Amazing Greats
Interviews with well known actors, authors, artists, athletes, musicians, and business leaders. Authentic conversations about their lives, careers, and how their faith played an important part. Inspiring and uplifting stories of hope, transformation, and triumph. We dig deep for the powerful life stories from some very amazing guests...truly "souls on fire".
Amazing Greats
Indiana Pacers, NBA Dreams, and God’s Game Plan with Ryan Carr
Imagine not making your high school varsity basketball team, standing just 5’7”, and thinking your dream of making it in the game you love is unrealistic. That was Ryan Carr’s reality. But what seemed hopeless, was really the beginning of a bigger story—one that would take him from writing a bold letter to coaching legend Bobby Knight, to working side-by-side with Larry Bird, and eventually to his role as Senior Vice President of Player Personnel for the Indiana Pacers. Ryan’s path proves that when God has a plan, no obstacle is too great.
Ryan was one of hundreds of amazing basketball (and life) success stories that came out of NBC basketball camps founded by Fred Crowell our guest on Episode #10 of Amazing Greats. (if you haven't listened to it yet, you need to check it out.). Fred passed away of cancer in August of 2021.
In this episode of Amazing Greats, Ryan Carr shares how God’s fingerprints have been all over his journey—not just in the surprising career breaks, but in the valleys as well. He opens up about the moment he gave his life to Christ at age 30, how faith carried him through personal loss and depression, and why he now sees every success as an opportunity to glorify God. With honesty, humility, and wisdom from years inside the NBA, Ryan’s story is one of perseverance, grace, and the transforming power of faith.
If you’ve ever faced setbacks, wondered about your purpose, or questioned if God could really use your story, this conversation will inspire you to trust His game plan.
"Amazing Greats" is a library of interviews with highly successful people who have amazing career and life stories and who share how God has impacted their journey. Hosted by broadcaster Ric Hansen & produced by Klem Daniels. Available on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, Google and our YouTube Channel.
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Rick Hansen here on Amazing Greats with Indiana Pacers Vice President Ryan Carr.
SPEAKER_00:From the heart to the mic, on the field, on the stage. Faith in their step as they turn the next page. Athletes, actors, musicians, authors, and more sparking the flame. Lifting up Jesus unashamed of his name. Life stories of struggle, redemption, and grace. Victories rising from a broken place. Legends of life with a purpose to show how God shows up when you let him flow. Amazing grace, shining bright. Living the faith in the spotlight. Hearts on fire, now let it go. Turn it up. All
SPEAKER_01:right, welcome to the Amazing Grades podcast, where we share the powerful stories of athletes, authors, actors, musicians, and leaders whose lives have been transformed by the grace of God. And today, we have the pleasure, our guest is a key decision maker for the Indiana Pacers. They're very red hot Indiana Pacers. And you've not only been there in recent years, but for two decades. as senior vice president currently of the player personnel. And you've worked alongside legends like Larry Bird and Bobby Knight. Incredible story there. But beyond the scouting reports and the pics and the bright lights of the NBA, Ryan Carr, our guest today, has built his life on something far greater than all of that. He is a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. So, That's where we're at today and that's who we're going to talk to. And I'm so excited, Ryan, that we have an opportunity to chat today. Thank you for being here.
SPEAKER_02:It's my pleasure, Rick. I'm honored to have this conversation with you.
