Introduction: Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Welcome to Exploring Missions: connecting mission needs with those equipped by God to meet those needs across the world or across town. And now, the host of Exploring Missions, Bert Harper.
Bert Harper: Thank you for listening to Exploring Missions this weekend. We're hoping you're having a great, great weekend. We hope that worship is a part of the time that you spend with fellow believers, because that's important. It encourages, and also it makes us accountable for us growing in Christ, because that's what we're to do. On Exploring Missions today, we want to talk about using your influence for the glory of God. And in our interview, we'll see that that influence goes a long way.
This is Bert Harper, along with co-host Nathan Harper. And Nathan, we need to use our influence for evangelism and missions, don't we?
Nathan Harper: Yeah, that's absolutely right. You know, unless you are totally alone and don't know anybody... then you have some influence in somebody's life. If there's a relationship involved, there is influence involved. And so every one of us has a circle of influence. It might be a small circle—you might not know a lot of people—or it might be a large circle, or even like, you might run in various different circles, several circles of influence. But we all have one where we're touching people's lives. As we share, as we talk, as we do life with people, we can have a positive influence in their lives. Another way of saying that is like, we are witnesses, right? Jesus told us that we will be and are His witnesses. So our witness can be good, it can be, well, not so good sometimes, but we are a witness of what Jesus has done in our lives. So we all have a circle of influence. We have people that we can help and encourage and see God transform their lives through our lives.
Bert Harper: And when I think of that, one of the most influential places is a position in a school. I know you have teachers, and they are; you have principals, they are. But I'm telling you, the guy they call or the lady they call "coach"—what a place of influence that is. But not only in schools, but because of park and recreation, different sports that we have all through the United States, and children becoming a part of that, boys and girls. And someone that's a believer that has some knowledge and skills in a certain sport—wow, what a position of influence, Nathan. When you were growing up with your two brothers, we spent time on the soccer field, on the baseball field, in the gym. You spent a lot of time with a guy that you called coach, didn't you?
Nathan Harper: Absolutely. And I can probably name every single coach I've had growing up, and even into school-age sports. And so even in our family, two of my three children are sports active. They've had school coaches, and they've also had club, community-kind of coaches at different levels and in different sports. And so there's various levels of influence from each of those coaches. But if you're in it for a period of time, there's going to be a coach that really impacts and influences your life that, as you get older, like you and I, Dad, we can look back with fondness and say, "I am thankful for that man," or "that person in my life who was my coach."
Bert Harper: We can. And I think there's some biblical principles here. Don't you think in Titus when he's talking about the men and women and influence—that's a biblical principle, isn't it?
Nathan Harper: Yeah, it really is. Titus chapter 2, talking about influencing—usually if you're an older person, you can have influence in a younger person's life. And so in Titus chapter 2, verses 3 and 4, Paul is writing to Titus to say, "Hey, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they, the older women, they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God." In other words, the older women can be coaches in life, in certain aspects of life, to the younger women.
Then verse 6, he says, "Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness, soundness of speech," etc. So in other words, Titus, as a man—maybe an older man—is going to be a coach or have influence in the lives of the young men that are around him, that are in his circle of influence. So that's a biblical model, example, and I believe we're commanded to have influence in the next generation.
Bert Harper: It really is. And when a dad has a team and he's a coach, I'd say it doubles the influence. So those of you that are young men and have children, consider what God would have you to do concerning being maybe an assistant coach or coach, and it goes a long way in helping those young men and those young ladies be all that they can be in Christ.
We hope you'll enjoy this interview as it glorifies the Lord in what He has done.
Bert Harper: Thank you for listening to Exploring Missions, where we—our learning option says it well—across the street, around the world, and sometimes it's down the hall. Our guest today is working here at AFR. Matter of fact, he is vice president, and it's Wesley Wildmon. But he's also known as "Coach Wesley." That means you're a coach somewhere, Wesley. Tell us—baseball, basketball, football? You played in high school, but there's one sport that you kind of lean to.
Wesley Wildmon: Yes. Well, first of all, thank you for giving me the opportunity, because I'm very passionate about this, and this'll be an easy topic for me to cover. So thank you for having me on. Again, my name is Wesley Wildmon. I serve as vice president here at American Family Association, and I also have the opportunity to coach baseball outside of work. And we meet twice a week, and we practice, and of course, we get to play on the weekends occasionally. We work it around family, and we work it around other events, because that's not all we do, but I do get to coach baseball.
Bert Harper: Well, you played baseball in high school, right?
Wesley Wildmon: I did. I played baseball in high school. I had an opportunity to play college ball, but I had to be honest with my son the other day when he asked why I didn't. I said, "Well, I wasn’t good enough to play... it would have been too much work for not much return on investment that I'd chosen to just enjoy college."
Bert Harper: Well, you know what? In baseball, I see it also, and I saw an article, and it was about coaches in all of the major sports. It says those players that weren't quite up to par as far as playing, but they made the best coaches.
Wesley Wildmon: Oh, yeah. Well, I—you know what? That may be it for me, because I feel like over the years I've learned a lot, made some mistakes along the way, and at this point, though, I feel pretty good, pretty confident in coaching, my coaching skills, and those around me. I got a great team. I've also got a great—a lot of assistant coaches, and I really enjoy it. So there you go, that may be it.
Bert Harper: Well, I was amazed. In the article I was looking at, there were some awesome, awesome coaches and managers, and I said, "Wow, that speaks volumes." And also, I read one where the best players usually don't make the best coaches.
Wesley Wildmon: Oh, there—that's interesting. I can see that, yeah.
Bert Harper: Yeah, and so... but let's get down to what you do. It's here in Tupelo, Mississippi. Your son plays on this team. It's part of a family affair, isn't it?
