{"id":44551,"date":"2010-07-19T04:13:00","date_gmt":"2010-07-19T04:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/businessmans-vision-leads-to-100-little-league-teams-for-un\/"},"modified":"2010-07-19T04:13:00","modified_gmt":"2010-07-19T04:13:00","slug":"businessmans-vision-leads-to-100-little-league-teams-for-un","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/businessmans-vision-leads-to-100-little-league-teams-for-un\/","title":{"rendered":"Businessman&#8217;s Vision Leads to 100 Little League Teams for Underprivileged Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On his way to work one day, Chicago insurance broker Bob Muzikowski saw a derelict ball field full of trash in a gang-infested neighborhood. <em>The kids there could use a real Little League to play in<\/em>, he thought. He teamed up with a friend to create the Near North Little League. In &quot;pretty wild&quot; early practice sessions, coaches dealt with 250 boys long on enthusiasm but short on fundamentals. Each game began with a prayer. Cursing was strictly forbidden.<\/p>\n\n<p>&quot;While I had no illusions that I&#39;d change the world, I had no doubt that God wanted me to play baseball with these kids,&quot; said Muzikowski, converted not long before. &quot;My faith had taught me that being a Christian means truly believing what Jesus said about loving my neighbor.&quot;<\/p>\n\n<p>The next year, 400 kids joined the league. Today 900 fatherless kids in 100 Little League teams are learning self-respect and community values. Reporters wonder why a wealthy businessman lives among the poor, coaching other people&#39;s kids. Muzikowski answers, &quot;Jesus didn&#39;t say, &#39;When you&#39;ve paid someone to do it unto the least of these.&#39; What he said was, &#39;when you have done it.&quot;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[310],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3897,3997,4085,4096,4245,4250,4315,4395,4470,4476,4477,4579,4633,4669,4792,5005,5006,5007,5008,5011,5013,5014,5284],"tax_ctp_topics":[382],"class_list":["post-44551","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-evangelism","tax_ctp_tags-focus","tax_ctp_tags-gospel","tax_ctp_tags-great-commission","tax_ctp_tags-influence","tax_ctp_tags-injustice","tax_ctp_tags-justice","tax_ctp_tags-love","tax_ctp_tags-ministry","tax_ctp_tags-mission","tax_ctp_tags-mission-of-church","tax_ctp_tags-outreach","tax_ctp_tags-perspective","tax_ctp_tags-poverty","tax_ctp_tags-relationship","tax_ctp_tags-social-action","tax_ctp_tags-social-concern","tax_ctp_tags-social-conditions","tax_ctp_tags-social-gospel","tax_ctp_tags-social-justice","tax_ctp_tags-social-trends","tax_ctp_tags-society","tax_ctp_tags-witnessing"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Businessman&#039;s Vision Leads to 100 Little League Teams for Underprivileged Kids - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/businessmans-vision-leads-to-100-little-league-teams-for-un\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Businessman&#039;s Vision Leads to 100 Little League Teams for Underprivileged Kids - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On his way to work one day, Chicago insurance broker Bob Muzikowski saw a derelict ball field full of trash in a gang-infested neighborhood. 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