MLB All-Star Craig Reynolds: Surrender to God

Aug 24, 2022

25 min read

Updated: Sep 21

He was the first shortstop drafted for the all new Mariners team in 1977...and played for the American League All Star team that year. You'll hear his story about the challenging time in Seattle when he was ready to give it all up.

Craig Reynolds started his love of baseball as a kid, and was drafted right out of high school.

He was born into a Christian home and has spent a life time doing his best to live out his Christian values during his 14 years in major league baseball and then well beyond as a teaching pastor at one of Houston's largest churches.

Pastor Craig shares how he was able to transition from the "plate" to the "pulpit" and how relationships were and are a cornerstone to his spiritual life. We take a deep dive into the amazing life of this energized man of God in this episode of AMAZING GREATS.

If you enjoyed this conversation or other episodes, please help us grow our podcast by subscribing, sharing and "liking" .

Thanks to George Toles for connecting us with Craig. For more on George's incredible life long mission check out https://www.hisdeal.org

Thanks to Klem Daniels for producing and editing each of our episodes.

CRAIG REYNOLDS AT A GLANCE

Former MLB All-Star Shortstop • Original Seattle Mariners Player • Houston Astros Veteran • Pastor

Topics

Major League Baseball • Seattle Mariners • Houston Astros • Christian athletes • Faith • Pro Athletes Outreach • Pastoral ministry • Identity • Accountability • Calling • Psalm 37:5 • God's grace

His Faith Journey

Christian home → Came to Christ at 14 → Mission trip commitment to follow God's will → MLB career → Christian accountability and fellowship → Pro Athletes Outreach → Church ministry → Preaching pastor

This Episode Explores

Growing up in a Houston baseball family
Being drafted in the first round out of high school
Playing for the original Seattle Mariners
His 11 years with the Houston Astros
Following Jesus through a professional sports career
Christian accountability with teammate Terry Puhl
The influence of George and Liz Tolls
Pro Athletes Outreach and Christian athletes
Moving from Major League Baseball into pastoral ministry
Finding identity beyond baseball
A pivotal crisis of faith during his Seattle career
Learning to surrender his career to God
His ministry at Second Baptist Houston
Why Christian community matters after sports
Living by Psalm 37:5

Questions Answered

Who is Craig Reynolds?
How did Craig Reynolds get into baseball?
How did he become a Christian?
How did he handle his faith in Major League Baseball?
What was Pro Athletes Outreach?
Why did Craig Reynolds become a pastor?
How did he handle life after baseball?
What happened during his difficult season in Seattle?
What did Craig learn about surrendering his career to God?
What role did George Tolls play in his life?
How does Craig approach ministry and preaching?
What is Craig Reynolds' life verse?

Core Story

Craig Reynolds' journey from Major League Baseball to pastoral ministry is a story of surrender, Christian community and learning to trust God with every season of life.

Podcast Transcript: Craig Reynolds on Baseball, Faith, Identity & Following God's Call

Amazing Greats with Ric Hansen

From the Mariners to the Astros

Ric Hansen: Well, you've heard me talk about this gentleman by the name of George Tolls. George is a super friend of mine, my spiritual guide, a wonderful person, and he has a lot of connections, especially in the sports world.

George has now hooked me up with a guy named Craig Reynolds.

Craig Reynolds was the original shortstop on the original Mariners team. He was the first draft choice, played for two years, played in two All-Star Games, went on to play with the Astros for many years after that — 11 years — and is now a pastor in Houston.

He's our special guest today. I think you're really going to enjoy this. Here's a guy who's been a Christian all of his life and has a great Christian story.

Here's Craig Reynolds.

We are live and direct just outside Houston, Texas, with a Major League Baseball great. Somebody that we all know, Craig.

I'm wearing my Mariners cap here. I like Craig Reynolds, the original shortstop for the Mariners in 1977 and 1978, right?

Craig Reynolds: '77, '78.

Ric Hansen: Yes, indeed. Of course, you had a different logo back then.

Craig Reynolds: Different logo, and the team's a little better now, too, I might add.

Ric Hansen: Well, this year is a surprisingly good year for the Mariners. We're kind of excited that they're up in the standings and going head-to-head with the Astros, as a matter of fact. Although if you call 12 games out "head-to-head," I don't know if that's fair.

But yeah, Seattle's playing well.

