August 27, 2025 • 50 mins
This week on The Rev Rx Podcast, Chad Potts sits down with former MLB pitcher Chris Hammond — best remembered for his incredible 2002 season with the Atlanta Braves (0.95 ERA). But as powerful as his baseball story is, Chris shares something even more important: why living your faith from the bullpen isn’t enough.
Chris opens up about losing his love for baseball, walking away from the game, and later making one of the most remarkable comebacks in relief pitching history. More importantly, he shares how his faith once mirrored his bullpen career — always hanging back, comfortable, waiting on the sidelines — until the Holy Spirit got ahold of him.
Now, he’s calling men and women everywhere to stop warming the bench and get in the game with God.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
What it felt like to pitch alongside Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz during the Braves’ glory years.
How losing his passion for baseball gave Chris a new perspective on family and life.
The story behind “Faith from the Bullpen” — and why too many Christians are stuck there.
The role of the Holy Spirit in moving from passive churchgoing to active discipleship.
How the Chris Hammond Youth Foundation is helping kids in underserved areas find opportunity through sports.
Links & Resources:
Support the foundation: Chris Hammond Youth Foundation
Connect with Chris on Facebook
Follow Chad on Instagram: @chadpottspharmd
Learn more about Man Alive Coaching: www.manalivecoaching.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:11):
Hello friends, and welcome back to the Rev RX Podcast where we
show you how to thrive in faith,family, and health.
My name is Chad Potts and I'm your host.
Today's guest is one that I am pumped about.
This was one of my favorite interviews.
I wish it could have gone on forhours and hours, but my guest
today is former Major League pitcher Chris Hammond.
For my fellow Braves fans out there, you'll remember his
(00:33):
incredible 2002 season where he pitched to a 0.95 ERA, a season
for the record books. But as much as baseball defined
Chris Hammond's career, it's hisfaith that defines his life.
Today, Chris shares with us whathe calls faith from the bullpen.
You see, for years he lived his walk with God the same way that
(00:53):
he pitched. Comfortable waiting, hanging
back. But then the Holy Spirit got a
hold of his life, and it lit a fire that changed everything.
This episode is a challenge to all of us.
Stop warming the bench. Stop living faith from the
bullpen. It's time to get in the game
with Jesus. Let's dive in and introduce you
(01:14):
to my new friend Chris Hammond. Chris Hammond, brother, what a
privilege it is to have you hereon the Rev RX podcast.
Man, I have followed your baseball career for years.
You are retired now. You're doing the Lord's work.
But man, what a, what an honor. Thanks for being here man.
(01:35):
Good to be here. Good.
Glad to be in the position that you'd invite me to be on this on
this show. Yeah, well, we've become friends
on Facebook and I've I've loved a lot of the content you're
putting out there. You're not scared to talk about
faith. And I want to talk about that
today. But before we get there now, I'd
love to hear a little bit about you.
I know about you from the baseball side, but I'd love to
(01:56):
hear a little bit about you, kind of where you come from and
help us to get to know you a little better.
Well, I was born in Atlanta. My dad got transferred to
Birmingham. He was a a group insurance
salesman, moved to Birmingham, grew up in Vestavia, really my
whole life. And that's where I, I began my
baseball career, playing T-ball at four years old.
(02:19):
And I just just having a ball playing baseball.
I mean basketball, I I didn't play a lot of organized football
and just because man, I didn't want to get hurt for for
baseball and basketball. And that's what I that's my
message for all parents. I'm thinking stay away from
football. I mean it, it'll it's a great,
great 5 to 10 years. The the, the the years after
(02:42):
that are horrific. I mean, I and I use all my
friends exam. I go where'd you how'd you get
that score on your knee? And they're like football and I
I go. Do you see why we're not going
to play football to my to MY22 boys?
But but I grew up in in Birmingham, went to UAB one
year, didn't make my grades at UAB, went down to Gulf Coast
Community College in Panama City.
(03:03):
And as you know, if I didn't get, if I didn't make my grades
at UAB, I'm definitely ain't going to make my grades at
Panama City. So that's right.
I was, I had, I threw all my marbles into to playing baseball
and, and, and, and the rest is, is, is, is history.
And, and I got to play for a lotof big league teams.
(03:24):
And, and, and fortunately, God bless me with making enough
money that I mean, I don't have to have a, a job to go into the
office. I can just kind of like work on
my own. I have, I work for a little
health and Wellness company. It's online, all natural.
Phil Knight, the guy who startedNike, is one of the biggest
(03:45):
investors and that's the only reason I even started it.
I mean, David gave it a shot and, and, and I'm right here
feeling great, loving the Lord, being a a disciple of, of Christ
and, and now I'm on your show. Man, this is the peak right
here. The you have, you have peaked at
(04:05):
this moment. But yeah, yeah, Georgia boy by
birth. So appreciate that.
And you were drafted in the in the sixth round, I believe,
right by the by the Reds, 1986. And I won't tell you how old I
was. I won't date you, but I was I
was probably still crying and and not walking yet, but but you
(04:28):
you started off with the Reds. You had a you had a few seasons
with the Reds. I want to talk baseball just a
minute because I don't get to pick a lot of people's brains
and I'm I'm a big baseball fan. I've always loved it and big
brace fan these days. And man, you, you have one of
the one of the one of my favorite relief pitching
seasons. You know, you like baseball when
you can appreciate a good reliefpitcher and, and we'll talk
(04:51):
about kind of what goes into that in just a second.
I mean, that 2002 season with myBraves was one for the one for
the record books. And I want to go back a little
bit because when you left Cincinnati, you went to the
Marlins and you were on their inaugural team, right?
Oh yeah, yeah. So what was that like playing
for this expansion team? Yeah.
(05:11):
Well, it, it was, I mean, I had mixed emotions because I mean,
you're playing for a team that drafted you and you finally make
it to the major leagues and you're there for two years and
then during spring training theytrade you to another team.
Now you're like, it's kind of like a defeat, not like a, a
move to another team or whatever.
(05:33):
I was just like, I mean, what did I do wrong?
And but, but, but playing for a expansion team, it was it was
really a blessing because the Marlins, they were like put
together A-Team to build. And it gave me an opportunity
because, man, I was like, I mean, I was one of their second
(05:56):
or third string pitchers as a starter.
And I lost my first two games. And I'm thinking, man, and I and
my pitching coach came in and hegoes, hey, we know you can
pitch, get out there and do it. I won 88 games in a row, Pitcher
of the month. And and that right there was an
opportunity to to kind of like look at myself in the mirror,
(06:19):
go, I belong here. Yeah.
And, and I just, I just, I neverlooked back and I didn't, I
wasn't looking to see he was trying to take my spot.
I mean, nobody's going to take my spot, so.
That's important, feeling like you belong.
And you know, when you think about it, to you it being in the
NL East rooting for my Braves, man, that was I hated to see you
(06:42):
coming. You know, you would get hot and
and here comes Chris Hammond. And then finally, you know, and
I, and I want to talk about this.
You you took a couple seasons off if I remember right.
You had was it shoulder issues? No, it had.
It was just a mixture of Boston really screwed me over with my
(07:03):
contract and the way they treated me and and then my my
wife went into labor at six months.
So she was on bed rest there. I'm I had then I had AI mean a
bone spur on the on tip my elbow, which was giving me some
discomfort. And then right in the middle of
the season, I just go, Hey, I'm going to have surgery on my
(07:25):
elbow because they you, you screwed me over.
You've you've, you've, you've taken away my love baseball.
I'm just going to quit this season and and see what's
what's, what, what's going to goon for next season.
And then just things wasn't going as planned.
So I just retired and and it wasn't any injury or I just lost
(07:47):
the love of baseball. So we went, we went back to our
little country property in in Wadowley, Alabama.
We had a Big Lake kids, we all three kids out there fishing
every morning and with dad and, and I'm thinking this is this is
it. And then two years later, my
wife's like, what do you, what do you want to do as a job?
(08:09):
And I'm thinking, hang on, what do you want to do?
You want to open up a restaurantor whatever?
And we're talking to our, our guy that's helping with our
financial stuff and he's like, are you kidding me?
You want to open up a restaurant?
What's wrong with Chris's arm? I mean, there's not a better way
to make money than pitching in the major leagues.
And then, then, then my wife says, I'm kind of disappointed
(08:33):
our kids never saw you play. I go, I'm 33 years old.
I'm left-handed, somebody will sign me.
And then and I got started getting more back in shape.
I had all my friends out there in the country that that played
baseball in high school. I go, can you catch me?
And they're like, heck no, I can't catch it.
And I go, you can catch, can't you?
He goes and he goes, I feel like, yeah, I can catch.
(08:56):
They get down there and I go just put your on your your glove
up and don't move it. And out ball is like he goes,
holy moly, You're you were serious.
I go, yeah, I'm, I'm a big league pitcher.
So I got my arm in shape, went back and and I didn't care if I
played in the major leagues or not.
(09:17):
I cared that my kids were in thebullpen sitting there watching
dad pitch in the stands, coming in the clubhouse and I and, and,
and that's the reason I had no stress in my life once I got on
that mound. I don't care if I gave up a home
run. My kids are watching me.
And that's that's the reason I had the results I did.
(09:39):
It's my second stand in in in playing in the major leagues.
Yeah, not a lot of people retiretwice from the major leagues and
you did that and you had a lot of success with you came back
and and that 2022 season was your first full season back with
the Braves. And and man, that was one where
you were just lights out and youwere all season lights out.
For those of you who may not follow this and may not be as
(10:00):
big of a Braves fan as I am, he had an ERA under one for the
season and that's almost unheardof.
Can you walk us through a littlebit about, you know, you
mentioned that it's just there was no pressure.
How much did that play into you just coming in game after game
after game and just is to be in at your best?
Well, the only pressure that I had is when I first started the
(10:21):
season, I mean, Bobby's like, hey, you, we're going to give
you a shot. And I'm thinking that's all I
need. And and I went to to the season
going, hey, this is my shot. Get back in the major leagues
and and at the very first serieswe're playing the Mets and I
gave up a three run Homer. I'm thinking, no, I'm the last,
(10:46):
I'm I'm the last guy on the on the pitching staff because I
haven't pitched in the big leagues in three years.
And I was driving back home to Wadowi and I go, I'm going to
pitch every game like this goingto be my last.
And I pitched 75 innings and gave up five runs the rest of
the season. I went from the last game, last
person in the bullpen to pitch in the probably extra innings
(11:10):
and and then and then they movedme to the 6th inning and then
they pitched the 7th and then they finished the year pitching
the every 8th inning, setting upsmokes in the bullpen.
