How do you evangelize? I do it by trying to reflect the characteristics of God. When I'm around people, I do what I think He would do. I feel joy around them, I'm happy, and I encourage them. I love them! These are all the things that I think Jesus did when He walked the streets with us.
A lot of times when people get around athletes, they think we have big heads, so they don't try to talk to us. And sometimes we can't talk to them. We have to focus on doing our jobs! But if I don't have anything to do, I try to say hi to people in the ballpark. I'm especially focused on the kids. I want them to know that we are human beings like them. I shake their hands and encourage them. I give them high fives. I let them know that I'm real, and I make sure they know that I hope the best for them. Sometimes parents ask if I have any advice, and I tell them to let their children dream. I think they should all dream really, really big.
I try to reflect Christ in a way that's positive. I'm not necessarily out there telling people that they need to accept Jesus as their savior. When you're representing a sports team, it's not really appropriate to do that. Since I don't always talk about God, I want to make sure that I exemplify the characteristics of Christ as much as possible. That way, people might follow me into other circles, where I do talk about God. Then we can have a dialogue.
When I talk to kids at community functions, I try to do the same thing. For example, I work with kids at a homeless youth shelter, and all I want to do is love on them. So I try as hard as I can to make sure that the characteristics of God positively ooze from me. I try to have the aroma of Christ 2 Corinthians 2:15. Through the aroma that I put off, I want these kids to feel good about who they are.
And I want them to come ask me what makes me different. If they do, then I tell them that I'm trying to reflect the love that I've been given. That's the love of Jesus, my Savior.
He died for me, and He gives me pure joy. I try to give that joy to them. I try to give that joy to you!
Jeremy Affeldt is a pitcher for the World Champion San Francisco Giants. (2014, 2012, 2010.)
He is the founder of Generation Alive (GenerationAlive.org). He's the author of "To Stir a Movement, Life Justice and Major League Baseball." He's been honored by the Not For Sale Campaign as its first Ambassador to combat human trafficking. Follow on twitter @JeremyAffeldt