Specialized Reporting Story 2: Mt. Vernon Baptist Church Open Basketball Ministry

When asked to spot Tim Greene, players at Mt. Vernon Baptist Church open basketball ministry seemed to answer along the lines of, “it’s the old guy holding his own on the court.”

Greene, a ministry leader at Mt. Vernon, organizes the church’s open basketball ministry and has been a part of it for 30 years since members started coming together to play and share the word of the Lord.

While many participants joke about Greene’s age and ability, they also share similar answers when asked about what Greene means to them personally. Words like leader, mentor and teacher were brought up.

“He’s just a great mentor to me,” said James Privette, a Watauga High School freshman and Mt. Vernon member. “He’s personally very close to me, just because he took me in when I first moved here, and he’s really just a strong person.”

Greene says that open basketball night started as a way for members to get together and enjoy basketball, but as more young people started coming, it quickly turned into a ministry that expanded beyond Mt. Vernon.

“Other churches come too, so it’s a whole community thing and getting to share the gospel and build relationships with them,” Greene said.

He said a few young guys who would only come to basketball eventually started going to church at Mt. Vernon. Greene likes to see when young guys whose only affiliation with Mt. Vernon is basketball become more involved in other parts of the church. He mentioned young single and married guys who he has seen eventually begin attending services at Mt. Vernon and bringing their families.

Greene says his favorite part of the ministry is sharing that people can compete, have fun and do it for the Lord. He said he enjoys seeing guys grow spiritually and connect to the church in whatever way they can.

Cody Pace, a high school junior and very active member of Mt. Vernon, says he started coming on Tuesday nights because of how nice the people are, the devotions and talking and playing for God with a bunch of people.

Pace says he loves the idea of playing for the Lord, knowing that you’re playing for Him and that the Lord gives you strength, too.

Privette says his favorite part about open-court basketball is that he gets better at basketball, works out, sweats and has fun with friends. He also said that Greene’s influence has a large impact, as well.

“He’s a really strong leader,” Privette said. “He’s a strong prayer as well. He knows what to pray for, and he always gets to the bottom of things.”

Greene said that there are different speakers, anyone from players who have gone on elsewhere to former coaches, who come and speak to the crowds. And, as a rule, somewhere they must share the gospel.

“We try to share the gospel, and then have a point that we want to bring up,” Greene said.

Privette says he has grown stronger in his faith and become a better basketball player by coming to open basketball at Mt. Vernon.

With only one gym and numbers reaching about 35 people, keeping people playing becomes a point of emphasis.

“When we have that type of number, to make sure people keep coming back, because we want to share the gospel and build relationships with as many people as we can, we’ll go two new fives every game instead of the winning team staying up,” Greene said.

Greene said that in the short amount of time he has with the participants, he tries to direct them somewhere else in the church.

“They are coming here for a reason,” Greene said. “Some of these guys will come out and may not be great basketball players or want to sweat a lot, but they come just to hang out with the guys and participate in fellowship.”