Yep, Humbly. Yeah, man, lots of hold.
Did they have holds as a stat back then?
We call that, we call that a hold before the save.
Yeah, yeah. And So what was it like to play
(11:33):
for Bobby Cox? And then did you, did you have
Leo Mazzoni as your pitching coach stander?
Yeah, yeah. What was that like?
Well, it it playing for Bobby Cox.
It was probably the the biggest,I know blessing just because, I
mean, I mean, he treated everybody like you.
They were we were his son. Nobody was better than the
(11:55):
other. I mean, me, Glavine, Smalls and
Maddox all walk into his his office.
We're all on the same page. And I mean, and that's what made
it so special. And, and in the year I had when,
when everybody's like, well, howwas it playing for Leo Mazzoni?
And I go, I had a .95 BRAI mean,what I didn't I get other than
(12:18):
the first, first inning of the of the season that I pitched,
yeah, I didn't give them a reason to go.
What's wrong? Yeah, they love you.
Yeah, yeah. And and it it got to the point
where after the game, all the team actually won.
We go into the to the locker room and everybody's in the line
(12:39):
and Smoltz would come up good job to all the all the relievers
and he'd and he'd get to me. He's like, this is ridiculous.
And he he wouldn't even get giveme a high five.
He goes, this is ridiculous. I mean, I gave him no run.
Yeah. And that's so hard to do,
especially over over that many innings, yeah.
Yeah, I couldn't have picked a better team to do it with.
(13:02):
Yeah, well, and, and, and you'rehere today because of that.
And remember, remember, this is your peak.
It's all come to this moment. So So what a what a cool thing
that was to be able to come backfrom retirement, have that crazy
season that people dream of, andthen you turn that into a pretty
good deal. You left Atlanta, went to was it
New York? Is that the did you go to the
(13:23):
Yankees right after that? Yeah.
And he played for a few more teams too.
So a little bit too about playing in all these different
cities, you've got to experience, you know, a lot of
the US from that, from that standpoint, what was the best
part about that and what would you think would be maybe the
most challenging part that that you dealt with?
(13:43):
Well, I mean, best, best part of, of being in the, in the
major leagues. I mean, where do you go?
I mean, you're treated like, like royalty.
And unless you're playing with the Yankees and you go to
Boston, then you're then you're it's a war even when you go.
To. Their restaurant and it's like,
(14:05):
I mean, they don't like the Oregon Yankee anybody, but but I
tell. Them like.
I played for the Red Sox in 97 and they're like be serious and
they kind of like broke the ice.But but, but that's the benefit
of like stepping back and looking at my career.
I mean, I played for 9 organizations and seven big
(14:28):
league teams. Now I can pick up my phone and
go, hey, me and my family were coming out to, to, to watch the
Oakland game. Yeah, yeah.
What, what days? Yeah, we'll give you tickets.
And I'm thinking that's cool andthat's so awesome.
But, but the, the bad part aboutit in, in a sense, and I mean
(14:52):
nothing against the female race,but every, everywhere you go,
there's temptations. And if you're not, you're not
serious in, in, in your walk with Christ.
I mean, it's like as soon as youstart looking over your
shoulder, you're in trouble. So, so that's, that's the bad
part about pitching in the majorleagues because I've seen it way
(15:18):
too many times. And I then I want to admit that
there's girls out there that want a free ride.
Yeah, yeah. And then, and if you're, if
you're not careful, they're going to, you're going to be
part of their free ride. So that's, that's my advice to a
lot of like younger, older, whoever guys that are pitching
(15:39):
the major leagues or I mean, working for some tycoon, that's
you're making a lot of money. I mean, your money is, is
people, they they want some of that money.
It's a target, yeah, Yeah, I don't have that problem, but I
hear that it's a target. Well, you you're glad you don't
have that problem. That's right.
(15:59):
But you're right, you know, you're on the road a lot.
You know, there there's people that you have status, you have
money and and people want to be a part of that.
And it's a sobering reminder that you know that with success
comes a lot of responsibility, but it a lot of, you know, a lot
of discipline, I imagine and. Oh yeah.
And so I appreciate you being honest about that and sharing
(16:19):
that because, yeah, that's something that maybe people in
different areas of life strugglewith and that's not something
you guys are immune to by any stretch whatsoever.
And so thinking about there's, there's two more questions I
want to ask you about baseball because I, I love it.
And, and I want to get where we're going.
But, but man, I'm just, I'm, I'mloving this opportunity.
Just kind of pick your brain. So you you pitched on the team
(16:40):
that had, you know, the, the, the Glavin, the Maddox smolt
coming in behind some of those legends and kind of preserving
their leads. Was there pressure there?
Because, yeah, you were that seven, you were that late inning
reliever. And that's not somewhere they
put you by accident. A lot of there's a lot of
(17:00):
pressure responsibility that comes with that end of the game
because you're called on and you're, you're called on to be
nearly perfect, which you you happen to be.
But what what's the kind of the pressure behind that of, you
know, hey man, I might blow a game for some of these legends.
Did that go through your mind atall?
It, it did, it did a lot. And then to make to me the, the,
(17:21):
the catalyst of our bullpen. And we always talked about that,
like when we first started the season where I mean, we, I mean
Gladden and Maddox, they're they're coming up on their 300th
went and then and they could getit this year that we're pitching
there and then we can be part ofthat.
And and, and, but the, the, the,the more we came together and
(17:44):
just bonded and became a steam rolling bullpen and, and, and,
and it just happened. And the big one of my biggest, I
don't know, Pats on the back forour bullpen is when Glavin and
Maddox both were interviewed andasked a question.
(18:06):
Why are y'all only going 5 innings?
And then they're like, because when you look back at your
career, you went 9 innings, you went 8 innings, I mean barely 7
innings inning. You want to pitch the whole
game. And both of them said with a
bullpen we have, we don't have to do that.
(18:27):
We, we, we're, we're confident. I can pitch 5 innings.
I might pitch 6 innings, I mightpitch 7.
But but if Bobby goes, hey, you're out.
And I'm thinking I'm not mad anymore because of the bullpen
we have. I'm thinking I got chill mumps
right now. I got chill mumps 25 years later
right now just thinking about them saying that about us as a
(18:52):
as a bullpen and that's how goodwe were.
That's so incredible. And and that's you're right,
it's a pat on the back. It's a vote of confidence.
And I'm sure that kind of helps you gel a little more as a
bullpen as you go. Man, what an incredible year.
What an incredible story. But they want to go back a
little bit though. One last thing about that
bullpen at the end, at the last in last week of the season, I
(19:13):
don't know what magazine or whatever they did, they did
article on our bullpen and they took our picture of like this
could be one of the greatest bullpens of all time.
I'm thinking and and you're like, are you serious?
And then, but I look back at what we did, I'm thinking, I
mean, that's absolutely right. Legitimately, yeah, absolutely
(19:37):
love it. Let's go back to post Boston,
your first retirement, you mentioned you lost the love for
baseball. And I 100% resonate with that.
I don't tell, I don't tell the story a lot.
This isn't about me, but it's something I think a lot of us.
And you have a youth or youth foundation, We'll talk about
that. But me as a youth growing up, I
love baseball. I ate, slept, ate, slept and
(19:59):
drank. And George is coming out,
whatever that looks like, baseball and.
Loved every moment of it. But here's the thing, I played
for a coach my junior year in high school on my varsity team.
We were not good. We were not a good team.
But I played for a coach and there's there's a different
mindset and you've done both, Chris, you've started pitching
(20:20):
and you've been a relief pitcherand you had success in both of
those areas. I came in in relief one game and
bases were loaded one out. I threw one pitch, got a ground
ball double play out of the end and shut them down the rest of
the time, you know, and, and I wasn't throwing 95 anything like
that. But I did like, I had movement.
I, I loved playing baseball. And we had a meeting after that
(20:43):
game and, and he told it, you know, we got 1 gamer on this
team. Somebody wants to be in there in
hard times. He, he embraces it, he loves it.
And that's Chad. And from now on, he's going to
be our number one starting pitcher.
He's going to be our ace. And I'm like, man, I have
arrived. This is great.
The moment I've waited for it. And then I, I pitched a few
games as the #1A starting pitcher did OK, but I, I looked
(21:05):
back and I'm like, you know, I really, there's, there's a
mindset that's different about areliever and a starter.
And I really, I, I tend to overanalyze.
I tend to overthink. And so if I knew I was going to
pitch that day, man, I would just be all in my head.
And and I was a junior in high school and I don't, you know, I
didn't know how to necessarily verbalize all that, but I knew
as a reliever, like you didn't know until about 10 minutes
(21:27):
before it's time to pitch, you were going to pitch.
Just go get loose and you'll I'mgoing to put you in.
And I thrived in those opportunities.
That's when I had my most success.
And so I told my coach, OK, coach, I, I feel like in order
to best help the team, in order for me to be my best, maybe I
can go back to being a relief pitcher.
I can come in after your startercomes out, that kind of thing.
He didn't take Will to that. He kind of laughed at me and
(21:51):
he's like, all right, you want to be a relief pitcher.
You can be a relief pitcher. And you know, Chris, here's the
thing. That was about 1/3 of the way
through the season. I didn't pitch again the rest of
the season, did not pitch once. And I, and I guess, you know, in
a way, maybe I was a young kid and I was challenging his
authority or whatever the case may be.
(22:12):
But what that did was it made melose my, my passion for baseball
at a very pivotal time in my life.
I, I actually got on a travel ball team.
You're, you may be familiar withthe East Cobb travel ball team,
travel ball league. Actually, Charlie Culberson
played with the Braves. His dad, Charles was my coach.
And he reinstated that love for me because I, I quit varsity and
(22:34):
I didn't play varsity in my senior year.
I played for, for Charles Culberson's baseball team and he
reinstated that love for me. But I want to go back to that
moment because you had a moment and I had a moment both where we
loved the game of baseball, but because of something that
happened that was outside of ourcontrol, because of the way
people handled our situations, we lost that love for a period
(22:55):
of time. How important is it that our
youth coaches out there? And and granted, there's a ton
of awesome youth coaches out there, but all of them, almost
all of them volunteer. But how careful do we have to be
to to not to not really kind of squash that love of baseball and
some of these young kids growingup?
(23:16):
Yeah, you get, I mean this that is that's that's a great, great
story to to have in this in thispodcast.
But that's why I love being being that guy in the shadows.
I don't want to be I don't want to be the coach.
