TIM DREW VISITS AKRON
DECEMBER 13-17, 2000

LONG BEFORE LEBRON WAS A HOUSEHOLD NAME AND THE CITY OF AKRON WAS BEING VISITED BY SPORTS PERSONALITIES FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD, TIM DREW CAUGHT THE VISION OF WHAT GOD WAS STARTING TO DO.  HAVING ALREADY SEEN THINGS FIRST HAND WHILE PERFORMING FOR THE AKRON AEROS IN THE CLEVELAND INDIANS FARM SYSTEM, TIM WAS EAGER TO RETURN.  

SPORTS PERSONALITIES AND MEDIA "EXPERTS" LAMENTED ABOUT THE NEED FOR QUALITY LEADERS TO INVEST IN LEBRON JAMES DURING THIS PAST YEAR.   LITTLE DID THEY KNOW THAT A LOCAL PRO, TIM, HAD ALREADY JOINED WITH TEAM JAM TO START THAT INVESTMENT BACK DURING MR. JAMES' TENTH GRADE YEAR.

OF COURSE, TIM IS NOT A RESPECTER OF PERSONS.  HIS EFFORTS AMONG THE ST. V. BASKETBALL TEAM WERE JUST SOME OF THE MANY YOUNG PEOPLE HE IMPACTED IN ONE OF HIS WEEKEND VISITS HERE.

AND NOW YOU WILL KNOW . . .

THE REST OF THE STORY

The phone call went something like this . . . 

"Hey Tim, you want to catch a flight up here to Akron and speak a couple of places to some kids?"
Tim thought for all of about five seconds, asked what days we wanted him to come, and he replied . . .
"Sure, book me a flight !!  I'm there".
And so, that was how it started.  Tim was supposed to arrive on a Wednesday, speak to a men's group in Cuyahoga Falls on Thursday morning, Medina's Christian School Chapel on Friday and find a group of kids at an Akron school that might let him visit.
But by the time it was all done, Tim had spoken to groups NINE times and personally visited individuals at ballgames or wrestling meets four additional times.  All this in just five days.  He was literally visiting kids from sun up to well past sun down each day that he was here.  

Tim and Corey Fuller (then with the Cleveland Browns) after a JAM Session with TEAM JAM

More details:

Hope Community Church Youth Programs (Hudson)           Wednesday night
At the church that John and Pam attend, they have started an AWANA program for the purpose of providing a program for children that teaches them Bible verses and gives them a lot of interaction with adults.  AWANA is much like a Christian Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts with more emphasis on scripture memory than crafts.  This particular group is for pre-school ages through fourth grade.  Tim Drew and Valdosta college baseball player, Joey Nygem, assisted the church in listening to the children say their Bible verses as well as aiding in supervising.  At the end of the night, Tim spoke to the entire youth department of almost 100 youth and adults, as the pre-schoolers thru the high schoolers were brought together at the end to see carols, hear Tim speak, talk to him afterward and enjoy some Christmas bakery.

       Cuyahoga Falls Men's  Group                                 Thursday morning breakfast
At 8 am, Tim was already speaking to a mens Bible Study group at the request of Fred Jennings.  This group has been meeting monthly for 25 years.  Tim shared the importance of Christ in his life and how much it is the driving force behind his baseball career.  Three of the men there responded to the opportunity to ask Christ to be their Savior after another speaker, a local pastor, shared the Bible lesson.

Steve Culp's 5th grade class at Rankin Elementary                Thursday morning
Upon our request, Steve was gracious to arrange for us to visit his classroom at Rankin.  When we arrived, we found out that we were going to be able to speak to ALL the fifth grades.  Tim shared how important it was to focus on the priorities our parents teach us, like respecting our parents and teacher, respecting and following God, and doing well in school.  Tim spent a lot of time answering questions about baseball and then signed autographs for everyone that wanted them in each of the classrooms.  Steve is also an assistant coach for Akron St. Vincent - St. Mary's boys basketball team.

St.Vincent - St. Mary's boys basketball team                                 Thursday afternoon
Coach Keith Dambrodt of the #3 nationally ranked team in the country in boys high school basketball, permitted Tim to speak to the team before practice began.  Tim stressed the importance of making or keeping God first in your life ESPECIALLY in the middle of success.  This is precisely what Tim is trying to do in the middle of his success in sports, instead of choosing only to seek out God when times are rough.  Tim spoke to several of the players individually, even visiting them at two more games later in the weekend to challenge them further about their personal spiritual maturity.  This is one of the most gifted basketball teams ever assembled in Akron, and the majority of the players are sophomores or juniors.  One of those sophomores was prep sensation LeBron James.  Tim's testimony was of considerable interest to LeBron because he spoke directly about how HE had been drafted immediately out of high school in the first round . . .much like LeBron might  (and actually DID) end up having to face.  LeBron was especially affected by Tim's attention.

Visited Buchtel H.S. prior to the girls basketball game                  Thursday afternoon
Driving from school to school with John, picking up young men who wanted to go to the JAM Session at Corey Fuller's, Tim got the chance to meet boys basketball coach, Harvey Sims, Carlos Alexander and Charlton Keith. He also met TEAM JAM's girl track star,Shamika Thomas.    Most of this stop was spent just meeting some of the young people that TEAM JAM has invested in.


