Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Barton.
Brian, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I love stories. I love to listen to a good story. I love to tell stories. Tyrion Lannister said it best, “There is nothing in the world more powerful than a good story.” Everyone has a story. The most popular athlete in the world, to the homeless guy on the street. Everyone has a story. When I meet people, I love to ask them to “tell me your story”. As I look back on the many chapters of my life, there are many, many stories. For this article, my story began on Friday, September 6, 1974. That night I asked God if He would see fit to use me as a pawn on His chessboard of life. Some of my friends have asked me why I didn’t ask to be the knight, the bishop, the rook, the queen, or even the king? Didn’t I realize that the pawn is the weakest piece in the game of chess? I told them that I have been accused of having “stupid” written on my forehead, but being used as a pawn has been just fine. I have had an amazing life. Doing things I would have never imagined and meeting many incredible people along the way. I have been an educator, a coach, the director of a non-profit organization serving the blind, a sports chaplain for professional athletes, and now at the age of 67, I am adding to my story by working as a background actor in films and television, enrolling in acting classes, seeking to land an audition and a role.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No. Sylvester Stallone, “Rocky Balboa”, summed it up best, “…the world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean place….nobody is gonna hit as hard as life…”. I have faced personal struggles, family issues, health crises, financial troubles, and professional setbacks. But you keep moving forward. I have met many unhappy old people, and I promised myself that I would never become an angry old man. When you get knocked down, get up and keep moving forward. When setbacks and disappointments come, look for new opportunities. I had the honor and privilege of serving as the Team Chaplain for the Atlanta Braves AAA team for 14 years in Richmond, Virginia. I loved serving in that position and I have many wonderful stories from those years. But when the Braves moved the Richmond Braves to Gwinnett County, who are today the Gwinnett Stripers, I lost my position. Instead of letting discouragement set in, my son encouraged me to start my own sports ministry and the door to serve in the world of professional arena football opened.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
The ministry that I founded is called WOW Sports Ministry (the WOW is short for With Out Wax). It is based on the verse in the Bible, Philippians 1:10 – “That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ.” The key word in that verse is “sincere”, meaning honest, pure, true, and genuine. The etymology of the word “sincere” comes from two Latin words: sine – meaning “without”, and cera – meaning “wax”. In Biblical times, dishonest merchants would use wax to hide defects (cracks) in their pottery so that they could sell their merchandise for a higher price. More reputable merchants would hang a sign, “SINE CERA” (without wax), over their pottery to inform customers that their merchandise was “genuine”. People learned to hold the pottery up to a light to see if it was “SINCERE – WITHOUT WAX”.
WOW Sports Ministry is about learning to live a life that is “With Out Wax”. It seeks to encourage all athletes – amateur to professional – to strive for excellence; to stay free from hypocrisy, deceit and wickedness; and to stand “without wax” in the full light of God’s approval. There are 12 principles in the chapel lessons that I teach for a person to live their life “without wax”: a person who lives their life without wax is a person of Virtue, is Crucified with Christ, knows God’s Grace, listens to God’s Still Small Voice, Understands the Power of Belief, is a person of Passion, Steps Up, Lives and Plays -Out of the Soul, is a Warrior, in Everything Gives Thanks, has Three Essential Qualities, and is a Role Model. One of the experiences I am most proud of, or really most grateful for, goes back nearly 30 years when I was just beginning in my sports ministry. I went down to the ballpark to watch the game. I noticed that there were only 2 umpires working the game.
Usually, there are 3. I asked one of the staff why only 2 umps? They told me that the night before, one of the umpires had been robbed and assaulted at gunpoint and was trying to fly home that night to the west coast. At that time, the Richmond airport was not very big and I knew that he was not going to get a flight out that night. Then began the wrestling match in my mind, heart and spirit. Should I go to the airport and try to find this guy, who I don’t know, don’t know what he looks like, or should I even try to get involved. I sat for 2 innings and decided to go home. On the way home, the struggle inside me continued to grow. When I got to the exit that would take me to the airport, I took it. All the way to the airport I thought “don’t do this”, “don’t get involved”, “who do you think you are to do this”. I got to the airport, parked, and went inside. There was no one around. I stood there for a moment, turned to my left, and a guy came from around the corner. I immediately knew it was the ump. I walked up to him, introduced myself, and he was so thankful that I came out to see him. He told me he couldn’t get a flight that night and asked me to take him back to the ballpark.
On the ride there he told me about what had happened to him. As the emotions poured out of him, I had no idea what to say. We got to the ballpark and he asked me to go inside with him till the game was over. We sat in the stands and when the game ended, he asked me to go with him down to the umpire’s clubhouse. I was hesitant, but I went with him. He went inside and the umpire’s clubby came out and told me to wait outside the door till they would call me in. I waited for what seemed to be eternity, then the door opened and they called me in. The umpires clubhouse room in the minor leagues is not very glamorous, 4 lockers, a small table, a small bathroom and shower room. Very cramped. The other 2 umpires told me sit and inside me all I could hear was “You should have never gotten involved”. For the next hour, these men unloaded toward me all the emotion, stress, frustration, and anger that had built up inside of them over the incident. When they finished, I looked at the ump and said, “I don’t know why this happened, but I do know that you are alive, you will fly home tomorrow, you will see your wife, your baby daughter will be born, and for that I am thankful.” I prayed a short quick prayer and left. All the way home I beat myself up for getting involved. The next day I had to go back to the ballpark to set up the time for Sunday’s chapel. A new visiting team and a new umpire crew were in town. As I walked through the tunnel of the ballpark, I was greeted with the ballpark staff and security saying “Good Job”.
When I saw the umpire clubby, I asked him what was going on? He told me that word got around about me going to the airport and reaching out to the umps. When I knocked on the umpire’s clubhouse door, the door cracked open and the ump asked, “Are you Brian?” I said yes and the umpires said to me, “You are always welcome in here. You helped one of us, so you are one of us.” Two years later I was attending the Baseball Chapel national convention. A former umpire got up and talked about the outreach program to all major and minor league umpires that was started because an umpire had shared his story of being in need of help and a man from the Baseball Chapel had stepped up to help him. After his presentation I walked up to the speaker and asked if he knew – and I said the umpire’s name from the airport – and he looked at me and said “You’re the Guy!!!” I replied, “Yeah, I’m the guy.” He said, “I was hoping I would get to meet you”. Even though this happened almost 30 years ago, and I still see that umpire working in the major leagues with a very successful career, being a pawn on God’s chessboard is a pretty good thing to be.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Looking to add a couple more chapters to my story, I would love to see what God will do with WOW Sports Ministry. Hopefully expand its outreach to more athletes, teams, and churches. And I am also looking forward to seeing what lies ahead in my acting adventure. As Tyrion said, “There is nothing in the world more powerful than a good story.”
Contact Info:
- Youtube: WOW Sports Ministry
