- Will you consider this?

Central Illinois has never been known for being a slacker in any category.

And this year an organization with humble beginnings is celebrating its 75th anniversary, and it's going stronger than ever serving our youth and people of all ages.

You need to hear more.

(bright music) There's a safe environment, especially for today's youth, to enjoy wholesome time together.

The Christian Center has managed to expand through prayer, volunteers, and faith.

And Chad Bailey, the managing director of The Christian Center, is here to fill us in on the history, the progress, and the future of The Christian Center.

Welcome.

- Thank you so much, Christine.

- So you've been at it for a long time.

- I have been.

- In some form.

- In some form.

As we talk, it just has gone by the blink of an eye, so, yeah.

- Well, okay, tell me about when it very first started 75 years ago, so 1948.

- 1948, Hamilton and Perry, Texaco owned a building, and they were gonna build a gas station, but Dan Demmin, who worked at LeTourneau, he was the company chaplain.

- Okay.

- Which now is Wabco Dresser, Dresser Komatsu.

My dad worked there 40-plus years.

- Okay, all right.

- So I'm very familiar.

- [Christine] So you know that.

- But so, Dan had this vision, and so he rented out on a monthly basis that building on Hamilton and Perry.

- [Christine] And it was like a big old house, wasn't it?

- Oh, yeah.

- Like a huge house.

- Huge house.

- 11 rooms or something.

- Huge.

And people would come by for different events.

It was just kind of a Christian gathering place and anybody else in the community that wanted to come by.

And so then shortly thereafter, I think it was 1949, they moved up to Knoxville and Frye, and they bought a location, and they were there until 1962.

And then 1962- - [Christine] They outgrew the space.

- Outgrew the space, and they built way far out- - Oh yeah.

- On War Memorial.

(both laughing) And it's their current home, current location.

So we've had three different locations since the inception 75 years ago.

- So now, Dan Demmin- - Demmin.

- Demmin.

- [Chad] Yeah, yeah.

- See, I read it, and it looked different.

- That's all right, yeah.

- He was looking.

I think he went to Bradley University, and he was looking for a place to go after a game or something with his girlfriend and, you know, other than whatever there was to do back in the day.

- Right.

Just to hang out and, you know, he says for Christians to come and hang out and the lost to find Christ.

And so that's where he started.

And it has had a different flavor through the course of time with some different programs and events.

And now our kind of sweet spot is youth athletics and housing 10 lanes of bowling, and a great place for families to come.

- All right, and they have parties and things.

So yeah, you've had kind of a real evolution.

So tell me about the facilities now way out there at 4100- - Right.

- West War Memorial Drive.

- Yes.

So currently we have two baseball fields there, and we just redid those baseball fields, put artificial turf, which is pretty cool.

We've got 10 lanes of bowling.

Now, it's been alcohol and smoke-free since day one, yes.

- For all these years.

- I remember going to the old bowling alley, and you'd come home, and you're like- - Whew.

- You had to change your clothes in the garage.

And so anybody can come in and bowl, anybody.

There's no quote, "membership fee."

Anybody can come and bowl.

We have birthday parties.

Families have birthday parties.

We have leagues for adults.

And then we also have a kids league that we help run and coach the kids how to bowl.

We've got pool tables, old-school video games there.

And we actually host a pool league on Tuesday nights, and then we usually host a couple of tournaments.

But it's a great place.

We don't have fences around or anything like that.

So you can come and use the playground, picnic, ball fields, and a lot of families just hang out there.

We've got a outdoor basketball hoop, and so the apartment complex, a lot of people come over the apartment complex and use the facility, so, yeah.

- Which is very welcoming.

It's very, very Christian.

- Yeah.

- Let people come in.

Now you've been with the organization since, did you say 1993?

- 1993, yes.

- Okay.

- Yes, I worked for the Peoria Chiefs at the time.

And then Treg Whitaker, the director, said, "Hey, I want you to come be my athletic director, and so that kind of started that journey."

It wasn't planned, but God had different plans, so, yeah.

- Okay, and then when did you become managing director?

- So about six years later, so 1999, 2000, around that time period, yes.

- And so in your expansion, so how much space do you have right now?

I mean, you know, total square footage of building, and then you have a couple extra fields.

- Yeah, and Christine, that's a great question.

I don't know.

- There's a lot.

- It really is.

If you look from War Memorial, you'll say that's not a big building, but you get inside, it's really a pretty sizable building.