Craig Reynolds: Houston's kind of had their number so far this year, but you know, in baseball that can flip in a hurry. So no, Seattle's playing well.

Ric Hansen: Cool. Well, thank you for being here.

You were not only the original shortstop and the original drafted member of the Mariners, but then went on to the Astros, which is where the bulk of your career was — 11 years in the majors with the Astros.

And that was kind of a cool deal because you're a Houston boy, right?

Craig Reynolds: Yeah, my wife and I are both from Houston.

Getting traded back to Houston — although we loved our two years in Seattle — was exciting. Those were two wonderful years for us. We were just kids, and it was two fantastic years.

We'll probably talk about some people who impacted our lives when we were there, but we loved that time.

Then we got the call that we'd been traded back to Houston. We were pretty excited. As much as we loved Seattle, we were really excited to get to go home and play in front of the hometown fans and friends.

Growing Up in Houston

Ric Hansen: You were one of those hometown guys who made it to the big leagues and became part of baseball history in Houston.

So let's jump way back in the Wayback Machine and talk about Craig as a young boy in Houston. You were born and raised there. How did this baseball thing hit you initially?

Craig Reynolds: I have two older brothers and an older sister. I'm the youngest of four.

I grew up competing with my older brothers and with lots of other kids in our neighborhood. Then came the whole Little League route, like most people in that era.

I loved baseball from the very start. Absolutely loved the game. I began walking, basically carrying a bat around — although I probably disproved that many times with many bats!

But I loved it from the very beginning.

I loved other sports as well. Basketball, especially during my high school days, was probably my first love.

When I came to Seattle, our friend George Tolls was the PA announcer for the SuperSonics back in that era. He would give us access to the ball games, and we'd go.

Seattle was fantastic during those two years I was there. Two great years for the SuperSonics.

Basketball was my first love during high school, but baseball was a close second. It became obvious that basketball was not in my future, even though I had a chance to go play at some Division I schools.

To play any level beyond that would have been impossible with my lack of ability.

But baseball was definitely the direction for my life.

Ric Hansen: And you were drafted right out of high school, right?

Craig Reynolds: Drafted right out of high school.

I was actually going to go to Baylor and play basketball and baseball there. But when I was drafted in the first round, it kind of set the stage for where I was going to go, and we decided to go that route.

A Christian Upbringing

Ric Hansen: So during that early time in your life, we talked about what you were doing in terms of your vocation. But what was going on spiritually?

Were you raised as a Christian young man?

Craig Reynolds: I was raised in a Christian home. My family was very committed to Christ, and we grew up in the church.

My wife jokes that my family's Baptist all the way back to Noah, which is not true, but it's probably close!

My wife is from a completely different background, which is great because now, being in ministry with my wife having the background she has, it's really been healthy for our relationship and our ministry opportunities.

We meet people from all different walks of life. We both have our own stories that God has given us, and the chance to tell what God has done in our lives is a wonderful opportunity.

We're so grateful for the way God has brought us along and grown us up and for the people He's brought into our lives.

The opportunity to share from Josie's perspective — being brought up in another denomination and another background than mine — is a healthy thing for us.

From Baseball to Ministry

Ric Hansen: She goes to your church now, though?

Craig Reynolds: Oh, yeah.

I finished playing in 1989. For about four years, Terry Puhl, my former roommate, and I were partners in business. Terry and I were roommates for 11 years in Houston.

But I was beginning to feel like God was calling me into something else.

For two years, I volunteered my time with Pro Athletes Outreach, a ministry that at that time was based in Issaquah. Norm Evans was president of PAO, and I worked with Norm for a couple of years.

That was a great time.

During that period, God began to open doors, and I went on staff at Second Baptist Church of Houston in 1994.

I've been on staff there ever since.

Ric Hansen: Oh, okay. I thought in one of the videos I heard you say you'd been there for 12 years, but it must have been much more.

Craig Reynolds: Oh, no. It's more like 27 or 28 years since I've been on staff.

I love what I get to do.

I've done different things during my time there — evangelism, new-member ministry, and other things. We're a really large church, and my job has changed through the years.

For the last 12 years, I've been our preaching pastor at one of our campuses.

I preach three times a weekend — once on Saturday night and twice on Sunday mornings.

I love what I get to do.

