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Spring Training Fundamentals

30 Tuesday Mar 2021

Posted by Jeremy McGarity in Baseball, Christian Habits, grow, Padres Baseball

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Baseball is back! Opening Day is scheduled for April 1, and while I had my doubts with it falling on April Fool’s Day, I’m so excited for the Padres to finally kick-off the 2021 season! We came close last year, but THIS year … this is the year! Just like every other team, the Padres went through Spring Training for the past six weeks. During this time, they worked on the fundamentals of baseball that prepared us for the year we win The World Series!

Baseball Fundamentals

Rich image of professional baseball player, Fernando Tatis Jr., executing fundamentals of hitting a baseball.

Back when I used to play for the St. Louis Cardinals, we took Spring Training very seriously. And every year we’d look forward to our Farm Director’s (I spent my 10 professional seasons in the minor league ‘farm’ system) speech that starts off the season. (The Farm Director is who tells you whether you’re going up or down the farm system levels.) 

He’d start his speech with the most basic fundamentals, saying, “Gentlemen, this is a baseball. It’s 9 inches in circumference. It’s 5 ounces, made of cowhide, and it has 108 red stitches strung around it … ”

Oh yeah, he’d go into detail! Next, he’d say, “Men, this is a baseball glove …” Then, he’d explain, “This is a baseball bat …” No matter who you are on the team, you attend Spring Training and you get back to the basics. I can imagine the Padres locker room … you have people like Fernando Tatis Jr who recently signed a $340million contract for the next 14-years listening to a similar speech. With money like that, it would be easy for anyone to forget the most basic principles of the game.

You throw the ball. 
You catch the ball. 
And you hit the ball. 

But our Farm Director would finish by saying, “And men, the team that does that the best will win the World Championship!”

Christian Fundamentals

Rich image of Seven Steps class at Skyline Church that teaches about Christian fundamentals and more

Can you tell me why 300 million dollar players enter Spring Training to do the same drills we did in Little League? Or why players like Tatis even have coaches?!

Because the fundamentals are the essentials! It’s the same in the Christian faith. There are basic habits that shape our faith that have to be present for us to experience what it’s like to be a Champion for Christ. At Skyline Church, we discuss these habits in our Seven Steps for Spiritual Growth Class. If you’ve been in the faith very long, you know that a devotional time lays the groundwork for God to move in your life. You’ve also experienced that the habit of prayer is in essence primary to growing in relationship with God. You know that regular giving is pivotal in transforming your heart. In addition to what we do privately, we get together as Christians regularly!

It’s essential! Because no matter how long you’ve been in the faith, we all need to consistently get back to the basics. And while we don’t have a $340 million contract, as years tack on, we too can get comfortable in our faith and neglect to participate in the fundamentals of our faith.

We have devotional time.
We pray!
We give!
And we gather!

Ladies and gentlemen … the believers that do this the best are what I call a Champion for Christ!

Commitment

I’ll finish with this …  when I was a young guy, I liked going out on Saturday night.  Even as I became a Christian I lived in that tension of half-hearted commitment. I had one foot “in the world” and one foot “in Christianity.” That never works. There came a point when I started leaving gatherings with my friends and teammates to go to church. They wanted to know why I was doing this “church” thing so often. I had a decision to make. And, it may seem shallow, but I didn’t have the theological answers at the time. So, I just said, “It makes me feel good.” 

There’s going to come a time where you have to choose between your old habits and some new Christian habits. Some habits may be bad habits that you always knew you needed to let go of. But there are also going to be some “okay” habits that aren’t necessarily bad, but they are prohibiting you from becoming a Champion for Christ. No one makes it to the Major Leagues without sacrificing something. You may sacrifice staying out late with friends to go to church, eating out to give more, sleeping in to have a devotional time … we all have secondary pleasures that get in the way of our primary goals from time to time.

It’s in these moments, that we need to prioritize our commitments and decide what our main goal is. In these moments we need to get back to the basics and practice the fundamentals. 

Applying The Fundamentals

Ask yourself today, what is your main objective in life? Have you decided to prioritize your relationship with God above all else in life? Are you executing the fundamentals of your objective regularly? If you will apply the fundamentals you can bet you’ll be a Champion for Christ.



*Read more blogs and articles from Dr. Jeremy McGarity at JeremyMcGarity.com!