I don't want to be any part of the team, but I want to have
hey, Chris, I got a guy that anychance you can have lunch with
(23:38):
him? I mean, I want to be in the
shadows to to build him up to prepare him because baseball, I
mean, if, if, if players live ontheir success or or their
failures, I mean, you fail so many more times than you, you're
going to you're going to, I meansucceed and you're going to keep
(24:00):
jump off the dugout onto your head.
I mean it, it's hard. I mean, there's.
There's. There's parents on the other
team yelling at shit. I mean, I mean, I mean, there's
not many other sports that you can hear people yelling.
I mean it and it's, it's horrific.
But I mean, I mean, that's why Ialways say, and that's why I
(24:21):
love my, I mean, what, what my foundation does is help helps
kids get excited about sports. Because I feel like if a, if a
kids can play sports through high school, they can learn how
to get knocked down and get backup and I wouldn't be there for
them. I want to, I want my foundation
to be there and go, hey, coach, if you ever need my help, just
(24:43):
call me. I'm, I'm going to run over
there. I'll, I'll, I'll help your team.
I'll speak to your team. I'll speak life into your team.
And, and that's what I love doing.
But but to be you got to have that, that mentor, whether it's
part of your team or or, or or on your, on your, on your
phone's call list, that you got to have that 911 call that Hey,
(25:08):
hey, Chris, I need your help. And that's what I love being
doing because I, I lived throughit.
I got up, I, I walked away from baseball.
Not that I, that I couldn't do it.
I just, I walked the love of that.
I mean, I was through with, I played seven years in the major
leagues. I played, I'm making good money
and I wanted, I want to know what my next chapter is.
(25:28):
And then and then when I went back, it wasn't about baseball.
It was about my family. And, and, and I loved, I loved
your, your, your analogy of being in the bullpen because I,
I tell people I go, if I, if I had to do it over again and, and
start my career, I'm jumping right in the mineral leaf.
(25:48):
And then I could pick 20 years in the major leagues.
Nobody know who you are. And, and like you ever get like
think about when you're going topitch or whatever.
I go, heck no. Because you, when you're in the
bullpen, you wake up in the morning and somebody goes, me,
you going to pitch, stay. I, I go, I don't know.
And then and then you, you, you get ready for the game.
(26:10):
Are you going to pitch? Who knows.
But when that about the 4th or 5th, 6th inning, when that phone
rings, you're like, that's the only stress of your whole day.
I'm all for that. Yeah, yeah.
They make the AT&T call it a bullpen.
That's what they call it on. I'm not affiliated with AT&T,
but if they want to sponsor this, that'd be great.
(26:32):
And yeah, yeah, and they should,but.
And so this may be a turning point to kind of talk a little
bit about your organization's toChris Hammond Youth Foundation.
Tell us a little bit about what you're doing through that.
I know that that you have placeswhere people can donate to that
foundation and just give us a little information about it,
where to find out more about that information.
When I moved to when I moved to Wadowi, Alabama, it was out in
(26:55):
the country. I grew up in a, in a in
Birmingham area and we, we had fields all over the place.
And when I moved, it moved to Wadowi, my, my son was 5 and
he's, we start, got him into theLittle League there and, and the
coaches like, hey, parents, how does anybody have a big yard
that we can practice in? And I'm thinking, are you
serious? And I, and they're like, no,
(27:16):
I'm, I'm really serious. This is the only field we have
and 15 teams share it. And I'm thinking, so that's what
got me and my wife started. I mean, we need to help this
community. And, and then I, then I, when I,
when I started the Chris HammondYouth Foundation, I mean, there
was, we had a big website, people were going, sending me
(27:37):
information. Hey, can you come and look at
our, at our, where we, our little town?
And I mean, it was, and that's why I go word of mouth
advertising is good because I don't know who needs help, but
just send me a, send me a Facebook or whatever.
And if you, you're, you're in the southern part of the United
(27:57):
States, my foundation can help you.
But our, our website's Chris Hammond, youthfoundation.com and
I mean, and you can donate our, our number one, number one goal
is to help our youth throughout the South.
If you're underprivileged or in a, in a rural area, get excited
about sports. And, and, and I just feel like,
(28:20):
man, if, if you're excited aboutsports, you're going to love
playing, playing this the, the sport that you, that you,
you're, you want to play. And, and you're going to learn a
lot of virtues and characteristics that, that, that
are vital to, to, to succeeding in life.
And and that's what I. Absolutely.
(28:41):
There's so many analogies with baseball in life.
And that's one of the many reasons why I think I've, I've
loved baseball so much over the years is because it's so
relatable. It's America's pastime.
Yeah. But there's just something cool
about it that that just kind of makes you think, huh, that
applies in real life too. So I'll put the link to your
foundation in the show notes. People can go there if if you're
(29:02):
in a, if you're in an area wherewhere hey, Chris's team can come
and take a look at that, help you out, spread the love of
baseball, help you with some of those fields and.
Different things. Basketball, back football,
whatever. I mean, whatever.
Any sport? Yeah, OK, Yeah, Gotcha.
Awesome. Well, thanks for the work you're
doing there. It's much needed.
And I'm from a little town called Rome, GA And we would
(29:24):
have our little All Star team and we would go to the East Cobb
league and we would get blown out about every game.
It's easy for the city guys. I'm just going to say that it's
easy for the city guys to have the resources that you need to
put together all of this stuff. I mean it it it's incredible.
But the rural areas have a much harder time and and appreciate
the work you're doing. Yeah, it it's rewarding.
(29:48):
Sure, well, I want to transitiona little bit to you're a man of
faith, you're a man of baseball.You're you're you're a man who
has a passion for sports, for kids, for youth.
But above all, it seems like you're a man of faith on the
back of one of your baseball cards.
And I absolutely love this you, you you give this story and it's
(30:12):
a story that I immediately foundmyself.
Amen, because it's the story that I've lived to and it's the
story of you. You say this phrase.
I used to live my Christian lifefrom the bull.
You lived your baseball life a lot of times from bullpen.
You know what that's like that analogy, man, that at home.
Can you talk a little bit about that, about you living your
(30:33):
Christian life for the bullpen kind of reaching the we talked
about the peaks of your career, the peaks of your life, you
know, kind of kind of living on the top, but then still
realizing something's missing. Can you, can you walk us through
that a little bit, Chris? Well, I feel like when I look at
my, my life as, as a whole in the journey that I've been
(30:55):
through, I mean, I mean, compared to baseball, I mean
life, whatever. And then I then I'll put my
faith journey on a pedestal and I'm thinking there's not much
there. And I and I go when I and I
love, I love using my, my journey as an example because
because not a lot of people wantto talk about their faith
(31:17):
journey and, and, and half my life.
If you ask me, tell me about your, your, your, your walk with
Christ, I'd go, what are you talking about?
Because when especially in America and, and I feel like
America has, has been misled in their teachings because there's
(31:37):
a church on every corner. And, and, and if this church
don't build their congregation, they're going to get a new
pastor. And, and to me, when you look at
A at a mega church and you go there, are you really being fed
or is it just kind of like an activity?
And they're, they're, they're throwing out scripture that that
(31:58):
makes you feel good about your walk with God, but it's not
enough that's going to get you motivated to take Jesus out on
the battlefield of your life. And I, I got to say that's where
that's where I feel like Americais right now because our
(32:19):
churches are full, but our Monday through Saturdays are
crisis. And then that's when I was when
I played for the New York Yankees.
One of my friends that we met, and that's a that's a different
story. We've met her on, we were in
Puerto Rico and we had three of my kids and we were like looking
for something to do. We didn't have a pool in our in
(32:41):
our little apartment complex. So we went out on the beach,
walked down the beach and went out and used the Embassy Suites
pool. And I think, and who would think
of that? So we everyday go up there and
start playing around and I'm throwing balls to my kids and
they're diving in the water and,and all of a sudden this one
(33:02):
little kid is standing over there by himself.
He starts to inching closer and closer and closer and, and I go,
You want to play? He goes, I'd love to.
And he starts. And then two hours later we stop
and his mom was down in Puerto Rico grieving over her brother
(33:23):
who died in the World Trade Center.
And they they lived in New Jersey and they were Yankee fans
or whatever. And that's when I was trying to
play with the Braves. And but her, his mom, when I
signed with the Yankees, we met for lunch and and she goes, have
you ever thought about doing a testimony card?
(33:45):
And I go stupid and I don't, I don't have the words to come up
with what I'm going to put on a,on a testimony card.
And she goes, let's have lunch. And we had, we, we had lunch for
about two hours. She had she, she asked me
questions. We talked about this, talked
about that. And she came up with, with the
back of my testimony card. And it, it's about pitching most
(34:07):
of your life from the bullpen and just being comfortable being
in the bullpen. And, and, and I go, I don't want
to be in the bullpen. I want to be in the game.
And, and, and there, and so manypeople are like, well, how do
you get in the game? And I go how I how I step from
being a churchgoer who, and I hate to say this, has been
(34:29):
brainwashed to think that just because I raised my hand and
accepted Christ and repeated a prayer that my I'm going to
heaven, I go. That's not how you that's not
how you stand before God and hear well done.
No, you want to learn how to getin the game for what?
For my, my, my life. I, I love, I love reading
(34:54):
Christian books. And this is in 2004.
We started the season when I was, when I was with the Oakland
A's. We were in Anaheim and I was in
a Christian bookstore looking for another Christian book.
And I, and I, I picked up this book.
Welcome Holy Spirit. I go man.
Welcome Holy Spirit. I go man.
I mean, I'm not going to read a book on the Holy Spirit.
(35:15):
I want a good book. I put and I kept.
Walking a good book. Yeah, I, I kept walking,
different aisle, different section, and I looked down.
Welcome Holy Spirit again. I go, I picked it up.
I go, man, are you kidding me? Look, I got the back and I'm
thinking, why not? And I bought it, had lunch, went
(35:35):
to the game, played the game, went back to my my hotel, turned
the lamp on and I started reading Welcome, Holy Spirit.
And I read the whole book and I was like, are you kidding me?
I know I've been in in church mywhole life and nobody's really
talked to me about the power of the Holy Spirit, the role of
(35:59):
spirit. And I was like, I was mad, turn
the lamp off and went to sleep. Went back to that to that, to
that bookstore. And I'm looking for me another
book on the Holy Spirit. And I found this book.
Good morning, Holy Spirit. Same thing.
Lunch. Went to the ballpark, played the
(36:20):
game back on the bus, couldn't wait to get up to my room, turn
that lamp on. And I started reading.
Good morning, Holy Spirit. And and when I finished that
book that night, 2 books, first two books I've ever read from
cover to cover. Yeah, tears coming down my face
because I'm thinking, my goodness, no wonder American
(36:41):
churchgoers, they're excited thethe worship Jesus from 8:00
until 9:30 and then when 930 is over, they they're drowning in
the world because they know the power of the Holy Spirit.