SPEAKER_01:Cool deal. Well, we were talking a little bit about and we are going to talk about your past and how you all got started in the whole area of basketball. But tell us, first of all, for those of our audience who are not into to what these titles mean, what does a senior vice president of player personnel do? What's your job?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, essentially it's really to help put our team together, the guys that are on the court for... I would say my main responsibility to the team is the draft and making sure that we're prepared for the draft and working with our scouts to get ready for that. That's my number one responsibility as I've been fortunate to be trusted to kind of jump into some of the higher level decisions the last couple of years in terms of other things as well and grateful. for that uh but but essentially just making sure we're ready for the draft would be the would be the main thing
SPEAKER_01:so scouts you have multiple scouts that work in uh for you in that whole area of uh player personnel right how many scouts uh what what do they do what are they what's their job
SPEAKER_02:yeah so they we have about 10 guys and we have them really all over the world around the cut we have most of them around the country but then we have two that are that are based in europe um and they basically travel around and watch players and, uh, joke around that half of their job is also to be like an FBI agent and find out everything about the players off the court. Um, they're writing reports, they're ranking players. We're working together again to, to find the best prospects, um, to add to our team. Um, it's a, it's a hardworking group of guys are kind of nomads all winter as they travel around and, and, and fulfill their responsibilities. Super grateful for for those guys and how hard they work and and uh yeah it's it's kind of i i started when i came back to scout started doing that we we divide up the country into to different regions and then um in 2009 uh got the chance to lead the group and i've been leading the group ever since i'm recently kind of handing off some of the day-to-day responsibilities so i can be a part of some some higher level stuff which is is really fun for me to be a little bit more with our team than just, again, kind of out all the time seeing other players. So this past year, being able to be around the team most of the time when we made that run to the finals was just surreal and just a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So to be an Indiana Pacers player, is there like a checkbox, things that you look for specifically to fit your style and your team?
SPEAKER_02:For sure. We have a lot of discussions in terms of that to make sure that the guys that we bring in, you know, on the court and off the court, there's certainly certain skills on the court that fit with what Coach Carlisle and what our team does, but also off the court. And we've really dove deeply into that side of it and kind of hedged our bets on really good guys. And it's worked out well, which aligns with with me as a person and kind of what I believe. So it's just a great fit. I'm super fortunate. I've been back here. I think this will be my 23rd season, my second stint here, but 23rd season. And that's really just unheard of in anything, but in particular professional sports. So very grateful. God has been kind to keep me in a place where I've been able to raise twins. They're in college now, their second year at Liberty. I've got a 14-year-old that maybe she'll even be able to grow up in one place where we're not moving around. And in athletics, that's pretty, pretty rare. So super thankful for that. I do not take that for granted one day.
SPEAKER_01:Well, let's go back into the early life of Ryan Carr. And you were a Northwest guy, a Supersonics fan back in the day. Yes. And you've also been self- as a 5'7 scrappy basketball player who didn't get to play varsity at his senior year. He didn't make the team. It's a very unlikely scenario for a guy who's doing what you do today, for sure,
SPEAKER_02:right? Oh, man. Yeah, I think about that. But I guess the benefit of being so many years down the road is you can look back and see how God uses all of that but nobody loved basketball more than me growing up if you could go back and talk to kids I grew up with or whatever I'm pretty sure they would say that I knew from probably the time I was 11 or 12 years old I wanted to be a coach I'd spent every waking hour as a kid trying to be a good basketball player but yeah you mentioned it like size athleticism limitations you know no matter Yeah, I grew up in Sumner, Washington, transferred to Rogers High School in the middle of my junior year, which is a little wild. It's not an opportune time to transfer schools, but did it as much for culture reasons from one school to the next as others. Wanted to go to school with some close friends, still one of my best friends. I was a point guard on that Rogers team. His dad was actually the coach. So I knew why I wanted to go there, but they had a really good team coming back. They had eight seniors coming back my senior year. I knew all of them. I had grown up going to camps with them and was friends with many of them. So I knew it was going to be a tough task to make that team. They ended up, that team went to the state tournament, won the West Central District, was really, really a really good team. team. I was devastated after two or three days of tryouts. My name wasn't posted on the locker room door. It kick-started this whole thing. The coach there, Rod Iverson, knew I loved the game. He had, again, known me since I was much younger, probably in middle school. He allowed me the chance to be a student assistant coach and And that was a great experience, being able to be around the coaches and learn from them and him trusting me with doing some things that maybe he wouldn't have trusted other students to do. And kind of in that timeframe, still wanting to pursue being a coach and trying to write letters to colleges and figure out where I could go to be a coach. So it was a really good time. There was some adversity there, but again, like looking back, God had that all as part of the plan.
SPEAKER_01:Basketball was God's gift. Faith is his passion. We're talking with Indiana Pacers Vice President Ryan Carr. Then there was that fateful letter that you sent. From out of nowhere, you sent letters to several places, but one was to Bobby Knight. Tell us that story.
