Joe Hamstra

Director of Community and Culture at Southwest Christian School (Fort Worth,TX). Married with 3 children. Follower of the Way, the Truth, and the Life

[Steve Bezner @Bezner]

They replied, “We have clearly seen how the Lord has been with you.”—Gen 26:28

Let us walk with the Lord in such a way that His presence is apparent to all.

[Joe Hamstra @optionfb]

Tweet tweet… I mean quack quack 🦆🦆QUACK PACK GONNA ATTACK! @VisitHotSprings

[Paul Simmons @PaulSimmonsHU]

When a time of praise breaks out at Slim Chickens!!! Searcy Slim Chickens shut their doors tonight and fed the semi-final bound Harding Bisons. Such an Amazing night together!!! Blessed beyond belief Huge love to Greg and Josh Rowden, Gene Morris. Let’s GO!!!

[Trad West @trad_west_]

He led the attack on Pearl Harbor but he died a Christian Missionary.

On December 7, 1941, Captain Mitsuo Fuchida flew the lead plane against Pearl Harbor, shouting the famous code "Tora! Tora! Tora!" He hated America.

But after the war, he met a former American POW (Jacob DeShazer) who had returned to Japan not to punish them, but to preach the Gospel.

Shocked by this forgiveness, Fuchida bought a Bible. He converted to Christianity in 1950.

The man who started the Pacific War spent the rest of his life touring the U.S. and Japan, preaching:

"I was a follower of the sword. Now I am a follower of the Cross."

[SCSFB @SCSEaglesFB]

Four straight! Varsity Football starts the season 4-0 for the first time since 2004!

[Jon Root @JonnyRoot_]

The Ohio State football team held their second Fall Kickoff event: “An invitation to Jesus”

Caleb Downs, Sonny Styles, Luke Montgomery & many other Buckeyes spoke to hundreds of students & athletes about their faith in Jesus Christ.

75+ were baptized

[Griffin “G-Block” Blocker @GriffinBlocker]

Had a great time at @RiceFootball! Thanks @cdavie51 and @_CoachMunch for having me out and for the great coaching! Enjoyed competing and getting coached up by yall!

[Joe Hamstra @optionfb]

@CoachWeaverMRA Okay. If you can remember, text me when you have a minute

[Drew Maddux @DrewMaddux]

Incredible…JESUS WINS!

[Dr. Chris Hobbs 🤜🏼 🤛🏽 @Dr_ChrisHobbs]

Sunday reflection: Our society’s great problem is believing that ‘the problem’ is ‘out there’ and the solution is inside of us.

The reality is ‘the problem’ is inside each of us, and ‘the solution’ is ‘out there’ beyond us found in the Creator of us.

#worldView

[Franklin Graham @Franklin_Graham]

“Everybody is looking for some sort of hope…and those things that we’re looking for can only be found in Jesus." — @kamm_o @OhioStateFB

Video credit @FoxNews

[Franklin Graham @Franklin_Graham]

Olympic gold medal winner Yemisi Ogunleye stuns the press with a beautiful song about how Jesus Christ has kept her. She sings, “I’m alive today because of His grace.” Thank you for not being ashamed of His Name Yemisi!

[Joe Hamstra @optionfb]

Dads, if you’re trying harder to raise an athlete than you are a disciple of Christ then you are missing the mark!

[Sports Spectrum @Sports_Spectrum]

“If I’m a Christian believer I need to coach through that avenue.

UNC baseball coach @CoachForbes_UNC after his team punched their ticket to Omaha for the 2024 College World Series.

[The Athletes' Corner @AthletesCorner_]

If you do nothing else today, stop and take 2 minutes to listen to Kentucky Baseball’s @Coach_Mingione PREACH during his press conference after his team punched its ticket to the College World Series for the first time ever.

Incredible stuff 🙏

[cammy undone @LarryCEvans]

Today is not the day we remember those who served our country…today we remember and honor those who never came home! May we never forget those men and women who gave their life for our ability to wake each and every day in freedom. God bless America.

[The Gospel Coalition @TGC]

Track and field athletes want to run fast, jump high, and throw far. I’m a varsity coach at a small Christian school, and I want this for our athletes too. I even want them to win.

This may sound strange, but I hope other schools want to win against us too.

I don’t say this because rivalry draws out better performances, though often it does. I want to coach in a way that cultivates intensity because our effort to win is part of what it means to glorify God in athletics.

Trying to win, however, is only part of glorifying God in sports. And not the biggest part either.

Whether coaches have full-time jobs in athletics or are parent volunteers, they have a wonderful opportunity to cultivate Christian maturity.

A coach can help an athlete rejoice with her teammate even though that teammate beat her in a close race. He can draw out respect for opponents, encouraging harmony with those an athlete is competing against. A coach can cultivate an athlete’s identity in Christ such that she could win the state championship and not become haughty, or tear an ACL and not be devastated.

We could simply call these lessons “coaching,” but this kind of coaching is an opportunity to cultivate what Augustine called “rightly ordered loves.”

𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗲𝘀

In Making Sense of God, Tim Keller said this about rightly ordered loves:

𝘈𝘶𝘨𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘣𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦, 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬, 𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘰, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦. . . . 𝘏𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘰𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵’𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴.

