Former Yankees slugger leads new Christ Church in Downers Grove
Born and raised in the small town of Fairborn, Ohio, the Rev. Eric Camfield was always athletic. He played baseball, basketball, golf, and even bowling. His family likes to joke that the first word out of his mouth was ball.
"When I was 2 years old, I hit a Wiffle ball over the roof of the house," said Rev. Camfield, campus pastor at Christ Church in Downers Grove. "There were always games happening in somebody's backyard. That's pretty much all we did."
Camfield was a star athlete all through school. He was a natural at baseball; he was fast and he could throw. By his senior year in high school, major league baseball scouts began showing up in the stands to watch him play. Camfield was the top high school outfielding prospect coming out of Ohio that year. But, on the advice of his parents, he decided to attend college, becoming a star player at Ohio University. His batting average in college was an impressive .380. After graduating with a degree in business, the New York Yankees offered Camfield a contract to play in the minor leagues. He eagerly took the job.
"I loved playing the game of baseball, but it's very stressful because you're playing with all the best players in the world and they become your buddies," Camfield said. "But you're all competing for the same job, and then you never know what the organization is thinking, who they might sign. Mentally it's a grind, and it becomes a job, and yet you still love it because it's your dream."
Back in the 1990s, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was signing super-star players from other teams. So his minor league teams were bloated with talented players like Camfield, all hoping for their shot at the majors. After playing center field for a couple of years with the Yankees he was batting around .270, and he knew his chances of jumping up to the major league were slim. So Camfield decided to roll the dice by quitting and trying out for another team. When no other team picked him up he thought "Okay, if not baseball, what?"
"I was introduced to Athletes in Action, a Christian based sports ministry, while playing for the Yankees. Being a Christian athlete, I felt a call to ministry early on and thought someday I would love to be a part of that."
After leaving baseball and going to work for a company in Pittsburgh, Camfield heard that Athletes in Action had an opening in the baseball division, which was a perfect fit for him. That's where he began his ministry career in 2001. Then in 2005, Camfield was ordained by his local church in Xenia, Ohio.
Right around that time, Camfield received a call from Christ Church Oak Brook which had heard about his work and wanted to offer him a position. Since then Camfield has played an integral role at the church. He earned his Masters of Divinity, was ordained by the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference in 2013, and recently became campus pastor at the Downers Grove branch of Christ Church where he leads a growing congregation.
"I had a sense that God was calling me, that He wanted me to be one of the people shaping this new congregation," Camfield said. "It's an awesome experience. It's not easy, in fact, it's hard. But, I believe this is part of what God has designed for me to fill the need for those looking to grow in the church and those looking to rejoin a church."
Camfield draws upon his experience of playing with the Yankees in his current leadership role with the church.
"Great players can get you to the playoffs, great teams win playoffs or World Series," Camfield said. "It's like that in the church and our team here as well, we all need to be committed to growing and thriving, and being the best we can be. We win together, we lose together and we are there for one another."
For information about Christ Church in Downers Grove, located at 3500 Lacey Road, visit cc-ob.org/downersgrove.
About Christ Church:
Founded in 1965, Christ Church is a multisite, nondenominational church in the Chicago suburbs with more than 6,000 members. Christ Church features a variety of inspiring worship options including both classic and contemporary services. All people are offered the opportunity to build life-changing relationships with God and one another with a rich range of spiritual growth resources, and a selection of service ministries aimed at creating positive change in the world. Weekend services are held at the Oak Brook and Downers Grove locations, as well as via livestream at cc-ob.org/online.
The "Love Changes Life" broadcast program is on WPWR TV, WFLD TV, and WGN AM 720. For more information, visit cc-ob.org.