Wesley Wildmon: It is. So, years ago, before I even met my wife—about four or five years before I met my wife, Chelsea—I began praying about a lot of different areas of my life in the future, you know, where I would go to college, where I would go to church, who my spouse would be, just praying about a lot of different aspects in life, getting toward that in-between high school and college and, you know, young adulthood there.
And I remember trying to figure out what I wanted to do for a living. And of course, working at AFA—AFA being a part of my life was always on the table. I always wanted to have some connection with AFA. I always believed in the mission and loved what Pawpaw started, but I wasn't sure at the time if I wanted to work full-time here, or if he wanted me to. Well, I began praying, and coaching was something that I was really interested in. And I remember it being as clear as I'm talking to you that—not audibly, but just very clear—that He did not want me to pursue that as a job or an occupation, but one day down the road, I would be able to—before I even met my wife—He told me that I would be able to coach in some capacity in that way.
And so, fast forward, get married, we have a son, our first son. He turns six, and I thought, "Well, here it is, you know. This is an opportunity I've waited for for almost 10 years to be able to coach." And there's a lot more wrong with youth sports than there are right, but there are a lot of good things. And I wanted to be able to take what was good and then adjust or change what I saw was the problems. And I thought by coaching, I could do so.
And here we are, and I've been coaching for five going on six years of travel baseball, and we've had a lot of success doing it the right way.
Bert Harper: Well, the reason we're having you on here is because it is missional. Listen, go to a campus, and the person who has as much or more influence than anyone else is "Coach." That's right. I mean, back—now, I've been out of high school a long time, okay? Yeah, we had chisels and—no, it wasn't quite that bad, but the coaches that I had, they influenced me in so many ways.
Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, I saw early on how influential coaches were in my life. And I had the majority of great coaches. I had one for sure, maybe two depending on how you look at it, that were bad coaches, but I had tons and tons of great coaches from childhood all the way up through high school that were very influential in my life, keeping an eternal perspective on sports, also teaching responsibility, accountability, sacrifice, putting others before yourself. All those attributes I found were very effective in life outside of sports, and very effective.
So then when given the opportunity to coach, I wanted to complement parents in what they were already teaching at home: a biblical worldview, a lot of things I just mentioned. I wanted to come beside them and complement them and find a way—which is not hard at all—creatively to teach those things through the game of baseball. You're learning that stuff all along. You're learning to be honest. You know, that's one of the Ten Commandments, "Do not lie." And you're learning every day to be honest because I—because where there's fair or foul, you know, I mean, there's plenty of ways you can learn. So implementing Christian ideas and thoughts through sports is very easy to do.
Bert Harper: With that in mind, this just came to mind. Always heard a sacrifice fly, sacrifice—get a man from first to second so they'll be in scoring position. You're doing it—well, you may get a hit, but more than likely, you're going to get out. But the man went from first to second in scoring position.
Wesley Wildmon: That's right. Sacrifice.
Bert Harper: So baseball and the gospel, they have some things in common. Am I right?
Wesley Wildmon: Oh, they do. And by the way, let me just add—let me go off on a little note here. But a ball hit on the ground that scores a run should be a sacrifice. But I understand in the rulebook it's not, but you understand what I'm saying? I'm finding about a handful and a half of things that's recorded and done throughout all of history in baseball that I'm going, "This has got to be done differently," the way they keep stats or whatever. So anyway, that's one of my little tangents with everybody because our boys are taught that if there's a guy at third and less than two outs, well, you got to find a way to put a ball on the ground hard on either side of the pitcher and get that runner across, but in the books it goes down as a 0-for, an out, you know. Anyways, all right. I'll try to keep it with just that one.
Bert Harper: Hey, but I agree with you. I agree with you all the way. Well, let's talk about this past season. You had the opportunity not just to coach locally, but our whole state. We're in the state of Mississippi, and they had a collection of guys going to a tournament. And in place of me blowing it and telling everybody the outcome, you tell of the process and the outcome.
Wesley Wildmon: Yes, so back up a little bit. I've had the opportunity to coach the Tupelo Rangers, which is a local travel ball baseball team in Northeast Mississippi in the city of Tupelo. Most kids, or all the kids, are within 20, 30 minutes of the field that we practice at. I've been coaching this team—seven of the ten I've been coaching since they were six or seven years old.
So that's been going really well. Well, this past summer—and we don't play in the summer and the winter months, we play in the fall and the spring, and we usually take hard breaks. Summer, take hard breaks, most of the time don't touch a baseball, just enjoy the summer, they're kids, and the same thing during winter.
Well, this summer I was asked by USSSA to coach the 10-year-old team that would represent Mississippi. Think of like the Little League World Series as it relates to states representing other states and playing against each other. That's what I did, but I did it for another sanctioned tournament. It wasn't Little League, it was USSSA.
So we went over to Lafayette, Louisiana, where the tournament was held, and it was called the All-State Tournament where all the different states came together. So in our age group, there was 18 different teams which represented 14 different states because states like Texas and California had multiple teams. So we went there and we got the matchup.
Bert Harper: How many games did you have to finally play, do you remember?
Wesley Wildmon: We had to play seven games total to make it to the championship game, so I've kind of given away the little teaser there—we made the championship game. But to back up, we had to play three pool games or three setup games, and based on your performance in these three games determined what seeding you would play in the bracket. So we entered the bracket being 2 and 1. We lost one game to California and beat New Mexico and beat another California team. So made the bracket, and before you know it, we won one game, won two games, and then three games, and now we're in the championship game, and we won it as well.
So won the whole thing, won the national title as a 10-year-old Major, and that was a lot of fun. You know, backing up, though, to start the summer with that team's practice, we had our first practice back in June and the tournament was at the end of July. And I remember meeting with them in center field in Starkville, Mississippi, where we held our first practice—that was kind of a central location for all the boys. Met there, and I remember meeting in center field and asking them the first thing I did—this before we even prayed... We did pray, but before we even prayed...
