LAS VEGAS (ABP) — NBA players are glamorized for hardwood highlights and lifestyles of money, honeys and hip-hop swagger. But on Sunday morning of All-Star weekend in Las Vegas — the NBA's biggest bash in America's premier party city — players, executives, even agents, gathered to praise God and preach faith.
This was an NBA-sanctioned worship service. It lacked ESPN's bluster and hype, but the All-Star Chapel boasted spiritual substance and biblical truth in the midst of a city and league that emphasize hedonism and celebrity.
The annual chapel service is a public extension of the league's volunteer chaplain program and a regular part of All-Star weekend.
Miami Heat forward Wayne Simien, a regular at pre-game chapels, opened the Feb. 18 gathering in prayer. Simien said there are many Christians in the league, although the NBA doesn't promote that fact.
Throughout the long season, the weekly chapels create a network of believers who can meet regularly for services and then gather informally on road trips. They can keep each other grounded in their faith, Simien said.
“God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble,” he said, quoting Scripture. “Everyone else wants to elevate us up, but ultimately Christ is the only thing that should be elevated in our lives.”
About 110 people attended this year's All-Star Chapel. They gathered in a convention room off the beaten path in the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino — a resort better known for blood sports like the Ultimate Fighting Championship and for the Rum Jungle, a “seductive and sensual dining and dance club.”
Seductive and sensual dining? Las Vegas oversells debauchery until it seems like satire. Rum Jungle may serve calamari and coconut shrimp, but marketers lure revelers with S-E-X.
NBA players are familiar with such titillation, and the league has a reputation for decadence. The pros are pursued in every city by groupies — and the girls were in full force at Las Vegas hot spots. Players were advertised as “special guests” throughout the weekend to draw in partiers at trendy clubs. Friday night, a list of NBA stars headed the bill at a topless club's “Babes and Ballers” party — one of hundreds of All-Star spin-off events during the weekend.
The raw confluence of the NBA and Las Vegas stood in stark contrast to the quiet All-Star Chapel held a few hours before the game. None of this year's All-Stars attended the service, which was much more public than the regular chapel services hosted by their chaplains in the teams' cities.
NBA chapels started in February 1979, after forward Bobby Jones was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. Jones and Pat Williams, then the team's general manager, collaborated for the first chapel, held before a Milwaukee Bucks game. It was attended by five people, including 76ers coach Chuck Daly and Julius Erving — aka Dr. J — one of the 50 greatest NBA players of all time.
Pat Williams is now senior vice president of the Orlando Magic and the author of more than 30 books. The seed he and Jones planted in 1979 has yielded volunteer chaplains for all 31 teams, who lead chapel services for home and visiting players before every game. The competitors gather in the bowels of arenas, often only a handful at a time. They are a godly remnant, seeking spiritual surrender when the surrounding world indulges them with fame, fortune, pleasure and power.
The chaplains also offer pastoral care to the players and their families, performing weddings and offering counseling when asked.
The All-Star Chapel started in 1981. About a decade ago, the NBA made it an official part of the weekend's events. Williams schedules worship leaders and Bible teachers, who have included John MacArthur and James Dobson. Sunday, gospel artist Sandi Patty led worship, closing the service with a stirring rendition of “How Great Thou Art.”
Pastor Vance Pitman of Hope Baptist Church, one of the city's fastest-growing churches, preached a passionate message of God's sovereignty.
Williams said there's a nucleus of Christians in the NBA that seems to be growing and is united in an informal fellowship. The group includes some of the game's biggest names — Dwight Howard of the Magic, Dwayne Wade of the Miami Heat and Chris Paul of the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets.
The NBA is full of earthly pursuits, Williams said, but the hour-long chapel might be the most important event of the weekend because “the claims of Christ are presented and lives are changed.”
NBA players have experienced the glories and sensual delights that so many people strive for, he said. But if that's all they seek, they find themselves “stripped and unfulfilled,” he said.
“At the end of the day they ask: Is that all there is? Why am I so empty? Why am I not happy?”
When they discover the answer lies in a relationship with God, Williams said, they become passionate about their faith.
“A ballplayer is focused, hard-working and speaks the language of victory,” Williams said. “Then when they learn about the ‘ultimate victory,' you've got a fireball on your hands.”
Washington Wizards chaplain Jake Butler said one of the most important lessons he instills in players is that God has blessed them athletically for a purpose.
“This is a God-given talent, a God-given gift,” Butler said. “The Christian's first challenge should be to be thankful to God for playing in the NBA.”
Dwight Howard, the 6-foot-11 superstar from the Magic, used his jaw-dropping skills to praise God in Saturday's slam-dunk contest.
By NBA measures, Howard could have a right to be arrogant. He has a 38-inch vertical leap and was the first overall pick in the 2004 draft. During All-Star weekend, a giant version of Howard's No. 12 East All-Stars jersey adorned the 100-foot-tall replica of the Statue of Liberty on the Las Vegas Strip.
But in the slam-dunk contest, Howard generated the most buzz and made a spiritual statement. With his right hand, he slammed home an alley oop, while simultaneously using his left to paste a sticker to the backboard, two-and-a-half feet above the 10-foot rim.
It took a minute for the stunned crowd to understand what he'd done. Cameras zoomed in on the sticker, which was, astonishingly, just inches from the top of the glass. It featured Howard's beaming face and the hand-written inscription: “All things through Christ. Phil. 4:13.”
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— Marshall Allen is a journalist in Las Vegas.