We have a wonderful staff. I have an executive pastor who runs our staff and handles the day-to-day operations. That frees me up to be with people and to study and prepare.

It's a great setup. It's our model for all of our campuses, and it's worked very well for us.

Christian Faith in Major League Baseball

Ric Hansen: Christianity was a key part of who you were even through all of the major leagues.

It's got to be challenging to be in that kind of whirlwind — traveling all the time, being somewhat of a celebrity in the community — and not be challenged with some of the Christian values along the way.

Is that fair to say?

Craig Reynolds: Absolutely.

Of course, in our culture today, everybody faces those kinds of things. But back in those years, I think it was a little bit unique for a professional athlete.

There were all kinds of things available to guys as they traveled.

That's one reason I mentioned Terry Puhl. He and I roomed together for 11 years.

That's one reason I had a roommate for 11 years. I recognized that I needed built-in accountability.

We all do.

Terry and I committed to each other. We either roomed together or had adjoining rooms. As the game changed and we had individual rooms, we always got adjoining rooms.

We were always together, and we were always accountable to each other.

It was a healthy thing to do.

Faith in the Clubhouse

Ric Hansen: How did Christianity work in the locker room for you?

Were you known as the Christian guy? Did you share your views with the guys?

Craig Reynolds: I was known as one of the Christian guys.

It was really cool because there were so many Christian athletes.

I was fortunate and blessed to play on teams with a number of Christian athletes and to meet a number of different guys in professional sports — baseball in particular, since that's where my life was spent.

In my years in Houston, I always had some guys around me who were committed to their faith and walking with the Lord.

That was really healthy.

I was never a loner. I never felt like a Lone Ranger in the clubhouse.

Even during those years in Seattle, we had people who were open about their faith.

People like George and Liz Tolls had a big impact on my life. Norm and Bobby Evans were there, and Chuck and Barb Snyder were there, along with other people who poured into our lives.

Josie and I were just young at that time. I was maybe 24 or 25 years old, and Josie was 21 or 22.

We'd been married about a year or a year and a half when we first went there.

It was so healthy for us to have the people we met and the people who poured into our lives.

We're so grateful.

It's funny when I talk to some of them today, particularly George. When I tell George how much he meant to us, I'll hear back from him, "Craig, you were hardly here. You were hardly around us."

And one of the lessons I've learned from people like George is that a mentor isn't necessarily someone who's been with you for many, many years.

It can be somebody who was simply with you at the right time and the right place and poured into your life — whether it was for a week, a month, half a year, a year, whatever.

Yet it impacted your life and continues to impact your life today.

It shows how God's multiplication table is so different from ours.

God takes truth and builds it into our lives. He uses people in His kingdom for His kingdom.

It's such an encouragement.

I love being able to tell people like that, "Thank you. Thank you that you let God use you and poured into my life."

What you did then continues to build on my life and my family's life even after all these years.

Pro Athletes Outreach

Ric Hansen: You talked briefly about PAO. Pro Athletes Outreach seems to be a key ingredient in all of that too, right?

There was a lot of fellowship, a lot of people who were loving Jesus like you were, and they were professional athletes on top of it.

Tell us a little bit about PAO and how you were involved.

Craig Reynolds: Pro Athletes Outreach.

In the early years, some Christian businessmen got together with athletes and helped form PAO. Later it became more of a ministry of pros to pros.

I mentioned Norm and Bobby Evans, who lived in Issaquah and ran the ministry from there.

It was a ministry that built the basics of the Christian life into professional athletes:

How to be a Christian dad.

How to be a Christian husband.

How to be a Christian wife.

How to be a Christian mom.

Christian financial concepts.

There was a guy who used to come in during the early years named Larry Burkett. People today may not remember him, but he was Dave Ramsey before there was a Dave Ramsey.

Larry was a godly man, and he came all those years.

All of those teachers built the principles of God's Word into our lives — those of us who were committed to going and being a part.

It impacted so many lives.

It impacted Josie's life and mine.

We built so many relationships in professional sports through PAO — people who poured into our lives and, hopefully, God used us in their lives as well.

Josie and I got to serve on the board for about 20 years.

It was a wonderful time in our lives and a great opportunity and privilege to be part of that ministry.

Was Ministry Always the Plan?

Ric Hansen: Were you contemplating becoming a pastor in those early days?

