In the Beginning, There Was the Ball : Only a Little Later Came The Master’s and Biola, Which Compete Mightly to Dominate the Lane for the Lord

‘I was raised in the Church back in Harlem, but it’s different here. A lot of kids from the city, we’re Christians, but it’s more of a reality. Here it’s a fantasy. It’s not the real world. For them to get the talent they want, they’re going to have to go after kids in the city. A 7-foot kid that’s into the Lord is rare.’

Dwayne Lawrence,

Former Master’s player

‘I’m looking for a 6-9 athlete who believes in God who can handle the ball. . . . I was looking at a kid who is a senior in high school, but it turned out he’s a Jew. I took him off my list. But he has a teammate who is also a Jew but he’s only a sophomore, so I kept him on my list. Who knows, I might convert him.’ Randy Stem,

The Master’s coach

Before The Master’s College basketball team traveled to La Mirada to play Biola University last week, Mustang Coach Randy Stem said he was considering suicide.

His team was 5-16 and looking dead already. They had lost 11 straight.

The Master’s was coming off its worst game of the season against Southern California College, prompting Stem to say: “We can’t play any worse than that. It was like a comedy film out there. We shot 24% in the second half, 30% from the foul line. We couldn’t shoot. We couldn’t pass. We couldn’t dribble. We were awful.”

Don’t sugarcoat it, tell us how you really feel.

“I’ve had some sleepless nights,” Stem said. “I don’t know what our problem is. We just can’t put anything together.”

With that as a backdrop, the Mustangs were preparing to face Biola, a traditional NAIA power that was 18-2 and ranked No. 10 nationally in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics poll.

Stem was desperate. “I’m really gonna be suicidal after that one. It’ll take a miracle. I’m gonna ask the Lord for a miracle.”

The Lord had, after all, walked on water and fed the multitude, so couldn’t He help The Master’s College, a Christian school named in His honor, beat those Biola Eagles?

But even if He decided to keep His eye on the scoreboard, there was the small matter of just who, for heaven’s sake, to pull for. Biola is a Christian school, too.

In fact, The Master’s College and Biola University mirror each other in many ways. Both schools require Bible studies as a part of each student’s curriculum.

To be accepted at either institution, applicants must sign a profession of faith--a confession that they are believers. And students must follow a strict behavioral code.

No alcohol or use of tobacco is allowed. Women must wear dresses to class. Dancing and gambling are out. Church attendance is strongly encouraged.

To an outsider, The Master’s, formerly known as L. A. Baptist, is a peculiar place. The campus in Newhall is free of graffiti. The sidewalks, the buildings and the students have been scrubbed clean.

It’s like the whole school has a bubble over it. Students look like the New Christy Minstrel singers.

Even though admissions officials say a large portion of The Master’s student body is from California, nearly everyone there talks with a Southern accent. And in hushed Biblical tones. Friends, are you troubled? Does the burden of everlastin’ salvation weigh heavily on your minds?

The school has an enrollment of 440, up from 270 a year ago. School officials say the number could reach 1,500 within three years, God willing.

With that growth, The Master’s is trying to build its heretofore weak athletic program into a small college dynasty, like Biola’s.

Last summer, The Master’s newly appointed president, John MacArthur, a pastor and something of a sports fan, hired a new athletic director, John Zeller, and Stem, away from Tennessee Temple, a Baptist college in Chattanooga, Tenn.

MacArthur, a former college basketball and football player, knew the meek would inherit the earth but would also get trashed on the basketball court. L. A. Baptist had suffered through 12 straight years of losing, and it was time for the brethren to take a proper in-your-face stance.

MacArthur was also aware that producing winning teams would be an expedient way for The Master’s to get name recognition.

“We’ve got to keep our commitments. We can’t make concessions in our behavior, but we want a winning program,” he said. “To do so we have to have the good athletes. When you pick up the paper, the only place people can find out about us is through sports.

“Sports is the god of our age. I hate to say that as a preacher, but it’s true.”

Praise God and pass the ball.

Even though Stem has been unable to win this season, MacArthur said he’s seen enough progress to remain optimistic.

“Teams that beat us by 30 points last year are beating us by two baskets this year,” he said.

Still, Stem is suffering through a refiner’s fire.

“If we keep losing, I’m gonna go crazy. I can’t handle this. We don’t have a lot of talent. We’re not quick. We’re not big. We don’t have a point guard and we don’t have a center. We have about 12 forwards.”

Now the coach doesn’t even have that. He’s lost five players this season because of academic and personal problems.

“We’ve got to find some talent,” Stem said. “It’s gonna take some time and money, though.”

