"Yo Dude, Do You Know Jesus?"
Monday, March 23, 2026
“Servants learn a great deal from the masters to whom they are apprenticed. If you have served your time with Jesus, it will be said of you, as it was of Peter and John, ‘they recognized that they had been with Jesus.’” – C.H. Spurgeon
Back in the early 1990s, a Christian man named Bud Collins joined our Saints Prison Ministry softball team. To this day, he is still the finest all-around player I’ve ever seen. Simply put, Bud could do it all – hit for average, hit for power, run like the wind, throw with accuracy and velocity, and field expertly, using his incredible speed to track down long fly balls. In baseball/softball parlance, Bud was a “five-tool” player.
A few years later, Bud recruited his younger brother Rob to join our team, and he was a welcome addition, bringing a powerful left-handed bat to our lineup. Then, a couple of years after that, a third Collins brother named Ron donned a Saints uniform. I fondly remember a game in a South Carolina prison where the three Collins brothers hit back-to-back-to-back homers. What a remarkable feat!
There was something else remarkable about the three Collins brothers. They all loved riding Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and they talked a bit like bikers, too. No, they didn’t curse, but rather they called everyone “dude”. Gradually, by traveling and ministering with them over the course of several seasons, their language started influencing mine. Unintentionally, as if by osmosis, I began calling people “dude”… and I still do!
My friend, that light-hearted story is an illustration of how we as Christians should be influencing those around us. If they are fellow believers, we should be encouraging them – through our words and deeds – to live more boldly for Jesus. And if they are unbelievers, we should be examples of what a Christian should be like: humble, righteous, loving, and caring.
Let me close with two simple, but rather probing questions. Who are you influencing for Jesus… and who is influencing you? The bottom line is that if you are not guiding people to Jesus, chances are that they are pulling you away from Him.
“When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they marveled and took note that these men had been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13 (BSB)
- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
