This year’s Home Plate event was a crazy day. This is our annual event where, before the teams come out on the field and the game’s festivities begin, players from our team have the chance to share our faith in front of the stadium. I’m very grateful for everyone at the Tiger’s organization for allowing us to do this every year.

The night before, I was supposed to pitch, until the game was rained out. This meant the next day, the day of Home Plate, would be a double header with the event preceding the games. That morning it rained. We, as well as many others, I’m sure, prayed in the locker room. When the time came, despite the rain, fans filed in and settled down around the ballpark under the overhang to hear the Gospel proclaimed.

Last year’s event was awesome, and this year, even with the weather not being ideal, was also amazing. Despite all the trials and adversities we faced, it turned out great. God provided the opportunity for us to share His Word and everyone was really receptive to it. Everyone wanted to be there no matter what the circumstances were. It was a super fun day and more than that, you could feel the Holy Spirit there. We had great messages and testimonies shared by guys on our team.

The fact that so many people came to Home Plate this year, when there were a lot of reasons for them to not show up, displayed the way God calls people to Himself. We didn’t even know if the games would be rained out again, or if the event itself would be rained out, and yet in faith, people came. People drove across the state to be there! And they wanted to stay for the whole thing. That is the work of the Holy Spirit, who allowed everything to happen flawlessly.

Since I was pitching that day, I shared first so I could then go through my pregame routine, which meant I didn’t get to hear the rest of my teammates share. But I did get to hear Michael Fulmer tell his story and he had a lot of great truths to share.

I’m so encouraged by my teammates, not just from this day, but every day. We have guys on this team who are passionate about Jesus and are willing and ready to share the truth about Him in their own way. When I think of the disciples, I realize that they were all very different. Peter and Paul had different personalities and viewpoints. They differed in the way they went about sharing the Gospel with others but they both did it effectively.

Seeing people on our baseball team who are from diverse cultures, unique in their own way, and yet just as passionate about Christ, opens my eyes to see that there really is more than one way to worship and glorify God. I feel blessed to be able to have the opportunity to witness this on a daily basis.

— Matthew Boyd, Detroit Tigers pitcher

The Increase, part of the Sports Spectrum Network, is a community of Christian pro athletes sharing their personal stories of the decrease of self and the increase of Christ (John 3:30). Visit TheIncrease.com for more stories and videos.