JACK ROTEN

Never Miss an Opportunity

In Memory of Coach Jack Roten

Jack Roten accomplished many great things in his lifetime. If you asked him, he would probably say his greatest achievement was his family. God and family were his two great loves, though you likely remember him as the star college athlete, or as head coach for the Watauga High School football team. Maybe you knew him more for his Powerlifting abilities or how he led kids in the Special Olympics. A lot of what he did was in the realm of sports and athletics. I bet many of you hardly ever used his real name, but simply called him ‘Coach.’

Because Dad’s life was spent in the world of sports, it’s tempting to go into how he ‘ran the race’ or dedicated his body as God’s holy temple, but I think that would be a little too cliché. While those verses are very fitting, I think they’re a bit too obvious and lacking the true richness of character he lived on a daily basis. What he did went way beyond sport. Yes, he loved athletics, but that was only a carrier, a conduit, a delivery method for something more, and I did not see the full power of it until after he was gone.

As letters and messages flooded our family after his death, we had the opportunity to hear about the difference he had made in the lives of others. We stood in the reception line for over six hours during his viewing, listening to story after story from people about how Dad reached out, comforted, gave, mentored and loved each person. We all got to see the impact he left behind him, not only on the football field or in the weight room, but more so in the hearts of the members of this community. generation, but we rarely take the time to define it in our own life’s context. Dad successfully touched thousands of lives over the years, though he never stood on stages or traveled overseas to hand out food in remote villages, or built a nationally known football dynasty. He didn’t have a massive platform to use in order to influence others, yet he was still able to make such a huge impact.

So, as my family and I spoke at his funeral and we listened to the rest of the community speak of him, I was left wondering how on earth he touched so many. How could I do the same? I wanted so badly to build on the Legacy he left behind, but how do you go about carrying on such a thing? I wanted to make the same impact he did; to build up others like only he could, but without Dad here to tell me, I was at a loss in more ways than one.

I told my mom this a few days later, and I will never forget her reply. She said that while he did make an incredible impact, he never set out to change the world. He just loved people and met them where they were. I stood perplexed for a moment after my mother’s remark. As she walked away a spark of clarity came, and it’s because of this clarity that I can so clearly see my Father’s heart. It began with this:

I believe Dad was able to leave the Legacy he did because he never really chased one to begin with.

Not long ago, my mom told me that he began with a conviction, burdened with the thought of playing church on Sunday morning and then going back to ‘business as usual’ that afternoon. He wanted for others to not only find faith in Jesus Christ but to also build their faith on solid ground instead of shifting sands. Looking

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at the state of affairs in the High Country he saw that a change needed to be made. Second Corinthians 5:19 says: “…in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” Dad saw a community that needed the truth of this message. He knew Christ took our sins once and for all, bringing salvation and right standing with God to any who accepted him. Jesus did not offer a religion, but a relationship with the true and living God.

This is where you would think he would begin to preach or host a rally of some sort, but he didn’t. Instead, he took it one person at a time through a relationship. He kept his office door open to wandering students. He would tell a frustrated and defeated football player that winning was not just about points on a scoreboard. He would show love and patience with a student in the midst of making life-altering mistakes. He would be a father figure to a kid who never knew his real dad. I don’t think he ever strived to leave a legacy, but he was intentional about pouring into others daily.

It was so easy to notice this burden because he didn’t just stop at school or on the football field. Both my parents were very intentional about opening their home as well. When they got married, they decided to let God use their home how he saw fit, and God took them up on it.

They took this approach, standing on three specific verses:

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” –Romans 10:17

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” –Hebrews 4:12

“…you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” –John 8:32

That’s a pretty good recipe for anyone to follow. They knew that no one can come to faith without hearing it said, that it is the very word of God that comes with power, and that the truth of the message will set anyone free who accepts it.

They kick started this desire by hosting what they called Fifth Quarter there on Friday nights after the varsity High School football games. Not being limited to just the football players, though, they would host the kids at their house and faithfully proclaim the gospel.

His outpouring continued as he led FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes), with the weekly count reaching as high as ninety kids. Some of my best memories as a kid come from having the FCA group at the house; playing Frisbee in the yard, throwing me in the pond behind the house and worshiping in the living room. I know it had to have been mayhem and chaos at times having that many teenagers running rampant through their house, but they never seemed to care about that. I am sure that Dad just focused on loving each person, keeping those three verses in the back of his mind every time something in the house broke.

Even when FCA was over, they continued to host a bible study at their house during my college years. I’m pretty sure it was an equal measure of continued discipleship of the kids, as well as reining me in for those four years. They succeeded on both fronts. I was kept from making some pretty dumb mistakes and a crowd of

Throughout my entire lifetime from Fifth Quarter to FCA to the College bible study, my parent’s home was open to anyone and everyone, especially the kids of Watauga High School and Appalachian who so badly needed the truth of Christ spoken into their formative years.

Like a brick mason builds a wall brick by brick, laying each one in its place, Jack Roten lived his faith in ordinary days and circumstances by using his position as teacher and coach to mentor and love any and all who God put in his path. He just loved so well, so the pain I saw in others after his death was not just because of a fallen friend, but also a loss of the love, encouragement and support he so freely shared. He told us all we could be something more and we believed that, so we strived to go a step beyond our current circumstance.

When he died so suddenly, it felt like a rug was pulled out from underneath us, which left us a little unstable. His encouragement and interest in our lives shined a light in us and when it was gone, we stumbled in the resulting darkness. How do we trudge forward without the man who spurred us on? What do we do without the security he gave us? I think we were left feeling like this, not because he would ever consider himself a great man, but because he allowed an even greater man, Christ, to work through him.

Dad accomplished many things, but it all pointed to one very specific purpose and talking about how he ran the race and kept the faith would make it about him and he wouldn’t want that. He’d rather make it about you, making sure you had what you needed to succeed in life, both physically and most importantly, spiritually. He would not only make you push one more rep in the weight room because he knew you could, but he also never missed an opportunity to let you know that God loves you; that Jesus is the fulfillment of your deepest need. He was so good at living out the two greatest commandments: to love God and love your neighbor.

Finally, I was able to see and understand this on that day. Dad had built a mansion of bricks, one by one during his lifetime, placing each one with care. His accomplishments in life reflected the strength of his moral fiber, leaving us a well-rounded example of how we can all move forward and impact the High Country, not focusing on formulating a Legacy, but letting the love of a compassionate God flow through us into others on a daily basis. He carried the burden to make Christ known. He started with his fierce love for God and his family and extended to the rest of our community. He showed us a clear and effective way to fulfill the Great Commission right here in the High Country. That was his parting gift. tle is far from over. He didn’t just pass the torch off to Matt and me, but to every single person he poured into over the years. I firmly believe that our community has been rattled at his sudden passing, and it has served as a wake-up call. The spiritual deficit in our community remains. So many people need to hear of the transformative power of knowing Jesus Christ and the freedom we have in Him.

I write this, not only as a tribute to an incredible dad and mentor, but also to honor the purpose, the One, for which he lived his life. He wouldn’t want an article written about him that did not also point to Christ. Galatians 2:20 says: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” He is living in the fullness of that verse now, but we still have work to do.

Perhaps we can take the model he left behind and - each one of us - take daily steps to be active in sharing our faith, being rooted and established in love, in order to pull back the veil of ‘religion’ to show the power of God’s love. We can do this right where we are in our current occupation, reaching out to others where they are, letting no debt remain outstanding, except the continued debt to love one another (Rom. 13:8). ...

Written by Nate Roten