SPEAKER_02:Again, getting to that point, I was going to graduate from high school in a I wanted to coach. I actually had an opportunity that I had set up with the head coach of the University of Puget Sound to go there and be a student assistant with him. But then this opportunity with Indiana came up where, again, one of my, I'll call him a teammate, but one of the players at Rogers High School, Jamie Haag, his grandfather owned Bodden Basketballs. And Bodden Basketballs and Bodden Ball had Coach Knight under a commercial agreement to use the balls and do commercials for him and all this stuff. And when I wrote all these letters, I really... As an 18-year-old, Coach Knight was not on my radar. I love North Carolina. I loved a bunch of other teams, but my dad was a Marine, and he loved Indiana, and my mom loved Indiana. They're the ones that really pushed me to write a letter to Indiana. Indiana wasn't on my original list of places to send them, but lo and behold, that is, and I have the letter hanging on the wall back here. that he wrote, you know, that they kind of described the manager program that they had at Indiana. And if I went to school there, I could interview and all this stuff. And Mr., And Jamie's grandfather was really nice enough to go out of his way without even knowing me to talk to Coach Knight and kind of get it all arranged so it was all set. And I didn't have to interview and do all that because back then, Rick, Indiana was the top of the world in college basketball. And when I showed up in the fall to go to school, there was well over 100 kids trying to be a manager at for that team. It was, you know, for, like, four spots. Like, if I would have just went without Mr. Schindler's help, there's no chance that I would... There's just no chance that I would have had that opportunity. So, again, like... you know, looking back again, you know, just, just an amazing, um, just an amazing thing that a door that opened up.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And, and what's interesting is that you, you didn't have a real Christian, uh, childhood. So there was, God wasn't in the picture in your mind at that point. He definitely was in the picture, but you didn't know it until much later, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, for sure. Like I, it's funny, like my, my parents both, um, both grew up, I guess, in in homes, they always said where they felt forced to go to church and forced religion and, and whatever, which makes sense because anytime that my brothers and I would stay the night with our grandmothers, we would definitely be in church and be reading the Bible and stuff. So that, that was an influence on me. Um, I, I, in the summertime would go to NBC camps, which is big in the Northwest, uh, big around the whole country world is a basketball camps. It's Christ centered. So my best friend at Rogers, um, Coach's son, Kyle Iverson, he just is and was a strong Christian, and we would tool around and do different things, and he'd have Toby Mack or DC Talk. We'd have all kinds of Christians. I wasn't opposed to it, but I wasn't... It definitely hadn't... The spirit hadn't taken hold of me. I did not have a regenerated heart or anything like that. I stayed out of trouble. I was moral. I was pretty black and white on on right and wrong, but definitely not until even much later was I saved.
SPEAKER_01:So let's freeze frame there for just a second and go back to NBC camps. It's a basketball camp. We had Fred Kroll, who was the founder and ran the camp for decades on the program, on Amazing Greats. It's one of our episodes. And if our audience hasn't listened to that, they definitely should. But And that's how I came to know you. Yeah. So let's talk about Fred Kroll as a role model, a mentor, even though he's himself said that he taught basketball, but it was so much deeper than that. He was a devout Christian and had Christian principles, but he didn't necessarily influence you in that way. But tell us how he did morally character wise.
