SFNewTech Recap

I wrote this piece after attending an event for SFNewTech. It's a little more freestyle than I usually go with my posts, but I was hoping it would help the organizer draw some looks with innovation.

So you finally decided to pull the trigger and come to this SFNewTech thing, huh? You've heard thing from friends about how they saw some amazing new ideas which sparked their own creativity and got them out of their rut at work. You remember hearing about your friend who met a man there who ended up helping her start her own business. You couldn't ignore it any longer; there must be something to the events there that keep people so interested and coming back, so you decided to attend the event on the 21^st, and how did it go?

You showed up around 6, which was as quick as you could get there from work, but luckily the event was geared around people scrambling from work, and there was even a taco truck waiting and people were enjoying drinks. You caught your breath and strolled in to be greeted with a smile and a nametag to make introductions easier. Waltzing to the bar somewhat nervously, you were greeted by a software engineer from AT&T who wanted to know all about what you do. You explained your situation, and asked about his. He admitted this is was first time here too, but he'd already met some great people who swore by these events. You found out you share a love of social networking and exchanged business cards, twitter account names, and added each other on linkedin. You had already made a friend within 5 minutes, and you had your ear on several other conversations going on. There were well dressed venture capitalists, bright eyed innovation scouts, and charismatic product managers eager to share all about whats going on in the technology world with you. Before you know it, the event started.

You found a seat next to the man you met earlier, and began listening to the talks. First you heard about Doochoo, which aims to be a building platform for opinion-related apps. They talked about Couchin, which allows you to ask your friends opinions on movies, television, and other media through a Nielsen-lite rating system, and you were already intrigued. Before you know it, a man from Lunch.com talked about how their new community feature lets you further personalize your social networking by allowing you to facilitate opinions from people who are similar to you. You agreed that you'd rather one opinion from a friend then 800 opinions from the masses, and vow to sign up later. Next a man from Crisp talked in a no-nonsense manner about how they plan on helping companies weed out garbage from online communities through profiling their chat behavior. Then MotherApp raved about how they'll allow folks to make apps that span across multiple mobile devices, instead of restricting themselves to just the iPhone or the Android. Finally, Sococo aimed to solve your problem of having meetings with your branches across the country and the world by selling virtual meeting rooms where you can chat, share media, and network in a secure environment.

There were even people like you, who got a turn on the mic to promote their new startup, or were looking for connections having moved to town just recently. You were amazed at how it seemed like so many people were just like you—trying to find that one spark to catapult them up the chain in Silicon Valley. This was more than a think tank you realized. SFNewTech is people helping people make their careers and lives better. It's no wonder that people keep coming back. You walked out the door with 5 business cards, a great new idea for your product, and a vow to pencil in the next three events, because this is too good a resource to pass up.

Disassocation, Trust, and Bunting

The conundrum of disassociation is something that affects everyone to be sure, but Christians in sports need to be especially wary of it. I spent a lot of time crafting that opening sentence, so you should keep reading and see what I mean by it. By disassociation I mean the quandary of whether or not to tell people of a certain important aspect of your life knowing the repercussions it may bring. For example, a homosexual school teacher may want to shout to the world how proud they are of their life; they may also want to hold back on that for fear that it may invite trouble from parents who don't agree. I've even heard stories of doctors and other academics holding back telling the world that they are geeks because of the negative stereotypes geeks hold in such circles.

Let's look at a tangible example. Daric Barton (the 1^st baseman of the Oakland As) told the Chronicle's Susan Slusser recently that he came to know Christ in the offseason. She mentioned in the same article that Daric has been sacrifice bunting a lot more recently on his own volition, because he wants to help the team. To Slusser's credit, she didn't connect these two items directly (other than featuring them in the same piece, and relating them with the vague notion of "being humble and wanting to help the team) but that didn't stop fans from doing so. (see comments for most of the connections) Most of the comments are in a negative tone, since bunting as often as he does while being a good enough hitter that he should be swinging the bat in the hopes of driving the run in, is statistically bad.

I'm sure most Christians can relate to this issue. A lot of Christians have become too comfortable in their faiths, having experienced God's love but lost the fire to share it with others. We may feel we're at a delicate balance in our lives--the money is just enough to sustain us; our families have enough on their plates to think about God; or the ever popular "Evangelism just isn't my thing." While preaching from the pulpit certainly isn't everyone's call, I do believe we need to allow God to work through us, and our circumstances. I would argue that to deny the world of our story in God is to be ashamed of what we have become.