Did you think beyond your athletic career that that's where you would end up?

Craig Reynolds: Not necessarily as a pastor or "full-time pastor."

My view has always been — and it still is today — that if we walk with the Lord today, when we get up in the morning and take our steps, tomorrow we'll be where He wants us to be.

In other words, if we walk with Him today, we'll be where we're supposed to be tomorrow.

I didn't have a plan.

I didn't say, "I'm going to go into ministry and do this."

That was never part of my thinking, although it was never not part of my thinking either.

I never said, "I will never do this or never do that."

There's a verse that says, "Preach the word; be urgent in season and out of season."

I know it's not talking about baseball season, but that was always in my heart — regardless of what I do, whether I'm in finance, working in a church, driving a truck, whatever.

We're still called to be stewards of God's Word, to teach God's Word to people, and to live out God's Word as an example of what a Christian life is supposed to be and how God can change our lives.

I always knew that was part of our lives.

Even as a player, we were very active in our church wherever we were — Seattle, Houston, or even when we were in Charleston, West Virginia.

Wherever we were, we were part of a church where God's Word was being built into us and where we had a chance to serve other people.

I didn't plan it.

It wasn't part of the plan.

We just tried to walk with the Lord, and God opened doors and put us where we are.

Each year, ministry has changed a little bit, and the opportunities God has given us have changed a little bit.

We're really grateful.

I was teasing my wife a couple of days ago. Since we're technically on vacation, we've had more time to talk.

I asked her, "Are you ever sorry that I went on staff at a church 27 or 28 years ago?"

She just laughed and said, "No, I'm not sorry."

We see God's hand in it.

It was God's dealing in our lives. It wasn't something we did.

If you had told me all those years ago that I'd be doing what I'm doing today, I probably would have said, "No, I'm not equipped to do that."

But when God calls you to do something, He equips you to do it.

That's kind of been the story.

It's God's grace.

I see the title behind you, Amazing Greats, but God's grace really is amazing, isn't it?

When we look at God's Word and God's grace in our lives, all you can do is say thank you.

Anything we have or any opportunities we have are because of what God has done and provided.

It truly is His grace.

Identity Beyond Baseball

Ric Hansen: One of my questions with people in careers like yours — actors, musicians, athletes, teachers, whatever — is what happens when that piece of your life ends?

For many people, that becomes a real identity crisis.

"Who am I now?"

In your case, you've been a baseball player since you were eight years old.

What happens to your identity then?

Craig Reynolds: That's right.

One of the things I tell professional athletes who ask me that question today is this:

When we were in Houston, which was the bulk of our career, and even during our two years in Seattle, we got involved in our local church.

We had a group of friends who were our friends not because we were in baseball.

After my 11 years in Houston, when I retired, my closest friends — with the exception of Terry Puhl, because he was my roommate all those years — were people from our church, not our baseball community.

The bulk of my friends, my wife's friends, and the people we were raising our kids with were in our church.

When baseball ended, our world didn't change that much.

I didn't go to the ballpark every night. In fact, I didn't go any nights. I think I only went to one game the year after I retired, and that was to watch Terry play.

We had this network of friends who weren't part of baseball.

They were our friends because our kids were in preschool together. Our kids were doing life together. Our wives were doing life together, and we were doing life together.

Many of those people are still very close friends of mine.

Even after I stopped playing and went on staff at Second Baptist in Houston, those people remained close friends.

If something happened in my life today, they would be here tomorrow.

We had that nucleus of believers outside the game.

And they didn't care if I was playing baseball or not.

They proved that by remaining our friends after I stopped playing.

That's what I would tell an athlete:

Make sure you have a nucleus of friends outside the game.

I love the people in baseball. That's not a knock on my baseball friends. I love them, and several of them are still close friends.

But it would not be the same if we didn't have those friends outside the game.

A Pivotal Moment in Seattle

Ric Hansen: I always love hearing a story — especially from somebody who's had a long history with Jesus — where, either at the time or in hindsight, it was so obvious that Jesus was doing something in your life.

Is there a story where you thought, "Oh my gosh, there's God right there"?

Craig Reynolds: I'll tell you one that's a hard story, not an easy story.

It wasn't traumatic in that sense, but it was traumatic to me at the time.

It happened when I was playing in Seattle.

I came to Christ when I was 14 years old.

