Cut by Toronto, he gathers NBA in Bible study
The veteran organized 12 days of video devotionals with NBA players before the season started.
Veteran center Trey Jemison organized a 12-day Bible study on social media with NBA players and other public figures, according to Sports Spectrum. He did it while looking for a team: the Raptors cut him.
Each day he posted a video devotional on Instagram. Participants read a Scripture passage and shared the lesson they had learned: trusting God when life spins out of control, enduring hard seasons, and finding strength when exhaustion hits. Among the voices were C.J. McCollum, Luka Garza, Josh Hart, and Malachi Smith.
The pulpit wasn't the requirement
Jemison chose Luke 5:4-10, the scene where Jesus calls Simon Peter by the lake. Peter was a fisherman, not a pastor. He recognized himself as a sinner before Jesus and was still called to fish for people. "You don't have to be in a pulpit to change lives or talk about the gospel," Jemison said in one of his videos (Sígueme translation).
«A contract can end on a Tuesday morning. Identity can't.»
He said several people told him he would be a pastor someday. That wasn't his plan. After nearly two weeks of praying and studying, he understood the project as a reminder: sharing the gospel doesn't depend on a title. A comedian, a mom, a teacher, or someone working at a supermarket can do it right where they already live. That doesn't downgrade pastoral ministry; it corrects the idea that only positions serve.
Control, exhaustion, and a long season
McCollum holds on to Proverbs 3:5-6 and explains it with an honesty anyone recognizes: we almost always think we control the outcomes, when the only thing we control is how we respond.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." (Proverbs 3:5-6, ESV)
Garza came into the league in 2021, drafted by Detroit, without a close relationship with God. The community of believers he found around the team, including the players who gathered in the chapel before games, encouraged him to seek God seriously.
In a season when he played little and didn't perform as he wanted, he heard in the chapel the exhortation of Galatians 6:9 not to grow weary in doing good, and he said that revived him. Today he tries to focus on what he can do each day, not on dictating the outcome.
Hart reads Isaiah 40:29-31 before every game. He said there are moments in the season and in life when he feels exhausted; then he prays and seeks strength in the Lord. The lesson, he added, applies to any job: bringing your worries to God renews what you need to keep going.
"But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." (Isaiah 40:31, ESV)
Your court is where you already are
A contract can end on a Tuesday morning. Identity can't. Jemison says it from the uncomfortable side: without a team, bags packed, and still convinced his platform was never the uniform.
None of this promises a new contract or a winning season: faith isn't a receipt you cash in on the court. The message reaches the one who just lost a job, the one studying and working, the one working a night shift. Your court can be a classroom, a kitchen, or a group chat. No one is asking you for a pulpit; they're asking for faithfulness in what you already have in your hands.
This week, write down the name of one person from your work, school, or team and pray for them before you see them. You don't have to announce it. Then see if it changed the way you treat them. Where is your court?