SPEAKER_02:Yes. So he had a huge influence on me later as a middle school kid, high school kid going to his camps. Obviously, you hear the gospel preached on Thursday night. The counselors were young Christian men and women who were in college and players or whatever. There was definitely that message being sent. But what kept me coming back was how good the basketball camp was. was that I got better in five days. Like, and, and for me, and, and even though I, you know, my limitations, uh, physically, I could tell that I was getting better and, uh, and I just love the encouragement and, and, and people help, you know, um, you know, that, that you felt like believed in you. So I went there growing up. It, it had, it had an enough impact in me that when in the summers, when I'd come home from, from, IU, um, I would spend all summer working at those camps. I would, I would coach, I would spend all summer traveling all over the place, coaching as those camps as a counselor before my senior year in college, I had to do an internship. I did my internship with, um, with the camps and during, during those summers, I, when I was a, when I was a camper, Fred was super intimidating. Um, he was, you know, he was intense and, you know, He was the Christian version of Coach Knight, maybe. But then when I came back to coaching the Summers, we really started to develop a good relationship, a much closer relationship. And that just grew all the way up until a few years ago. And it got deeper and deeper and deeper until the very end. Whatever he said about himself, I guarantee was very humble because there was hundreds of people that he was like a first or second father to, an uncle, a grandpa, whatever. He was a heck of a man and we could probably do several of these episodes speaking about him. In
SPEAKER_01:fact, we have planned several other guests that are that we're going to be talking to here as well. But he was even at one later in life, and this is not that long ago, your father passed away, and that was a very emotional and grief-stricken time for you. But Fred was there for you then, too. Am I right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, for sure. So, you know, just backing up a little bit, I think I was saved in 2004, which is the year I turned 30 years old. That's when I... I can't tell you that it was an exact But I feel like that's what it was. And so really from that point, not too much later than that, he really, maybe right around there, he started getting treatment for some cancer that he had. And that's when we really started to deepen our relationship. And that went on for quite some time. Between September of 2017 and March of 2018, I lost both my parents. so within six months of each other and in March of 2018 yeah definitely yeah definitely that was a start of a tough period for me and I just remember getting a call from Fred you know I was in the airport on the way home from Seattle back to Indiana after probably burying my father and he just said, Ryan, I'm your dad now. And he was sick. He was not doing well. And I... And then for the next several years, I've, I've probably talked to him two or three times a week, at least. Um, he, I mean, the wisdom we're, we're raising kids. I had a son, his, his wisdom and, and helping me raise my, my kids, um, the, and just me and myself getting through things. Um, you know, I, I, I'm sure I, if, if you spoke to him, he talked a ton about gratitude and he'd We did a lot of that stuff. He helped me a lot with focusing on gratitude and just biblical truth to the point where, again, up until the last time I spoke to him in 2021, he... After COVID, the draft was... Everything in the NBA was pushed a month back. And he called... and left me a message to tell me that he really liked who we picked in the draft. It was a player from Oregon, and I think he left that message on a Friday. I was wiped out, and so I think I called him back on a Monday afternoon, the next Monday, and he was telling me he really wasn't supposed to be speaking on the phone, but things were getting pretty tough for him, and he was getting into hospice and I was like what you just left me you know but just a testimony to even as sick as he was getting he was just giving and giving and giving you know and then just a month later August 11th 2021 I know the day I remember I was sitting in a hotel room in Las Vegas getting ready for summer league when when Jennifer his daughter called you know kindly let me whisper some some last thank yous to him and pray for him uh before he passed away it was a super sweet but that man again like we could go on and on and i would love to to tell you that i was some special special person but but he was doing that kind of stuff for for so many people you you couldn't even track them all down i'm sure i don't know how he did it i i mean he must have he must have been on the phone all day every day you'd go to you'd go with him to pick up his drug And he would, you would become best friends with the lady, you know, just handing him his clothes everywhere you went. And it was such a gift. And I'm, you know, I'm a little bit more of an introvert than him, but one example of, of representing Christ everywhere you go and, and boldly proclaiming the gospel and, and just, you know, not even thinking twice about it. He's, he was a gift to me in many ways. and in particular through that time, for sure.
SPEAKER_01:A Cinderella story that has brought him to the top of the ranks in the NBA, Ryan Carr from the Indiana Pacers on Amazing Greats. The classic example from what I know, and you are obviously very close to him, but he's the kind of guy who never avoids the opportunity to share the gospel, but he lived the gospel every single day. And I think that's what sells the love for Jesus is seeing somebody apprentice after Jesus
SPEAKER_02:Amen and the thing Rick that was super like as I think about now one of the things that he was so good at was asking forgiveness and the stories within his family are amazing about he and Susie and just kind of the relationship they had and how he would ask forgiveness and even with his kids it's been a huge because Fred could lose his temper like Fred was not you know perfect by any means and you'd be with them and you know he'd get real mad about something or or whatever but immediately like he would go into he would ask forgiveness he would he would want to make sure that people understood that like yes you're gonna make mistake you're gonna do something that you know in a moment maybe you don't want to do but you can turn right around and heal that and and That was a big, big deal to him. And he lived that out probably better than anybody I've ever seen.
