The Hopewell News

Friday, October 7, 2005

By Tina Hazelwood

Hopewell’s West End Presbyterian Church had a special guest speaker recently, one whose athletic prowess matched his devotion to his faith.

The event was sponsored by First Christian Church.

Chester resident and former Harlem Globetrotter Seth Franco dazzled the kids with his basketball skills and down-and-out playground tricks. He also gave the grownups something to think about with personal testimony about his journey through faith to a career his physical limitations should have made impossible.

Seth has lived in Chester for the past couple of years, spending part of that time teaching Bible studies at Evangel Christian School in Colonial Heights.

He had wanted a career in the National Basketball Association for as long as he can remember. He began playing with a Christian school on Long Island before moving to Brooklyn with his parents. There he enrolled as a sophomore at Abraham Lincoln High School.

He was not, at first glance, the sort of player who makes NBA scouts swoon. The short, thin young man’s skills were underestimated by his peers and his coach. All that notwithstanding, Seth made the junior varsity team as a starting point guard.

A year later he and his family moved back to Long Island where he finished his high school education at a small Christian school. From there, he enrolled at Nyack Christian College, still NBA bound. He was crushed some time later when it was determined that an injury had left him with improper bone structure of the hip.

France came here to join and develop a basketball program for inner-city kids run by the Richmond Outreach Center.

The program’s popularity got the attention of the Court Jesters, a basketball entertainment group. The group used Seth in several engagements and plastered his picture on its Web site. Seth knew God had better things in store for him, so he traveled to Kansas City to attend the International House of Prayer (IHOP) for three months. During this time he committed himself to prayer and Bible study in search of just what it might be that the Lord had in store for him.

Franco was called out of IHOP to be cast in a movie. After the movie deal fell through, he found out his father had been in contact with a scout from the Harlem Globetrotters. He tried out and a week later was in training. He toured with the Globetrotters through their U.S. Tour, but dropped out of the European tour because of his injury.

Meanwhile, the call of the clergy beckoned more and more strongly. Even in his youth, during his Jr. High School years he wrote in an essay on why he thought he would make a good preacher. He could now aspire to be The Preacher With Game!

Seth travels to churches everywhere sharing his testimony with kids who love his ball-savvy ways, and adults, who appreciate the odd, inspiring, up-and-down story of the path to his calling.

He’s yet to be ordained, but well on the way, having accepted a position as a youth director at a church in West Virginia. Could the Globetrotter Pastor be far behind?

The former Globetrotter uses Psalms 73:26 to sum up his attitude toward life, success, failure and faith: “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

“I have to give God all the glory,” said Seth, “every time I was down, God got me back up.”