Good bye Pujols!

So Albert's off to Anaheim. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't bummed. You can get many of my posts about Albert (most of them directly involve evangelism) by clicking here. I wrote about Albert deciding on where he was going a while back (get that here) and trust he is following God's lead and not just the big bucks! That brings me to today's evangelism challenge. On a side note, this blog has focused a ton on evangelism but we've been focusing on other aspects of the Great Commission lately, namely discipleship and leadership development. I've been sharing my faith as much as ever and am excited to encourage you with this idea today! So back to the idea; everyone (at least everyone that loves baseball and sports) seems to have an opinion on Albert's decision. When this topic comes up, go ahead and apply the "getting to the gospel from a conversation about sports" idea. Share about Albert's own description of how he made his decision. If people think he was greedy (I personally want to believe the best about him), ask them why they think greed is bad and go that route back to the gospel. Bottom line, yet again, this is a hot topic that can easily be brought back to the gospel so give it a shot! While you're at it, don't forget to check out the 25 Christmas evangelism ideas and 141 easy evangelism ideas. Well, it's been a great 11 years Albert. Thanks for the memories. I hope, trust and pray you will keep following Christ boldly and sharing the Good News wherever He leads you. We'll sure miss you. Check out a recent interview with the Pujolses here; I'm inclined to take their word! Also check out Albert's testimony below that!

Pujols Decides Where He's Going...

Yes, Pujols has decided where he is going. He said, "We're going to be praying about it and whenever the time comes we'll make that decision. We're just going to see where God takes us. I don't want to get ahead of God's plan..." There you have it: Pujols' plan is to go wherever God leads!!! I couldn't resist the opportunity to illustrate yet again how Pujols is constantly pointing back to Jesus. Obviously I hope he stays with the Cards but I am excited to hear he is relying on God as he decides. He made these remarks during the unveiling of a statue made of him. The statue depicts him pointing upwards as he often does, acknowledging God. He described that this way, "There's going to be a lot of people asking, 'Well, why is he not swinging the bat?' That's to remind me it's not about me, but it's about Jesus Christ who gave his life so we can have eternal life. It's really easy to lose focus when you have millions of people telling you how great you are." It's funny, only one of the articles about this statue unveiling caught these remarks. Thank you Jesus for blessing Pujols as he openly shares his faith from the platform you've given him! What an example of evangelism. You can get more of what I've written about Pujols, including his testimony here. You can get the article these quotes came from here. Thank God he has decided to go where God leads and keep praying he makes the right decision about the location he ends up in!

Get a few quick evangelism tips here (and more than 130 more ideas here):

The Greatest Performance in World Series History!!!

What a game last night!!! Pujols put on quite the show, setting and/or tying 3 World Series records in a single game. Historic for sure. After the game, Tony La Russa said, "There it is, the greatest night in World Series history. And we saw it." True to form, Pujols pointed back to God and took none of the glory, saying, "I just thank God that I was able to come out today and help our ballclub to win and hopefully I can do that tomorrow again." Read more on this epic performance here and see the home runs here. I've written before on Albert's commitment to Christ and posted his testimony as well (get that here and another video here). I've written about learning an important spiritual truth after listening to a game that Albert did great in (get that here). I've written about how I use Albert to get into spiritual conversations (get that here and get ideas on sharing Christ from all sorts of conversations about sports, including a list of Christian athletes here). Bottom line, it was great seeing Albert put on what was likely the greatest single performance by any payer in any World Series game ever. I hope you get a chance to talk about this great game and to transition to Christ from that conversation. Way to go Pujols. Check out this picture of our family of Cardinal fans at Busch stadium this summer and check out Albert's testimony below that (and learn how to put your testimony together here)!