Like a car can't run without gasoline.
The Holy Spirit is our gasoline to to live a bold follower of
(37:07):
Jesus Christ life and then what what changed my life is and when
I when I read that book, good morning, Holy Spirit in that
book, it challenges you. I pray this prayer.
Good morning Holy Spirit, help me to focus my life on who Jesus
Christ really is. Help me to make him my walk, my
talk and my thoughts and the thing that that I want to
(37:29):
challenge. I want to challenge every you,
me, everybody that's listening when you when you ask the Holy
Spirit for help, he's not going to do the work.
He will help you, He will guide you and he will kick you, but
he's not it's your choice. We choose whether we want to go
to heaven or we want to go to hell.
(37:50):
God doesn't send anybody to hell.
We suit we by the by our choicesin in our in our life and, and
and but once I started that thatthroughout the relationship with
the Holy Spirit 10 days in afterplaying, praying that prayer, as
soon as I said good morning, Holy Spirit, help me, he says,
(38:12):
quit reading all these books andread the Bible.
And I'm thinking, oh man, I wantto read the Bible and and then
about two days later, when my when my bullpen catcher with
AIDS, he he was walking across the the clubhouse holding two
books and I started smiling and he goes, Hey, Chris John
(38:33):
Corson's. He's a pastor out in Los
Angeles. He sent me two commentaries on
the New Testament. You want one.
I'm thinking, go ahead and give it to him.
And I started and here here's myadvice.
Here's my here's here's the bestadvice I can give to anybody.
When you allow the Spirit of Godto help you apply the word of
(38:54):
God to your life and heart can'tlose The problem is not many
American churchgoers know anything about the role in the
relationship we're supposed to have with the Holy Spirit.
And so in turn, we have no hunger for the Bible.
The only the only message we we hear every every week is what
(39:15):
that what that pastor is tellingus.
And in the big picture, hopefully I'm wrong with a lot
of pastors, but but I don't think I am, that pastor is
giving us a watered down versionof the gospel.
Yeah. It's called the American Gospel.
And you're, you're right on. Well, Chris, brother, man, we
have been to church and I'm picking up what you're putting
(39:37):
down, man. I so in my pastoral role right
now, I'm a, I'm a young adult pastor.
So it's the 18 to 30th age, which is where a lot of people,
their faith really becomes real during that period of time.
That was the case for me. And you're, you're so right for
a lot of us, we're, we're raisedto believe in it.
And I think it's probably just atrick of the devil because the
devil doesn't doesn't want to keep us from, yeah, he don't
(39:59):
want to keep us from raising ourhand and walking the aisle and
repeating a prayer. He wants to keep us from living
it out in their daily lives. And so, you know, I had, I had
done that when I was young. I was saved when I was, you
know, seven years old. But for a large part of my adult
life, Christianity was just going to church.
I went to church. I left church and I live like
(40:20):
the world the rest of the time. And you know, it wasn't until I
graduated pharmacy school. That I began to realize the same
thing. OK, yeah, I'm I'm living my
faith from the I wouldn't say bullpen and I'd say the sideline
because Christianity would, you know, there was no relationship
there. There was no relationship with
the Holy Spirit. Francis Chan's written a good
(40:42):
book on this, Like Him or Not, but called Forgotten God, and he
talks about the fact that we we forgotten about the Holy Spirit.
Without the Holy Spirit's power,we can't live that authentic
Christian life. But if we're believers, then the
Holy Spirit resides in us and our hearts.
And Scripture tells us that the same power that raised Jesus
from the dead lives in us as theHoly Spirit.
(41:04):
So think about the potential there that's within us through
the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, Scripture also tells us
that through the Spirit we've been given everything we need
for a godly life. But so many times we we say, oh,
well, you know, I'm human. I can't help it.
And yeah, we're human. We're not going to be perfect,
but that's no excuse to just keep living in sin.
And and so I love that. And that's when that's when we
(41:26):
need that's the importance of reading the Bible.
And it's talked about. I'm in, I'm in second Peter, in
first and second Peter and really first and second Timothy.
And I mean, it challenges you tolook at yourself in the mirror
and to see where where Jesus ranks in your life.
I mean, I mean living and then the revelation is talks about
when you live a lukewarm Christian life, God don't see
(41:49):
you as a Christian anymore. I mean.
Yeah, he vomits this out of his mouth.
Life or he's not. And the Holy Spirit is a
gentleman. He's going to walk, he's going
to encourage you, but he ain't going to do the work.
But I mean. Force himself on you.
Yeah. I mean, that's a, that's a,
That's a message in itself. It is, I mean, if you say yes to
(42:11):
the Holy Spirit of God, and if you say yes to making look God
Lord of your life, that changes everything.
It's been the case in your life.It's been the case in my life.
And there was a moment where where I realized too, that the
only scripture that I'd really ever read was the scripture that
the preacher preached. I had a Bible, but I never read
it and I was a lot like you, youknow, I, I want a good book.
I don't want the Bible and I because it to me it was hard to
(42:34):
understand. Yeah, and another, another
important, another important message for, for the, I mean,
the, the new believer or the, ORthe old Christian or the
whoever. When Jesus says before you,
before you start, you better count the cost If you don't want
(42:55):
to be that person who starts andcan't finish.
Because one of the very first verses that God showed me when I
was reading the Bible in Matthewmake 2413 where Jesus says for
the one who endures to the end will be saved.
And I'm thinking what I go, I get it.
(43:15):
It's a process. It's not an accomplishment like
today's churches want to make it.
Once you raise your hand and andyou, you accept Christ, you're,
you're, you're good. I'm thinking you're done, yeah.
I got what's the what's the what's the what's the where's
the power of the Holy Spirit? Where is the importance of of
using the Bible as a weapon to fight off Satan?
(43:37):
I mean if the. Process, endure to the end and
finish the race. That's what the.
Importance of reading the Bible for yourself.
That's right. Don't rely on someone else's
interpretation to be your your, you know, your expectation of of
the Christian life. And you're so right.
Yeah, yeah. And salvation, that's the
(44:00):
starting place. That's not that's not the end.
That's not the finish line. And so if you hear anything,
here is. Yeah, here, well done.
Is definitive. There you go.
And and you know, it's, it's so important, I think that we
understand what that Christian life looks like.
And we say that with no judgment, no condemnation.
That's not what we're here for. We're here to encourage you.
(44:22):
We're here to encourage you to, to take that step of welcoming
God as Lord of your life and, and plugging into that power to
Holy Spirit. I love the analogy.
Your car runs on gas. It can't run without it.
We can't live that Christian life alone.
We need the help of the Holy Spirit, but we've got to start
it and we've got it. We've got to do our part.
He will help us. And, and I love every bit of
(44:44):
that because the victory that I've experienced spiritually in
my life has only come through surrender to God so many times.
We want to control our circumstances, our situation.
We want to control our life and just that and expect God to just
bless it. But we don't learn what that's
like to surrender, do we? Right.
And another, another passage that I mean, every one of us
(45:07):
needs to, to grasp, especially living in America is Luke 923.
And I think it might be 226 where it talks about where,
where Jesus says, if anyone of any of you want to be my
follower, you must die to your selfish ways.
Pick up your cross daily and follow me.
And then it talks about if I mean, if you, if you live, I
(45:30):
mean, without dying, you're going to lose.
But if you die to live and for me, you're going to save your
soul. And then the hardest thing that
people don't want to let go of is to dime to sell.
Dime. To dime to dime to to to pick up
(45:52):
this cell phone every day and and and look at it worship it
can't even leave the house. You leave the house.
We're we're going to church a few years ago when my when my
son was about 7. He goes dad turn around.
I don't what? Forgot my cell phone.
I go, are you serious? I'm going to turn around to get
your cell phone. He goes, yeah, I go, well, you
(46:15):
didn't say anything about you left your Bible.
And he's like, I go. But that's, that's where we're
at today. I mean, the, the, what's killing
American churches is when you walk into a church, if, if you
had no idea what church is all about, you walk in there, 90%
(46:35):
of, of the churchgoers are sitting there looking at their
phone. Yeah.
And, and, and, and, and, and when you look at the Bible, when
it says if you love anything in this world more than you do
Jesus Christ, you're not going to be allowed into heaven.
And that's that's. That's.
Going to be a tragedy and I always kid around.
(46:56):
I go. If God raptured His church right
now, nobody would even recognizethat somebody was.
That's good. That's good.
I like that. And it's a sad and it's a
sobering truth. It is.
There's a, there's a big. Deal looks like me and you we're
we're followers of Jesus. I mean, we got to we have to
live as a disciple ready to die because I'm I'm going to tell
(47:21):
you what you don't want to hear.And it's then it's up to you to
allow God to move in your heart to, to, to use your look in the
mirror of your life and to ask yourself, where does Jesus
Christ really rank in it? In my Monday through Saturdays.
And, and if you're, if you're truthful with yourself, you're
going to go man. And, and, and another
(47:41):
encouragement. Hey, I want to walk besides
whoever needs help. I mean, we, we, the more people
you have walking with you, the stronger you're going to be.
So I mean, I'm on Facebook everymorning doing my Bible study.
It's a challenge I mean, and I'mthe first person to press the
like button because I needed thesame same words that you're
going y'all going to read I'll look me up and I want to walk
(48:03):
beside you I'll. Put a link to your profile in
the show notes. Chris and I want to encourage
you. Yet we're not made to do this
life alone. No, we're made to do life
together and and to be able to walk together and to be able to
learn together and to grow together.
The Bible tells us as iron sharpens iron, so one man
sharpens another. So, so man, I'd encourage you to
to link up with Chris, link up with me.
(48:23):
We would love to, to come alongside you.
But here's the thing that we're saying.
There's a big difference in going to church and being a
disciple of Jesus. And I want to encourage each and
everyone of you to lean into that, to ask the Holy Spirit,
what does that mean in my life? Am I just going to church or am
I truly a disciple of Jesus? Is He first in my life or is He
(48:44):
just a small part of it? He wants to be your everything.
He wants to be your all. And I can promise you anything
you lose because of that, it will more than make up for it
because of the blessings, the spiritual blessings of having
Christ as your Lord. And there is never a day where I
look back and say, Oh, man, I wish I could go back.
No, not on your life. But Chris, man, you are an
(49:04):
encouragement. You're on fire.
I feel like I'm, I'm ready to goout and preach now.
You've been, you've been, you'vebeen so kind to share this time
with us and our listeners. But man, thank you so much for
being here. Thank you for the life you're
living today. You are an encouragement and,
and you are important in this world.
