Using Celebrity Status to Stump for Jesus. Legendary Trick Shot Artist Mike Massey: "Jesus Loves Us"
In the pool world there is probably no one bigger than Mike Massey. He is probably the greatest trick shot artist of all time. So it was quite an honor when I met him last week in Vegas and he signed this poster for me.
I'm not a person who gets awestruck when I meet a celebrity. I know that people like him put their pants on in the morning just like I do. Since his back was hurting he was not participating in the competiton last week, but he did have a booth where he was signing cue balls and posters for a fee. I introduced myself as a monthly columnist for Inside Pool magazine, for which he had also written a few columns a year or so back. He said writing was too hard for him so he didn't write many of them.
Aside from that it seemed he was more interested in witnessing to people about Jesus than anything else. He was telling me how Jesus saved him from drugs, loose women and the ills of pool hustling in his younger years. Not interested in debating anything with this legend of a man, I told him that an autobiography of his life would sell very well. He informed me he had tried but needed a co-author. Knowing I was a columnist he was feeling me out to see if I might help him write it. At that point I merely said I wouldn't be a good co-author because I'm an atheist. In the pool halls he's met plenty of professing atheists in his life, so this was no surprise to him. But his response was typical:
"There are no atheists."
"But I am an atheist," I said.
"Not in your heart," he replied. "Inside, you believe in God."
To which I gave him my card and said if he was interested to get my book. He took it with some interest (after all, the title looks like a personal story). And then he said, "If you were a preacher then you KNOW there are no atheists."
Really, I do? What was the title to my book again?
;-)
I'm not a person who gets awestruck when I meet a celebrity. I know that people like him put their pants on in the morning just like I do. Since his back was hurting he was not participating in the competiton last week, but he did have a booth where he was signing cue balls and posters for a fee. I introduced myself as a monthly columnist for Inside Pool magazine, for which he had also written a few columns a year or so back. He said writing was too hard for him so he didn't write many of them. Aside from that it seemed he was more interested in witnessing to people about Jesus than anything else. He was telling me how Jesus saved him from drugs, loose women and the ills of pool hustling in his younger years. Not interested in debating anything with this legend of a man, I told him that an autobiography of his life would sell very well. He informed me he had tried but needed a co-author. Knowing I was a columnist he was feeling me out to see if I might help him write it. At that point I merely said I wouldn't be a good co-author because I'm an atheist. In the pool halls he's met plenty of professing atheists in his life, so this was no surprise to him. But his response was typical:
"There are no atheists."
"But I am an atheist," I said.
"Not in your heart," he replied. "Inside, you believe in God."
To which I gave him my card and said if he was interested to get my book. He took it with some interest (after all, the title looks like a personal story). And then he said, "If you were a preacher then you KNOW there are no atheists."
Really, I do? What was the title to my book again?
;-)