SPEAKER_01:Really? Well, let's jump back now to back into your story and what happened in March of 2004. As you'd said earlier in this interview that you loved UNC. And so you'd followed them, but you'd never actually seen them live in the deep end, right? Yes. And that was... your 30-year-old turnaround right there. Tell us about that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so I got this job in July of 2003, and obviously it was a dream. I had worked for the Pacers for a couple years, working for Larry Bird when he was coaching. Again, like I said earlier, I had always dreamed of being a coach. I had a chance to go into college coaching at the to do that, which is probably not the best decision I've ever made in my life. But it was what was on my heart. It was a desire that I had had since I was a little kid. So I went and did it. Those four years there were up and down, a couple of decent years, good years, a couple of really bad years. But in 2003, Larry came back after retiring from coaching to run the Pacers as president And he and I had, had kept in touch from when I had worked for him before. And, and, uh, so he, he knew I was struggling a little bit, but he, he called to, um, yeah, called to tell me like, Hey, I, I'm not sure I could go back to where I'm going back to work. It's going to be, you know, one of a few teams. I can't tell you who it's all kind of secret, but wherever I go, like you're coming with me. It was more like a statement, um, which was pretty crazy. And, uh, But, you know, and you never, you never know. Like, I mean, I'm just me. Like, Larry doesn't ever owe me anything. So I just kind of waited to see what happened. And then one day, you know, he's back with the Pacers and it hit CSPN. And it's obviously huge news in the sports world. And so I talked to him later in the day, later in that day, just kind of hoping that he would remember what he said and do it. And he did. He said he'd have somebody call me and he wanted me to come up in the next week and we'd talk about what I was going to do. And and so I did. And and so he put me in scouting and all that. So to get to this is the long winded answer to to your question. Got to started scouting, traveling around. I mean, amazing job. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, kind of surreal in a way. And in March, I had a chance to go see a game at University of North Carolina, which as you alluded to, and I said, it was my favorite team growing up. Even posts like Michael Jordan, but players like Jeff Lebo and J.R. Reid and Pete Chilcutt and all these different guys that I had watched growing up just Just loved it. So went to a game there, was super excited. sat down in my seat kind of got there really early for the game and and as soon as i sat down at that game um just felt a massive hole in my just my soul like a immediately a thought like i'm here but this is it like this is like i i guess i was expecting something more i don't know god god definitely used that um almost like in a panic attack um kind Yeah. The amazing part was we talked a little bit earlier about all those different seeds that had kind of been planted. My grandmother's NBC camps, my best friend, Kyle, you know, I immediately knew what to do. So I got I had one more one more game on that trip at Georgia Tech. And then I got home and my wife, Kim, and I still kind of joke about this. I walk in the door. I don't even say hello or anything. And I just look at her. I remember she was sitting right on the couch, and I told her, I was like, we have to find a church, and then I went kind of, you know, went on a huge search to find a church in the area, met with local pastors, you know, said a prayer of repentance, and, you know, I don't know if it was that exact prayer or whatever, but in that time was definitely what I think I was saved. I was still, like any of us at those moments, You look back, you're like, man, I was just a baby in the faith and I didn't know. And I had a long ways to go, still do. But in particular back there, back then. But yeah, that, that game at North Carolina was life-changing. Interesting.
