Taking the Nestea Plunge

“When God calls you to do something, He has already made a way for it to be accomplished. Your faith must be mixed with action.” – Os Hillman

Another story that bears repeating, because it jives so well with today’s quote…

From 1982 to 1986, I was increasingly burdened by a vision God had given me for a new ministry. Not a literal “vision” mind you, but rather a feeling deep down in my soul that God wanted me to pursue this new ministry endeavor.

It wasn’t that I was shirking my duty or delaying things unnecessarily. On the contrary, I was praying hard and seeking God’s clear direction as He gradually put the vision together piece by piece, just like a jigsaw puzzle.

The first piece was me graduating from college with a recreation degree. The second piece was going through a period of brokenness that stripped me of my pride. The third piece was our church softball team disbanding, leaving a bunch of players with no place to play.

There were some other pieces mixed in there too, such as meeting a player from a softball team called the Christian Nine, which toured Latin America looking for places to share their faith. That really inspired me as did the job interview where the man who was planning to hire me sensed that my real passion was in ministry, not real estate.

And so, I took the plunge. Not the “Nestea Plunge” made famous in TV commercials during the 1970s, but the ministry plunge.

Within a few months, I had assembled a softball team comprised of committed Christian players, but where did God want us to play? In a church league? A local rec league? Or perhaps a firehouse league – or even a bar league – just so we could witness to players on the other teams?

Nope… God wanted me to take my fledgling team into area prisons, to compete against the inmates and preach the gospel. Sounds crazy, especially for a guy who to this day has never gotten as much as a speeding ticket.

But when God says “jump” the only correct response is “how high?” Our team, the South Jersey Saints, “jumped” behind bars for the first time on June 6, 1987, and saw eight men make professions of faith in Jesus Christ at the Bayside State Prison in Leesburg, NJ.

Over the next 35 years, I accompanied softball, basketball, soccer, volleyball, and powerlifting teams into hundreds of prisons throughout North America and Africa, sharing the gospel with hundreds of thousands of inmates and seeing an estimated 30,000 of them trust Jesus as their Savior. As Os Hillman said in today’s quote, faith must be mixed with action.

Here are some final words from Os…

“As you step into obedience, God will meet you there. Until you place your foot into the water, just as the priests did when carrying the ark across the Jordan, you will not experience the power of faith that can part waters.”

“So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead.” James 2:17 (BSB)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President