Bert Harper: Okay, we're going to get... we're going to get to some of that in a minute.
Wesley Wildmon: Okay. Okay. So, met in center field and I said, "Hey, what's your last name?" And they gave me... everybody gave me their last name. I knew them all, but I want... I was acting like I wanted the other boys to know each other better. They went through and I said, "You know, after this moment, you're no longer Sherman or Wildmon or Freeman or Kennard. Your last name is Team Mississippi." And they bought into that right then, that their last name was Team Mississippi. And I got a funny story before we get off on that, but they bought in to Team Mississippi. So, from that point forward, the best, most talented kids that I could hand-select in North Mississippi were bought into a selfless... 'cause these are the best players, which means they're batting second and third on their home team.
Bert Harper: And they're going to have to bat down the line somewhere.
Wesley Wildmon: That's right. And they were eight shortstops, so they had to get moved around. And so I wanted to make sure they were on the same page, and they bought in. So that helped out a lot, for sure.
Bert Harper: Well, tell us about the funny thing about Team Mississippi.
Wesley Wildmon: Going into the championship game, one of the kids... out of 12 kids, you're going to have about four, maybe five different personalities. You'll have some that are very similar, but you have some that are very different. So, unique personalities, about four probably out of 12.
And I remember there was one kid that just asked questions all the time right in the... raising their hand to ask questions right in the middle of a very important teaching that I... yeah.
Bert Harper: We all know kids like that. Go ahead.
Wesley Wildmon: And he... and he's doing that. And... and I didn't know any better, so I took it. And every time leading up to this... this funny moment, it was one of those that was on top of interrupting with a hand raise when I'm not finished—on top of that, it was something that had nothing to do with what we were talking about. But he was not doing this on purpose. It's just he's just a... he's like... lacked a little bit of awareness, but didn't do it on purpose.
Finally, I pulled him over to the side, and I told him, "Hey, listen. Hey, when we're coaching, like just save it for the end, blah, blah, blah." "Okay, sounds good." I told him that throughout the summer.
In between the semifinal and the championship game, there's about 15 minutes before we start the championship game. We're sitting over there, and this same kid comes up to me and he's like, "Hey, Coach Wes, I've... I've never even thought to ask, you know. We've been on the same field for several years playing against each other." He said, "What is... what... what is your last name?" I answered him, I said, "Well, of course you... you don't know? Like, it's Wildmon. Wesley... Coach Wes... Coach... you can call me... you call me Coach Wes, but my last name's Wildmon." He said, "Nope. No, it's not. It's Team Mississippi."
This same kid got... and he was laughing, grinning. He thought it was the funniest thing. I gave him a big hug. I said, "You know, you're exactly right. We got another hour and a half left, and... and you're right. For the next hour and a half, I'm still Team Mississippi."
Bert Harper: Amen.
Wesley Wildmon: And he bought into that. That was the funniest... and he... that same kid was a joy in the dugout, laughter. He had two of the biggest home runs of the weekend. In fact, he had a two-run homer with about 30 minutes left in the championship game to tie it up. Same kid. So he's a hoot.
Bert Harper: Wow. Same kid. Team Mississippi!
Wesley Wildmon: Team Mississippi, yeah.
Bert Harper: Okay. Well, let's talk about how to bring those that are coaches—
Wesley Wildmon: Yes, please.
Bert Harper: —and it may be a city league, church league, can do it easy. But travel ball or whatever it is, some of the kids that you get, their parents may buy into it and they agree with you, some of them may not. Tell us a little bit about that and your goal, what you try to do, and what you try to pass on.
Wesley Wildmon: Yeah. Well, thank you for that, and I appreciate the opportunity. So, I try to keep this in a nutshell. But I'm a Christian, so I believe in taking the Bible and using it to reflect... looking through the lens of Scripture on how we should operate our daily lives. If you look at Jesus, He spent 85% of His hours awake with His disciples where not in a classroom or a teaching setting. Now, there were some, about 15 to 20%, which were the Sermon on the Mount as an example, where they sat down and He taught. And they probably took notes or were listening really well. The majority of His time was as they were going.
You look at how He loved and the relationships He created with His disciples and how He taught as they were going. And so, we try to apply... I try to apply that the best that I can to the group of the young men I get to coach.
So, a couple of things wrong with travel sports: they play on Sunday a lot, and it puts people in a bad spot. So, I've made some cases locally where you can avoid playing on Saturday... on Sundays. And there's a couple of opportunities we've created locally to be able to play on Fridays and Saturdays.
However, there are a couple of our tournaments—sometimes more than a couple, and I don't like any more than others—where we do play on a Sunday, and I try to make it to where it's after lunch, so you can still go to church and then play that afternoon. But in the event that one matches up where we can't make it to church, I tell the parents that if y'all need to go to church, you're not punished for going to church. Nothing changes with us. However, we do a chapel time. So, we will read the Bible, parents included, and so we do that.
That's one thing we like to... we do. The other thing is we... I implement Christian teaching as I'm going. I mentioned honesty earlier, so we do that. I do value a lot about commitment and loyalty and being on time. And so, our players don't play for multiple teams. Now, that may be a shock. You may be saying, "Well, why would they play for multiple teams?" Unfortunately, in youth travel sports, it is an extremely, extremely selfish environment. 70 to 80% of all teams and coaches encourage selfishness. Now, they wouldn't use that word, but everything they implement is a very self-centered way of doing things, and it's every bit of 70%.
We teach the opposite. We teach selflessness. We teach your team comes first. We have practice jerseys that say, "God First, Teammates Second, and Myself Third." They have to wear it and look at it during practice. And that's another reason why I don't tolerate bad behavior after an incident. So, we don't slam bats, we don't throw helmets, we don't talk back to coaches. Those are also forms of selfishness, because those can influence the outcome of the game. Because if you're so out of control that you can't play the game to the best of your ability, that's hurting your team. So, that's a form of selfishness as well.