SPEAKER_01:Isn't that crazy? And it happened, your favorite, I mean, I love those stories. Some people, you know, kind of gradually work their way into the faith, and that's how God planned it. Others, it's like, bingo, that's done. It's a done deal. And then, like you say, you're still learning, and you're still maturing, and we all are, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, for sure. There's been, even in the past five years, for sure, I think one of the things that I learned, Rick, that's a real burden on me, I will say that that church that we ended up going to for a long time ended up not necessarily being the most biblical church, And then during COVID, God really used my kids and some different things to move us to a really sound biblical church, which is something now that I'm incredibly thankful for. So, yeah, he continues to work. He continues to move. It's amazing to end up when your kids get to a point where they're... you know, they understand, they, you know, figure things out. They're almost in some ways you're looking, looking to them. Like my kids, I think in, in many ways are, have already taken the baton of the faith and the two olders and in particular the twins. And, and man, it's a lot of fun. Like my, my daughter's a theology major at Liberty and I, I love, love, love just hearing like what she's learning and her sending me her notes and just being able to devour like good teaching over the past five years, I think, you know, I've come a long ways in terms of, um, just God's character, like it's true character, who he is, um, and all of that. Um, my, not to leave her twin brother out, he's, he's at Liberty. He's managing the basketball team there for Richie McKay, who's a incredibly godly man. I would, uh, he, he actually went to college at, at Seattle Pacific and I would, I would, I would, uh, I would come to maybe have a conversation with him at some point. I'm really, really excited that my son gets to, in his college years, be influenced and led by a man like that, even as a student manager. So,
SPEAKER_01:yeah. How amazing for you to, at the age of 30, which is a little later in life, now introducing your tribe to the love of Jesus Christ. uh at an early age so that they have a longer life with him yes and it's a testament to uh you to dad for sure yeah
SPEAKER_02:yeah you know kim and i because this was all like they were born in 2005 so this this is all happening like right before like she she's pregnant with the twins and as we really dove deep into it and and praise god for my wife who when i walked in and just belted out like we need to find a church she she was all for it and i don't think we had really talked about going to church one time before that um and and and us sitting down and and really talking about she was she was raised catholic kind of um you know my very very limited background and us really like just just um really being together on let's let's try to hold back whatever whatever the the stuff that we had in our past whatever and let's let's try to I always picture my us kind of holding back a wall that could crumble and that's kind of all the you know all the generational stuff that that maybe we've had and just and you know God willing hopefully they just have a much clear cleaner path they'll they'll have struggles we know that they'll they'll you know but let's not try to add in extra you know that we that by hard work or you know by being faithful and obedient we can kind of we can kind of keep from them and and praise god you know to this point it's it's work work like that for those two and brian who's 14 they you know we don't we we're blessed we don't have any prodigals at this point and um may it may it stay that way
SPEAKER_01:rick hansen here with a chance to share the faith story of of Indiana Pacers Vice President, Ryan Carr. So now that you're where you're at in life, is there certain spots where you could say, there was God, there was God, there was God, even though you didn't know who God was at the time? What would be maybe the two highlights of where you said, that was really God working within me, for me, and I didn't even know it? Man,
SPEAKER_02:I think I probably, I couldn't tell you why. I think there's a ton of them. I think it starts, I mean, through good and bad. I think, you know, I was born in the Bay Area. My mother and father were divorced when I was somewhere around kindergarten. And just the fact that I ended up moving to Seattle, my stepfather ended up being a huge basketball fan. And so that's where I gained my love of basketball through him. So then that and then the basketball camps and my grandma like I don't know where to start there like I don't the the line like opening a door for me to come to Indiana University and serve that basketball team at that time to to to out of the blue get a call from the Indiana Pacers and they need a video intern at the exact year that Larry Bird was taken over you know there there's so many different ways is that he's sovereign. He has everything under control. This past week in this country is crazy. God is in control. There is not one thing that happens that surprises him. And so I think as I've... as I've matured in my view of him and his character, you look back at all of these things and how do you not worship a God that would choose to do that. I mean, let alone his son on a cross. I mean, at the bottom line of it all. So, you know, it's humbling. I think, you know, basketball isn't everything in life. Basketball is a, you know, but he has used it. And to this, you know, I would say that the last few years in particular, just opportunities like this, other opportunities I've had to speak publicly I got asked to give a chapel address at Grace College up here in Indiana last year. Just different opportunities, the different people he's continued to put in my life. Even through basketball, there's a ton of basketball fans in this world, and a lot of them love Christ. And so it's a lot of fun, and I just continue to be amazed and also really wonder what other things maybe uh will come up and i i pray every morning you know every morning you know i end my my prayer when i wake up with um you know help me deny myself taking my cross follow you and whatever happens today help me to be faithful and obedient whatever happens like and i i fail at that for sure but i i think that he's you know i've been able to to carry that better than maybe I would have in the past as well. So, yeah, just, I mean, even that I'm sitting here talking to you, Rick, is a testament to God. And, you know, if a 5'7", if there was another 5'7", 110-pound high school basketball player in Seattle in 1990 to 1992 that's in professional basketball, that, you know, all of this, and is now talking to you like or will talk to you like I want to meet him I don't I just don't think you know so and that's and it's not because of me it's not it's all Christ and it's through me and however whatever he wants to do if he wants to take this career away I used to I used to worry a lot in just in this profession because it can be very volatile yeah and yet he's kept me in the same place for 23 years and and allowed me to lead others and hopefully do that well. I certainly make mistakes, but...