Firestone High School's junior varsity basketball team                Thursday afternoon
Driving by with John to pick up some young men who wanted to go to Corey Fuller's house, the men stopped by Firestone.  Varsity practice was over, but assistant Coach Williams permitted John to introduce Tim to the team and establish his interest in them and his availability to help them with their lives.


Corey Fuller's house for TEAM JAM's JAM Session                     Thursday evening
This was the final JAM Session for the season, and it was the best.  Twelve TEAM JAM athletes were present and Corey had 5 of his friends (non-football) attend as well.  Tim and Joey joined us to complete a group that had gathered from Florida, New York City, Minnesota, Georgia and Akron,Ohio.  Corey lead the study and discussion and Tim echoed what Corey was sharing.  Their main point of discussion was the high level of temptation that comes with the highest level of athletic accomplishment. Both men challenged everyone present to live for God especially when successful. Yet no matter how much you have, worldly speaking, it doesn't make you happy - just like King Solomon learned and wrote about in the Bible.  All the hype about things on earth is actually meaningless in comparison to the happiness that is available through God.   They also emphasized that most of the time, an athlete is on his own, where it's just you and God.  Most people don't understand how hard it is to be a solid Christian athlete and do what's right, but Tim and Corey are taking the challenge.

Medina Christian School Chapel                                                Friday morning
Tim addressed the middle school and the high school at their morning chapel, even staying afterward to sign autographs for a long line of students.  Once again the message was to put God first and strive to please Him above all else.  This was on the heals of a chapel the previous week where 7 or 8 students made decisions to follow God and let Him be their Savior.

St. Vincent - St. Mary Basketball game                                       Friday evening
Students were mingled with during the game with several middle school boys and even some Kent State basketball players (watching the game), getting quite  a surprise when they found out a Cleveland Indians pitcher was befriending them and talking to them about Christ.  After the game, Tim visited with each of St. Vincent's players to emphasize his personal interest in them.  Some of those included Dru Joyce, Chad Mraz, Miquel Irvin (Akron U. football and St. V. grad), Jermany Johnson, Romeo Travis, and LeBron James.

Hudson HS's Wrestling tournament (Over 20 teams)               Friday night
At first it looked like the tournament was done for the day, waiting to resume the next morning.  But there were still people who had just finished wrestling and had not left the building yet.  Several young men from Hudson's wrestling team, one which just happened to have some serious spiritual questions.   That young man was pretty pleased to have a couple of men answer them as well as benefit from the memory of being with Tim Drew when he decided to pray to ask Christ to be His Savior.

Visited Greg Lewis                                                                               Saturday noon
Greg, a senior at Winthrop U., home for Christmas break because an injury is causing him to redshirt this year's basketball season.  Greg was chosen as the pre-season MVP in his conference and was all-conference last year.  After picking Greg up, Tim spent the whole day with him, first speaking together at the detention home in Cleveland where John works and then going to the basketball tournament together.  
(NOTE:  Greg ended up being an ALL-AMERICAN at Winthrop and now plays professionally in Europe)

Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention Home                                 Saturday afternoon
Tim, Joey Nygem and Greg all spoke to one of the units in the detention home.  Dante Booker was supposed to as well, but he arrived too late on the plane.  Tim shared that even though he can't completely relate to all the trouble and difficulties the detention home residents have been through, God is great because he is powerful enough to spare people from a sin filled life.  Greg shared how he remembers how he once used to be in and out of a detention home and that it is true, God can bring people into your life to help you change your whole direction.  Joey explained how God has helped him reach dreams in his life that he believed were unreachable, but that God didn't start blessing him until he was content to trust God with what He was doing for him.

Picked up Dante Booker at the airport                                          Saturday night

John sent Tim and Joey to pick up Dante Booker at the airport, even though none of them had ever met each other before.  Fortunately, Greg was there to help find Dante.  Of course, how hard is it to find a 6'3" 275 pound, walking block of granite!!!  The four of them went to dinner and then the games at Walsh HS, giving four talented Christian men quite a bit of time to get to know each other.  Thanks for the dinner Tim. 

(NOTE:  Dante finished his college career at Auburn U. in 2002 and is now with the Indianapolis Colts)

Basketball Games at Walsh HS                                                        Saturday night
Can you imagine the sight of 6'6" basketball star Greg Lewis, defensive lineman Dante Booker (both from Akron), professional baseball player Tim Drew, and college baseball player Joey Nygem at this basketball game together spending time befriending high school kids.  From what I hear, at times the people around this crowd were spending more time talking than watching the game, even though national power St. V, AND prep phenom LeBron James was playing again. A lot of people were happy to see this group because of all the good things they have been hearing.  


Hope Community Church Sunday Services                                Sunday Morning

This was the Sunday for Hope Community Church's Christmas program for the children.  Pastor Witt pointed out at the end that when you teach a young person about Christ, you just can't tell when they are young, who you might be impacting.  He then introduced Tim and pointed out that Tim accepted Christ as His Savior as a young child, choosing to follow God.  Those who invested in him then could never anticipated what great things God had in store for him already at such a young age.  Tim spoke after these comments at both services, emphasizing that his number one priority in life is Jesus Christ. 

We are grateful to Tim for his tireless effort and willing spirit.  He visited us prepared to minister and prepared to let God use him. Some day, when these young people see Tim pitch on a regular basis in the major leagues, they will run to their room to look at the autographed stories they received this week about Tim's life . . . and it will be then that they may really understand the fact that someone that accomplished took so much time to get to know them personally.

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