Our church is part of the Men's Slow Pitch Church League here in Victoria. Each Monday night, through the spring and early summer, the SBC team plays a double header against another church team from around Greater Victoria.
This league has been going for years. Several years ago I played on our church's team until I found that attending my children's little league games was more of a priority. This past year however I have been able to come out each week to watch my oldest son play on the SBC team. Now the season is done let me give the pros and cons to church baseball leagues:
The Pros
I get to watch my son play ball, I really like cheering him on.
It gives men who attend SBC a chance to get to know one another.
You can invite your unchurched friends to come and play baseball with a few Christian guys, which will hopefully be a positive experience.
I get to see Ev Davis play shortstop, he's awesome for a middle aged guy.
By losing most of their games the SBC team gets the opportunity to put a serving towel over their gloves and each week allow the other teams to feel good about themselves. So nice of our guys to serve in this way.
I am proud of the players on our team, both those who go to our church and those who don't, they represented SBC well.
The Cons
No umps. Each team umps themselves, crack the wallet and hire some umps! Everyone would have much more fun.
The witness to those unchurched guys (see number 3 above) can be hampered by the actions of some Christ followers on some teams who think they are playing professional slow pitch. Stop whining, stop complaining, stop embarrassing the name of Christ. Take a pill boys, it is supposed to be fun! Someone said to me, "The men's beer league is way more relaxed and fun", maybe that's what the league is missing.
