A New TV Program Features Well-Known Christian Athletes

The nation’s largest cable television network is broadcasting a weekly show that presents positive role models from the sports world. ESPN, which reaches more than 35 million American homes, is airing the program, hosted by basketball great Julius Erving of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Called “Julius Erving’s Sports Focus,” the show gives well-known athletes a chance to discuss how their faith bears on their profession. The half-hour program debuted earlier this year.

A typical segment includes stories about two or three Christian athletes and examines a sports-related issue, such as drug abuse or recruiting violations. Among the athletes to be profiled are Chicago Bears wide receiver Willie Gault, Olympic skater Rosalynn Sumners, and marathoner Alberto Salazar.

The show is produced by New Focus, Inc., an organization founded last year by Ralph Drollinger, once a standout basketball player at the University of California at Los Angeles. Seven years ago, Drollinger turned down a lucrative offer to join the pro ranks. He opted instead to tour for two years with Campus Crusade for Christ’s Athletes in Action (AIA) basketball team. He did turn pro in 1980 when he became a Dallas Maverick, but a knee injury ended his brief career. Until he founded New Focus, he served as executive producer of AIA’s “Sports Magazine” television program.

Drollinger describes New Focus as a company “committed to producing high moral, high traditional value programming for mass audiences.” Although the featured athletes usually are believers, the show is not overtly evangelistic. Drollinger said the show is intended to entertain. He added that attempts at “hard sell” evangelism probably would not be effective. However, viewers can send for a free issue of Sports Focus magazine, which contains articles that are heavily evangelistic.

Drollinger said “Julius Erving’s Sports Focus” is the result of substantial market analysis. According to research conducted by the Gallup organization, he said, “the body of Christ spends over $500 million a year contributing to television evangelists, who reach only about 6 percent of the population.” Drollinger cited research done by Child Evangelism Fellowship indicating that “90 percent of the decisions made in America for Christ today are made before the age of 18.” Thus, the 15- to 18-year-old age group is the target audience for the new television program.

Erving, who has tallied more than 25,000 points in 14 years of professional basketball, said hosting the show could be the beginning of a new career in broadcasting.

Research done last fall revealed that, among youths aged 15 to 17, Erving was the most admired sports hero among boys, and was second to gymnast Mary Lou Retton among girls. Erving has lent his time and efforts to a variety of charities, including Special Olympics, March of Dimes, and the Lupus Foundation.

California Judge Dismisses Nation’s First ‘Clergy Malpractice’ Suit

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge last month dismissed the nation’s first “clergy malpractice” lawsuit, halfway through a widely publicized trial.

The dismissal by Judge Joseph R. Kalin cleared John F. MacArthur, Jr., senior pastor of Grace Community Church in southern California, and his pastoral staff of charges stemming from the 1979 suicide of a young man they had counseled. The unprecedented case had been in and out of court since 1980. Superior Court Judge Thomas Murphy had dismissed the case in 1981, but last summer an appeals court ordered a trial that began in April (CT, April 19, 1984, p. 60).

The suit was filed and appealed by Marie and Walter J. Nally, parents of Kenneth Nally, the man who killed himself. Their lawyer called on about one-quarter of the 109 witnesses he had lined up to testify against Grace Community Church, but their statements proved unconvincing.

Kalin wrote in his 14-page decision that there is “no compelling reason for the state or this court to interfere with the counseling at Grace Community Church.” Imposing standards on pastors would “open the flood gates to clergy malpractice suits,” the judge wrote, and “the cost to pastors and small churches would have a chilling effect on the freedom of religion.”

MacArthur’s assistant, Jay Letey, issued a statement on behalf of the senior pastor: “We praise the Lord for how it has worked out. We hope pastors throughout the country will feel confident to do counseling and to use Scripture in their counseling.” He said the five-year ordeal has not altered the church’s commitment to biblical counseling.

MacArthur’s attorney, Samuel E. Ericsson of the Christian Legal Society, argued for two hours to persuade Kalin to dismiss the case. Ericsson said he told the judge there was no need to complete the trial because “the plaintiffs have failed to prove their case, and our defendant is protected by the First Amendment.”

Ericsson said the dismissal is good news for all churches. “It closes the door to any future suits seeking to make pastoral counseling accountable to the state,” he said, “and it prevents a legal wedge from being placed between those who need help most and those who stand most ready to help.”

Kenneth Nally was a seminary student who worked part-time at Grace Community Church. He sought counseling there to combat depression. Nally’s parents charged in their lawsuit that their son was advised to pray and read the Bible rather than to seek professional psychiatric help. However, the church did refer Nally to other professionals, and it claimed it never presented suicide as an option—another charge made by the Nallys.

In response to that charge, MacArthur last year issued a statement. “Under no circumstances would it be in the will of God for a person to take his or her own life,” the statement read. “When the young man with whom this lawsuit is concerned took his life, it was certainly not because anyone associated with Grace Church ever taught or ever encouraged him or anyone else to do that.”

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