Bert Harper: Kind of... sounds like becoming a disciple there, at least.
Wesley Wildmon: It's coming... it's exactly right. Yes. And I... and I don't... I never... I never shy away from my Christian faith from the very beginning. Of course, it's just part of who we are, the way we talk, the way we operate.
Bert Harper: As you go.
Wesley Wildmon: As we go. And it's very effective. I have learned that you may feel like you lose in the short term by not compromising to the way of the world, but long term, you benefit from it. You absolutely benefit from doing what's right. So, I've often said, "Do your best and leave the results up to God." It comes off the movie Facing the Giants, which is a sports movie. Do your best, leave the results up to God.
We work really hard, and we don't pretend: we're trying to win every game. We... we don't... we don't say winning doesn't matter. We—
Bert Harper: Meekness doesn't mean losing.
Wesley Wildmon: It does not. And we... we never say winning doesn't matter. We would say it's more than just a game, and that's true. It is more than just a game, but we are trying to win every game. We strategize to win every game, we practice to win every game, and we win a lot of games.
Bert Harper: Well, the other thing I was really wanting to concentrate on is relationships.
Wesley Wildmon: Oh, yes.
Bert Harper: Again, you build these relationships with parents and with the players as well, don't you?
Wesley Wildmon: Absolutely. That's what I love about the team that I coach. While there are examples after examples of kids being on multiple teams throughout the year, swapping teams because they don't like this, and coaches removing this player because he's not good enough to help him win, there's a lot of problems with that. But for the team I coach, seven of the ten that I've been coaching since the very beginning, since six years old, and they're 11 years old now. The other three, they came along—one guy moved in, his parents moved from one city to the next, they moved in and tried out and made the team.
But everybody that's been with me, I've told them from the very beginning, "You will always have an opportunity to play for me if you're willing to show up and put the work in, even if you underperform. You've always got a spot." So, as a result of that, it proves to them that it's more than just winning; it's about a relationship with them. So, I've created a great relationship.
We do so much outside of baseball together. We serve the community. There's a Challenger League in town. The Challenger League in town is an athletic league for those that have disabilities, and they're always looking for people to help serve, and to be fans in the stands, to help go get the ball, to umpire, to help... some of these kids are in wheelchairs, help push them around the bases. So, every year we volunteer for that.
Not saying that in a bragging way, but saying that in a way that we're influencing the baseball boys, our team, in a relationship that this is important. So, we serve in that capacity. We go to several baseball and football games together as a team. We go to the Mississippi State baseball stadium where we get to walk out on the field, do the national anthem, and then we go to a big box seat and we hang out together. We have end-of-the-fall parties that... we've had one at my house before. So, there's a lot of relationship that takes place outside of baseball.
And I'll give you an example that is very important. I was watching a coach this past weekend, and there was one kid on his team that I saw was slamming his bat, having a bad attitude. And I just thought to myself, "Uh, I wouldn't tolerate that." And that was my first reaction. But I know the coach really well, and I thought he wouldn't tolerate that either.
And so I asked him in between innings, I said, "Hey, I noticed you got a new kid." He's like, "Yeah, it's his first game with us." I said, "Well, he's very memorable, you know, slammed the bat..." He said, "Yes." He said, "You know what? He's a very talented kid, comes from a broken home, and," he said, "I'm willing to give him time—and whatever that looks like, a couple months, maybe a year—to see if I can get the best out of him while also discipling him."
So he had a... I have a very good coaching circle, and he was willing to sacrifice a little bit... appeared to me that he was letting a good kid get away with something, but it wasn't the case. He said, "I'm working on it." But he's a new kid, broken family, but he's very good at baseball, and I'm trying to work on him. But he wouldn't tolerate it forever. But he's discipling him. It's a growing thing, yeah.
Bert Harper: So it's a growing process, yeah. One more thing before we go. You started with your son at five or six years old, now ten. Are you moving up with him?
Wesley Wildmon: Moving up with them. Now we're in 11U, so...
Bert Harper: So you are staying... and we're talking about parents here that play baseball, or basketball, whatever they would, or Trail Life, whatever it is. How important is that to do that with them?
Wesley Wildmon: It's very, very important. I love doing it. I don't know where everyone falls on this, I'll just tell you how I do it. I don't like doing this, it's uncomfortable, but I believe I'm doing the right thing. I tell Bennett, "For the hour and a half inside that gate, I'm not your dad. I'm not your dad, I'm your coach. And when we go outside the gate, I'm now your dad again. But I'm not your dad inside."
He broke a rule—he talked back to one of his coaches last weekend. He had to sit the first inning of the first game this weekend in a very big tournament. He sat the first inning of the first game. It took him an hour to let it soak in, but he knew... he knew the consequences. It was the same for everyone else, and so as a coach, I had to sit one of my better players the first game. But then after that, he played good baseball. He pitched in the championship game and did really well, so...
Bert Harper: Well, Wesley, Coach Wesley—
Wesley Wildmon: Yes, sir!
Bert Harper: —it's good to have you again. Our guest has been Wesley Wildmon, vice president here at AFA, AFR. And we appreciate you and your discipleship program—
Wesley Wildmon: That's exactly what it is.
Bert Harper: —in youth baseball.
Wesley Wildmon: It's church! We have church on Mondays and Thursdays.
Bert Harper: Thank you for listening to Exploring Missions, and we pray that you would seek God and say, "God, is there a way that You can use me in God's work of the Great Commission?"
Thank you for listening to Exploring Missions.
Introduction: Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Welcome to Exploring Missions: connecting mission needs with those equipped by God to meet those needs across the world or across town. And now, the host of Exploring Missions, Bert Harper.
