Pickleball preachers

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Wednesday, January 3rd, 2024. This is WORLD Radio. Thanks so much for listening! Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Today on Concurrently: The News Coach Podcast: AI tools. As those tools improve, how should parents teach their kids to think about them? For that, Kelsey Reed is joined by Dr. Michael Finch. Here’s a preview:

KELSEY REED: How do we coach our children in this new age towards the expression of their imagination towards the relationship with these machines that learn?

MICHAEL FINCH: Yeah, absolutely. Well, the first thing is very similar to just how we treat the internet and all of that in general, which is be aware and limit. Things like ChatGPT, I think that they're phenomenal tools. They keep a history of everything that's been done. And so the biggest thing is to partner with your child in, you know, kind of figure out, start using these yourself so that you can then assist them as they're doing it. But the number one key is that not to let them use it to do work for them, but only let them use it to augment work that they're doing. You know, it can't write the paper for you. But you can ask it a question. Give me five ideas of what to do for an essay because I'm just drawing a blank, I don't know. Learn with it, learn from it. Maybe tell your student you know, go make a few things on Dall-E and then let's talk about them. And that's really the key is just to allow it to be an assistant, not to replace you know, make sure the kid does the essay themselves. Go back through and check the ChatGPT history and make sure there's no you know, prompts that would just be replacing their their authentic thinking. And then you can use it as that assistant to augment.

REICHARD: You can hear the entire episode of Concurrently today wherever you get your podcasts. And find out more at concurrentlypodcast.com.

BROWN: Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Pickleball and pastors.

SOUND: [TENNIS MATCH]

We’re all familiar with the sounds of tennis. What about pickleball?

SOUND: [PICKLEBALL MATCH]

REICHARD: The game that crosses tennis, ping-pong, and badminton is the fastest growing sport in the US for three years running.

BROWN: But not everyone is a fan. Maybe you’ve read how some homeowners’ associations are banning it because the sound is annoying. And neighborhood streets get clogged with parking anywhere near a pickleball court.

REICHARD: Yet pickleball players see the game as a fun way to get exercise. Pastors included! They see it as a unique—and fun—way to share the gospel. Here’s WORLD correspondent Amy Lewis with the story.

AUDIO: [Sound of pickleball lesson]

AMY LEWIS: It’s been a full day for Rich Lively. He’s already put in hours of planning and meetings with church committees and tournament organizers.

But this is his favorite part of the day: teaching pickleball lessons. Sometimes it’s to children as young as 11 or to grandparents in their 70s. Often it’s just whoever happens to already be at the courts. Today it’s lessons for a married couple from the community.

AUDIO: [Pickleball lesson]

LIVELY: Pickleball really is one of those things where you can grab a paddle, go out with any skill level and actually have a decent game within about 10 or 15 minutes of picking up a paddle. That's not true with tennis.

Lively knows because he used to play pro tennis. But now—he’s known as the Pickleball Preacher. He even installed three pickleball courts in his church’s gym when he pastored in Cocoa, Florida.

AUDIO: [Sound of match]

LIVELY: I, of course, would be over in my office, you know, writing sermons or having meetings or Bible studies and just doing the regular pastoral stuff. But I would take a break once a while and walk over there and just say ‘hi’ to people…

Those people would invite him to play. And he would. But then he faced the question of what to do at the end of the game. Should he get back to quote “ministry,” or sit and talk with the players?

LIVELY: And one guy who just wasn't really into the Christian thing, but he really enjoyed pickleball one day sat down when everybody was gone. And he said, “So, what's this whole thing about being born again in John three, that Nicodemus guy. What is that really all about?”

Writing Sunday’s sermon could wait. Lively took the opportunity to share the words of Jesus—this pickleball player must be born again—of the Spirit.

After 30 years in full time ministry, Lively and his wife moved to Tennessee…and made a career change.

AUDIO: [Sound of pickleball lesson]

LIVELY: And so we’re I guess taking a little bit of a break from full time paid ministry and doing some other stuff…

That “other stuff” is coaching pickleball and being a senior professional on a US tour.

LIVELY: But what I’ve found is Pickleball has provided some amazing opportunities for ministries. I’m kind of mixing it together.

AUDIO: [Sound of match]

His pickleball-pastor combo opens conversations with other players.

LIVELY: And they’d say, “Huh. You don’t look like one.” So then it would lead to other conversations, which were really neat, and I’d have opportunities to pray with them, or just share with them….

AUDIO: [Sound of match]

Jason Dorsey pastors a PCA church in Redmond, Washington. He’s been preaching through the book of Joshua.

SERMON: What I didn’t expect to find, but what I’m seeing again and again in every chapter is that the issue is always the people’s relationship to God, the leader’s and the people’s relationship to God.

He says pickleball saved his life.

AUDIO: [Sound of game]

DORSEY: It was the end of COVID. And I was languishing, personally, eating too much, drinking too much, not exercising. And Jenny, my wife, Jenny, said, “You know, you need to go to the Y.” And so she kind of dragged me there.

He plays at five different places. Often with—and against—people he considers to be in his parish. Dorsey says pickleball’s communal aspects meet people’s real needs.

DORSEY: It’s a great place for some of the ache of loneliness to be addressed, just because you’re having fun with people you’re playing, you’re getting to know them…

But he says it’s not all fun and games with pickleball.

DORSEY: Honestly, I think one of the downsides is that it’s very addicting. And I’m struggling with finding a healthy balance…

His wife wondered if she’d done the right thing when he began playing five or six hours at a time, most days of the week.

DORSEY: She dragged me to the Y, and then she’s like, “Now I’m a pickleball widow, because you’re always gone. You’re always playing.”

He’s pared it down to two or three hours a day a few times a week now. Despite his personal struggle, Dorsey sees playing as ultimately good, and not just because he’s lost 40 pounds.

DORSEY: It’s been a great fit for me in terms of my pastoral calling, especially in meeting people, making natural friendships, and being able to talk about my faith.

But he says he’s not using pickleball as a means to evangelize.

DORSEY: It actually is an end in itself, to relationship and to friendship. But at the same time, I am always evangelizing. I’m always trying to nurture, woo people to Jesus, and to, and encourage them to see that he’s beautiful and true and good and faithful and, and is the deepest need of their heart.

AUDIO: [Sound of game]

Pickleball Preacher Rich Lively says being a pastor—and sharing his faith—is a calling on his life, even if he’s not in a pulpit anymore.

LIVELY: I’m never going to stop being the Pickleball Preacher. I’m never going to stop being someone who hopefully will always have a reason to give the hope that I possess. It’s just, I don’t have to wear a three-piece suit anymore. I kind of like that.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Amy Lewis.

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