SPEAKER_01:Have there been challenges being in the whirly-swirly world of professional basketball and working with superstar basketball players and coaches? Is there times when you felt like you had to make a stand on your faith that was maybe... a little bit questionable?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I think in the last few years as Christians, there have been certain things that our society and world want to normalize or whatever that are not biblical. And I think there's times where you are putting spots in grace and truth you know speak truth and I try to do that for sure like I don't ever want to deny Christ like I don't want to do that I don't think that there's anything that makes me feel worse than when I feel like I've done something to deny him or you know obviously we're told in scripture not to do it or else he'll deny us and that's a pretty scary thought so you know grace covers a multitude of sins so we're all it's okay but just try not to do that so yeah there's times like even you know the NBA is a very worldly place and I try to live you know a biblical based life and try to represent Christ well, like I said, whatever happens that day.
SPEAKER_01:The superstar Tyree Halliburton has been outspoken. A couple of spots that I found in my research where he's very Christian himself. And that's not always been the case. I think he's, you mentioned in one interview that he was kind of a seeker, kind of close. But clearly he is a believer.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's exciting for our team. Tyrese, uh, he was on the Olympic team, uh, a couple of summers ago or last summer. And, and, uh, the, uh, chaplain for the U S Olympic team is, is based in that he, he works for athletes in action, which is based in Dayton, Ohio, which is only two hours from here. And so, um, so he's come over and, and taking an active role in, in, uh, in being a chaplain for our team along with some other partners here in town and uh and it obviously anytime anybody shows interest in jesus you get really excited we um you know there's there's we have several other guys on our team in fact an mbc tie-in a player that we signed uh or this or traded for this summer jay huff jay's dad was like a vice president for mbc camps when i was going there as a camper. And so now we have another NBC tie-in with the Pacers. But there's several guys who profess Christ and are Christian. So we have a great culture around our team. We have a servant culture. We have a culture that these guys play for one another. And it's really a fun group to be around.
SPEAKER_01:Basketball was God's gift. Faith is His passion. We're talking with Indiana Pacers Vice President Ryan Carr. the one challenge, the challenge maybe of your life through those periods that you kind of alluded to earlier when your parents had passed away and you had some serious bouts with depression at that point, right? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Tell us about that.
SPEAKER_02:So right after we talked about when my parents had passed away, I had gone on, my doctor had prescribed some antidepressants, some daily, you take them daily, whatever, And I was on those for about a year and a half. And they definitely helped my mood, but my brain felt foggy. I didn't feel like I could think as quickly. You know, a year and a half went by, I went back to my doctor and I just asked him, I said, I think I'm doing okay. Like, you know, a fairly significant time had passed. Like, you know, can we look at going off of these? So I followed the directions and went off of them. And initially it felt, felt felt fine felt good um and then a few months later just crashed into a uh yeah big big big time this was in like february or march of of uh 2021 um and Yeah, just just just really this was all coinciding, Rick, at the same time, kind of moving churches and which was a which was a blessing. But, yeah, just really struggling with like, man, I mean, I've been a Christian at that point for 17 years and I feel feel really awful. But why is my faith like failing me? And again, almost like that, almost like that experience.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:with the, with the North Carolina game immediately was, was drawn. I was like, I need, I need to know God. I need the scripture. I need the, my Bible. And so as hard as those days were, and they lasted, um, you know, I, I, I mean, up until pretty recently, honestly, like not, not to that degree, but it's, it's been a long kind of slow process. It's, it's, um, taking a lot of patience and, and again, um, discipline and, and, uh, and just, just really diving deep into God's word. But, um, yeah, just, just really hard days. And, uh, God is good. Like his, his word, his character, um, is enough. Like you, there is peace in that. Um, and, And it, and it's, you know, this whole world, you know, is always searching for, you know, what's going to, what's going to make us whole, right? Like, and you can chase a million different things and there's, all you have to do is in some ways, just watch the commercials of any, any show or sporting event or whatever. And really it's a lot of stuff to that's, that's kind of put out there to help you feel fulfilled or