to reach Initially. It's just been truthfully with homeschoolers that
(05:22):
fueled the start of this. They were the one population
that did not have a place to play high school
tackle football, and because of that, they were very motivated.
And that's kind of where it started.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
And you were homeschooler yourself, right for your children, Yes.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Yes, that's correct. I have three daughters. Myldest daughter is
a she's actually a senior at Lance and Christian School
for her for her high school years. We just felt
like she just had such a hunger and thirst for
learning that we felt that we probably would not be
(06:02):
able to push her enough ourselves as homeschoolers, so we
looked around at different educational options. In fact, we were
in the Ann Arbor area at the time and just
didn't feel a sense of peace anywhere that we looked,
whether it was public school or Christian schools or any
type of alternatives, and we kind of stumbled upon Lands
(06:23):
and Christian and oddly enough, we moved primarily for that
purpose that we felt like that would be the place
for her. And I actually got some wonderful news Friday
from her. That is my oldest daughter. She will be
one of the valedictorians of her graduating class.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
So wonderful. Yeah, thank you, congratulations.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
But anyway, you know, we had homeschooled for a lot
of years, and you know, we understand that community and
a lot of the challenges and put sometimes when you
just step back and think about the challenges that they have,
and yet they're willing to do them because they know
how valuable their kids are. And so we're just we're
(07:09):
privileged to be able to offer the opportunity for homeschool yeah,
to play sports.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah. And I know, as being a homeschooler myself for
thirteen years, I've been in that community for a long
time and stuff. Many friends are still in schooling, and
I know that a lot of them were not allowed
to play in the local sports because they were homeschoolers
and that's public funds and so they were left out.
(07:40):
So I know that it's it's a real issue in
this area. And hopefully someone listening. I know I talked
to someone just last week that is pretty excited about this,
and hopefully people can call in and ask them questions tonight,
why we continue with our interview and you can tell
them more. I would like to go back a little
(08:01):
bit and talk about some of your time, you know,
working in the corrections, because I do think that there's
a lot I think that our society overlooks that a lot.
They just say, oh, well, that person made their choices,
blah blah blah. But it's really not that cut and
dry when you look at a lot of these kids
(08:24):
were the ones that fell through the cracks. I had
done a little bit of research and sixty eight percent
of the state prison inmates did not receive a high
school diploma. That's a huge number and that really sticks out.
I know that colleges are filled with those kind of
people that so a lot of them don't have much
(08:47):
of an education at all. They didn't even learn to read. Also,
I found out that about twenty six percent of the
state prison inmates said that they had completed the GED
while serving the correctional facility. And I know some inmates
that that fits perfectly just those first two two statistics.
(09:10):
And although I did find out that the percentage of
the state prisonmates who reported taking educational courses while confined
fell fifty seven percent in ninety one, which I thought
was interesting, and to fifty two percent in ninety seven,
I'm not sure why that is. Do you have what's
(09:32):
your experience with these numbers and what you've witnessed personally
with these people that have fallen through the cracks.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Well, you know absolutely, I mean everything you just talked
about is absolutely true, and you know that those are
some of the obstacles in the way for having a
successful life. Let me let me go to another statistic,
and this isn't I don't have the exact number. I
(10:00):
can give you a brief story that really illustrates the point,
but you know, the number of young men, and I
don't know the statistics for the ladies, but I think
this is just as important that are incarcerated or even
on probation or fellow the record or whatever. And I
see it every day in probation that almost every one
(10:20):
of my probationers does not have a dad involved in
his life, and those that knew their dads were not
good examples. Typically. To illustrate it, there's a man by
the name of Bill Glass. He played in the NFL
like he played for the Cleveland Browns for most of
(10:41):
his career back in the sixties, and he responded to
the call to be a preacher upon retiring from the NFL.
So I think for a few of the years in
the off season he pursued his seminary degree and he
stumbled in nineteen seventy three he stumbled in to and
in fact, I believe it was the prison in mary
(11:04):
in Ohio, and he really found a really open harvest field.
Maybe it was the best way to put it. Anyway,
Bill's devoted his life and I had the privilege of
having his ministry into the prison I worked at in
Nipsilanti for three years. We had him come up there,
and I've heard him deliver this little speech that he
(11:27):
would illustrate the power of a dad, and he gave
a great example of A guy by the name of
Jim Sunberg who played Major League baseball for a lot
of years for the Texas Rangers, and he used this
illustration that his dad, Jim's dad would tell him all
the time, so, you're going to be a major league
ball player someday. And even when he did really horribly
in a game, his dad always found found a way
(11:49):
to encourage him. And then and then Bill Glass would
tell this story to the prisoners that were watching this program,
and then he would ask them, he says, how many
of you never knew your dad? And it would break
your heart when you would see the number of men
that would raise their hand, and and to see their
face and to realize the hurt that's in their heart
(12:10):
because they never had that. And and that would pretty
much be almost all the population of those that didn't
raise their hands. He would ask for the rest of
you that did have a dad, how many how many
of you had your dad telling you all the time? Son?
