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It's 2 a.m. when the phone rings. Shaking off sleep, Henry Soles picks up the receiver and asks who's calling. A Chicago Bulls player needs advice about contract negotiations and he knows "Reverend Soles" will give him wise counsel.

Taking phone calls in the middle of the night is just a part of Soles's ministry as volunteer chaplain to the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Chicago Bulls. Though you might think the team doesn't have a prayer without recently retired Michael Jordan, you'd be wrong. Soles has been providing the Bulls with spiritual direction since the 1979-1980 season. When players need guidance off the court, Soles is there to lend an ear and point them to Jesus Christ.

He began his ministry to professional athletes in 1972 when a Fellowship of Christian Athletes representative asked him to speak at a chapel service for the Chicago Bears. He continued helping with the Bears and then focused his efforts on the Chicago White Sox.

	"[My] goal is to equip them to live lives that glorify God."

"After a while the Lord began to let me know that this [ministry to professional athletes] was something I needed to do," Soles said.

In 1979, he offered to conduct chapel services for the Bulls, pending approval from the players and team management. Soles received the go-ahead from both groups. During his service with the Bulls, he has witnessed some lean years with few wins and the excitement of a six-time championship team in the 1990s.

A full 15 minutes
One hour before home games, Soles leads a 15-minute service for players from both teams. The media is also invited, with the understanding that what goes on is private and not for print. Assistant chaplain Scott Bradley rounds up Bulls players and contacts the other team. Bulls management has designated one spacious dressing room of the United Center for the chapel, complete with chairs, a couch, and a television. In the old Chicago Stadium, where Soles first led chapels, services were held in the cramped dressing room of the team mascot, Benny the Bull.

Chapels begin with prayer or a song, Soles speaks for about five minutes, and then there's a brief discussion and prayer request time. He tries to ask each of the players a question, so they will consider how to apply what they've heard. "Sometimes the [NBA] chaplains just speak, but he [Soles] gets everybody involved," says Bulls player Mark Bryant.

Soles often talks about fleeting fame and money—the "nitty-gritty"—as he calls it. He tells them Jesus will be there for them forever and will change their lives. They won't be a has-been if they're serving God, he says. He tries to "hit hard"—getting his message across in a way the players won't forget—since he never knows who will show up from week to week.

"I challenge them to go to church, to come to know him who is the reason we go to church—Jesus Christ—and to be involved in their communities," Soles said. "As a sports chaplain, you're not to worship the players but to treat them as human beings and make sure that they understand you're not there just to put a blessing upon them for the game. Your goal is to equip them to live lives that glorify God."

Bulls player Dickey Simpkins says he goes to chapel for the Bible teaching, since he's not able to attend church as often as he would like due to the players' hectic schedules. "I also go to gain some peace of mind in my [personal] life and basketball life," he says.

Bryant says he also goes to hear the Word. "Every time I go, I learn something new."

This is God's time
Following the NBA lockout that ended in early 1999, many of the Bulls' star players signed contracts with other teams. Meeting and ministering to new faces has been a challenge for Soles, but he has been encouraged by the responsiveness of some of the new players, like Bryant, a first-year Bull. "It's a rebuilding process for both the team and the chapel," Soles says.

About a third of the Bulls players and the opposing team will show up on an average night. To have both teams meet together is not too unusual for the NBA chapels, one in each city. Most players have no problem with the set-up, and Soles just wants to minister to whomever is interested. "Being opponents doesn't matter at chapel time, it's a time allotted for God," Simpkins says.

One time, Grant Hill of the Detroit Pistons attended chapel and was encouraged by the message on overcoming life's challenges. So much so, he went out and had an unusually stellar game, scoring 37 points against Bulls All-Star Scottie Pippen (now a Houston Rocket). When someone later told Soles, "You're supposed to help the Bulls," he responded, "I'm a minister of the gospel. I preach to everybody. In the chapel there are no favorites."

Soles may have no favorites, but the world's favorite former basketball player—Michael Jordan—who retired in January 1999, sometimes attended chapel services. Speaking of the chaplain, Jordan told a Chicago NBC television station, "He's good for the game and he's good for the soul and for everything outside the game."

Soles counseled "MJ" after the murder of his father. Jordan in turn compassionately responded when Soles's mother died in 1997. The night he heard about his mother's death, Soles came to the United Center and led chapel—telling several players, including Jordan, of his loss, but left before the televised game. Later, Soles found out that Jordan wore a black arm band during the game. When a reporter asked why, he said on camera that he wore it in support of the chaplain, whose mother had died.

Volunteer ambassador, too
Being associated with the Bulls has opened up opportunities for Soles to be an ambassador of the gospel around the world.

In 1997 Soles accompanied the Bulls to Japan. They spoke in public schools and conducted basketball clinics, which attracted an average of two to three hundred young people each time. The Japanese eagerly lined up for autographs at department stores.

Soles was able to meet with the mayor of Osaka, Japan's second largest city, thanks to a letter of introduction from Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley. Soles used the opportunity to introduce the mayor to some local church leaders, who had never been able to meet with him before. After getting some autographs from Soles, the mayor asked them to "Pray for me." He also told the elated church leaders that his office was always open to them, a major breakthrough in church-state relations.

Even in the United States, when Soles speaks at local churches in places like Naples, Florida, or Rockford, Illinois, reporters often will interview Soles. The churches benefit from the newspaper or television exposure, and people who would never come to a regular service will show up to hear Soles speak.

All the same in Jesus' eyes
Soles keeps active through several other ministries, including a Bible study for business people in downtown Chicago, and numerous speaking engagements. "I'm free to minister wherever God wants me," he said.

He serves as a board member for several organizations including one that manages 100 units of low-cost housing and one, Koinonia House, that ministers to ex-offenders, and Gospel Outreach, a ministry to young people in a Chicago housing project. Soles and his wife, Effie, are also ordained ministers at the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Lisle, Illinois.

Soles considers himself a marketplace minister, reaching the "down-and-out" and "up-and-in." Claude Terry, former NBA player and current executive director of Pro Basketball Fellowship, says Soles is able to expand players' thinking beyond the insulated and isolated environment of professional sports. "Because of his work in the projects, he brings a perspective that the players can't [easily] get."

The beauty of Soles's ministries is that he treats everyone, whether a professional basketball player or a homeless man, the same way—as people who need the peace only Jesus can give.

That's a championship approach for this player on God's team.

Do we really believe God delights to talk with his children? If God said only one word to you, would the word be Repent? Or would he say, "Thank you. do you know what a joy it is to live in your heart? Do you know that I have looked upon you and loved you for all eternity?"

—Brennan Manning in Reflections for Ragamuffins (HarperSanFrancisco)

A Christian Reader original article.

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