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Team Colors

02 Tuesday Feb 2021

Posted by Jeremy McGarity in Baptism, Baseball, Decisions For Christ

≈ 4 Comments

God’s game is back! Did you know baseball is God’s game? The Bible DOES start in Genesis by saying, “In the BIG-INNING!”
Get it?
Beginning… Big-INNING.
In the … you get it.

Anyway, I’m so excited to kick off another amazing season of baseball! We’re a just a couple weeks away from Spring Training, if they don’t push it back a month like they are talking about doing. And I want to know … what team colors are you wearing this year?

Whenever we join a team or become a fan, we put on their team uniform and colors. 
The same goes for when we decide to follow Christ! When we’ve made a decision to follow Jesus, we put on a NEW uniform. If we join the Padres, we wear brown and gold (The best uniforms in the league if you ask me). We don’t join the Padres and say “I want to wear Dodger blue.” No, we wear the team colors. It is our public profession that signifies that we believe in this team.

When we make a big decision like following Jesus Christ, we do something similar in putting on the team colors, the Bible calls it baptism. Christians confirm they are on “Team Jesus” by participating in baptism. It is the Christian’s public profession that they are on Team Jesus.

It’s important to note that you don’t have to be baptized in order to attend a church service, read the Bible, or learn about Christianity. But … if you come to a point where you’re ready to admit that you’re a sinner and need the Savior … you may be ready to take a step of faith and follow Jesus. 

If you’re new to Christianity, you may be wondering what baptism looks like. As Jesus demonstrated in the New Testament, we too are fully immersed in a body of water. By completely submerging your body in water, you’re symbolizing a burial to your old way of life. When you come out of the water, this symbolizes new or like Jesus, resurrected life.

There isn’t anything magical about the water. Many people ask if they have to be baptized in a church. The answer is no. In fact, Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River! You can be baptized in a lake, the ocean, a friend’s pool … any body of water. We do this as an outward display of an inward decision to follow Christ.

Following Jesus isn’t always easy, but it’s always worth it. Many of you know exactly what I’m talking about. You won’t magically and instantly have it all together. Every day is a willful and conscious decision to become more and more like him. We say it all the time at Skyline Church, God does not require perfection out of your spiritual walk, but he does require progress. And sometimes that’s two steps forward and one step back. When you’re ready to make a decision to follow in HIS footsteps, we’d like to invite you to celebrate that choice through baptism.

So let me ask you again … what team colors are you wearing? All season long I’ll be wearing my Padre gear. When I wear Padre gear, I’m saying I have faith that I’m on the winning team. I’m wearing the brown and gold jersey rain or shine. Are you ready to put on a winning team jersey? I can promise you, that Jesus IS the winning team.

Jesus will beat anxiety every time.
Jesus will beat stress every time.
Jesus will beat depression every time.
Jesus will beat financial struggles every time.
Jesus will beat temptation every time.
Jesus will beat pride every time.
Jesus will beat deception every time.
Jesus will beat religion every time.
Jesus will beat diseases every time.
Jesus will beat _____fill in the blank with your specific circumstance___ EVERY TIME!

Soon, we’re going to see our Padres take the field (and for our Kansas Church baseball fans, the Kansas City Royals will be playing too!) And maybe, we’ll see you take the field for Jesus THIS weekend, February 7 at our Baptisms. Come join the over 50 people who have already signed up to be baptized on Super Bowl weekend! 

Maybe you’re on the fence and want to know what it really means to be on this team. We want to help you navigate those questions. Let us know if you have any questions about baptism!

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Baptism

05 Thursday Sep 2019

Posted by Jeremy McGarity in Baptism, Baseball, Decisions For Christ, Salvation

≈ Leave a comment

September 2, 1997 was a big day for me and my friend Dukes Knutsen. We were both Christians  and Dukes was our local Fellowship of Christian Athletes leader in Duluth, Minnesota when I was playing Independent League baseball for the Duluth Superior Dukes of the Northern League. While we had both been Christians for years at that time, neither one of us had been baptized.

We decided to do a study of the WHY behind baptism. We realized it is not something that is salvific, in other words, it was not a prerequisite to being saved and going to Heaven. However, there was something more, it is certainly emphasized in Scripture and especially in the Great Commission. As we studied, it became apparent that baptism in Scripture was the beginning of something more. It was both a demarcater of something that had taken place, namely salvation, but it was also the beginning of something else.

