For golfing enthusiasts, all talk in this week of the Masters
tournament is about which golfer will win.
But for a pair of professional golfers, their thoughts likely
are on a golfer who will not even be competing in the fabled tournament
the late Payne Stewart.
And why not?
For golfing enthusiasts, all talk in this week of the Masters
tournament is about which golfer will win.
But for a pair of professional golfers, their thoughts likely
are on a golfer who will not even be competing in the fabled tournament
the late Payne Stewart.
And why not?
Lee Janzen and Darin Hoff are walking closer with the Lord
today because of the life and influence of their late friend.
Janzen and his family were baptized at a Texas church about
five months before the plane crash that claimed the lives of Stewart and several
companions.
For Janzen, the tragedy emphasized that he needed to get more
serious about his relationship with Christ. “It speeded up the process
of learning and growing, and going from an infant in the Lord to someone growing
up,” Janzen says. “I certainly came along a lot more in the past year
than I did in the year leading up to that.”
For Hoff, the impact was even more dramatic. Indeed, while
he remains in the Professional Golfers Association, Hoff says Stewarts
death led him to set aside his dreams of making the tour.
Darin Hoff shot 29 rounds of below-par golf in the summer of
1999. But that fall, he says he lost his appetite for competition. Today, the
assistant golf pro at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Fla., says he envisions
the day when he can trade his putter for the speaking circuit.
He wants to spend his time telling others about the Christ
he accepted as savior at First Baptist Church of Orlando a month after Stewarts
memorial service.
Hoff had gone to the church to thank Pastor Jim Henry and Assistant
Pastor J.B. Collingsworth for helping Stewarts family in their time of
need. Hoff had been a longtime friend of Stewart. First Baptist Church played
a key role in helping Stewart embrace his faith in the final years of his life.
The memorial service was held at the church and broadcast on ESPN.
Henry asked Hoff if he ever had accepted Jesus. When he shook
his head, the pastor grinned and said, “Ive got great news for you.
Youre not leaving until you do.”
Hoff then followed Collingsworth to his office. There, they
laughed and cried as they discussed the loss of the most important influence
in Hoffs life outside of family.
“It was in that very office that I asked Jesus to take
control of my life,” Hoff says. “I remember … leaving. I didnt
feel any different, but my old life was over, and (God) was about to show me
things I would have never thought possible.”
Opportunities arose for Hoff to share his testimony. He also
had the chance to witness to golfers at Bay Hill.
Hoff now is working on a short, inspirational book about how
God has worked in his life during the past year.
Janzen has not been as outspoken, although he recently asked
tour chaplain Larry Moody to help him develop a speech in case he receives offers
to share his testimony.
In addition, since Stewarts death, Janzen and his wife,
Bev, have distributed nearly 50 copies of Josh McDowells book, “More
Than A Carpenter.”
The couple also played a role in the salvation of a man who
built a putting green at their home. After briefly discussing the change in
their life, Bev Janzen mailed him some spiritually-based books.
Then, at last years U.S. Open, the mans sister
told Bev Janzen that her brother had accepted Christ. “She cried and said,
Thank you, weve been trying to reach him for a long time,”
says Bev Janzen, who fights back tears as she recalled the scene. “I said,
Youve got to give God the glory. He just put us in the right place
at the right time.”
That timing included leading the Janzens to First Baptist Church.
They talk about how they were touched by Collingsworth and other members they
encountered at Tracey Stewarts home after the accident.
“The people we met there had a huge impact on us,”
Bev Janzen says. “That was such an incredible experience for us (that)
we immediately started talking about going to church there.
“The outpouring of love and the way they came in and (did)
things for Tracey, … they were so genuine with love and sharing. You could
just feel the Holy Spirit.”
Although Bev Janzen was raised in a Baptist church, her husband
grew up Presbyterian. This is his first exposure to Southern Baptist life, but
it is one that he admires, he says. “Its just unconditional love.
You can feel it and sense it when youre there.
“Its the best moment all week when were in
church and we see people come down the aisle and accept Christ,” Janzen
adds. “Thats great any time you see that.”
Janzen says his only regret is the spiritual atmosphere on
the PGA tour has not changed noticeably. Bible studies generally do not attract
many newcomers, and some who saw a need to change after Stewarts death
have gotten distracted, he explains.
Still, Janzen adds he hopes to convince some of the latter
that choosing to follow Christ literally is a matter of life and death.
“I was probably like a lot of people in America,”
says Janzen, who ranks 30th among career earnings leaders. “I believed
in God all along and knew who Jesus was. But until you accept that he died for
my sins, you havent done what youve got to.
“Once you get it, its a wonderful thing,” Janzen emphasizes.
(BP)