We need to hear your voice. And I'm so loved that the Holy
(49:25):
Spirit has given you the platform you have and the gift
that you have of being able to speak the truth.
So thank you, Chris, brother, it's been a blessing.
And I hope you have a blessed day, a fantastic day.
Blessings to both you and your family as well.
Thank you so much. Thank you for listening to the
Rev RX Podcast. We hope you enjoyed what you
heard today and if so, we'd loveit if you would hit that
(49:46):
subscribe button so that you'll never miss a new episode from
us. Also, feel free to leave us
reviews and comments as we'd love to hear from you.
Be blessed and be the very best you.
Hello friends, and welcome back to the Rev RX Podcast where we
show you how to thrive in faith,family, and health.
My name is Chad Potts and I'm your host.
Today's guest is one that I am pumped about.
This was one of my favorite interviews.
I wish it could have gone on forhours and hours, but my guest
today is former Major League pitcher Chris Hammond.
For my fellow Braves fans out there, you'll remember his
(00:33):
incredible 2002 season where he pitched to a 0.95 ERA, a season
for the record books. But as much as baseball defined
Chris Hammond's career, it's hisfaith that defines his life.
Today, Chris shares with us whathe calls faith from the bullpen.
You see, for years he lived his walk with God the same way that
(00:53):
he pitched. Comfortable waiting, hanging
back. But then the Holy Spirit got a
hold of his life, and it lit a fire that changed everything.
This episode is a challenge to all of us.
Stop warming the bench. Stop living faith from the
bullpen. It's time to get in the game
with Jesus. Let's dive in and introduce you
(01:14):
to my new friend Chris Hammond. Chris Hammond, brother, what a
privilege it is to have you hereon the Rev RX podcast.
Man, I have followed your baseball career for years.
You are retired now. You're doing the Lord's work.
But man, what a, what an honor. Thanks for being here man.
(01:35):
Good to be here. Good.
Glad to be in the position that you'd invite me to be on this on
this show. Yeah, well, we've become friends
on Facebook and I've I've loved a lot of the content you're
putting out there. You're not scared to talk about
faith. And I want to talk about that
today. But before we get there now, I'd
love to hear a little bit about you.
I know about you from the baseball side, but I'd love to
(01:56):
hear a little bit about you, kind of where you come from and
help us to get to know you a little better.
Well, I was born in Atlanta. My dad got transferred to
Birmingham. He was a a group insurance
salesman, moved to Birmingham, grew up in Vestavia, really my
whole life. And that's where I, I began my
baseball career, playing T-ball at four years old.
(02:19):
And I just just having a ball playing baseball.
I mean basketball, I I didn't play a lot of organized football
and just because man, I didn't want to get hurt for for
baseball and basketball. And that's what I that's my
message for all parents. I'm thinking stay away from
football. I mean it, it'll it's a great,
great 5 to 10 years. The the, the the years after
(02:42):
that are horrific. I mean, I and I use all my
friends exam. I go where'd you how'd you get
that score on your knee? And they're like football and I
I go. Do you see why we're not going
to play football to my to MY22 boys?
But but I grew up in in Birmingham, went to UAB one
year, didn't make my grades at UAB, went down to Gulf Coast
Community College in Panama City.
(03:03):
And as you know, if I didn't get, if I didn't make my grades
at UAB, I'm definitely ain't going to make my grades at
Panama City. So that's right.
I was, I had, I threw all my marbles into to playing baseball
and, and, and, and the rest is, is, is, is history.
And, and I got to play for a lotof big league teams.
(03:24):
And, and, and fortunately, God bless me with making enough
money that I mean, I don't have to have a, a job to go into the
office. I can just kind of like work on
my own. I have, I work for a little
health and Wellness company. It's online, all natural.
Phil Knight, the guy who startedNike, is one of the biggest
(03:45):
investors and that's the only reason I even started it.
I mean, David gave it a shot and, and, and I'm right here
feeling great, loving the Lord, being a a disciple of, of Christ
and, and now I'm on your show. Man, this is the peak right
here. The you have, you have peaked at
(04:05):
this moment. But yeah, yeah, Georgia boy by
birth. So appreciate that.
And you were drafted in the in the sixth round, I believe,
right by the by the Reds, 1986. And I won't tell you how old I
was. I won't date you, but I was I
was probably still crying and and not walking yet, but but you
(04:28):
you started off with the Reds. You had a you had a few seasons
with the Reds. I want to talk baseball just a
minute because I don't get to pick a lot of people's brains
and I'm I'm a big baseball fan. I've always loved it and big
brace fan these days. And man, you, you have one of
the one of the one of my favorite relief pitching
seasons. You know, you like baseball when
you can appreciate a good reliefpitcher and, and we'll talk
(04:51):
about kind of what goes into that in just a second.
I mean, that 2002 season with myBraves was one for the one for
the record books. And I want to go back a little
bit because when you left Cincinnati, you went to the
Marlins and you were on their inaugural team, right?
Oh yeah, yeah. So what was that like playing
for this expansion team? Yeah.
(05:11):
Well, it, it was, I mean, I had mixed emotions because I mean,
you're playing for a team that drafted you and you finally make
it to the major leagues and you're there for two years and
then during spring training theytrade you to another team.
Now you're like, it's kind of like a defeat, not like a, a
move to another team or whatever.
(05:33):
I was just like, I mean, what did I do wrong?
And but, but, but playing for a expansion team, it was it was
really a blessing because the Marlins, they were like put
together A-Team to build. And it gave me an opportunity
because, man, I was like, I mean, I was one of their second
(05:56):
or third string pitchers as a starter.
And I lost my first two games. And I'm thinking, man, and I and
my pitching coach came in and hegoes, hey, we know you can
pitch, get out there and do it. I won 88 games in a row, Pitcher
of the month. And and that right there was an
opportunity to to kind of like look at myself in the mirror,
(06:19):
go, I belong here. Yeah.
And, and I just, I just, I neverlooked back and I didn't, I
wasn't looking to see he was trying to take my spot.
I mean, nobody's going to take my spot, so.
That's important, feeling like you belong.
And you know, when you think about it, to you it being in the
NL East rooting for my Braves, man, that was I hated to see you
(06:42):
coming. You know, you would get hot and
and here comes Chris Hammond. And then finally, you know, and
I, and I want to talk about this.
You you took a couple seasons off if I remember right.
You had was it shoulder issues? No, it had.
It was just a mixture of Boston really screwed me over with my
(07:03):
contract and the way they treated me and and then my my
wife went into labor at six months.
So she was on bed rest there. I'm I had then I had AI mean a
bone spur on the on tip my elbow, which was giving me some
discomfort. And then right in the middle of
the season, I just go, Hey, I'm going to have surgery on my
(07:25):
elbow because they you, you screwed me over.
You've you've, you've, you've taken away my love baseball.
I'm just going to quit this season and and see what's
what's, what, what's going to goon for next season.
And then just things wasn't going as planned.
So I just retired and and it wasn't any injury or I just lost
(07:47):
the love of baseball. So we went, we went back to our
little country property in in Wadowley, Alabama.
We had a Big Lake kids, we all three kids out there fishing
every morning and with dad and, and I'm thinking this is this is
it. And then two years later, my
wife's like, what do you, what do you want to do as a job?
(08:09):
And I'm thinking, hang on, what do you want to do?
You want to open up a restaurantor whatever?
And we're talking to our, our guy that's helping with our
financial stuff and he's like, are you kidding me?
You want to open up a restaurant?
What's wrong with Chris's arm? I mean, there's not a better way
to make money than pitching in the major leagues.
And then, then, then my wife says, I'm kind of disappointed
(08:33):
our kids never saw you play. I go, I'm 33 years old.
I'm left-handed, somebody will sign me.
And then and I got started getting more back in shape.
I had all my friends out there in the country that that played
baseball in high school. I go, can you catch me?
And they're like, heck no, I can't catch it.
And I go, you can catch, can't you?
He goes and he goes, I feel like, yeah, I can catch.
(08:56):
They get down there and I go just put your on your your glove
up and don't move it. And out ball is like he goes,
holy moly, You're you were serious.
I go, yeah, I'm, I'm a big league pitcher.
So I got my arm in shape, went back and and I didn't care if I
played in the major leagues or not.
(09:17):
I cared that my kids were in thebullpen sitting there watching
dad pitch in the stands, coming in the clubhouse and I and, and,
and that's the reason I had no stress in my life once I got on
that mound. I don't care if I gave up a home
run. My kids are watching me.
And that's that's the reason I had the results I did.
(09:39):
It's my second stand in in in playing in the major leagues.
Yeah, not a lot of people retiretwice from the major leagues and
you did that and you had a lot of success with you came back
and and that 2022 season was your first full season back with
the Braves. And and man, that was one where
you were just lights out and youwere all season lights out.
For those of you who may not follow this and may not be as
(10:00):
big of a Braves fan as I am, he had an ERA under one for the
season and that's almost unheardof.
Can you walk us through a littlebit about, you know, you
mentioned that it's just there was no pressure.
How much did that play into you just coming in game after game
after game and just is to be in at your best?
Well, the only pressure that I had is when I first started the
(10:21):
season, I mean, Bobby's like, hey, you, we're going to give
you a shot. And I'm thinking that's all I
need. And and I went to to the season
going, hey, this is my shot. Get back in the major leagues
and and at the very first serieswe're playing the Mets and I
gave up a three run Homer. I'm thinking, no, I'm the last,
(10:46):
I'm I'm the last guy on the on the pitching staff because I
haven't pitched in the big leagues in three years.
And I was driving back home to Wadowi and I go, I'm going to
pitch every game like this goingto be my last.
And I pitched 75 innings and gave up five runs the rest of
the season. I went from the last game, last
person in the bullpen to pitch in the probably extra innings
(11:10):
and and then and then they movedme to the 6th inning and then
they pitched the 7th and then they finished the year pitching
the every 8th inning, setting upsmokes in the bullpen.
Yep, Humbly. Yeah, man, lots of hold.
Did they have holds as a stat back then?
We call that, we call that a hold before the save.
Yeah, yeah. And So what was it like to play
(11:33):
for Bobby Cox? And then did you, did you have
Leo Mazzoni as your pitching coach stander?
Yeah, yeah. What was that like?
Well, it it playing for Bobby Cox.
It was probably the the biggest,I know blessing just because, I
mean, I mean, he treated everybody like you.
They were we were his son. Nobody was better than the
(11:55):
other. I mean, me, Glavine, Smalls and
Maddox all walk into his his office.
