Packing Walt Nesbitt's Sunflower Seeds

“To wash feet may be servile, but to wash His feet is royal work. To untie sandals is poor employment, but to unloose the Master's shoe is a princely privilege.” – C.H. Spurgeon

During the 24 years that I served as founder and executive director of The Saints Prison Ministry, I wore a bunch of different hats. However, my favorite “hat” was an actual ballcap that I wore as manager and second baseman on one of our touring softball teams. I can’t begin to tell you how much I enjoyed those long Saturday trips that started around 5:00 AM and ended well past midnight. We would travel 3-4 hours to a prison in Upstate New York or Central Pennsylvania, play an afternoon doubleheader, and then travel to another prison for an evening doubleheader before grabbing a quick dinner and making the same 3 or 4-hour drive home.

And then there were those 8-day and 7-night crusades where we would play as many as 25 games in 8-10 different correctional institutions. How I wish I could relive those days!

What made those day trips and weeklong crusades so special was the camaraderie on our closeknit team; the opportunity to play a sport we loved against some high-level competition in front of hundreds of cheering inmates; and most importantly, the privilege of sharing the Gospel with thousands of inmates every season, many of whom trusted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

However, those prison trips didn’t just happen. Someone (me) had to schedule the games and plan the itinerary; order and inventory the bats, balls, and uniforms; pack the literature and first aid bags; and make sure our portable sound system was in working order. I was even responsible for buying snacks for my teammates, sweeping out the bus when we got home, and unpacking everything… only to repack it a few days later for the next prison trip.

Sure, I was also responsible for hiring and supervising our 10 employees, raising funds for our $600,000 annual budget, cultivating our thousands of donors and overseeing our hundreds of volunteers, and writing and editing our quarterly newsletters among a myriad of other responsibilities. But truth be told, making sure that Walt Nesbitt had a full supply of sunflower seeds was as rewarding as anything else I did.

In a nutshell, I believed in servant leadership and so, I tried never to ask someone to do something that I wasn’t willing to do myself… just like Jesus did when He washed His disciples’ feet at the Last Supper.

“So He got up from the supper, laid aside His outer garments, and wrapped a towel around His waist. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel that was around Him.” John 13:4-5 (BSB)