By India McCarty
Savannah Bananas president Jared Orton says creating the mega-popular baseball team is part of his job to glorify God.
“We started as this little, very simple, basic kind of entertainment-based baseball team all the way back in 2016,” he told the “Jesus Calling” podcast of the team.
Orton started working in baseball after doing an internship with a minor league team, saying, “I was like, ‘Dude, this is so cool that you could use a platform — like a stadium and a team and an event — to bring people together.’ That was really fun.”
From there, he worked with a “college summer wooden bat league baseball team,” which spurred him on to want to create a team of his own: the Savannah Bananas.
In an interview with CFO, he shared what initially made his team different from others, saying, “We told our coaches and our players, ‘if we don’t have this [entertainment aspect], we’re just like everyone else. And if we’re just like everyone else, then we’re going to exist like everyone else, and especially in Savannah, we’ll fail like everyone else.’”
Related: This Baseball Team Is All About Faith, Family and Fun—We’re Here for It
Orton and his crew’s work paid off; today, tickets to a Bananas game are some of the most sought-after in the world of sports. In a 2022 interview with Sporitco, Orton revealed the team was “up to about $3 million in revenue.”
Orton explained to “Jesus Calling” that his work with the Bananas is part of his purpose in life, as well as his job of glorifying God.
“We were created on purpose, by purpose, for purpose, and to do anything less than our best would not be glorifying God and the reason that we were created and placed on this earth,” he said. “To do things at the highest standard and remember that people are involved — you have this beautiful creation, these humans that we’re responsible for, and we’re responsible to serve them.”
He continued, “At the end of the day, we’re in the human business, and we’ve got to hold that very humbly in our hands because that is a privilege and a huge responsibility that this thing has been entrusted to us to do something incredibly powerful in the world.”
“In the end, what we’re trying to do is have a kingdom impact on people,” Orton concluded. “I hope that the way that I lead and serve and answer people — I don’t do it right every single time and certainly fall short many times — but my hope is that people see this as a reflection of who I’ve been created to be and who I have been created by and placed on this earth.”
Orton has had massive success with the Savannah Bananas, but for him, putting on the games is just part of his God-given purpose.
Read Next: Savannah Bananas Star Declares ‘My Faith Is Everything to Me’
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