According to Zeller, The Master’s, which currently offers four basketball scholarships, will double that number next year.

But Stem still faces unique hardships in recruiting because of the school’s strict moral code. “I’m looking for a 6-9 athlete who believes in God who can handle the ball,” he said.

And what would happen if Stem found a promising athlete who was a non-believer?

“I’d try to share the faith with him. I’d love to see him as a Christian.” He’d also love to see him slamming and jamming and filling the lane.

“I was looking at a kid who is a senior in high school, but it turned out he’s a Jew--I took him off my list,” Stem said. “But he has a teammate who is also a Jew but he’s only a sophomore, so I kept him on my list. Who knows, I might convert him.”

While most of the Mustang players say they feel at home at The Master’s, Dwayne Lawrence, a senior from New York who was recently dropped from the team for academic reasons, said adjusting to the school is difficult.

Said Lawrence: “I was raised in the Church back in Harlem, but it’s different here. If you go to an R-rated movie, they look at you like you’re a sinner. The students look down at you if you do something like that. They convict you.

“A lot of kids from the city--we’re Christians, but it’s more of a reality. Here it’s a fantasy. It’s not the real world.

“For them to get the talent they want, they’re going to have to go after kids in the city. A seven-foot kid that’s into the Lord is rare.

“They can’t shove the Bible down a kid’s throat and say ‘You gotta do this or you’re gonna go to hell.’

“I have a couple of friends back home that might have come here. But the way the students look down at you, I don’t think they want to be in that situation.”

Conversely, Phil Hahn, a freshman from Camarillo, said: “Students are here for one purpose--to further the kingdom of God. We’re not hiding from the world here. This is a place where we are trained to learn the Bible and to tell people about Jesus. The emphasis is on Jesus Christ.”

Lawrence did say that Stem is a coach that players of different backgrounds can work with. “He has a lot of basketball knowledge and he knows what’s happening.”

Stem said he’ll go after athletes nationwide to find the players he needs. He’s talked to high school players from Washington to the Bahamas.

Although Stem said The Master’s doesn’t have money or space to become an NCAA Division I program, still, he’ll recruit high-level talent.

“Jerry Falwell says he wants first shot at all blue-chip Christian athletes for Liberty University. Well, so do I. I want to be No. 1 in the NAIA in three years.”

Falwell, a conservative Christian leader, is trying to build a Division I power at Liberty University in Virginia.

Stem is also trying to develop a network among local high school coaches, who might advise a Christian student to attend The Master’s.

Stem said many of the top local Christian athletes he wants will also be offered a scholarship by Biola. “If I were an athlete and found that, heck, I’d go with Biola. I’d go with the winner.”

In recent years, Biola certainly has won its share of games. In seasons since 1979-80, the Eagles have won 26, 25, 39, 25, and 29 games.

Biola was ranked No. 1 in the NAIA for most of the 1981-82 season, when the Eagles won 39 consecutive games. Their only loss came in the NAIA championship game in Kansas City.

Biola’s success on the court has given the school the name recognition that The Master’s wants.

“We have contacts--coaches and former players--who put us in touch with kids who might be interested in the atmosphere we have here,” said Dave Holmquist, co-head coach. “But we have to find players who want that atmosphere.

“There are fewer players we can go after, but the ones we do go after we have a better chance of getting. There’s a lot of loyalty here.”

Howard Lyon, the other coach at Biola, waxed theological: “God is on the throne. If He wants us to have players, He provides them--if we work at it.”

All of which should be of some comfort to Stem, who said, “We just want to glorify God and win games.”

So let it be written, so let it be done.

Last week against Biola, Stem thumped more than the Bible. He picked up two technical fouls before the first half was over.

And, glory hallelujah, the Mustangs actually jumped to a 20-10 lead midway through the half against the Eagles.

But line upon line, here a jot and there a tittle, Biola managed to catch up and went ahead, 40-38, at the half.

The Biola gym was one of the few college arenas in America where the halftime music played over the public address system was the old pop hit “How Great Thou Art.” Folks were swaying back and forth and singing in the bleachers.

In the second half, Biola pulled away and finally won. But the margin of victory, 79-70, was smaller than expected.

The teams walked off the court as “Amazing Grace” played over the loudspeakers.

Stem told a reporter that he wouldn’t commit suicide after all, and that the Mustangs had played as well as they were capable of playing. That was all the Good Lord would’ve asked for. The whole thing was supremely inspirational.

Later, The Master’s 6-4 freshman Jeff Jordan said: “Man, all we need is a center. If we get a big man next year that’ll be it. It’ll be over for Biola. They can hang it up.”

Only time will tell if that, verily, verily, shall come to pass.