Crawford Baptist softball team’s mission more than winning games

Crawford Baptist softball team’s mission more than winning games

By Grace Thornton
The Alabama Baptist

Jared Baria and a bunch of other guys had been playing church softball together for a few years when they realized something.

“These days softball and travel ball are such huge industries,” Baria said. “People often spend more time at the field than they do at church.”

So the team, which played for Crawford Baptist Church, Mobile, decided about five years ago that they had an opportunity to broaden their base and reach into the unreached part of the community around them.

Reaching people

“We decided to start playing in open tournaments, not just church league tournaments,” Baria said. “We thought if we spent one or two Saturdays a month out there we might have the opportunity to pray with people and reach people,” he said.

And that’s just what’s happened, according to James Pearce, who sponsors the team.

“We just wanted to show that you can play softball and be a winner but do it in the right way with the right values,” he said.

So they did. The group of men from Crawford Baptist pulled together players from other area churches and began to play together as a team called the Brotherhood. Pearce said it was founded on 1 Peter 1:22 — “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.”

The verse is written on the back of each team jersey.

Because of this, the team has “been able to share that verse with many who have asked,” Pearce said. “They have been able to pray with opponents, umpires and injured players.”

They’ve also worked together to clean yards for the elderly and the homebound. They’ve led a water bottle ministry, handing out water bottles to players and families during tournaments.

Some players also have led softball camps. And during the tournaments they play in, team members lead devotionals and prayers for whoever would like to attend.

“The longer we play in tournaments and invest in the community, the more people get to know who we are and what we are about,” Pearce said.

Players from opposing teams have even noticed the way they conduct themselves and asked to join their team, he said.

“It has been amazing to see God use a game to change the lives of others through this team of young men,” Pearce said.

They’ve won along the way, too — they were named Baptist State tournament champions in 2015 and 2016.

In 2017 they finished fourth out of 160 teams at the USSSA World Tournament held at Walt Disney’s Wide World of Sports. Following the tournament, they were ranked No. 1 in overall power ranking for E class softball.

But Baria said it’s much more than just playing the game well.

“The Brotherhood has really grown not just to be a winning team but a team that’s winning the people around them,” he said.

Not only that, some of the men of the Brotherhood have children who are playing baseball on a team called the Little Brotherhood.

“We’re reaching the next generation too,” Baria said.