Riley Unroe

Riley grew up around church. Faith was part of his life, but by his own account it was not something he leaned on. When he was drafted into professional baseball, he decided to take advantage of what the world had to offer. He held on to the label of Christian, he says, but not its values, and when his identity was not in Christ, faking it became the only way he knew how to function. He got, in his words, “really good at faking it.”

Eventually he tired of the pretense and asked his mentor for help. The counsel was simple: seek the Lord in prayer. Riley expected judgment. Terrified, he stepped into a pitch-black closet to pray, and within the first five minutes, he says, all God reminded him of was why He loves him. The urge to return to what he once was followed him back to his life in baseball.

“You can never go wrong giving your life to Jesus, and that is who I will glorify, and that is who I will honor with my life.” Riley Unroe

So he got on his knees and prayed to be saved and delivered and restored, and about three minutes in, he felt what he calls “the most liberating, unshackling freedom that I’ve ever felt in my entire life.” From that moment on, he has lived for the Lord and not for himself. The game did not change. The man playing it did.

Today the platform is part of the point. Riley uses his voice to point people past the uniform, including supporting Water Mission, which builds safe water and sanitation solutions in developing nations and disaster areas. The peace he talks about is settled: God’s got him, whatever the lineup card says.