We're all on the same page. And I mean, and that's what made
it so special. And, and in the year I had when,
when everybody's like, well, howwas it playing for Leo Mazzoni?
And I go, I had a .95 BRAI mean,what I didn't I get other than
(12:18):
the first, first inning of the of the season that I pitched,
yeah, I didn't give them a reason to go.
What's wrong? Yeah, they love you.
Yeah, yeah. And and it it got to the point
where after the game, all the team actually won.
We go into the to the locker room and everybody's in the line
(12:39):
and Smoltz would come up good job to all the all the relievers
and he'd and he'd get to me. He's like, this is ridiculous.
And he he wouldn't even get giveme a high five.
He goes, this is ridiculous. I mean, I gave him no run.
Yeah. And that's so hard to do,
especially over over that many innings, yeah.
Yeah, I couldn't have picked a better team to do it with.
(13:02):
Yeah, well, and, and, and you'rehere today because of that.
And remember, remember, this is your peak.
It's all come to this moment. So So what a what a cool thing
that was to be able to come backfrom retirement, have that crazy
season that people dream of, andthen you turn that into a pretty
good deal. You left Atlanta, went to was it
New York? Is that the did you go to the
(13:23):
Yankees right after that? Yeah.
And he played for a few more teams too.
So a little bit too about playing in all these different
cities, you've got to experience, you know, a lot of
the US from that, from that standpoint, what was the best
part about that and what would you think would be maybe the
most challenging part that that you dealt with?
(13:43):
Well, I mean, best, best part of, of being in the, in the
major leagues. I mean, where do you go?
I mean, you're treated like, like royalty.
And unless you're playing with the Yankees and you go to
Boston, then you're then you're it's a war even when you go.
To. Their restaurant and it's like,
(14:05):
I mean, they don't like the Oregon Yankee anybody, but but I
tell. Them like.
I played for the Red Sox in 97 and they're like be serious and
they kind of like broke the ice.But but, but that's the benefit
of like stepping back and looking at my career.
I mean, I played for 9 organizations and seven big
(14:28):
league teams. Now I can pick up my phone and
go, hey, me and my family were coming out to, to, to watch the
Oakland game. Yeah, yeah.
What, what days? Yeah, we'll give you tickets.
And I'm thinking that's cool andthat's so awesome.
But, but the, the bad part aboutit in, in a sense, and I mean
(14:52):
nothing against the female race,but every, everywhere you go,
there's temptations. And if you're not, you're not
serious in, in, in your walk with Christ.
I mean, it's like as soon as youstart looking over your
shoulder, you're in trouble. So, so that's, that's the bad
part about pitching in the majorleagues because I've seen it way
(15:18):
too many times. And I then I want to admit that
there's girls out there that want a free ride.
Yeah, yeah. And then, and if you're, if
you're not careful, they're going to, you're going to be
part of their free ride. So that's, that's my advice to a
lot of like younger, older, whoever guys that are pitching
(15:39):
the major leagues or I mean, working for some tycoon, that's
you're making a lot of money. I mean, your money is, is
people, they they want some of that money.
It's a target, yeah, Yeah, I don't have that problem, but I
hear that it's a target. Well, you you're glad you don't
have that problem. That's right.
(15:59):
But you're right, you know, you're on the road a lot.
You know, there there's people that you have status, you have
money and and people want to be a part of that.
And it's a sobering reminder that you know that with success
comes a lot of responsibility, but it a lot of, you know, a lot
of discipline, I imagine and. Oh yeah.
And so I appreciate you being honest about that and sharing
(16:19):
that because, yeah, that's something that maybe people in
different areas of life strugglewith and that's not something
you guys are immune to by any stretch whatsoever.
And so thinking about there's, there's two more questions I
want to ask you about baseball because I, I love it.
And, and I want to get where we're going.
But, but man, I'm just, I'm, I'mloving this opportunity.
Just kind of pick your brain. So you you pitched on the team
(16:40):
that had, you know, the, the, the Glavin, the Maddox smolt
coming in behind some of those legends and kind of preserving
their leads. Was there pressure there?
Because, yeah, you were that seven, you were that late inning
reliever. And that's not somewhere they
put you by accident. A lot of there's a lot of
(17:00):
pressure responsibility that comes with that end of the game
because you're called on and you're, you're called on to be
nearly perfect, which you you happen to be.
But what what's the kind of the pressure behind that of, you
know, hey man, I might blow a game for some of these legends.
Did that go through your mind atall?
It, it did, it did a lot. And then to make to me the, the,
(17:21):
the catalyst of our bullpen. And we always talked about that,
like when we first started the season where I mean, we, I mean
Gladden and Maddox, they're they're coming up on their 300th
went and then and they could getit this year that we're pitching
there and then we can be part ofthat.
And and, and, but the, the, the,the more we came together and
(17:44):
just bonded and became a steam rolling bullpen and, and, and,
and it just happened. And the big one of my biggest, I
don't know, Pats on the back forour bullpen is when Glavin and
Maddox both were interviewed andasked a question.
(18:06):
Why are y'all only going 5 innings?
And then they're like, because when you look back at your
career, you went 9 innings, you went 8 innings, I mean barely 7
innings inning. You want to pitch the whole
game. And both of them said with a
bullpen we have, we don't have to do that.
(18:27):
We, we, we're, we're confident. I can pitch 5 innings.
I might pitch 6 innings, I mightpitch 7.
But but if Bobby goes, hey, you're out.
And I'm thinking I'm not mad anymore because of the bullpen
we have. I'm thinking I got chill mumps
right now. I got chill mumps 25 years later
right now just thinking about them saying that about us as a
(18:52):
as a bullpen and that's how goodwe were.
That's so incredible. And and that's you're right,
it's a pat on the back. It's a vote of confidence.
And I'm sure that kind of helps you gel a little more as a
bullpen as you go. Man, what an incredible year.
What an incredible story. But they want to go back a
little bit though. One last thing about that
bullpen at the end, at the last in last week of the season, I
(19:13):
don't know what magazine or whatever they did, they did
article on our bullpen and they took our picture of like this
could be one of the greatest bullpens of all time.
I'm thinking and and you're like, are you serious?
And then, but I look back at what we did, I'm thinking, I
mean, that's absolutely right. Legitimately, yeah, absolutely
(19:37):
love it. Let's go back to post Boston,
your first retirement, you mentioned you lost the love for
baseball. And I 100% resonate with that.
I don't tell, I don't tell the story a lot.
This isn't about me, but it's something I think a lot of us.
And you have a youth or youth foundation, We'll talk about
that. But me as a youth growing up, I
love baseball. I ate, slept, ate, slept and
(19:59):
drank. And George is coming out,
whatever that looks like, baseball and.
Loved every moment of it. But here's the thing, I played
for a coach my junior year in high school on my varsity team.
We were not good. We were not a good team.
But I played for a coach and there's there's a different
mindset and you've done both, Chris, you've started pitching
(20:20):
and you've been a relief pitcherand you had success in both of
those areas. I came in in relief one game and
bases were loaded one out. I threw one pitch, got a ground
ball double play out of the end and shut them down the rest of
the time, you know, and, and I wasn't throwing 95 anything like
that. But I did like, I had movement.
I, I loved playing baseball. And we had a meeting after that
(20:43):
game and, and he told it, you know, we got 1 gamer on this
team. Somebody wants to be in there in
hard times. He, he embraces it, he loves it.
And that's Chad. And from now on, he's going to
be our number one starting pitcher.
He's going to be our ace. And I'm like, man, I have
arrived. This is great.
The moment I've waited for it. And then I, I pitched a few
games as the #1A starting pitcher did OK, but I, I looked
(21:05):
back and I'm like, you know, I really, there's, there's a
mindset that's different about areliever and a starter.
And I really, I, I tend to overanalyze.
I tend to overthink. And so if I knew I was going to
pitch that day, man, I would just be all in my head.
And and I was a junior in high school and I don't, you know, I
didn't know how to necessarily verbalize all that, but I knew
as a reliever, like you didn't know until about 10 minutes
(21:27):
before it's time to pitch, you were going to pitch.
Just go get loose and you'll I'mgoing to put you in.
And I thrived in those opportunities.
That's when I had my most success.
And so I told my coach, OK, coach, I, I feel like in order
to best help the team, in order for me to be my best, maybe I
can go back to being a relief pitcher.
I can come in after your startercomes out, that kind of thing.
He didn't take Will to that. He kind of laughed at me and
(21:51):
he's like, all right, you want to be a relief pitcher.
You can be a relief pitcher. And you know, Chris, here's the
thing. That was about 1/3 of the way
through the season. I didn't pitch again the rest of
the season, did not pitch once. And I, and I guess, you know, in
a way, maybe I was a young kid and I was challenging his
authority or whatever the case may be.
(22:12):
But what that did was it made melose my, my passion for baseball
at a very pivotal time in my life.
I, I actually got on a travel ball team.
You're, you may be familiar withthe East Cobb travel ball team,
travel ball league. Actually, Charlie Culberson
played with the Braves. His dad, Charles was my coach.
And he reinstated that love for me because I, I quit varsity and
(22:34):
I didn't play varsity in my senior year.
I played for, for Charles Culberson's baseball team and he
reinstated that love for me. But I want to go back to that
moment because you had a moment and I had a moment both where we
loved the game of baseball, but because of something that
happened that was outside of ourcontrol, because of the way
people handled our situations, we lost that love for a period
(22:55):
of time. How important is it that our
youth coaches out there? And and granted, there's a ton
of awesome youth coaches out there, but all of them, almost
all of them volunteer. But how careful do we have to be
to to not to not really kind of squash that love of baseball and
some of these young kids growingup?
(23:16):
Yeah, you get, I mean this that is that's that's a great, great
story to to have in this in thispodcast.
But that's why I love being being that guy in the shadows.
I don't want to be I don't want to be the coach.
I don't want to be any part of the team, but I want to have
hey, Chris, I got a guy that anychance you can have lunch with
(23:38):
him? I mean, I want to be in the
shadows to to build him up to prepare him because baseball, I
mean, if, if, if players live ontheir success or or their
failures, I mean, you fail so many more times than you, you're
going to you're going to, I meansucceed and you're going to keep
(24:00):
jump off the dugout onto your head.
I mean it, it's hard. I mean, there's.
There's. There's parents on the other
team yelling at shit. I mean, I mean, I mean, there's
not many other sports that you can hear people yelling.
I mean it and it's, it's horrific.