Bert Harper: Thank you for listening to Exploring Missions this weekend. We're hoping you're having a great, great weekend. We hope that worship is a part of the time that you spend with fellow believers, because that's important. It encourages, and also it makes us accountable for us growing in Christ, because that's what we're to do. On Exploring Missions today, we want to talk about using your influence for the glory of God. And in our interview, we'll see that that influence goes a long way.
This is Bert Harper, along with co-host Nathan Harper. And Nathan, we need to use our influence for evangelism and missions, don't we?
Nathan Harper: Yeah, that's absolutely right. You know, unless you are totally alone and don't know anybody... then you have some influence in somebody's life. If there's a relationship involved, there is influence involved. And so every one of us has a circle of influence. It might be a small circle—you might not know a lot of people—or it might be a large circle, or even like, you might run in various different circles, several circles of influence. But we all have one where we're touching people's lives. As we share, as we talk, as we do life with people, we can have a positive influence in their lives. Another way of saying that is like, we are witnesses, right? Jesus told us that we will be and are His witnesses. So our witness can be good, it can be, well, not so good sometimes, but we are a witness of what Jesus has done in our lives. So we all have a circle of influence. We have people that we can help and encourage and see God transform their lives through our lives.
Bert Harper: And when I think of that, one of the most influential places is a position in a school. I know you have teachers, and they are; you have principals, they are. But I'm telling you, the guy they call or the lady they call "coach"—what a place of influence that is. But not only in schools, but because of park and recreation, different sports that we have all through the United States, and children becoming a part of that, boys and girls. And someone that's a believer that has some knowledge and skills in a certain sport—wow, what a position of influence, Nathan. When you were growing up with your two brothers, we spent time on the soccer field, on the baseball field, in the gym. You spent a lot of time with a guy that you called coach, didn't you?
Nathan Harper: Absolutely. And I can probably name every single coach I've had growing up, and even into school-age sports. And so even in our family, two of my three children are sports active. They've had school coaches, and they've also had club, community-kind of coaches at different levels and in different sports. And so there's various levels of influence from each of those coaches. But if you're in it for a period of time, there's going to be a coach that really impacts and influences your life that, as you get older, like you and I, Dad, we can look back with fondness and say, "I am thankful for that man," or "that person in my life who was my coach."
Bert Harper: We can. And I think there's some biblical principles here. Don't you think in Titus when he's talking about the men and women and influence—that's a biblical principle, isn't it?
Nathan Harper: Yeah, it really is. Titus chapter 2, talking about influencing—usually if you're an older person, you can have influence in a younger person's life. And so in Titus chapter 2, verses 3 and 4, Paul is writing to Titus to say, "Hey, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they, the older women, they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God." In other words, the older women can be coaches in life, in certain aspects of life, to the younger women.
Then verse 6, he says, "Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness, soundness of speech," etc. So in other words, Titus, as a man—maybe an older man—is going to be a coach or have influence in the lives of the young men that are around him, that are in his circle of influence. So that's a biblical model, example, and I believe we're commanded to have influence in the next generation.
Bert Harper: It really is. And when a dad has a team and he's a coach, I'd say it doubles the influence. So those of you that are young men and have children, consider what God would have you to do concerning being maybe an assistant coach or coach, and it goes a long way in helping those young men and those young ladies be all that they can be in Christ.
We hope you'll enjoy this interview as it glorifies the Lord in what He has done.
Bert Harper: Thank you for listening to Exploring Missions, where we—our learning option says it well—across the street, around the world, and sometimes it's down the hall. Our guest today is working here at AFR. Matter of fact, he is vice president, and it's Wesley Wildmon. But he's also known as "Coach Wesley." That means you're a coach somewhere, Wesley. Tell us—baseball, basketball, football? You played in high school, but there's one sport that you kind of lean to.
Wesley Wildmon: Yes. Well, first of all, thank you for giving me the opportunity, because I'm very passionate about this, and this'll be an easy topic for me to cover. So thank you for having me on. Again, my name is Wesley Wildmon. I serve as vice president here at American Family Association, and I also have the opportunity to coach baseball outside of work. And we meet twice a week, and we practice, and of course, we get to play on the weekends occasionally. We work it around family, and we work it around other events, because that's not all we do, but I do get to coach baseball.
Bert Harper: Well, you played baseball in high school, right?
Wesley Wildmon: I did. I played baseball in high school. I had an opportunity to play college ball, but I had to be honest with my son the other day when he asked why I didn't. I said, "Well, I wasn’t good enough to play... it would have been too much work for not much return on investment that I'd chosen to just enjoy college."
Bert Harper: Well, you know what? In baseball, I see it also, and I saw an article, and it was about coaches in all of the major sports. It says those players that weren't quite up to par as far as playing, but they made the best coaches.
Wesley Wildmon: Oh, yeah. Well, I—you know what? That may be it for me, because I feel like over the years I've learned a lot, made some mistakes along the way, and at this point, though, I feel pretty good, pretty confident in coaching, my coaching skills, and those around me. I got a great team. I've also got a great—a lot of assistant coaches, and I really enjoy it. So there you go, that may be it.
Bert Harper: Well, I was amazed. In the article I was looking at, there were some awesome, awesome coaches and managers, and I said, "Wow, that speaks volumes." And also, I read one where the best players usually don't make the best coaches.
Wesley Wildmon: Oh, there—that's interesting. I can see that, yeah.
Bert Harper: Yeah, and so... but let's get down to what you do. It's here in Tupelo, Mississippi. Your son plays on this team. It's part of a family affair, isn't it?
Wesley Wildmon: It is. So, years ago, before I even met my wife—about four or five years before I met my wife, Chelsea—I began praying about a lot of different areas of my life in the future, you know, where I would go to college, where I would go to church, who my spouse would be, just praying about a lot of different aspects in life, getting toward that in-between high school and college and, you know, young adulthood there.
