“Into All the World”
“He said to them, “Go into all the
world and preach the good news to all creation.”
When a teen-ager from Euclid, Ohio made
the decision to surrender her life to Jesus Christ at a Billy Graham Crusade,
little did she dream that she would one day be traveling around the world,
sharing the good news of Jesus in 36 countries! At the time her mind was most
likely occupied with sports, studies, college, a future career, maybe in
teaching and coaching…
This young lady, Barb Bernlohr, was
a talented athlete, spurred on by three brothers, and was also a leader in the
youth group of the church where her father was pastor. Barb’s high school years
flew by; and soon, she found herself playing on the women’s basketball team at
Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio.
Just prior to her enrollment at
Wittenberg, her father, Pastor Bernlohr, had been reassigned to a church in the
suburbs of Los Angeles. After a brief
time at Wittenberg, Barb decided to transfer to UCLA and set her sights on
playing ball for that university.
Barb made the UCLA women’s team at
a time when the men’s team was gaining notoriety through coach John Wooden and
players like Lew Alcindor, aka Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
While attending college, she became
active in a Christian organization, Campus Crusade for Christ, and also
participated in the vibrant college group that had formed at her father’s
church.
Barb and I met through Campus
Crusade for Christ (Cru) and were delighted to find out that we were both in
the same volleyball class, as part of the PE major/minor curriculum. For Barb,
volleyball was a breeze. However, I was worried about meeting the requirement
of setting the ball to oneself fifty times in a row in order to pass the class!
Barb practiced with me and encouraged me until that requirement was met.
Upon graduating, she taught PE and
coached girls’ softball, volleyball and basketball at El Segundo High School.
Although she loved teaching and was a successful coach, after five years in El
Segundo another door opened, this time through the Cru ministry.
The men’s Athletes in Action (AIA)
division of Cru was created in 1966 through the leadership of Dave Hannah,
former football player for the LA Rams. His vision for AIA was to use sports as
a platform from which athletes could share their faith in Christ: “Every team,
Every sport, Every nation.”
In 1976, a new position was created in AIA for
someone to recruit and form teams comprised of women collegiate athletes, with
the same vision of using sports to introduce people to Jesus Christ. Barb was
interested in the position; however, there was a catch to her joining the
staff. When she approached her parents about the desire to do that, Pastor
Bernlohr objected to the idea of giving up a good teaching salary and also to
her having to raise support each year, which Cru required of all staff members.
In her own words: “Dad thought I
was crazy. I said, ‘But Dad, you send an offering plate around to get your
support!’ He didn’t say much after that!”
Barb was the first female athlete
to join the staff of AIA. During her forty plus years of ministry with the
women’s division, she helped form 88 women’s teams, personally leading over
twenty teams to compete internationally.
Every game played provided another
opportunity for the athletes, coaches and leaders to share their faith in
Christ. She loved teaching and coaching in public high school, but through AIA
gained the opportunity to witness to young athletes about how they could know
God’s love in a deeply personal way.
Now retired, she is recognized by
the young people in her church family as a missionary, “the athlete who takes
people to share about Jesus.” Although she now describes herself as an “Athlete
in Traction!” Barb is still active in her church and has a vibrant faith in the
Lord. Sometime in the future, she hopes to write a book about the history of
women’s basketball in AIA from 1976 to the present.
Her verse for life has been: “…I
have come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10
KJV) Not only has Barb Bernlohr experienced the abundant life that Jesus
promised, she has opened the door for many athletes, coaches and their families
to experience it as well. Thank you, Barb!
* Mark 16:15 NIV
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