Though at the time I wouldn’t have had this language of disordered loves, in college I experienced what Keller describes. “Unhappiness,” however, may not be a strong enough word. My disordered loves had depressing consequences.

I competed as a decathlete for a Division I university. I “walked on” and didn’t receive a scholarship, but over my years of competing in college, I did have exceptional teammates, including three Olympians. Their exceptional skill always challenged me to improve—and it caused me crushing anxiety. I’d stress out before every competition and even began to feel this way about key practices.

My self-worth would yo-yo. If I did well in a competition, I’d feel like life was worth living. But if I did poorly—or even failed to improve—I wondered, What’s the point of it all? I loved training and athletic success far too much, and God far too little. My loves were disordered.

Amid this despair, Jesus drew me back to himself. He used Christian coaches, teammates, and mentors to show me the beauty of the gospel and how to rightly order my loves for God, sports, and everything else.

𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗢𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗲𝘀

The notion of rightly ordered loves is helpful for athletes because it pushes in several directions at once. Our various loves fall into place when they are done out of ultimate love for God—with thanksgiving for his good gift of athletics, submission to his will for the outcome of our games, and a desire to please him in all our attitudes and conduct. In this way, Christian coaches can help athletes learn to love sports and even to love winning—but only as much as winning should be loved.

Last spring, one of our athletes added five inches to our school high jump record, and I certainly cheered loudly. When I walk into the gym, I smile at the championship banners earned by teams I’ve helped coach. Paul spoke of physical training as having “some value” (1 Tim. 4:8). Behind these records and banners lies a ton of training, discipline, perseverance, teamwork, character development, and a ton of joy—all valuable. But as a Christian, I’m wary of times when excellence is loved too much. For Paul to say physical training has some value implies there are also limits to its value. Physical training can’t forgive our sins, be our savior, or give us ultimate purpose in this life and the life to come—the very things Paul says hope in Christ and training in godliness can give (1 Tim. 4:7, 9–10).

We know we’re asking too much from sports and winning when we are devastated not merely disappointed after a loss, when we struggle to shake the hands of our opponents after a game, when we regularly sacrifice time with God and gathering on the Lord’s Day in order to practice or compete, or when we feel envy toward teammates who excel beyond us rather than thanksgiving.

As a coach, I don’t pit effort and excellence against sportsmanship and character. This dichotomy is unnecessary. Instead, I help the students on the teams I coach understand that when we love God most, there’s room for both playing hard and playing fair. Indeed, we love our competitors best when we grow in our ability to do both.

𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗛𝗼𝘄?

Parents know that often “more is caught than taught.” The same goes for coaching. Athletes learn more from reading their coach’s countenance after a big win or loss than they do from what the coach says in the locker room. Coaches, we can undermine our lessons about the necessity of both hard work and rest if all we do is grind. We should consider what it communicates if we discipline athletes with extra sprints for missing free throws but not for being selfish teammates.

To help athletes rightly order their loves, we must first rightly order our own. We should pursue accountability from others, which means regular check-ins with other coaches, our athletic director, and other godly Christians who see us coach.

There are many ways to go about cultivating rightly ordered loves among a team. My college coach led a time called “Monday mindset” where he talked about virtue in sports and how to become a great teammate. Without saying it, these weekly meetings established a culture where it was clear there was more to sport than winning. Similarly, my wife begins her varsity basketball practices with a discussion question that help the girls on her team consider their hearts as they play. And when teams name captains, coaches should consider players with high character and not just the most skilled athletes.

Some of the best progress is made through one-on-one conversations (or confrontations) with athletes. By addressing rather than ignoring an athlete’s tantrum or apathy, I’ve been able to uncover and help them see some of their disordered loves that lay beneath their behavior.

𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲

An exceedingly small number of athletes will make a living by playing sports. But the lessons learned on the field aren’t lost when competitions end. When an athlete learns to love sports and God in proper proportion, it carries over to the rest of life. The best employees, citizens, business leaders, husbands and wives, parents, friends, and church members have rightly ordered loves.

I’m thankful for all the opportunities in the past that the Lord gave me to play sports. I also thank God for the opportunity in the present to coach sports in a way that cultivates love for God and love for others. The young men and women on our teams need practice at this, and so do I.

(“Christian Coach, Help Athletes Cultivate Rightly Ordered Loves” by Benjamin Vrbicek. Original article: https://t.co/QI68ZoiDNS)

[Temple TCS Baseball @TCSEagles_bsbl]

2024 SS with opposite field power #uncommitted @BearHerak11 @PBR_Uncommitted @PG_Uncommitted

[Joe Hamstra @optionfb]

At 5’10, 187 pounds with 4.6 speed, this safety needs to be on your radar @BIGHIM2006 @TempleEagles @bradodom @TrustMyEyesO @CoachKelley52 @AnthonyJonesFB @BrendtBedsole @CoachSplintaQ @TXPrivateFBGuy @BHoward_11 @TheSportyBee

[Joe Hamstra @optionfb]

This guy’s work ethic is unparalleled

[Maddox.Caffey @MaddoxCaffey]

385 for a light 5. Getting bigger and better, gained 20 pounds since the end of football season. #letswork @optionfb @TempleEagles @BB33fromE