July 2026

Good morning,

In 1856, the New York Mercury, the nation's largest newspaper, published an exposé on baseball, calling it "America's National Pastime." Later, in 1919, American philosopher Morris Cohan upped the ante naming baseball "America's National Religion."

And for more than a century, kids, young and old, were obsessed with this thing called baseball. As sports historian John Thorn wrote, "No matter how old you get, between your ears, you think you're a baseball player."

However, over time, baseball's popularity became suspect due to television ratings that favored football. But there's still an undeniable connection between baseball and the heart and soul — and pocketbooks — of America. In 2025, over 71 million fans attended a Major League Baseball game, while less than 19 million attended an NFL game.

Baseball's allure is rooted in many sources, not the least of which are its rules.

The Official Baseball Rules book is … well, huge. This massive volume contains twice as many pages as the NFL and NBA rules books. In fact, it has more pages than the U.S. Constitution, the UN's Declaration of Human Rights, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Edgar Allan Poe's Pit and the Pendulum, O. Henry's Gift of the Magi and Ernest Hemingway's The Snows of Kilimanjaro … combined.

The Pharisees would have loved baseball's hardline jot and tittle rules. For example …

• A designated hitter is prohibited from sitting in the bullpen.


• If a fielder deflects a fly ball over the outfield fence, it's a home run. But, if the deflection happens within 250 feet of home plate, it's ruled a double.


• If a fielder intentionally touches a batted ball with his cap while in the field of play, all runners advance three bases.


• If there's two strikes on a batter and the runner on third base steals home, and the pitch hits the runner while he's in the strike zone, the batter is out.


• If players or managers are ejected from the game, they are allowed to sit in the stands … but only after they change into street clothes.


• If a pitcher injures his throwing arm in the middle of an at-bat, he's allowed to throw with his other arm. However, he's not allowed to warm-up that other arm.

But not every proposed rule makes it to Baseball's holy grail. In 2020, the sport's top brass tried to outlaw spitting during the games, but the players revolted. Therefore, spitting remains legal. Ptooey!

Baseball's book of rules is filled with stuff like this, and for a very good reason. As silly as they may sound, the rules maintain the purity of the sport … spitting notwithstanding.

In ministry, we don't have a book of rules, per se. But we do have a Book of instructions and guidelines designed to protect the purity of the gospel, those who proclaim that gospel, and those who hear it.

This is important stuff.

As Paul told his young protégé, "I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth." (1Tim 3.15)

Three of those non-negotiable conduct guidelines are …

• We must "live above reproach." (1Tim 3.2) Pastoring with integrity demands that we serve as visual aids of the gospel. Our lived-out faith has an uncanny ability to proclaim what words can never say.


• We must "present [ourselves] approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth." (2Tim 2.5) There are no shortcuts to biblical clarity. Being well prepared is mandatory when we stand before our people because God's Word changes lives, not ours.


• We must "speak the truth in love." (Eph 4.15) Teaching God's Word was never meant to be head-to-head input, but rather heart-to-heart. Words spoken in the right spirit will always find a smoother landing spot.

Protecting the purity of our work really does matter!

Blessings,