String Music
Basketball has a new world record holder living here in Montgomery. The record for the most-made free throws in a 24-hour period was just over 20,000. Matt Bostic broke the record.
Friday afternoon, October 4, 2024, at 3:00 pm a large number of people gathered to watch him shoot free throws. He asked me to do an opening prayer. I prayed for him, his stamina, and his accuracy. I prayed for the basketballs, the many people who were a part of serving, and for the thousands of people whose lives could be changed by the success of this event.
At 3:00 pm Saturday afternoon, he had made 21,001 free throws! String music! That broke the world record! The Book of Guiness World Records was present. Every shot was recorded by several different cameras. Some officials certified the accuracy of the count. Everything was good!
Matt also had invited me to shoot the first free throw, but I deferred to Coach Mark Hall to do that. I misunderstood Matt. I thought he wanted me to shoot the first free shot and continue shooting until I missed, and I knew that might take too long—or too long to make one! Mark made the first shot and opened up the basket for 21,001 made shots to follow. String Music!!
He used about five basketballs. He had four people surrounding the goal as the ball went through the net or came off the rim. The balls were passed down a line to a person wearing a referee’s shirt standing next to Matt. Matt didn’t have to take his eye off the rim. The referee handed him the ball, seams in place, so he was ready to shoot. No time wasted.
Matt was doing this for a purpose—to raise money to minister to people through The Life House Alabama. His ministry reaches out to people who have been released from prison. His goal is to raise $200,000. He will reach it! One of the large supporters is Bruce Pearl, head basketball coach at Auburn University. I suggested that Coach Pearl let Matt give all his players some lessons in free throw shooting!
I asked Matt if his purpose was to reduce recidivism, the number of people who get out of prison and then return to prison. He said the main purpose is to help these men and women come to know Jesus Christ personally, to follow Him, to educate them, and to help them get a job. When you accomplish that, recidivism will be eliminated! He is attacking the problem at its core!
On each foul shot, Matt would bend his knees and come up on his toes to shoot. If you don’t think what he did is incredible, try standing and going up on your toes and going back down. Repeat this 10,000 times and see if your calves can take it. If you can do that, do it about 24,000 times. (He did miss a few free throws) Also, get a basketball and just shoot it up against the wall a few thousand times and see how long your shoulder and arm will last.
He really set a goal of making 22,000. The reason for that goal is that 22,000 people returned to prison last year. He wanted to make a “free throw” for each person who Jesus wants to “set free!” Reducing and eliminating recidivism will make this a different world!
Matt can shoot free throws! He hit about 90%. He hit over 100 straight at one time. I heard not only “String Music” when he shot, but also the heavenly chorus singing “Victory in Jesus!!”
Matt shoots basketballs to win people to Jesus. What are you doing to win people to Jesus?