About three or four years later, I was getting ready to graduate from high school and wondering what I was going to do.

Was I going to go to Baylor and play basketball and baseball? Was I going to sign? I knew the scouts were watching me.

I went on a mission trip with the kids from my church before my senior year of high school.

On that trip, I made a commitment.

One thing I've found is that the commitments that have had the most meaning in my life have been the simplest.

When God reduces all the other stuff out of the way and you're willing to say, "Okay, God, whatever You want."

I came to that point on that mission trip:

"God, whatever it is You want me to do, if You want me to go play, I'll go play. If You want me to do something else, I'll go. Whatever it is, You show me and I'll do it."

I shared that with my closest friend at the time, Robert, who was a godly man.

I said, "Robert, I want you to know that tonight I committed my life to Christ — to whatever He wants me to do."

Robert jokingly said, "Ah, you're going to be a ballplayer."

We laughed it off.

A year later, I was drafted in the first round, and I really felt like that's where God wanted me.

Fast-forward to Seattle.

I'd played parts of two seasons in Pittsburgh, and now I was the everyday shortstop in Seattle.

Halfway through the season, I stunk.

I wasn't just playing badly. I was playing really badly.

I wasn't feeling well. I wasn't hitting well. Life was miserable.

Here I was — a guy who had grown up playing baseball, committed to Christ, wanting to do what He wanted me to do.

I felt like He had opened the doors to put me in baseball.

And now I was in this place where I was miserable.

I went home that night. Josie and I went home, and I tried to pray.

I couldn't pray.

I tried to read.

I couldn't read.

I was just miserable.

I prayed a very simple prayer.

I thought, "God, there's no way I'm supposed to be this miserable. I must be somewhere I'm not supposed to be."

I said, "I'm ready to go tomorrow. I'll quit tomorrow if that's what You want me to do. I'll go to the Kingdom tomorrow and I'll quit."

In my heart, I quit.

I was ready to go the next day to the Kingdom and tell the general manager, "I'm done. I don't belong here. I'm going to retire and go do whatever God has for me to do."

Josie knew my heart. It was an agonizing night.

But when I got to that point where I said, "God, I'm ready to do whatever. I'll quit if that's what You want," it was so cool because I experienced so much freedom.

It was like God was saying, "That's what I wanted. I wanted you to be willing to quit."

It became very clear that God didn't expect me or want me to quit.

He wanted me to be willing to.

It's so easy, whatever we do in life, to take hold of it and try to grab onto it and make it ours.

But it's not ours.

We belong to Him.

We've been bought with a price, Scripture says.

I've been bought with a price.

It's not mine — baseball or ministry or anything else.

We're called to glorify Him and build up His kingdom.

It was a traumatic moment, but it was one of those nights when it was so clear God was dealing with me simply to say:

"Hey, it's not about you. This is about Me."

I wish I could say I had that freedom every day for the rest of my life in sports.

I didn't.

There's always a struggle. We always want to do our best and strive to be the best we can be.

But even in that, we have to recognize that it's for God.

He's given us the ability.

We live for Him, and we simply give it back to Him.

When we live that way, it frees us up to enjoy life and to be the people He wanted us to be in the first place.

It changed everything for me.

A Pivotal Change

Ric Hansen: So did your game change, or did just your attitude change?

Craig Reynolds: It did.

I hesitate to say this because God obviously didn't give me more ability because of that.

But it freed me up.

I had a really good second half. The next year I had a good first half — maybe even an All-Star year in Seattle — and then I got traded to Houston.

I struggled again. I'm not saying I never struggled after that, because I clearly did.

But it was an incredible lesson.

Ric Hansen: That was a pivotal moment.

Craig Reynolds: Absolutely.

There were other moments like that along the way, but that's the one that's been on my mind because I shared it recently.

I've been preaching at the campus where I preach for about 12 years, and I don't think I'd ever told them that story until a few weeks ago.

That's probably why it's on my mind.

It was a pivotal moment in my life and Josie's life.

Family and Ministry

Ric Hansen: You mentioned that your son is also in the pastorate. What's your family like? How many kids do you have?

Craig Reynolds: We have three kids.

Our daughter is our oldest. She and her husband — she went to Baylor, and when she got out, she went into ministry in Boulder, Colorado, at the university there.

She met a guy there and got married. She lives in Colorado and has two little boys.

