By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
SANTA ANA, CA (ANS) -- Bill Alexson, at 6 feet 5 inches, is not only a giant in his ministry to the NBA, but is also a pioneer in the NBA Chapel Program and former chaplain for some 20 years with the Boston Celtics.
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Shimon Peres received a basketball with Bill Alexson (right) and Allan Houston (left) looking on |
He thought he had seen and experienced everything in basketball - until he went to Jerusalem last year with an all-Christian team of NBA stars.
Back in September 2010, ten past and present NBA basketball players belonging to the Christian athletic foundation Sports Power International made a week-long pilgrimage and solidarity visit to Israel, putting on clinics and exhibition games and meeting with dignitaries to express their support for the Jewish state.
Organized by Alexson, the tour featured former New York Knicks Allan Houston and Anthony Bonner, former Toronto Raptor Jerome Williams, ball-whiz Charles Smith of the Harlem Globetrotters, as well as Dwight Howard, Sr., father of one the NBA's top stars at present.
The 23-member delegation was hosted by President Shimon Peres at Beit Hanassi in Jerusalem, where he was presented with an NBA shirt.
The players were a big hit with youths from basketball leagues in the Jerusalem area on Tuesday as the NBAers dazzled them with trick passes and alley-oop dunks at a skills clinic. The team then played a friendly in the evening against Bnei HaSharon of the Israeli national league.
Alexson came into the studios of KWVE 107.9 FM in Santa Ana today (Friday, August 26, 2011) to do an interview with me for my Front Page Radio show. He was accompanied by Anthony Bonner, who also was on the Israel trip. Bonner selected by the Sacramento Kings in the 1st round (23rd overall pick) of the 1990 NBA Draft.
He played six seasons in the NBA for the Kings, New York Knicks, and Orlando Magic averaging 6.9 ppg in his career. He also played in Europe for several notable teams, including PAOK BC in Greece and Virtus Bologna Italy.
I first of all talked with Alexson, and we reminisced about a previous interview we did after this year's NBA Chapel service in Los Angeles and before the 2011 All-Star Game at the Staples Center, when Alexson talked about the visit to Israel.
"I'm the president Sports Power International (http://sportspower.org) and our mission is to take both current and former Christian NBA players around the world, including to Liberia, sharing the gospel. The NBA's been marketed like Coca Cola, so it's very impactful," he began.
"The purpose was for Christian NBA players to show their support for Israel and the Jewish people," he explained. "As we told the crowd at half-time, we were there because we believe what the Bible says; that the Jewish people are God's chosen people and the God who gave them the land is going to allow them to keep the land.
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President Shimon Peres presented with his personal NBA jersey |
"We met with the president at his residence with the media including television cameras, covering it.
President Peres took the microphone and said, 'You don't know what this means to us for you, as Christian NBA players, coming to show support of the Jewish people at this time.'
"The trip was off the charts for us. It changed our lives and it humbled us that God used us the whole country to let them know that there were Christians who had come to their land and show their support."
"If Christians don't take a stand; then who is going to?"
I then asked Alexson if he was from a Jewish background.
"No, I'm half Greek and half Irish, but I'm a spiritual Jew who knows Yeshua [Jesus] and He's the Messiah of the
Jewish people," he told me.
What was the big interest in going to Israel?
"Well, personally, as a Christian, I've always wanted to go to Israel because it's the Holy Land, but more than that, I had become aware of some countries who were distancing themselves from supporting Israel.
"So I wanted to do my part and I started talking to some of our NBA players about the possibility," he said. "Then the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the largest pro-Israel group lobby in America, heard about my interest and we cooperated together in the trip.
"And boy, did they take us on a tour. We went to the edge of the Gaza Strip, to the Lebanon border, and also to the religious sites. We even talked with an Israeli lady living near to the Gaza Strip who explained how she can't take a shower because 'the alarm might go off' and then she said she knew they were 'going to be sending rockets.'
"It was very moving experience. The ball players had their lives changed God used us and now we're taking NBA players around the world to preach the Gospel halftime on nationally televised games."
What other countries has he taken teams to?
"We've been to Belarus, in former Soviet Union," he replied. "This is a place where, if you speak publically about God you get three years minimum jail sentence. But, because President Alexander Lukashenko liked us -- he's a hockey player -- he said, "Do what you want.'
"So we did. We preached the gospel at halftime to millions of viewers, which is something that has never done before the history of the country. He called us up on a cell phone afterwards and said through a translator, 'Bill, I apologize that I wasn't there personally. I was called away to a sudden summit of former Soviet Union presidents to discuss economic matters, but I watched you on TV.
"He expressed his thanks for coming and for 'giving my people such a great holiday.' At that point, I thought, 'What am I doing here?' But then God spoke to my heart and said, 'Bill, this is not about you; it's about Me. But I use people like you so do not limit Me.' I realize that we cannot limit God in what He can do in your life personally and what He wants to do through you."
I then asked Bill Alexson how he ministers to people who have everything including fame and money.
"Good question," he replied, "but I have a better answer. Many people say, 'Wait a second. How do you get these rich and famous athletes in a locker room before a game to listen to you?' Well my answer is that because they're rich and famous and because they have everything that the world has to offer, that won't touch their inside. It's not going to help them with their marriage and it's not going to validate who they are.
"They're very frustrated. They're at the top rung of the ladder and they can't get any higher. Everyone wants to be in their shoes, but they are still looking for answers. So I tell them, 'You're special, not because you put a ball through a hoop and make money. You're special because God says you are. He has a plan for your life and you can know him personally. The Gospel is not about you getting yourself right; it's about believing in Christ what He did for you on the cross, and if you're smart you'll trust him and listen because He's got a plan that's way better than you can even imagine.'
"You'll be shocked how many ball players jump at that message."
What does an NBA star do when his career is over?
He replied, "I say, 'Come on and do something significant with me; use your athletic platform that you have.'
"If I can take famous football and basketball players from America overseas the people there don't care who they are. I'll take a second string NBA guy that you've never heard of and millions will watch us and we'll meet with heads of state. And when that ball player reads a comment card that says this on it, 'I was going to take my life, but after listening to you speak today, it changed my life,' that ballplayer's life is also changed for eternity.
"And it's fun. We're playing basketball and they don't care who we are, but we're revealing who Jesus Christ is. He's the Lord of Lord's and King of Kings. He's coming back to this planet and smart people need to put their trust in Him."
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Bill Alexson and Anthony Bonner in the KWVE studios after the interview for Dan Wooding's Front Page Radio |
Then I talked with Bonner, another giant who stands at 6 feet 8 inches, but not wanting to tower above me, he sat in the studio clasping a well-worn Bible and shared stories about his career and about the time he lost everything and finished up sleeping in his car in his native St. Louis.
"It was a really bad time, especially as people there knew who I was," he said. "But now things have turned around and now I am following Jesus as my personal Savior and my life is back on track. I am honored to be working with Bill Alexson and I really enjoyed being in Israel and seeing the places where Jesus walked."
Bonner said he is hoping to join a team of former NBA stars who are following Jesus at the 2012 Olympics in London, another event that Bill Alexson will be leading.
Like many who have left the glamor of the NBA, Bonner has discovered that God has given him and his colleagues a new ministry where they can still play the game they love so much and be a also witness for Christ around the world.
For them, that is a slam dunk for Christ!
| Dan Wooding, 70, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly "Front Page Radio" show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 200 countries. You can follow Dan on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel "Red Dagger" which is available this link. |
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