You keep that up, you're gonna end up in prison
some day. And that pretty much that would cover the population.
They either didn't know their dad or they had a
dad that they rated them and and you know, I'll
(12:33):
talk down on them. And and that's that issue itself
is coming to the forefront in society and the movie
Courageous illustrated it extremely well because they utilized law enforcement
criminal behavior. They even cault some of the statistics in
the movie. And really, even as our league, we're kind
(12:54):
of moving towards that because when we look at, Okay,
how can we best minister to these at risk kids,
we've got to we've got to go for their father figures.
Maybe there's a chance to educate them and motivate them
to be good dads and to show them that contrast
and maybe be able to work with them. And you know,
quite likely some of these at risk kids won't even
(13:15):
have a dad. So you know, our other challenges go
into the churches and saying, where are you men that
will be willing to stand in the gap, because that'll
make all the difference in these kids' lives if they
can have a man who would teach them what it
means to be a godly man.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Yeah, and that's not the only factor. That's a big factor.
But also if they don't have education, or if they
fall through at their studies because of their troubled home
life and they can't, you know, get theirselves out of
the situation their home life was in, then I've seen
a lot where you know that repeats. A literacy breeds
(13:56):
a literacy, and alcoholism, you know, causes more generations of
alcoholism drug addictions, and not every time, but a lot
of times that repeats. So haven't you found that in
your case? Also?
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Oh yeah, without a doubt, without a doubt. And I think,
you know, maybe the heart of the issue is, I
think where the I think these things complement themselves. And
I think the importance of the dad is to have
really almost that cheerleader that's pushing you on. And so
education woul obviously be one of the things that, you know,
(14:31):
if there was a dad involved or a positive male
role model that would teach them, Hey, this is very important.
I mean, this is what I have to do with
my probationers. They're really almost all of them are their
children in grown men bodies, and yeah, you don't understand
how important it. And so they need somebody that will
come alongside them encourage them that, hey, you can do it,
(14:54):
you can overcome these obstacles. I'm going to be here
for you. You know, if you ever need anything, you
let me know, because I'm here to help you. And
I'm gonna I'm going to try to point you towards
somebody that can't help you, and and for a lot
of them, they just and refer to the probationers as
they have no sense of hope. And I know that
that trickles back to childhood, you know, when when things
(15:17):
are rough and there's there's nobody to come alongside them
to say, you know what it's going to be okay.
You know, they have a lot of fear and insecurity
and a lack of love, and and it's just yeah,
we uh, we could probably use the whole program talking
about this and then some because I know.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
I know, but I want to touch on a little
bit because you do have a background in that and
you've seen a lot of things and I think a
lot of times, I mean with new heights of mission,
you know, and trying to prove improve you know, literacy
in Northwest Ohio and beyond, I think that a lot
of people just kind of think, well, we can, we
(15:55):
can wait. That's you know, there's so much chaos going
on in the world. We can put these things off
for a little bit more. But if you don't have education,
society will fail. I mean, if you don't give a
child a well rounded education, and give them alternatives to
education and activities like what you're offering to start up
(16:19):
here in northwest Ohio. The kids that are already even
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Lost, they will just give up, yeah, no doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
And they're going to fall through the cracks if they
don't have an education. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Ye.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
You're just not going to make it in this world
if you don't have it.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
So in two thousand and seven you begin working on
forming a high school tackle football league that gives opportunities
to those that were on the outside looking at the
public school monopoly on high school football. Can you tell
me a little bit about that and what You've started?
(16:57):
A lot of teams up now for the Christian Athletic
League of America.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Dozens, right, yeah, Well I wish it were dozens. It's
about at a dozen right now. We initially got seven
teams off the ground, and you know that. I think
the unfortunate part is we don't have a we don't
have a captive audience, so to speak. So the difficulty
in getting new teams started is you got to find
(17:20):
the people that want to do it. You got to
find the right leadership that understands it. First of all,
and I'll kind of roll in one of the things
I had, you know, previously thrown your way as far
as a question, you know, what makes us different from
the public school is, you know, we need the right
men in place, because ultimately it's not and right now,
(17:42):
football is the sport that we're kind of that we
kind of lashed onto because it's more needed that. There's
a lot of other options for other sports, but football
is the one that if you don't fit in the
public school monopoly, you don't play at the high school level.
So we've started with that one. What makes us different
is that we're not going to make this all about football.