Baptism is an outward sign of something that has taken place on the inside of an individual. It is a moment where we put our priority on our obedience to Jesus Christ and obeying His command to be baptized and follow Him no matter what. Whether we do this in front of the whole church or only in front the person baptizing us (Acts 8:26-40), it has the same meaning in Scripture. It is an identification of whose team we are on. It is as if we are putting on the jersey of Jesus Christ’s team. We are no longer a free-agent, we have signed with our team and made it public.

Island Lake in Duluth was our place of baptism. Although the weather outside was at a comfortable temperature, the lake felt as though it was mid-December. I believe it was in that moment of commitment in that freezing cold lake, that my future in ministry was cauterized.  It was a time where I made a decision, that no matter what was to come, I would follow Christ. No matter what difficult paths may lie ahead, I would follow Christ. No matter what my future may hold, I was, at that point confident of who held my future.

The Lord has been so good to both Dukes and I. Dukes remained in Duluth for years until heading to Florida full time and ministering to people from inmates in county prisons to Major and Minor League baseball players on the Rays and Twins among other teams.  I’ve been so thankful to be able to preach the Word and minister to people through being a local church pastor. We’ve both seen lives changed and God do special works in people’s lives. And I truly believe, God’s greatest works are still ahead in our lives, but I am not sure we would have seen all God has done, had we not committed through our decision to be baptized.

Every year on our baptism date, we send each other a note. A note to relive that moment, and to remember that decision, that commitment to follow Christ, no matter what.

What about you? Have you been baptized? I want to encourage you, think it through, process it, study it, the decision certainly is not about your future in Heaven, as that is already sealed with your decision to accept Christ as your Savior. While it does not have to do with your place in Heaven, I believe it has a lot to do with your place on Earth.

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Adam LaRoche Quit Baseball To Follow His Faith, But What He Won’t Say Is Heartbreaking

21 Thursday Apr 2016

Posted by Jeremy McGarity in Baseball, mission

≈ Leave a comment

Great article from qpolitical.com

Hollywood could not write a more compelling story than that of a Major League ballplayer becoming an undercover agent. Heck, with all the sequels, and reboots being made today it’s safe to say movie-makers lack the creativity to come up with a story like this.

For those of you who don’t follow baseball, allow me to fill you in on the excellent career of southeast Kansas’ own Adam LaRoche.

Born to former big-leaguer Dave LaRoche, Adam (along with his brother, Andy) was destined to play in ‘The Show.’ After being an All-American in high school, the Fort Scott native was drafted in 1998 (and again in 1999) by the Florida Marlins, but refused to sign. Adam decided to go to college, and went on to win MVP of the Junior College World Series in 2000.

Screen Shot 2016-04-18 at 2.17.41 PM

Adam was drafted in 2000 by the Atlanta Braves, where he would spend the next six years playing. After a few years in the minors, Adam was called up by the Braves in 2004. Over the course of the next 12 years Adam would go on to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves (again), Arizona Diamondbacks, Washington Nationals, and Chicago White Sox.

Over the course of his career the first-baseman hit 255 home runs, won a gold glove, a Silver Slugger Award, and a National League Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Award.

Screen Shot 2016-04-18 at 2.23.58 PM

Aside from being a great ballplayer, LaRoche is also a devout Christian. While playing for the Washington Nationals, Adam helped to promote “Faith Day” at Nationals Park along with several of his teammates. He would continue to promote “Faith Day” on other teams later in his career, as well. In fact, his faith may have played a huge part as to why he walked away from the game he loves.

Before the White Sox 2015 “Faith Day” game, LaRoche spoke briefly on the day’s importance:

“As a believer, it is and should be the most important thing in our lives, so to be able to get up briefly and share that is an honor. And the fact that the White Sox allow it is great because some teams try to shy away from things like that and any type of (potential) controversy.

Screen Shot 2016-04-18 at 2.20.47 PM

Before the 2016 season started, Laroche was making headlines for causing some controversy that would lead to his departure from the White Sox organization, and Major League Baseball itself. For years Laroche had brought his son into the clubhouse every day, and had never had any problems.

“I never took it for granted. You could have a manager who just flat doesn’t like it. You can have players complain — ‘Hey, we’re tired of having a kid around.’ There’s a chance we could have other guys see Drake and think, ‘I’ll bring my kid too.’ Obviously we can’t turn this into a day care. I get it.”