And I remember trying to figure out what I wanted to do for a living. And of course, working at AFA—AFA being a part of my life was always on the table. I always wanted to have some connection with AFA. I always believed in the mission and loved what Pawpaw started, but I wasn't sure at the time if I wanted to work full-time here, or if he wanted me to. Well, I began praying, and coaching was something that I was really interested in. And I remember it being as clear as I'm talking to you that—not audibly, but just very clear—that He did not want me to pursue that as a job or an occupation, but one day down the road, I would be able to—before I even met my wife—He told me that I would be able to coach in some capacity in that way.
And so, fast forward, get married, we have a son, our first son. He turns six, and I thought, "Well, here it is, you know. This is an opportunity I've waited for for almost 10 years to be able to coach." And there's a lot more wrong with youth sports than there are right, but there are a lot of good things. And I wanted to be able to take what was good and then adjust or change what I saw was the problems. And I thought by coaching, I could do so.
And here we are, and I've been coaching for five going on six years of travel baseball, and we've had a lot of success doing it the right way.
Bert Harper: Well, the reason we're having you on here is because it is missional. Listen, go to a campus, and the person who has as much or more influence than anyone else is "Coach." That's right. I mean, back—now, I've been out of high school a long time, okay? Yeah, we had chisels and—no, it wasn't quite that bad, but the coaches that I had, they influenced me in so many ways.
Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, I saw early on how influential coaches were in my life. And I had the majority of great coaches. I had one for sure, maybe two depending on how you look at it, that were bad coaches, but I had tons and tons of great coaches from childhood all the way up through high school that were very influential in my life, keeping an eternal perspective on sports, also teaching responsibility, accountability, sacrifice, putting others before yourself. All those attributes I found were very effective in life outside of sports, and very effective.
So then when given the opportunity to coach, I wanted to complement parents in what they were already teaching at home: a biblical worldview, a lot of things I just mentioned. I wanted to come beside them and complement them and find a way—which is not hard at all—creatively to teach those things through the game of baseball. You're learning that stuff all along. You're learning to be honest. You know, that's one of the Ten Commandments, "Do not lie." And you're learning every day to be honest because I—because where there's fair or foul, you know, I mean, there's plenty of ways you can learn. So implementing Christian ideas and thoughts through sports is very easy to do.
Bert Harper: With that in mind, this just came to mind. Always heard a sacrifice fly, sacrifice—get a man from first to second so they'll be in scoring position. You're doing it—well, you may get a hit, but more than likely, you're going to get out. But the man went from first to second in scoring position.
Wesley Wildmon: That's right. Sacrifice.
Bert Harper: So baseball and the gospel, they have some things in common. Am I right?
Wesley Wildmon: Oh, they do. And by the way, let me just add—let me go off on a little note here. But a ball hit on the ground that scores a run should be a sacrifice. But I understand in the rulebook it's not, but you understand what I'm saying? I'm finding about a handful and a half of things that's recorded and done throughout all of history in baseball that I'm going, "This has got to be done differently," the way they keep stats or whatever. So anyway, that's one of my little tangents with everybody because our boys are taught that if there's a guy at third and less than two outs, well, you got to find a way to put a ball on the ground hard on either side of the pitcher and get that runner across, but in the books it goes down as a 0-for, an out, you know. Anyways, all right. I'll try to keep it with just that one.
Bert Harper: Hey, but I agree with you. I agree with you all the way. Well, let's talk about this past season. You had the opportunity not just to coach locally, but our whole state. We're in the state of Mississippi, and they had a collection of guys going to a tournament. And in place of me blowing it and telling everybody the outcome, you tell of the process and the outcome.
Wesley Wildmon: Yes, so back up a little bit. I've had the opportunity to coach the Tupelo Rangers, which is a local travel ball baseball team in Northeast Mississippi in the city of Tupelo. Most kids, or all the kids, are within 20, 30 minutes of the field that we practice at. I've been coaching this team—seven of the ten I've been coaching since they were six or seven years old.
So that's been going really well. Well, this past summer—and we don't play in the summer and the winter months, we play in the fall and the spring, and we usually take hard breaks. Summer, take hard breaks, most of the time don't touch a baseball, just enjoy the summer, they're kids, and the same thing during winter.
Well, this summer I was asked by USSSA to coach the 10-year-old team that would represent Mississippi. Think of like the Little League World Series as it relates to states representing other states and playing against each other. That's what I did, but I did it for another sanctioned tournament. It wasn't Little League, it was USSSA.
So we went over to Lafayette, Louisiana, where the tournament was held, and it was called the All-State Tournament where all the different states came together. So in our age group, there was 18 different teams which represented 14 different states because states like Texas and California had multiple teams. So we went there and we got the matchup.
Bert Harper: How many games did you have to finally play, do you remember?
Wesley Wildmon: We had to play seven games total to make it to the championship game, so I've kind of given away the little teaser there—we made the championship game. But to back up, we had to play three pool games or three setup games, and based on your performance in these three games determined what seeding you would play in the bracket. So we entered the bracket being 2 and 1. We lost one game to California and beat New Mexico and beat another California team. So made the bracket, and before you know it, we won one game, won two games, and then three games, and now we're in the championship game, and we won it as well.
So won the whole thing, won the national title as a 10-year-old Major, and that was a lot of fun. You know, backing up, though, to start the summer with that team's practice, we had our first practice back in June and the tournament was at the end of July. And I remember meeting with them in center field in Starkville, Mississippi, where we held our first practice—that was kind of a central location for all the boys. Met there, and I remember meeting in center field and asking them the first thing I did—this before we even prayed... We did pray, but before we even prayed...
Bert Harper: Okay, we're going to get... we're going to get to some of that in a minute.
