MBTS hosts Kansas City Royals managers in chapel

Trey Hillman, manager of the Kansas City Royals, said during a Midwestern Baptist Seminary chapel service that it’s by the grace of God he ever became involved in baseball.

K.C. Royals manager Trey Hillman, right, and general manager Dayton Moore, center, give away caps during a chapel visit. MBTS president Philip Roberts, left, enjoys the lighthearted moment.

More than 300 people from the seminary and the Kansas City community turned out to hear Hillman and Dayton Moore, general manager and senior vice president of baseball operations with the major league team, give their testimonies on campus April 24.

Hillman was named manager of the Royals last fall after managing the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, where he turned a historically unsuccessful Japanese franchise into a perennial contender. His team won the Pacific League championship in 2006 and returned to defend their title last year.

Having played other sports growing up, including gymnastics, football and basketball, he told the seminary audience, “I have always desired to play baseball, probably since the time I could walk.”

A native of Arlington, Tex., Hillman thought he would never be able to achieve his dream after going undrafted in his junior and senior years of high school.

“So I had to deal with some disappointment,” he said. “I had some quiet time with God one day. I said, ‘Lord, I really don’t understand why you’re not allowing this opportunity to provide the best possible platform for what I’m passionate about be a good steward and a good witness for you. I want you to utilize me and my life with baseball to be able to do the things you want me to do for your kingdom.’?”

A couple of days later, Hillman received a phone call from Joe Kline, general manager of the Cleveland Indians, for a job interview. Soon after that, he was on a plane to New York to start his professional career.

Behind his love for baseball, Hillman said, was a Christian upbringing.

“I grew up in a Christian home with wonderful parents – a lot of advantages that people don’t have,” he recounted. “I accepted Christ when I was 13 years old. I taught myself to play guitar for the sole purpose of leading music ministry in high school and college for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.”

Moore, a native of Wichita, Kan., said during his chapel testimony that he was amazed by the scrutiny of the media when he arrived in Kansas City to take his current job in 2006.

“For me it is a daily walk,” Moore said. “… Really, when I’m in the Word is the only time when I feel complete. When I’m not, it can really get out of control a little bit because there are a lot of pressures, but I try to keep it in perspective.”

Moore said just knowing he has a good purpose on earth keeps him going.

“What we’re doing is simply just a platform,” Moore told the seminary audience. “We’re not going to write books about Dayton Moore. I’m just a man on this earth with a particular time and group of people that I care about.”

A leader in the Kansas City community, Moore was named last year to the board of directors of the NAIA’s Champions of Character program, which promotes an understanding of character values in sports.

Moore said he frequently finds himself reviewing Philippians 2:3: “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourself.”

“We who are in a leadership position know so many people do things for you all the time, and I try to reverse it all the time,” he said. “I know in Matthew the greatest among you must be last. That’s how you build a strong, great organization. That’s what we want for the Kansas City Royals – to be the greatest team in the history of the game. That’s our goal. That’s what we’re trying to do. You can’t do that unless you have people in leadership positions with that type of influence and that type of heart.”