whatever, but there's only one thing that fits that whole. And, And so I'm still working on that. I wouldn't say that every day I'm still perfect, but I know where the answer lies. I know where my hope rests. And that was, again, kind of, again, why I'm really burdened by being in a really good church with good biblical teaching, you know, really being committed to... to the word. This is a crazy world. It's a broken world. Depravity is real. There's battles that we can't see going on. All of that's true. You live enough life, and you understand it, and you see it, and the more biblical you are in your worldview, the more clearly you see it, I think, because it's all in the pages of Scripture. It really is so So just really, you know, by God's grace, there's some great, that was still kind of during COVID time and stuff, found some really good teaching, John MacArthur and Vati Bakum and Alistair Begg and just some really, really gifted Bible teachers that I would just devour that stuff and still do. Like, you know, I love learning more and more about it. I love just understanding the depth of the word and yeah so I would still I would say that I'm probably like 90 to 95% like I'm pretty pretty good but there's still those moments where stuff creeps in like that's a it's real like when I you know I never understood the depths of darkness until then for sure I'd always kind of been a bulldozer a little bulldozer like put your head down and you know battle through whatever it is And in that, you know, God has taught me a lot. God has taught me patience. God has taught me discipline. You know, He's still doing that. God has taught me to love His Word and rely on that.
SPEAKER_01:Well, Ryan, you're such an inspiration. It's just been a pleasure to get to know you a little bit, even in this short amount of time. And because you've kind of been through this and you're now a seasoned, what, 50-year-old? Yeah, 51. 51. Maybe is there things that you would maybe offer up, maybe that you have already offered up to your teenage kids, to young people who might prepare them for living in a competitive world, a world with Jesus as the foundation?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I think what I've learned, I think the thing that even being saved at 30 that I worried about was would I have to compromise? And what I've learned is that you can be a follower of Christ, do a phenomenal job, work very hard at your job, try to be excellent at your job. I think as Christians, we're called to perform whatever it is that God's gifted us to do. at a high level and but you you can be different you don't have to live by the the rules of the world and the you know you know, the win at all costs mentality. I think that you can have character and end up, like, at the end of the day, people respect that. People may not be Christians. People may not see eye to eye with you on your core beliefs and why you do it, but they will respect the discipline and the way you go about it Grace and truth is a powerful thing and a way to live that people are, even if they're not they may not know it, but they're intrigued by it. They wonder, and those opportunities then hopefully lead to a chance to share the gospel and see if the Holy Spirit will do to them what it's done to you. So I would just say, be bold with love, with grace, but be bold, be unashamed. I'm inspired by younger people now that do that naturally. I feel like because I came to faith later, there was more fear in doing that than hopefully, like we talked about, my kids would have. I don't think my kids are fearful at all of it, but we had to... I felt like I was reorienting my life in midstream and kind of how that would work. What
SPEAKER_01:will people think?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, exactly right. Will I be judged?
SPEAKER_01:Yes. All those things. For sure. totally get that. And I was raised a Catholic myself, but my kind of reconversion happened when I was in my early 60s. So I'm a later bloomer than you are.
SPEAKER_02:Well, let's stick together.
SPEAKER_01:Let's do it. Thank you so much for your time and for your inspiration and your story. I know it's going to resonate with all kinds of people in our audience. And it's just, to me, it's It's a gift that you shared your time with us today. So thank you so much.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I'm honored you would ask. And I never want to say no if I get to talk about Christ. So that's kind of my philosophy on that. All right.
SPEAKER_01:Have a great day and God bless. You
SPEAKER_02:too.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you. Wow. What an inspiring conversation with Ryan Carr from the Indiana Pacers, his earliest days chasing basketball dreams to now his leadership in the NBA. Incredible. Ryan reminds us that success isn't all about the stats and the titles and the glare and the excitement, but about living every day with Christ. If today's episode encourages you, share it with a friend, and don't forget to follow us wherever you listen to podcasts so you won't miss our next story of faith and inspiration. I'm Rick Hansen, and this has been Amazing Grace. Thanks for joining us. And remember, God's amazing grace is for all of us.