We're going to learn how to play the game. We're
(18:03):
going to learn to play it right, we're going to
learn to play it safe. But it's really a fulfillment
of Jesus's promise of Matthew six thirty three that if
we see versus kingdom and his righteousness, all this will
be given to you as well. So if we're seeking
firstus kingdom and his righteousness, the football will come as well.
And we're coming from that perspective. So we've got to
have the right men on board. We can't just take
(18:24):
a guy who's a gung hold football coach but doesn't
have a heart of Christ and expect that we're really
going to be able to minister to kids at the
level they need to be ministered to. And you know, ultimately,
the original model of the Christian Football League of Michigan
was building leaders and servants through football. That's that's the
(18:45):
basis that we're starting from, is that we form these
teams because the young men that will come our way
and God will bring them our way. And yeah, it's
for the sake of playing football, but we're going to
use the football experience because football is the ultimate of
team sports because you have kids with all kinds of
body types, all kinds of skills, and they can all
come together and they can find a place to contribute.
(19:08):
And the challenge to every one of those kids is
forget about yourself and contribute to this team based on
what the coach asks of you, what your teammates are
asking of you. And that's so akin to the gospel
message because Jesus has always called his followers to forget
(19:29):
about themselves and to seek. You know, what his will is,
his kingdom, his righteousness, living for this other world. That
is to come and in the meantime, what you're calling
is is to sacrifice for the sake of the Gospel.
And so that's really the starting point. And so we
(19:52):
got to find the right men. Without the right men,
we can't really, we really can't pull this off. And
so you know, I guess.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
They say this, you're not offering this to young women
at all, or it's just for young men, is that correct?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Take my comments more as a generalization. We had an
encountered We've had the question come up, and I honestly
I don't see a biblical mandate that says, oh, girls
can't play this. Are we actually out trying to push
and say, hey, let's get girls involved in this. We're
not really doing that. But you know, if if there
was a young lady that wanted to play and it
was something that their parents were supportive of, you know,
(20:31):
I don't see that it would be a problem and
we would do that.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
But what are the ages that you're looking at to serve?
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Well, you know, we really want to get to as
many ages as possible. But it started with high schoolers
because that was the one population that they had to
have something like this, because they just don't have an option.
A lot of a lot of places still in middle school,
you could find a place to play in your your community.
(21:01):
That's not exclusive because we've heard of other kids that
have been shut out to even at the middle school level,
but we know at the high school level there's no chance.
And that was the initial thrust, was kids that were
coming from that perspective. Now we heard from younger, you know,
middle school age kids. So a lot of our teams
you know, did start out with what we call seventy
(21:24):
eight or seventh and eighth grade kids. We've tried to
combine onto teams, so we we roughly had ten high
school age teams last year and we had six seventh
and eighth grade teams. We'd like to get younger, and again,
a lot is just having the resources, and more specifically,
it's it's the leadership. We'll be able to branch lower.
(21:48):
We think we could go higher. We think we could
go to post high school, we could have college club ministries,
and this would I think kind of come more along
your alley as well. Yeah, that would be a great
opportunity for kids that you know, maybe they they had
a horrible high school career, but maybe they're starting to
get it together and now they're past high school age,
(22:10):
they'd loved to still play sports and that that lure
of sport could be a wonderful way to keep them
pursuing education. We just haven't got there yet, just because
we you know, we pray for the Whord to keep
sending the workers that we're going to need to do this,
and and I know he will do it. I have
I have full confidence that it will happen because I've
(22:31):
seen this come together. You know, we're working on, you know,
going into our sixth season, which you know has entailed
almost seven years of effort, and just bit by bit,
I see the Lord put this together. And lot times
I think, you know, we come across the new idea
that boy, this is going to be the big breakthrough,
and it's always helped, but it hasn't. It's not a
(22:53):
you know, click your fingers and now everything's different because
of it. But we just keep persevering and uh, you know,
it keeps growing, and I'm confident we'll be in Toledo
this fall. We have one young man that's been working
hard getting worded out, and we've already got four or
five kids that are interested and that doesn't sound like much,
but trust me, at this time of year, if you
(23:14):
have four or five kids that have an interest, you've
got a chance to have a team. Because we've seen
it over and over that you just kind of have
to persevere and have some faith right now, because once
you get into June, and especially late June into July,
all of a sudden, people start thinking about football again,
and that's when you really start. Instead of having one
kid every couple of weeks, you start getting two kids
(23:36):
a week showing up and you know, finding out about
what you're doing and wanting to do it. And unfortunately
that again, that takes a lot of faith though to
look at what you have right now with four or
five kids and think you're going to be able to
have a football team. So sometimes that's how we lose
certain areas where they don't really follow through. But there's
some other coaches that have come along with that had contact
(23:57):
with and we're going to firm up some things in
the next couple week, so I'm pretty confident we'll have
a presence in the total area.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Yeah, and I know that this isn't only just you know,
targeted to you know, homeschoolers, even though that you know,
for you, for me, both is an important part of
who we serve and are. My audience knows that we
serve off families regardless of school choice, but we're looking
(24:27):
at homeschool and charter school families to reach them because
they're not in the public school and they're often left
out of these sports. Is there any message that you'd
like to share with the homeschool or charter school students
that maybe aren't at risk and how you can help them?