Why are we ashamed? We have allowed ourselves to become too concerned with how the world wants us to think, rather than what God tells us to do. The world tells us that God is a crutch for the weak, a catch-all belief for the ignorant, and simply illogical. So we stay silent. We let the world come to us, and often times feel woefully unprepared for the chances we get to tell people about Jesus. Can't we remedy this? Isn't it possible that we can be a little more up front in our faith, so that when people do come asking questions, we're no longer the two-faced overly comfortable Christian?

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. - Hebrews 10:18

With Christian athletes, this takes a very important role. These days folks are trying to examine the mental aspect of performance just as much as the physical role. We're seeing more cases of Performance Anxiety Disorder, Depression, and other crippling mental illnesses. We may fear that the acknowledgement of dependence on God may lead to people seeing us as unstable and/or weak. This is, again, shameful rather than careful. We need to trust the Lord. He has brought you to the place he wants you to be, and he has prepared good works for you to do, and entrusts you with them. We are not alone in these endeavours--we have God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and our fellow Christians to help us persevere. Though it may seem scary at times, and it may be a humbling experience, the Lord will do great things with what meager steps we may take.

So what do we do with Daric's case? Though it's probably not true that his faith has caused him to bunt more, we can trust that this peculiar story has helped out folks reading it. We can learn from Daric that letting the world know that we are Christian will draw scoffs, but it will also draw curiosity and eventual praise. People may use our mistakes as a way to insult God, but God will overcome their misgivings if they are prepared to allow him to work. While we don't need to throw a Bible at every person we meet, we can be more vocal about attributing things in our life to God to the public. Let's start by praying that God will give us confidence, boldness, and trust in him, so that he can do amazing things.

Player Profile: Josh Hamilton

Josh Hamilton may be the most well publicized name in Christian athletes today. He's had a Sports Illustrated cover story, numerous interviews, and his behavior is scrutinized by both media and organization alike to make sure he doesn't slip. Day after day he proves that he has been refined like silver and gives all glory to God. For those who are unaware, the story of Josh Hamilton is almost too well scripted to be true.

He was the number one overall pick by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1999. He amazed scouts with his effortless power and "No-Ceiling" athleticism. Like most young kids who are athletically gifted, Hamilton was unprepared for life as a professional athlete. He signed for a staggering $4 million up front, and was tossed into the waters just like every other prospect. He did reasonably well his first year, reaching the Sally league (High-A ball) in ample time, and seemed to be working his way towards his destiny. In 2001, though, tragedy struck. He was in a car accident with his parents, and his injury left him unable to play for a period of time. Unprepared for life away from home and without baseball to fall back on, Hamilton began escaping into drugs.

Hamilton had troubles all over, he was an addict, his wife couldn't rely on him, and he felt like a failure. To try and set things straight, he started small. While attending rehab, he worked at a baseball academy in Florida, surrounded by men who loved him and cared for him, and taught him about God. Hamilton attributes a lot of his turn around to the godly men in his life who cared for him because he was a man who needed love; not because he was a great athlete. Within a couple years, Hamilton was in the major leagues threatening for the Triple Crown and carrying teams on his back for stretches.

Every interview Hamilton gives, he is quick to give up all of the credit to Jesus. When Harold Reynolds told him that he really was Roy Hobbs (a reference to The Natural,) Hamilton quickly corrected him and said "It's a God thing." In every interview, Hamilton raves on and on about Jesus, and seems almost flabbergasted as to how much God has taken care of him when he had done so little to deserve such help. Hamilton lives by James 4:7 these days:

Humble yourself before God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Hamilton has truly learned what its like to humble himself before God. He was given great talent, skill, and a platform to preach, but he needed God to help him before he could put any of it to use. God is the creator, and the giver of talent-he wants to help you use it. The devil tempts us at every turn, but God wants to help us resist him. If we are able to resist temptation by invoking God's name and power, the devil will have no choice but to flee before such awesome power.

So what do we learn from Josh Hamilton's story? Giving ourselves to God means giving ourselves to a purpose. Jesus didn't make disciples so that they could simply acknowledge him and go on with their lives; he did so because he wanted strong followers who could prove to the world the power and love of God. If we feel the world is beating us, all we need to do is remember that God loves us, and is using circumstances that we have put ourselves in to make us stronger and more confident in him. Be confident in what God has done in your life; he has done and will do awesome works through you. Prove to the world that God loves through your actions, and God will bless your endeavors.