Our oldest son, Kyle, played ball in the Cubs system for a while. He got to Triple-A, got released, and is now back in Houston in the oil and gas business.

He has four kids.

Our youngest son, Reagan, also went to Baylor and then went to seminary.

All three of them went to Baylor. We didn't push them that way. They all chose it.

I'm not sure if that's for better or worse. I guess since the basketball team got good there, I guess it's for better!

Our youngest son went to seminary. He's married, and his wife is half Chinese and half Korean.

We have two little Amerasian grandsons through them.

So we have eight grandchildren total.

Life at Second Baptist Houston

Ric Hansen: With the role you're in now and the congregation, how big is your campus?

Craig Reynolds: It's big.

On a typical weekend, we'll have a little over 3,000 in worship across the three services.

The membership is large.

We're one of six campuses of Second Baptist Houston.

Dr. Ed Young is our senior pastor, and he preaches at our Woodway campus, which is the main campus.

We have six campuses around the city — the main campus and five other campuses.

Each campus has its own preaching pastor.

We don't have video services. We actually have a live preaching pastor at each campus.

Ric Hansen: No screen time there?

Craig Reynolds: No screen.

It's a great model.

Dr. Young gives direction to where we're going preaching-wise.

We all typically preach the same title and the same text, but all the sermons are different.

We might do a series in the fall that has a lot to do with our culture and where our culture is today.

We'll have a title and a text that we all share, but we may do completely different sermons.

Dr. Young may take it one direction, and I may go in a completely different direction.

I have complete freedom to build my own sermon and preach it.

We basically preach the same theme across the campuses.

Ric Hansen: Kind of keep unity of the whole group while still having the independence to do what's best.

Craig Reynolds: That's right.

We get to study and prepare, and we occasionally meet and bounce ideas off each other — what we're studying, what we're reading.

This fall's series is going to be a difficult series because it deals with our culture and all the things our culture is facing.

I've got a long reading list that I'm going through right now on vacation.

I say I'm on vacation, but it's a reading vacation.

Ric Hansen: Pastors don't get vacations, right?

Craig Reynolds: This is difficult stuff.

You get to our culture today and look at what's going on.

We're to love all people, but at the same time we're to speak the truth.

We're to speak the truth in love.

This is a difficult time to walk that fine line as a believer, and preaching it is a really difficult thing as well.

It's going to be a stretch and a lot of work.

My vacation has been, I want to say, one of enjoyment — but it's really one of deep-thinking enjoyment.

Keeping a Large Church Small

Ric Hansen: Is your son also a pastor in the same church?

Craig Reynolds: He is a pastor at one of our other campuses.

He's not a preaching pastor, although he does get to preach occasionally. In fact, he's going to preach at our main campus this weekend at one of the two services.

He works in the Bible study ministry.

We're one of the few megachurches, if you will, that not only has worship services but also has Bible study around all of our worship services.

Our Bible study structure is what keeps our large church small.

If you moved to Houston and said, "I want to visit your church," we'd encourage you to come.

We'd also encourage you to go to one of our Bible study classes because that's where you meet people like you, where you can pour into their lives and they can pour into yours.

For a big church, we get small really quickly.

Seattle, Houston and Christian Culture

Ric Hansen: Is there a dramatic spiritual or cultural difference between your time in Seattle and your time in Houston?

Seattle and Washington aren't traditionally as steeped in Christianity as the Southern states are. How would you characterize that?

Craig Reynolds: At the time, it was interesting.

We had friends in the church in Seattle. We went to a church in Bellevue, loved our church and pastor, and had friends there.

We also had good neighbors. We had a couple of godly neighbors we loved.

We were just babies, though. I was 24 or 25, and Josie was 21 or 22.

We lived in a neighborhood where the people were older — probably the age I am now — so we thought they were ancient!

But there were a couple of great women who loved on my wife and cared about her.

Then we had our Christian friends in the sports world.

There were a lot of believers.

The Seahawks had a number of believers in those early years. Steve Largent and Jim Zorn were there and part of the Christian community.

So we had that network of people.

It is true that Seattle did not have the same openness to biblical things that Texas has.

But culture has changed since then, too. That was 1977 and 1978 — a lot of years ago.

Culture today definitely has more antagonism toward the Gospel and toward preaching God's Word.

