Sports, Athletics & Faith (Part 3) w/ Fr. Burke Masters and Trevor Williams

Sep 17, 2025

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This week, Jake and Bob conclude their series on athletics by welcoming Fr. Burke Masters, the baseball priest, and Trevor Williams, the Washington Nationals pitcher, to the show! Together they discuss finding your identity in Christ when your job is about performing well, evangelizing as a professional athlete, and how sports can aid you in becoming a better Christian. Fr. Burke and Trevor also share how God led them to athletics, the story of how they met, and play a fun game with Jake and Bob at the end of the episode.

Key Points:

Even when our jobs demand we perform well, our core identity is as beloved children of God, not in what we do or achieve.
True humility is revealed in how we respond both to success and to failure, not just in our losses.
Integrating faith and sports means living out Christian values and witness in every context, not separating religious life from professional or competitive arenas.
Authentic evangelization often emerges through genuine relationships, presence, and consistency of character, more than through words alone.
Practice, discipline, and perseverance in sports mirror the virtues needed in the spiritual life.
The tension between ambition and surrender is navigated by directing all striving and success toward God’s glory rather than personal gain.
Regular self-examination and reflection help transform both athletic and spiritual setbacks into opportunities for growth.
Balancing vocations—such as career and family—requires intentional boundaries and prioritization of what truly matters.

Resources:

Chapters:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:03:33 Trevor’s Family and Journey to Baseball

00:12:06 Fr. Burke’s Baseball Story and Journey to the Priesthood

00:20:18 Finding Identity in God Not Sports

00:26:38 How Fr. Burke and Trevor Met

00:33:52 Evangelization in Professional Sports

00:39:24 Balancing Baseball and Family Life

00:41:55 How Sports Help You Become a Better Christian

00:50:39 Not Relying Solely on Your Own Effort

00:56:25 Sports Teaching Us How to Lose

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