Religion: 65 Yards to Go

When 23-year-old Jarrell F. McCracken, sportcaster for Waco (Texas) radio station KWTX, was invited last year to speak in a Baptist church, he wondered what to say. He decided to combine his two chief interests, religion and sport, in a rapid-fire report of a football contest called “The Great Game of Life.” So enthusiastic was his Texas audience that McCracken recorded his allegory and put it on the market. So well did the records sell that he went into business with two fellow graduates of Baptist Baylor University to sell religious records labeled WORD.

By last week they had sold some 15,000 records. Sample monologue from “The Game of Life” (two 12-inch records for $2.95), to the accompaniment of skillfully dubbed stadium sound effects:

“Good afternoon, everybody. This is station WORD broadcasting from the great Stadium of Life . . . We have a tremendous crowd on hand today. The stands are literally packed with a great crowd of witnesses, as the writer of Hebrews points out. . . There are several famous and successful veterans of this big game in the stands today . . . such notables as Moses, Samuel, Gideon, Peter, Paul and many, many others. Each has a vital and personal interest in each player on the field.”

“This Guy Satan.” “Down on the field we can see that both teams are completing their pre-game workouts. To our right are the players representing Christianity, and this Christian team, by the way, has as its coach the greatest of them all, noted for his great and unerring wisdom. This great mentor, Jesus Christ, is the model of perfection in the coaching realm. However, as we look down to our left we see another great squad and a very cunning and clever coach. This is the team coached by Satan, the Forces of Evil. And believe you me, this guy Satan and his men will be tough to handle. There’s a great wave of anticipation and expectancy in the crowd . . . As you know, the referee of this Game of Life is God Himself, the perfect, just and all-seeing referee . . .

“The coaches have given their respective players their last-minute instructions, Jesus Christ telling his players: ‘Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.’ Christ has now come off the field and it’s all up to the players whom he’s just left with that last-minute challenge . . . The entire hope of Christianity in this, the Game of Life, rests upon the ball-carrying ability of Average Christian.”

Humility from the Rear. The breathless climax of the game comes near the end of the fourth quarter, with the score 0-0, and Average Christian so groggy from ball-carrying that he’s just run 70 yards in the wrong direction. “It’s second down . . . and 65 to go. But just a second, the great coach, Jesus Christ of the Christianity team, is sending an important substitute into the game. Let’s check—he’s coming on to the field. Yes, it’s the real need for this Christian team right now—the real need, the Holy Spirit coming into the game. And the players seem to be invigorated by the presence of this powerful new player and the Forces of Evil are bracing their defenses. There’ll be time for just one more running play in this game as the Christian team goes into the huddle and it’s the Holy Spirit calling the signals . . .

“The ball is snapped and it goes to Average Christian. He’s circling his own right end, interference is forming in front of him . . . He’s up to the 15-yard stripe, running behind Prayer, Love, Bible Study, Witnessing, Faithfulness . . . and there’s Church-Attendance out there . . . Humility running across offering protection from the rear as the great wave sweeps across the 50 into enemy territory. They’re to the 40-yard stripe, the 30, open in the clear field up to the 20, the 10, the 5—it’s a touchdown and the ball game is all over!”