Speaker 2 (24:43):
And yeah, and and you know, it's just amazing that
there's so many specific ministry that has developed through these teams.
And the one that I think we have to offer
the homeschool athletes. The first ones obvious, Hey, we got
a they should play high school tackle football. That can
be very important because I've had I've had mothers crying
(25:05):
on the phone. Oh thank you. This is an answer
to our prayer because you know, uh, you know, seventh
eighth grade John or Mike. You know, they're thinking they
head to high school and they're begging their parents, let
me go to the school because I want to play
high school football. So obviously, right away we're providing an
opportunity for them. But I think beyond that is, you know,
(25:27):
we're we're we're bringing along some other populations that they
need Christ. Maybe they're not coming from as solid as
a family. And I know naturally some homeschool families get
a little nervous about this, but I've seen it time
and time again. It has been these football teams have
been such a ministry to the their young Christian kid
(25:49):
who you know, they've heard the commands, they've they've heard
the teaching, sometimes over and over to where they seem
oblivious to it and they don't want to you know,
they don't don't seem to have this really exuberant faith. Well,
we see their eyes start to open up when we
teach them that you know, you have an interest in
this and there's other people that they're not headed to
(26:12):
heaven right now. They're headed to hell and they need
they need Jesus Christ. And you know, these coaches do
such a great job at leading the players in this
and their eyes start to open up and they're hearing
the scripture every day when they come to practice. We've
had testimonies from families saying, we can't believe the change
in our son he comes home every night, he wants
(26:33):
to be the one leading in prayer, and he wants
to make sure we're doing a Bible study or a
devotional after dinner every night. And it's because of the
influence of their coaches that they see somebody that's not
their their dad. And I'm sure they love their dad,
but sometimes you know, they get tired of hearing what
Dyad asked to say for whatever reason, it's just maybe more.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Yeah, there's ones that are around them that's you know,
like the broken record and just because not know something's
right or wrong. I mean, I've experienced this in New Heights,
just trying through my actions actions to reach kids without
being you know, you want to reach them, but you
don't want to push it down their throat. But you
do that through action and through always treating them with
(27:15):
respect and treating them the same, and treating them and
teaching them that you know, do unto others as you
want done unto you, and and sticking to that right
and when and when people see that you mean that,
you walk, that you do that, then you'll have respect.
And I've seen that a lot with New Heights, and
(27:37):
I understand exactly what you're saying, because we mean it's
that way too sure.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
So yeah, there there, it's a fresh approach and and
you know they're responding, and uh, it's just been a
great thing because the environment, this is where you know,
our our commitment to all the Christian families is you're
going to be pleased with the environment. You know, no
no holds barred. We're going to do our best to
live up to the standards of Christ and the way
(28:05):
we conduct ourselves. And I think that's what's so important
and a lot of the reason they leave public school
education is because they know it's going to be the opposite,
that they're going to be an environment that pushes them
the other way. Well, we are being aggressive at telling
kids we're going to live down or the Lord all
the time, and in our football that's what you're going
to see. Now we're not perfect at it, but we
(28:25):
keep striving for it and it keeps getting better and
better in that way. So it's a great place for
homeschool families to get involved and the Lord's using them
and it's it's just changing some of these young men's
lives and it's just been a terrific Why don't.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
You share your side and contact info with the audience.
We're running out of time here and well we've.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Yeah, we've set up a special email address. It's Kayla
Ohio which is c A L A the word Ohio
at gmail. That would really be the best starting point.
We do have an office number five one seven area
code eight eight two seven five zero zero, but please
(29:11):
you send us an inquiry. We could tell you obviously
a lot more, fill you in on some of the
gaps and hope to hear from you, and just pray
for us too. We have a lot of way to go,
but it's going to happen here in Ohio and we're
just excited about what the Lord's doing.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Thank you so much, Boyd for joining us. And our
website is new Height education dot org and you can
also call us from more info for one nine seven
eighty six he or two four seven. Next week's show
is going to be on graduation tips and helps and
we look forward to having you all back then and
hopefully getting some phone calls.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Come on your soul, yeh too long. He can be
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Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.