But I mean, I mean, that's why Ialways say, and that's why I
(24:21):
love my, I mean, what, what my foundation does is help helps
kids get excited about sports. Because I feel like if a, if a
kids can play sports through high school, they can learn how
to get knocked down and get backup and I wouldn't be there for
them. I want to, I want my foundation
to be there and go, hey, coach, if you ever need my help, just
(24:43):
call me. I'm, I'm going to run over
there. I'll, I'll, I'll help your team.
I'll speak to your team. I'll speak life into your team.
And, and that's what I love doing.
But but to be you got to have that, that mentor, whether it's
part of your team or or, or or on your, on your, on your
phone's call list, that you got to have that 911 call that Hey,
(25:08):
hey, Chris, I need your help. And that's what I love being
doing because I, I lived throughit.
I got up, I, I walked away from baseball.
Not that I, that I couldn't do it.
I just, I walked the love of that.
I mean, I was through with, I played seven years in the major
leagues. I played, I'm making good money
and I wanted, I want to know what my next chapter is.
(25:28):
And then and then when I went back, it wasn't about baseball.
It was about my family. And, and, and I loved, I loved
your, your, your analogy of being in the bullpen because I,
I tell people I go, if I, if I had to do it over again and, and
start my career, I'm jumping right in the mineral leaf.
(25:48):
And then I could pick 20 years in the major leagues.
Nobody know who you are. And, and like you ever get like
think about when you're going topitch or whatever.
I go, heck no. Because you, when you're in the
bullpen, you wake up in the morning and somebody goes, me,
you going to pitch, stay. I, I go, I don't know.
And then and then you, you, you get ready for the game.
(26:10):
Are you going to pitch? Who knows.
But when that about the 4th or 5th, 6th inning, when that phone
rings, you're like, that's the only stress of your whole day.
I'm all for that. Yeah, yeah.
They make the AT&T call it a bullpen.
That's what they call it on. I'm not affiliated with AT&T,
but if they want to sponsor this, that'd be great.
(26:32):
And yeah, yeah, and they should,but.
And so this may be a turning point to kind of talk a little
bit about your organization's toChris Hammond Youth Foundation.
Tell us a little bit about what you're doing through that.
I know that that you have placeswhere people can donate to that
foundation and just give us a little information about it,
where to find out more about that information.
When I moved to when I moved to Wadowi, Alabama, it was out in
(26:55):
the country. I grew up in a, in a in
Birmingham area and we, we had fields all over the place.
And when I moved, it moved to Wadowi, my, my son was 5 and
he's, we start, got him into theLittle League there and, and the
coaches like, hey, parents, how does anybody have a big yard
that we can practice in? And I'm thinking, are you
serious? And I, and they're like, no,
(27:16):
I'm, I'm really serious. This is the only field we have
and 15 teams share it. And I'm thinking, so that's what
got me and my wife started. I mean, we need to help this
community. And, and then I, then I, when I,
when I started the Chris HammondYouth Foundation, I mean, there
was, we had a big website, people were going, sending me
(27:37):
information. Hey, can you come and look at
our, at our, where we, our little town?
And I mean, it was, and that's why I go word of mouth
advertising is good because I don't know who needs help, but
just send me a, send me a Facebook or whatever.
And if you, you're, you're in the southern part of the United
(27:57):
States, my foundation can help you.
But our, our website's Chris Hammond, youthfoundation.com and
I mean, and you can donate our, our number one, number one goal
is to help our youth throughout the South.
If you're underprivileged or in a, in a rural area, get excited
about sports. And, and, and I just feel like,
(28:20):
man, if, if you're excited aboutsports, you're going to love
playing, playing this the, the sport that you, that you,
you're, you want to play. And, and you're going to learn a
lot of virtues and characteristics that, that, that
are vital to, to, to succeeding in life.
And and that's what I. Absolutely.
(28:41):
There's so many analogies with baseball in life.
And that's one of the many reasons why I think I've, I've
loved baseball so much over the years is because it's so
relatable. It's America's pastime.
Yeah. But there's just something cool
about it that that just kind of makes you think, huh, that
applies in real life too. So I'll put the link to your
foundation in the show notes. People can go there if if you're
(29:02):
in a, if you're in an area wherewhere hey, Chris's team can come
and take a look at that, help you out, spread the love of
baseball, help you with some of those fields and.
Different things. Basketball, back football,
whatever. I mean, whatever.
Any sport? Yeah, OK, Yeah, Gotcha.
Awesome. Well, thanks for the work you're
doing there. It's much needed.
And I'm from a little town called Rome, GA And we would
(29:24):
have our little All Star team and we would go to the East Cobb
league and we would get blown out about every game.
It's easy for the city guys. I'm just going to say that it's
easy for the city guys to have the resources that you need to
put together all of this stuff. I mean it it it's incredible.
But the rural areas have a much harder time and and appreciate
the work you're doing. Yeah, it it's rewarding.
(29:48):
Sure, well, I want to transitiona little bit to you're a man of
faith, you're a man of baseball.You're you're you're a man who
has a passion for sports, for kids, for youth.
But above all, it seems like you're a man of faith on the
back of one of your baseball cards.
And I absolutely love this you, you you give this story and it's
(30:12):
a story that I immediately foundmyself.
Amen, because it's the story that I've lived to and it's the
story of you. You say this phrase.
I used to live my Christian lifefrom the bull.
You lived your baseball life a lot of times from bullpen.
You know what that's like that analogy, man, that at home.
Can you talk a little bit about that, about you living your
(30:33):
Christian life for the bullpen kind of reaching the we talked
about the peaks of your career, the peaks of your life, you
know, kind of kind of living on the top, but then still
realizing something's missing. Can you, can you walk us through
that a little bit, Chris? Well, I feel like when I look at
my, my life as, as a whole in the journey that I've been
(30:55):
through, I mean, I mean, compared to baseball, I mean
life, whatever. And then I then I'll put my
faith journey on a pedestal and I'm thinking there's not much
there. And I and I go when I and I
love, I love using my, my journey as an example because
because not a lot of people wantto talk about their faith
(31:17):
journey and, and, and half my life.
If you ask me, tell me about your, your, your, your walk with
Christ, I'd go, what are you talking about?
Because when especially in America and, and I feel like
America has, has been misled in their teachings because there's
(31:37):
a church on every corner. And, and, and if this church
don't build their congregation, they're going to get a new
pastor. And, and to me, when you look at
A at a mega church and you go there, are you really being fed
or is it just kind of like an activity?
And they're, they're, they're throwing out scripture that that
(31:58):
makes you feel good about your walk with God, but it's not
enough that's going to get you motivated to take Jesus out on
the battlefield of your life. And I, I got to say that's where
that's where I feel like Americais right now because our
(32:19):
churches are full, but our Monday through Saturdays are
crisis. And then that's when I was when
I played for the New York Yankees.
One of my friends that we met, and that's a that's a different
story. We've met her on, we were in
Puerto Rico and we had three of my kids and we were like looking
for something to do. We didn't have a pool in our in
(32:41):
our little apartment complex. So we went out on the beach,
walked down the beach and went out and used the Embassy Suites
pool. And I think, and who would think
of that? So we everyday go up there and
start playing around and I'm throwing balls to my kids and
they're diving in the water and,and all of a sudden this one
(33:02):
little kid is standing over there by himself.
He starts to inching closer and closer and closer and, and I go,
You want to play? He goes, I'd love to.
And he starts. And then two hours later we stop
and his mom was down in Puerto Rico grieving over her brother
(33:23):
who died in the World Trade Center.
And they they lived in New Jersey and they were Yankee fans
or whatever. And that's when I was trying to
play with the Braves. And but her, his mom, when I
signed with the Yankees, we met for lunch and and she goes, have
you ever thought about doing a testimony card?
(33:45):
And I go stupid and I don't, I don't have the words to come up
with what I'm going to put on a,on a testimony card.
And she goes, let's have lunch. And we had, we, we had lunch for
about two hours. She had she, she asked me
questions. We talked about this, talked
about that. And she came up with, with the
back of my testimony card. And it, it's about pitching most
(34:07):
of your life from the bullpen and just being comfortable being
in the bullpen. And, and, and I go, I don't want
to be in the bullpen. I want to be in the game.
And, and, and there, and so manypeople are like, well, how do
you get in the game? And I go how I how I step from
being a churchgoer who, and I hate to say this, has been
(34:29):
brainwashed to think that just because I raised my hand and
accepted Christ and repeated a prayer that my I'm going to
heaven, I go. That's not how you that's not
how you stand before God and hear well done.
No, you want to learn how to getin the game for what?
For my, my, my life. I, I love, I love reading
(34:54):
Christian books. And this is in 2004.
We started the season when I was, when I was with the Oakland
A's. We were in Anaheim and I was in
a Christian bookstore looking for another Christian book.
And I, and I, I picked up this book.
Welcome Holy Spirit. I go man.
Welcome Holy Spirit. I go man.
I mean, I'm not going to read a book on the Holy Spirit.
(35:15):
I want a good book. I put and I kept.
Walking a good book. Yeah, I, I kept walking,
different aisle, different section, and I looked down.
Welcome Holy Spirit again. I go, I picked it up.
I go, man, are you kidding me? Look, I got the back and I'm
thinking, why not? And I bought it, had lunch, went
(35:35):
to the game, played the game, went back to my my hotel, turned
the lamp on and I started reading Welcome, Holy Spirit.
And I read the whole book and I was like, are you kidding me?
I know I've been in in church mywhole life and nobody's really
talked to me about the power of the Holy Spirit, the role of
(35:59):
spirit. And I was like, I was mad, turn
the lamp off and went to sleep. Went back to that to that, to
that bookstore. And I'm looking for me another
book on the Holy Spirit. And I found this book.
Good morning, Holy Spirit. Same thing.
Lunch. Went to the ballpark, played the
(36:20):
game back on the bus, couldn't wait to get up to my room, turn
that lamp on. And I started reading.
Good morning, Holy Spirit. And and when I finished that
book that night, 2 books, first two books I've ever read from
cover to cover. Yeah, tears coming down my face
because I'm thinking, my goodness, no wonder American
(36:41):
churchgoers, they're excited thethe worship Jesus from 8:00
until 9:30 and then when 930 is over, they they're drowning in
the world because they know the power of the Holy Spirit.
Like a car can't run without gasoline.
The Holy Spirit is our gasoline to to live a bold follower of
(37:07):
Jesus Christ life and then what what changed my life is and when
I when I read that book, good morning, Holy Spirit in that
book, it challenges you. I pray this prayer.
Good morning Holy Spirit, help me to focus my life on who Jesus
Christ really is. Help me to make him my walk, my
talk and my thoughts and the thing that that I want to
(37:29):
challenge. I want to challenge every you,
me, everybody that's listening when you when you ask the Holy
Spirit for help, he's not going to do the work.