Wesley Wildmon: Okay. Okay. So, met in center field and I said, "Hey, what's your last name?" And they gave me... everybody gave me their last name. I knew them all, but I want... I was acting like I wanted the other boys to know each other better. They went through and I said, "You know, after this moment, you're no longer Sherman or Wildmon or Freeman or Kennard. Your last name is Team Mississippi." And they bought into that right then, that their last name was Team Mississippi. And I got a funny story before we get off on that, but they bought in to Team Mississippi. So, from that point forward, the best, most talented kids that I could hand-select in North Mississippi were bought into a selfless... 'cause these are the best players, which means they're batting second and third on their home team.
Bert Harper: And they're going to have to bat down the line somewhere.
Wesley Wildmon: That's right. And they were eight shortstops, so they had to get moved around. And so I wanted to make sure they were on the same page, and they bought in. So that helped out a lot, for sure.
Bert Harper: Well, tell us about the funny thing about Team Mississippi.
Wesley Wildmon: Going into the championship game, one of the kids... out of 12 kids, you're going to have about four, maybe five different personalities. You'll have some that are very similar, but you have some that are very different. So, unique personalities, about four probably out of 12.
And I remember there was one kid that just asked questions all the time right in the... raising their hand to ask questions right in the middle of a very important teaching that I... yeah.
Bert Harper: We all know kids like that. Go ahead.
Wesley Wildmon: And he... and he's doing that. And... and I didn't know any better, so I took it. And every time leading up to this... this funny moment, it was one of those that was on top of interrupting with a hand raise when I'm not finished—on top of that, it was something that had nothing to do with what we were talking about. But he was not doing this on purpose. It's just he's just a... he's like... lacked a little bit of awareness, but didn't do it on purpose.
Finally, I pulled him over to the side, and I told him, "Hey, listen. Hey, when we're coaching, like just save it for the end, blah, blah, blah." "Okay, sounds good." I told him that throughout the summer.
In between the semifinal and the championship game, there's about 15 minutes before we start the championship game. We're sitting over there, and this same kid comes up to me and he's like, "Hey, Coach Wes, I've... I've never even thought to ask, you know. We've been on the same field for several years playing against each other." He said, "What is... what... what is your last name?" I answered him, I said, "Well, of course you... you don't know? Like, it's Wildmon. Wesley... Coach Wes... Coach... you can call me... you call me Coach Wes, but my last name's Wildmon." He said, "Nope. No, it's not. It's Team Mississippi."
This same kid got... and he was laughing, grinning. He thought it was the funniest thing. I gave him a big hug. I said, "You know, you're exactly right. We got another hour and a half left, and... and you're right. For the next hour and a half, I'm still Team Mississippi."
Bert Harper: Amen.
Wesley Wildmon: And he bought into that. That was the funniest... and he... that same kid was a joy in the dugout, laughter. He had two of the biggest home runs of the weekend. In fact, he had a two-run homer with about 30 minutes left in the championship game to tie it up. Same kid. So he's a hoot.
Bert Harper: Wow. Same kid. Team Mississippi!
Wesley Wildmon: Team Mississippi, yeah.
Bert Harper: Okay. Well, let's talk about how to bring those that are coaches—
Wesley Wildmon: Yes, please.
Bert Harper: —and it may be a city league, church league, can do it easy. But travel ball or whatever it is, some of the kids that you get, their parents may buy into it and they agree with you, some of them may not. Tell us a little bit about that and your goal, what you try to do, and what you try to pass on.
Wesley Wildmon: Yeah. Well, thank you for that, and I appreciate the opportunity. So, I try to keep this in a nutshell. But I'm a Christian, so I believe in taking the Bible and using it to reflect... looking through the lens of Scripture on how we should operate our daily lives. If you look at Jesus, He spent 85% of His hours awake with His disciples where not in a classroom or a teaching setting. Now, there were some, about 15 to 20%, which were the Sermon on the Mount as an example, where they sat down and He taught. And they probably took notes or were listening really well. The majority of His time was as they were going.
You look at how He loved and the relationships He created with His disciples and how He taught as they were going. And so, we try to apply... I try to apply that the best that I can to the group of the young men I get to coach.
So, a couple of things wrong with travel sports: they play on Sunday a lot, and it puts people in a bad spot. So, I've made some cases locally where you can avoid playing on Saturday... on Sundays. And there's a couple of opportunities we've created locally to be able to play on Fridays and Saturdays.
However, there are a couple of our tournaments—sometimes more than a couple, and I don't like any more than others—where we do play on a Sunday, and I try to make it to where it's after lunch, so you can still go to church and then play that afternoon. But in the event that one matches up where we can't make it to church, I tell the parents that if y'all need to go to church, you're not punished for going to church. Nothing changes with us. However, we do a chapel time. So, we will read the Bible, parents included, and so we do that.
That's one thing we like to... we do. The other thing is we... I implement Christian teaching as I'm going. I mentioned honesty earlier, so we do that. I do value a lot about commitment and loyalty and being on time. And so, our players don't play for multiple teams. Now, that may be a shock. You may be saying, "Well, why would they play for multiple teams?" Unfortunately, in youth travel sports, it is an extremely, extremely selfish environment. 70 to 80% of all teams and coaches encourage selfishness. Now, they wouldn't use that word, but everything they implement is a very self-centered way of doing things, and it's every bit of 70%.
We teach the opposite. We teach selflessness. We teach your team comes first. We have practice jerseys that say, "God First, Teammates Second, and Myself Third." They have to wear it and look at it during practice. And that's another reason why I don't tolerate bad behavior after an incident. So, we don't slam bats, we don't throw helmets, we don't talk back to coaches. Those are also forms of selfishness, because those can influence the outcome of the game. Because if you're so out of control that you can't play the game to the best of your ability, that's hurting your team. So, that's a form of selfishness as well.
Bert Harper: Kind of... sounds like becoming a disciple there, at least.