Screen Shot 2016-04-18 at 2.18.49 PM

After 12 years, someone on LaRoche’s team told management they no longer wanted the slugger to bring his son to work. Prior to the 2016 season, the White Sox informed Adam that his son would no longer be welcome in the clubhouse on a day-to-day basis.

Here is what White Sox president Ken Williams told baseball expert Ken Rosenthal:

Screen Shot 2016-04-18 at 11.59.02 AM

The argument could be made (for good reason) that a locker room is no place to bring a child. Adam even says as much, but explains why he wants his son around:

“There’s no other workplace where you walk in and guys are slapping each other in the nuts and saying the stuff they do. You can say, ‘That’s no place for a kid to be. The way I see it, he’s going to be around that regardless, unless you homeschool and raise them in a bubble. I can’t think of a better place for him to be when he gets a taste of that than with me.”

Screen Shot 2016-04-18 at 2.19.37 PM

Adam, who has a very close relationship with his 14-year-old son, Drake, saw only one option: walk away from his $13 million deal with the White Sox, and retire from Major League Baseball. That was the story the White Sox were told, and for the most part, everyone believed it.

LaRoche made the following announcement to his team after being informed of the club’s new policy in regards to children being around the locker room:

“I am choosing my son over you guys. I cannot tell you how much I hate that I’m even having to make this decision, and how much it crushes me to feel like I could be leaving you guys hanging.”

Screen Shot 2016-04-18 at 2.35.08 PM

That seems pretty straightforward, until you take a deeper look at Adam LaRoche’s life. He has never been one to conform to societal norms. For better, or worse (probably worse) Adam says he isn’t as concerned with his kids’ grades, choosing to focus on “How are they treating their classmates, and how are they treating [the teacher]?” That’s just a glimpse into what Adam values as important. Over the years, many things have come in and taken priority over baseball, including family, and faith.

Many aren’t aware, but Laroche has a lot going on outside of baseball. He’s one of the co-owners of Outdoor Network’s Buck Commander, along with former teammate Chipper Jones (and Willie Robertson of Duck Dynasty), and a host of other ballplayers/celebrities, but that’s not even close to the most interesting thing Laroche does in his free time (he also runs a cattle ranch).

Screen Shot 2016-04-18 at 2.18.00 PM

This was recently reported by ESPN’s Tim Keown, and it might give some insight into the real reason for Laroche’s retirement:

LaRoche, along with Brewers pitcher Blaine Boyer, spent 10 days in November in Southeast Asian brothels, wearing a hidden camera and doing undercover work to help rescue underage sex slaves. All of which raises a question: After 12 years in the big leagues, the endless days and nights in dugouts and clubhouses, how did LaRoche’s nearly cinematic level of nonconformity escape detection?

… Working through a nonprofit called the Exodus Road, LaRoche and Boyer conducted surveillance in brothels and tried to determine the age of the girls — known only by numbers pinned to bikinis — and identify their bosses.

“Something huge happened there for us,” Boyer says. “You can’t explain it. Can’t put your finger on it. If you make a wrong move, you’re getting tossed off a building. We were in deep, man, but that’s the way it needed to be done. Adam and I truly believe God brought us there and said, ‘This is what I have for you boys.’”

That’s right, last fall LaRoche, along with fellow big-leaguer Blaine Boyer, went undercover in Southeast Asia to rescue underage sex slaves from local brothels. Let that sink in for a minute. A pair of white professional athletes went undercover in an effort to rescue children from sex slavery.

Screen Shot 2016-04-18 at 2.44.54 PM

How many of you would step away from $13 million dollars? Most people would have a difficult time doing that, but Adam Laroche isn’t like most people. While it was assumed that he retired because of reasons stemming from his son not being allowed in the clubhouse, this new information throws a wrinkle into that theory.

When asked if he would attempt to recoup the $13 million he was set to make in 2016, Adam stated plainly, “No. I did it. I made the final decision.” Clearly, money isn’t the motivating factor for LaRoche.

Screen Shot 2016-04-18 at 2.46.04 PM

“I can understand how people look at the $13 million. One, how stupid does somebody have to be? Or, how selfish? Suck it up for six months, right?”

