AMAZING STORY
NBA Champion Remembers the Conversation that Changed His Life
By Rod Thomas
The 700 Club
CBN.com-Former NBA player Wayne Simien played for the love of the game; but there was a time when basketball was much more than that. “Basketball was an idol in my life. It was my god because it was the most important thing to me.”
It wasn’t always that way. Raised in the town of Leavenworth, Kansas, Wayne was a natural athlete who enjoyed hoops at an early age. “Just the appreciation of a team, and the need for other people, the need to be able to work with others towards a common goal, towards something bigger than yourself.”
In high school, his focus on “team”, started to change when he started getting recognitions as an All-American and top college recruit. “It became the number one thing in my life. It became my identity. I identified myself with how I would perform on the court.”
That attitude only got worse when he went to the University of Kansas on a full ride. “It was all about me. I would step on anyone to reach a goal or a dream or an ambition.”
He also got caught up in the hype of being the “big man on campus.” “I began to indulge in drugs and alcohol and partying. I thought that’s what college students did. I would drink a lot, binge drink; going out to parties, going to clubs, hooking up with girls.”
Still, he managed to excel on the court while hitting the party scene. But eventually, the buzz of being a big time college star started to wear off. “I really bought into the lie that this was what life was like; this was life to the fullest as a top athlete on a college campus. But in my heart, I knew that I was made to live for something greater than that. And really felt like I haven’t tapped into the real reason why I was made.”
Wayne pulled back from the partying, and about this time a campus pastor approached him and spoke to him about Jesus. “He shared with me that not only had God transformed his life, but God wanted to do the same for me too. I was really blown away by that because I thought that stuff like that only happened in the Bible.”
They began studying the Bible together, and Wayne met other Christian students. “I began to see the life of Christ on the pages of the Gospels. I began to see the life of these other young people on the college campus living radically for God in a culture that tells them that it’s impossible to do so. That’s something that really captured my heart.”
Later, at a Christian youth conference, Wayne made his decision. “Found myself immersed in this environment with young people just worshipping and loving God and loving one another and during that time is when I gave my life to the Lord.”
Now Wayne played with greater purpose. “It’s not about the applause of the crowd or reaching an NBA goal or a stat sheet, but if it’s to honor the One that sacrificed His life and died for me, then everything changed.”
Afterwards, Wayne’s NBA dream came true when the 6’9” power forward became a first-round draft pick in 2005 by the Miami Heat, and was part of their 2006 NBA championship squad.
After playing five-years in the NBA one year in Spain, he walked away from the game he loved. He also married Katie and started a family, and is now the campus pastor at the University of Kansas.
“God’s given me a new team to play for. As I live this life now with my wife and family and a team of other folks that are going out to fulfill the great commission, which is to make disciples of all the nations.” Fans still recognize Wayne as a local hero, but he knows that God had the greatest plan for his life all along. “My plans for my own life, though I didn’t know it at the time, were so much smaller than what God had really had for me. It’s great to be able to see through experience that He is our greatest reward. He is our highest treasure.”
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