New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary hosted a special time of worship and testimony as a part of the “Sandlot Revival” worship nights tour on Friday, March 13.
Sandlot Revival is a traveling tour of worship nights started by RobertAnthony Cruz or Coach RAC of the Savannah Bananas, the world-famous sports team known for their entertaining exhibitionist style of baseball branded as “Banana Ball.”
Sandlot Revival is not officially affiliated with the Savannah Bananas or other Banana Ball teams, but is instead a grassroots effort that began as a small Bible study with Coach RAC and other players. The Bible study slowly grew until they began hosting worship nights which eventually developed into the current tour.
This spring marks the first time Sandlot Revival has taken their events out on the road, and Friday’s event at NOBTS marked the first ever worship night held at a location outside of Savannah, Georgia.
NOBTS President Jamie Dew greeted the crowd filled with several hundred NOBTS campus family and campus guests.
“We are thrilled to have the Sandlot Revival here with us tonight, and we’re looking forward to having this wonderful time of worship and testimonies,” Dew said. “This is a cool moment, and we pray that it’s an encouragement to you.
“We welcome you to our campus and just want to ask you to open your heart to what the Lord’s trying to do during this time. May we walk out of here encouraged and more faithful and obedient to our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The event, held in Leavell Chapel, featured several Banana Ball players, including Coach RAC, sharing their Christian testimony. Other players that shared were Jt Sokolove of the Savannah Bananas and Bryson Bloomer of the Party Animals.
Music at the event was led by Crescent City Worship and guest worship leader Mehki Key.
Coach RAC shared his heart for starting these Sandlot Revival worship nights with the crowd.
“This all started as a team Bible study shortly after I joined the Bananas in 2024,” Cruz said.
“Me and a couple other players committed to meet every singleweek to open God’s Word together. When we are on the road, many times we have a game on Sundays and have to arrive at the stadium early. So we wanted to open the Word together.
“Some weeks it was just a few players, but it slowly grew to more to around 10-15 guys. We ended up meeting every week in 2024. Then in 2025 we started intentionally praying for specific teammates by name. Our group started growing rapidly and we saw God work in people’s lives.”
The Sandlot Revival hosted a handful of worship nights in Savannah in the fall of 2025.
In a series of Instagram videos, Cruz, Key and Savannah Bananas captain Bill LeRoy explained their heart behind the idea to take the Sandlot Revival events on the road to wherever the Bananas are playing that weekend.
“We want to start here in Savannah hosting worship nights and connecting people to their local churches, but we also want to be open to move wherever the spirit leads,” Cruz said.
“The goal of this is not to host some big cool event, but to tell stories of what God is doing in our lives, preach the Gospel and sing praise to God because He is worthy.
“With these events, I don’t care if five people show up or 5,000 people show. I just want people to experience the living God and have their lives transformed by it. We are doing this to unite the Church about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and share stories with the next generation so they hear about the joys of doing life with Jesus Christ.”
During the event, Cruz shared his testimony of working so hard to become a professional baseball player only to be cut during his second year in the Washington Nationals’ system.
Cruz discovered that his relationship with Jesus and telling others about him was his ultimate life goal, not playing baseball.
“Having a relationship with the God of the universe is not something casual that we do just one time a week on Sunday,” Cruz said.
“A relationship with Jesus is the most fulfilling thing you will ever experience for your soul. Take it from us, adults who get to travel the world playing a kid's game as our job. You would think that would be the coolest thing ever to do, but I am telling you that coming together as believers to worship our Savior is so much more fulfilling than anything we will ever accomplish on the baseball field.”