When you preach God's Word and don't hold anything back, you're going to get some pushback from some people.

But that's why it's so important that we do it in love.

There's a way to communicate the truth while doing it in love and showing the world around us that we truly care about them.

When we do that, it opens doors that might not otherwise be open.

But we're still going to get some pushback.

That's been true throughout the history of the church.

Go back and read the book of Acts when the church was growing. There was a lot of pushback then, and there is still pushback today.

Don't Go Looking for a Fight

Craig Reynolds: I'll tell you something about our most senior pastor, who passed away a few years ago.

His name was Dr. Jim DeLoach.

He was an old Navy guy, a crusty old Navy guy, and he knew God's Word frontwards and backwards and inside and out.

He was one of my favorite people I've ever known.

He loved people.

He would always say:

"Don't go looking for a fight."

As a Christian, you don't need to go looking for a fight.

Go love people and tell the truth.

You'll have enough fights find you without going looking for one.

Ric Hansen: Yeah.

Craig Reynolds: We want to go loving people.

We know there'll be some pushback.

But when we get it, we're going to keep loving people regardless.

What's Next?

Ric Hansen: What's your next chapter look like?

Are you thinking about retiring, or is retirement not in the cards?

Craig Reynolds: I really don't have a game plan.

It's kind of the same as it's been all along:

"God, I'll do this as long as You want me to do it."

God can tell us in a lot of ways when our time is up in what we're doing.

There are a lot of different things that can happen that take away our ability to do something or to do it well.

When that time comes, I pray I'll have the grace to know it and that God will make it clear to me.

But I don't have a game plan.

I'll be 70 this year, but my boss is 85 and preaches three times a weekend. He has more energy than all the rest of us put together.

I don't think I have 15 more years of me, don't get me wrong, but I don't have a game plan at this stage.

As long as God blesses what we're doing and gives us the ability to do it, I want to keep doing it.

I love what I'm doing.

And my wife has told me I would drive her crazy if I were home any more than I am.

A Life Verse: Psalm 37:5

Ric Hansen: I always ask toward the end if you have a life verse — a Bible verse that's kind of the cornerstone of your belief or how you live your life.

Is there one for you?

Craig Reynolds: There are actually a bunch.

Here's the one that comes to mind — the one I've had the longest, I think.

An old evangelist wrote this in my Bible when I was still in high school and thinking about baseball.

It's Psalm 37:5.

I'll just say it in plain language:

"Commit everything you do to the Lord, trust Him to help you do it, and He will."

Just give it to Him.

Trust everything you do to Him, trust Him to help you do it, and He'll do that.

Obviously, it goes with that all along the way: You want your heart lined up with what He wants for your life.

After all these years, it's so clear and evident that God's will is so much better than my will.

When I try to force my will, I mess it up every time.

I trust Him with my life so much more than I trust my own ability to figure it out.

If we can just walk with Him each day, we're way ahead of the game.

Will Craig Reynolds Write a Book?

Ric Hansen: I love that.

You've got to write a book or something!

Craig Reynolds: I don't have that on my front burner.

I do have a really godly guy in my church, and he truly is a godly man.

About every two weeks he comes to me and says, "God's put it on my heart. You're supposed to write a book."

And I tell him, "When God puts it on my heart, then I'm going to write that book."

He's always encouraged me to do that.

Maybe someday.

I'm not going to say never.

Ric Hansen: I'll keep my eye out for it.

Craig Reynolds: Fair enough.

The Impact of George and Liz Tolls

Ric Hansen: Thank you so much, Craig, for taking some time and being with us.

I truly appreciate it.

George Tolls speaks so highly of you that I knew I needed to connect and get to know you myself.

It's been a pleasure.

Craig Reynolds: I think you and I both speak highly of George.

He's one of those guys who's walked with the Lord and poured his life into other people.

You look at the fruit of his life, and I know you're part of the fruit of his life, and I'm part of the fruit of his life.

My wife and I — and, by the way, behind George is Liz, who is an incredible lady — we're so grateful.

That's what God does in His kingdom when people are sold out to Him and life isn't about us. It's about other people.

That's the richest kind of life.

You see it in a guy like George and a lady like Liz.

I'm so grateful that God gave us the privilege of knowing them all those years ago.

What we learned from them continues to minister to us and to our children, and ultimately even to our grandchildren today.