Stupid might not be the right word, but that is an awful lot of money to walk away from, over something as small as not being able to bring your kid to work.

Did the trip to the brothels have that much of an impact on LaRoche? Perhaps the former big-leaguer has his sights set on new horizons. Maybe he feels as though God is calling him to something different. Maybe we are overanalyzing, and he simply wants to hang out with his kid more, and spend his free time hunting, and fishing with his buddies.

Screen Shot 2016-04-18 at 2.46.42 PM

Maybe all of those factors played a part in LaRoche’s decision to hang it up. I simply refuse to believe the “Rich Man Quits Over Son” narrative because that’s not the type of guy LaRoche seems to be.

In regards to bringing his kid to work, Adam says he was always upfront with his employers:

“I would go to those managers every year. I would tell them, ‘Listen, if there’s ever an issue, specifically if a player comes up to you, you’ve got to let me know.’”

LaRoche isn’t an unreasonable man. Perhaps, for the first time, he saw the difference he could make in the world WITHOUT having to hit a ball. Maybe God has enormous plans for this small-town slugger, turned sex-slave recovery operative.

Whatever his plans for the future, we wish Adam LaRoche good luck! With all the athletes that attract negative headlines, it’s refreshing to be reminded that excellent role-models still exist in American sports. God bless you, Adam LaRoche!

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Talkin’ Baseball and Baseball Cards.

28 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by Jeremy McGarity in Baseball

≈ Leave a comment

Don’t get me started talkin’ baseball! I love it.

This comes from Bo Rosny http://borosny.blogspot.com/  He asked me some questions regarding my baseball card experience and posted it on his blog about baseball and baseball cards.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Jeremy McGarity on baseball cards

Jeremy McGarity pitched in the Cardinals organization from 1989 to 1994. His best season was 1993, when he went 9-7 with a 3.89 ERA. Now pastor at Seven San Diego Church, he kindly answered my questions about baseball cards.

“I love baseball cards! I grew up collecting them and hoping one day I could have my own baseball card.I was disappointed when I signed with St. Louis and was sent to Peoria, AZ for rookie league and learned that we would NOT be getting a baseball card that year. I don’t know why but we didn’t get one done that year. Maybe they viewed that league as Pre-Rookie or something 🙂

Anyway, the next year in Johnson City I heard we would be getting baseball cards. After the season I received a package and opened it up an saw the one of me pitching in Johnson City. I was ecstatic! So thankful. And, It has remained my favorite card of all of them. A close second is a baseball card we did in Duluth, Mn. for the Dukes in the independent Northern League, 1996 or 1997 I think.

The other card I like is the Bowman 1992 card. It’s unique in that I was in street clothes and I was named a top ten prospect during the off-season so it has some special meaning.

I rarely collect cards today but I still have a lot of cards from the 70’s and 80’s and I have some I got my kids going collecting from 2000’s. Whenever there are card shows or a card shop (rare these days in San Diego) I look through the cards looking for my favorite players.

My favorite player of all time is Nolan Ryan. I have some of his cards and just really appreciate the way he went about the game. I am also a Babe Ruth fan. So, I’ve got some prints of him etc… ”

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St. Louis. great conference, for the most part, @wesleyanchurch lots still to change but a lot of good came out of this gathering as well. This is a movement (denomination) committed to the primacy of the Lord Jesus Christ and the inerrancy of Scripture! Two non-negotiables for me, for @skylinechurch and many other churches. Glad to see the WC reaffirm this at general conference. Also, catching a Cardinals game was a nice side benefit as well as seeing an the actual Red Bird when we arrived in STL. And the Gateway Arch is truly amazing… a marvel of engineering genius.
Christ-honoring, beautiful wedding on the bay in San Diego @tiffypics @lawbates … well done!
Weaknesses That Bite
You Can Still Respond
158 people went public with their faith in Christ by being baptized today @skylinechurch …158!! Many people truly experienced Easter this year! #HeisRisen
There’s just nothing like #OpeningDay @padres @mu59rove on the bump tonight! Let’s go Joe! #timetoshine
Staff Worship and Breakfast Leadership Talk @skylinechurch with one of the greatest leaders there is @pastorjackhdc
Do You Believe In Jeremy?
I am so proud of these two! They met in Jr. High School as a couple of 7th graders. Today they are engaged…. @rileymcgarity @kaden.gray excited for your future together!! ❤️

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