Wesley Wildmon: It's coming... it's exactly right. Yes. And I... and I don't... I never... I never shy away from my Christian faith from the very beginning. Of course, it's just part of who we are, the way we talk, the way we operate.
Bert Harper: As you go.
Wesley Wildmon: As we go. And it's very effective. I have learned that you may feel like you lose in the short term by not compromising to the way of the world, but long term, you benefit from it. You absolutely benefit from doing what's right. So, I've often said, "Do your best and leave the results up to God." It comes off the movie Facing the Giants, which is a sports movie. Do your best, leave the results up to God.
We work really hard, and we don't pretend: we're trying to win every game. We... we don't... we don't say winning doesn't matter. We—
Bert Harper: Meekness doesn't mean losing.
Wesley Wildmon: It does not. And we... we never say winning doesn't matter. We would say it's more than just a game, and that's true. It is more than just a game, but we are trying to win every game. We strategize to win every game, we practice to win every game, and we win a lot of games.
Bert Harper: Well, the other thing I was really wanting to concentrate on is relationships.
Wesley Wildmon: Oh, yes.
Bert Harper: Again, you build these relationships with parents and with the players as well, don't you?
Wesley Wildmon: Absolutely. That's what I love about the team that I coach. While there are examples after examples of kids being on multiple teams throughout the year, swapping teams because they don't like this, and coaches removing this player because he's not good enough to help him win, there's a lot of problems with that. But for the team I coach, seven of the ten that I've been coaching since the very beginning, since six years old, and they're 11 years old now. The other three, they came along—one guy moved in, his parents moved from one city to the next, they moved in and tried out and made the team.
But everybody that's been with me, I've told them from the very beginning, "You will always have an opportunity to play for me if you're willing to show up and put the work in, even if you underperform. You've always got a spot." So, as a result of that, it proves to them that it's more than just winning; it's about a relationship with them. So, I've created a great relationship.
We do so much outside of baseball together. We serve the community. There's a Challenger League in town. The Challenger League in town is an athletic league for those that have disabilities, and they're always looking for people to help serve, and to be fans in the stands, to help go get the ball, to umpire, to help... some of these kids are in wheelchairs, help push them around the bases. So, every year we volunteer for that.
Not saying that in a bragging way, but saying that in a way that we're influencing the baseball boys, our team, in a relationship that this is important. So, we serve in that capacity. We go to several baseball and football games together as a team. We go to the Mississippi State baseball stadium where we get to walk out on the field, do the national anthem, and then we go to a big box seat and we hang out together. We have end-of-the-fall parties that... we've had one at my house before. So, there's a lot of relationship that takes place outside of baseball.
And I'll give you an example that is very important. I was watching a coach this past weekend, and there was one kid on his team that I saw was slamming his bat, having a bad attitude. And I just thought to myself, "Uh, I wouldn't tolerate that." And that was my first reaction. But I know the coach really well, and I thought he wouldn't tolerate that either.
And so I asked him in between innings, I said, "Hey, I noticed you got a new kid." He's like, "Yeah, it's his first game with us." I said, "Well, he's very memorable, you know, slammed the bat..." He said, "Yes." He said, "You know what? He's a very talented kid, comes from a broken home, and," he said, "I'm willing to give him time—and whatever that looks like, a couple months, maybe a year—to see if I can get the best out of him while also discipling him."
So he had a... I have a very good coaching circle, and he was willing to sacrifice a little bit... appeared to me that he was letting a good kid get away with something, but it wasn't the case. He said, "I'm working on it." But he's a new kid, broken family, but he's very good at baseball, and I'm trying to work on him. But he wouldn't tolerate it forever. But he's discipling him. It's a growing thing, yeah.
Bert Harper: So it's a growing process, yeah. One more thing before we go. You started with your son at five or six years old, now ten. Are you moving up with him?
Wesley Wildmon: Moving up with them. Now we're in 11U, so...
Bert Harper: So you are staying... and we're talking about parents here that play baseball, or basketball, whatever they would, or Trail Life, whatever it is. How important is that to do that with them?
Wesley Wildmon: It's very, very important. I love doing it. I don't know where everyone falls on this, I'll just tell you how I do it. I don't like doing this, it's uncomfortable, but I believe I'm doing the right thing. I tell Bennett, "For the hour and a half inside that gate, I'm not your dad. I'm not your dad, I'm your coach. And when we go outside the gate, I'm now your dad again. But I'm not your dad inside."
He broke a rule—he talked back to one of his coaches last weekend. He had to sit the first inning of the first game this weekend in a very big tournament. He sat the first inning of the first game. It took him an hour to let it soak in, but he knew... he knew the consequences. It was the same for everyone else, and so as a coach, I had to sit one of my better players the first game. But then after that, he played good baseball. He pitched in the championship game and did really well, so...
Bert Harper: Well, Wesley, Coach Wesley—
Wesley Wildmon: Yes, sir!
Bert Harper: —it's good to have you again. Our guest has been Wesley Wildmon, vice president here at AFA, AFR. And we appreciate you and your discipleship program—
Wesley Wildmon: That's exactly what it is.
Bert Harper: —in youth baseball.
Wesley Wildmon: It's church! We have church on Mondays and Thursdays.
Bert Harper: Thank you for listening to Exploring Missions, and we pray that you would seek God and say, "God, is there a way that You can use me in God's work of the Great Commission?"
Thank you for listening to Exploring Missions.
In this episode, Bert Harper and Nathan Harper explore the profound impact of influence in our lives, particularly through the lens of coaching and mentorship. They discuss how every individual has a circle of influence that can be utilized for evangelism and missions. With special guest Wesley Wildmon, they delve into the importance of using one's platform in sports and coaching to instill biblical principles and foster positive relationships among youth. Listen to discover how you can leverage your influence for the glory of God!
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