He will help you, He will guide you and he will kick you, but
he's not it's your choice. We choose whether we want to go
to heaven or we want to go to hell.
(37:50):
God doesn't send anybody to hell.
We suit we by the by our choicesin in our in our life and, and
and but once I started that thatthroughout the relationship with
the Holy Spirit 10 days in afterplaying, praying that prayer, as
soon as I said good morning, Holy Spirit, help me, he says,
(38:12):
quit reading all these books andread the Bible.
And I'm thinking, oh man, I wantto read the Bible and and then
about two days later, when my when my bullpen catcher with
AIDS, he he was walking across the the clubhouse holding two
books and I started smiling and he goes, Hey, Chris John
(38:33):
Corson's. He's a pastor out in Los
Angeles. He sent me two commentaries on
the New Testament. You want one.
I'm thinking, go ahead and give it to him.
And I started and here here's myadvice.
Here's my here's here's the bestadvice I can give to anybody.
When you allow the Spirit of Godto help you apply the word of
(38:54):
God to your life and heart can'tlose The problem is not many
American churchgoers know anything about the role in the
relationship we're supposed to have with the Holy Spirit.
And so in turn, we have no hunger for the Bible.
The only the only message we we hear every every week is what
(39:15):
that what that pastor is tellingus.
And in the big picture, hopefully I'm wrong with a lot
of pastors, but but I don't think I am, that pastor is
giving us a watered down versionof the gospel.
Yeah. It's called the American Gospel.
And you're, you're right on. Well, Chris, brother, man, we
have been to church and I'm picking up what you're putting
(39:37):
down, man. I so in my pastoral role right
now, I'm a, I'm a young adult pastor.
So it's the 18 to 30th age, which is where a lot of people,
their faith really becomes real during that period of time.
That was the case for me. And you're, you're so right for
a lot of us, we're, we're raisedto believe in it.
And I think it's probably just atrick of the devil because the
devil doesn't doesn't want to keep us from, yeah, he don't
(39:59):
want to keep us from raising ourhand and walking the aisle and
repeating a prayer. He wants to keep us from living
it out in their daily lives. And so, you know, I had, I had
done that when I was young. I was saved when I was, you
know, seven years old. But for a large part of my adult
life, Christianity was just going to church.
I went to church. I left church and I live like
(40:20):
the world the rest of the time. And you know, it wasn't until I
graduated pharmacy school. That I began to realize the same
thing. OK, yeah, I'm I'm living my
faith from the I wouldn't say bullpen and I'd say the sideline
because Christianity would, you know, there was no relationship
there. There was no relationship with
the Holy Spirit. Francis Chan's written a good
(40:42):
book on this, Like Him or Not, but called Forgotten God, and he
talks about the fact that we we forgotten about the Holy Spirit.
Without the Holy Spirit's power,we can't live that authentic
Christian life. But if we're believers, then the
Holy Spirit resides in us and our hearts.
And Scripture tells us that the same power that raised Jesus
from the dead lives in us as theHoly Spirit.
(41:04):
So think about the potential there that's within us through
the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, Scripture also tells us
that through the Spirit we've been given everything we need
for a godly life. But so many times we we say, oh,
well, you know, I'm human. I can't help it.
And yeah, we're human. We're not going to be perfect,
but that's no excuse to just keep living in sin.
And and so I love that. And that's when that's when we
(41:26):
need that's the importance of reading the Bible.
And it's talked about. I'm in, I'm in second Peter, in
first and second Peter and really first and second Timothy.
And I mean, it challenges you tolook at yourself in the mirror
and to see where where Jesus ranks in your life.
I mean, I mean living and then the revelation is talks about
when you live a lukewarm Christian life, God don't see
(41:49):
you as a Christian anymore. I mean.
Yeah, he vomits this out of his mouth.
Life or he's not. And the Holy Spirit is a
gentleman. He's going to walk, he's going
to encourage you, but he ain't going to do the work.
But I mean. Force himself on you.
Yeah. I mean, that's a, that's a,
That's a message in itself. It is, I mean, if you say yes to
(42:11):
the Holy Spirit of God, and if you say yes to making look God
Lord of your life, that changes everything.
It's been the case in your life.It's been the case in my life.
And there was a moment where where I realized too, that the
only scripture that I'd really ever read was the scripture that
the preacher preached. I had a Bible, but I never read
it and I was a lot like you, youknow, I, I want a good book.
I don't want the Bible and I because it to me it was hard to
(42:34):
understand. Yeah, and another, another
important, another important message for, for the, I mean,
the, the new believer or the, ORthe old Christian or the
whoever. When Jesus says before you,
before you start, you better count the cost If you don't want
(42:55):
to be that person who starts andcan't finish.
Because one of the very first verses that God showed me when I
was reading the Bible in Matthewmake 2413 where Jesus says for
the one who endures to the end will be saved.
And I'm thinking what I go, I get it.
(43:15):
It's a process. It's not an accomplishment like
today's churches want to make it.
Once you raise your hand and andyou, you accept Christ, you're,
you're, you're good. I'm thinking you're done, yeah.
I got what's the what's the what's the what's the where's
the power of the Holy Spirit? Where is the importance of of
using the Bible as a weapon to fight off Satan?
(43:37):
I mean if the. Process, endure to the end and
finish the race. That's what the.
Importance of reading the Bible for yourself.
That's right. Don't rely on someone else's
interpretation to be your your, you know, your expectation of of
the Christian life. And you're so right.
Yeah, yeah. And salvation, that's the
(44:00):
starting place. That's not that's not the end.
That's not the finish line. And so if you hear anything,
here is. Yeah, here, well done.
Is definitive. There you go.
And and you know, it's, it's so important, I think that we
understand what that Christian life looks like.
And we say that with no judgment, no condemnation.
That's not what we're here for. We're here to encourage you.
(44:22):
We're here to encourage you to, to take that step of welcoming
God as Lord of your life and, and plugging into that power to
Holy Spirit. I love the analogy.
Your car runs on gas. It can't run without it.
We can't live that Christian life alone.
We need the help of the Holy Spirit, but we've got to start
it and we've got it. We've got to do our part.
He will help us. And, and I love every bit of
(44:44):
that because the victory that I've experienced spiritually in
my life has only come through surrender to God so many times.
We want to control our circumstances, our situation.
We want to control our life and just that and expect God to just
bless it. But we don't learn what that's
like to surrender, do we? Right.
And another, another passage that I mean, every one of us
(45:07):
needs to, to grasp, especially living in America is Luke 923.
And I think it might be 226 where it talks about where,
where Jesus says, if anyone of any of you want to be my
follower, you must die to your selfish ways.
Pick up your cross daily and follow me.
And then it talks about if I mean, if you, if you live, I
(45:30):
mean, without dying, you're going to lose.
But if you die to live and for me, you're going to save your
soul. And then the hardest thing that
people don't want to let go of is to dime to sell.
Dime. To dime to dime to to to pick up
(45:52):
this cell phone every day and and and look at it worship it
can't even leave the house. You leave the house.
We're we're going to church a few years ago when my when my
son was about 7. He goes dad turn around.
I don't what? Forgot my cell phone.
I go, are you serious? I'm going to turn around to get
your cell phone. He goes, yeah, I go, well, you
(46:15):
didn't say anything about you left your Bible.
And he's like, I go. But that's, that's where we're
at today. I mean, the, the, what's killing
American churches is when you walk into a church, if, if you
had no idea what church is all about, you walk in there, 90%
(46:35):
of, of the churchgoers are sitting there looking at their
phone. Yeah.
And, and, and, and, and, and when you look at the Bible, when
it says if you love anything in this world more than you do
Jesus Christ, you're not going to be allowed into heaven.
And that's that's. That's.
Going to be a tragedy and I always kid around.
(46:56):
I go. If God raptured His church right
now, nobody would even recognizethat somebody was.
That's good. That's good.
I like that. And it's a sad and it's a
sobering truth. It is.
There's a, there's a big. Deal looks like me and you we're
we're followers of Jesus. I mean, we got to we have to
live as a disciple ready to die because I'm I'm going to tell
(47:21):
you what you don't want to hear.And it's then it's up to you to
allow God to move in your heart to, to, to use your look in the
mirror of your life and to ask yourself, where does Jesus
Christ really rank in it? In my Monday through Saturdays.
And, and if you're, if you're truthful with yourself, you're
going to go man. And, and, and another
(47:41):
encouragement. Hey, I want to walk besides
whoever needs help. I mean, we, we, the more people
you have walking with you, the stronger you're going to be.
So I mean, I'm on Facebook everymorning doing my Bible study.
It's a challenge I mean, and I'mthe first person to press the
like button because I needed thesame same words that you're
going y'all going to read I'll look me up and I want to walk
(48:03):
beside you I'll. Put a link to your profile in
the show notes. Chris and I want to encourage
you. Yet we're not made to do this
life alone. No, we're made to do life
together and and to be able to walk together and to be able to
learn together and to grow together.
The Bible tells us as iron sharpens iron, so one man
sharpens another. So, so man, I'd encourage you to
to link up with Chris, link up with me.
(48:23):
We would love to, to come alongside you.
But here's the thing that we're saying.
There's a big difference in going to church and being a
disciple of Jesus. And I want to encourage each and
everyone of you to lean into that, to ask the Holy Spirit,
what does that mean in my life? Am I just going to church or am
I truly a disciple of Jesus? Is He first in my life or is He
(48:44):
just a small part of it? He wants to be your everything.
He wants to be your all. And I can promise you anything
you lose because of that, it will more than make up for it
because of the blessings, the spiritual blessings of having
Christ as your Lord. And there is never a day where I
look back and say, Oh, man, I wish I could go back.
No, not on your life. But Chris, man, you are an
(49:04):
encouragement. You're on fire.
I feel like I'm, I'm ready to goout and preach now.
You've been, you've been, you'vebeen so kind to share this time
with us and our listeners. But man, thank you so much for
being here. Thank you for the life you're
living today. You are an encouragement and,
and you are important in this world.
We need to hear your voice. And I'm so loved that the Holy
(49:25):
Spirit has given you the platform you have and the gift
that you have of being able to speak the truth.
So thank you, Chris, brother, it's been a blessing.
And I hope you have a blessed day, a fantastic day.
Blessings to both you and your family as well.
Thank you so much. Thank you for listening to the
Rev RX Podcast. We hope you enjoyed what you
heard today and if so, we'd loveit if you would hit that
(49:46):
subscribe button so that you'll never miss a new episode from
us. Also, feel free to leave us
reviews and comments as we'd love to hear from you.
Be blessed and be the very best you.
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