We actually have, When you drive up towards the ball fields, you actually drive over part of the ball or the building.

- [Christine] Oh.

- And that used to be the old bowling alley.

- [Christine] Okay, and that was only four lanes or something like that?

- Four, and they made it five.

And so we actually have ping pong in that room now.

We actually have... My dad passed about 12 years ago but had Parkinson's.

And so now we actually have a group that just started for people with Parkinson's that can come, and they do some different drills that help them with their movements and things like that.

But we have ping pong in that room, too, and some other activities.

So, so, I'm sorry.

- That's okay.

- So we've got a big building and then probably about seven, seven acres.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- I think I read 7 1/2 acres.

- Okay.

- Maybe I read that.

I don't know.

But you have been going strong and evolved the programs, so you know what really is popular and what catches on, and you've had to kind of push some other programs to the wayside?

- Sure.

You know, back in the day, and Christine and I reference our little history book.

- This book.

- Yeah.

- It's a very nice book.

- Yeah.

- There we go.

- And we had Sandy Kershaw write that for us because some of our guys were getting older that were involved towards the beginning.

So she took their stories and pictures and- - And the history.

- We did history book.

But they used to do a coffee house downtown Peoria.

I think it was on Main Street back in the hippie days, and they've had country western.

They have had junior high nights.

I don't know who's ever watching, but movies on the building.

Back in the day before, there was, you know- - Outdoor.

- Outdoor movies.

And so it's just kind of evolved over time, different things and different events.

But now it's youth athletics, and we'll have over 2,000 kids ages five to 18 participate in our programs.

- All right, and those programs are?

- Yes, so right now we're in the middle of fall soccer.

- Okay.

- If it'd stopped raining today.

We're supposed to have soccer tonight, but we'll have about 570 kids in fall soccer.

- Really?

- Right now, ages five to 18.

We do a fall baseball program.

It's kind of a scaled down.

We do ages nine and 10, 11 and 12.

We do that on Saturdays out at Louisville Slugger.

And so we have 16 teams, about 190 kids in that.

- Gee.

- We're having registration right now for winter basketball, and we'll do ages five to 18.

You say, "Oh, the high school kids."

I think last year was a down year.

We had 10 teams.

Sometimes we'll have 14 teams in the high school league.

- Really?

- And really it- - But that doesn't include any kids who are playing for high school.

This is maybe kids who were cut, but they still love the game.

- If you think about Peoria, it's kind of a hotbed for basketball.

- It is, yeah.

- It's hard to make some of those teams, and those kids that maybe aren't as talented just wanna, they wanna play, or maybe they're playing different sport, but.

So we do winter basketball, and then we do spring soccer, and we used to do the outdoors, but as you well know, the Illinois weather is not great in the spring.

- Nope, can't count on anything.

- So we go, we went inside at Louisville Slugger, and so last year we had like 440-some kids, and we had like 200-some kids on the wait list.

- Hm.

- So we're trying to expand you know, how can we better utilize that time and even maybe some more days out there.

- [Christine] Right.

- And then so we do that March and April.

And then baseball/softball starts for ages five to 18, and indoor soccer's five to 18.

And we'll do that in the summer.

So it just kind of keeps going.

- Full circle.

- Yes.

- So baseball is that tee-ball as well?

- Yes.

- 'Cause I think our kids played tee-ball there.

- Now, we don't call it tee-ball anymore.

That's not cool.

It's Little Sluggers now.

- It's Little...

Sorry, you know.

- But we still- - I'm old school.

- Me too.

(Christine laughs) But I think the family, yeah.

So, Little Sluggers.

And we just built a field.

The church next door, Peoria First, a lot of people think we're connected.

We're just, we're great neighbors, and they've really blessed us.

We actually built a Little Sluggers field behind the gym there.

And then we've got two fields of our own, so.

- Okay, I think we have an aerial shot of that somewhere.

- Yes.

- Okay, great.

- Yeah, sure do.

- So at least 2,000 kids.

It sounds like a whole lot more.

And then, I mean, you just keep 'em busy, and people just keep coming.

So this is generation after generation because somebody played there and then... Is that how the word gets out?

- It is.

I'm thinking of someone right now that grew up in our league that's now coaching.

- [Christine] Okay, in the league?

- Yeah, yeah.

- Okay, awesome.

- Matter of fact, he's like, "Hey, I'm gonna coach my..." He's got a son.

I think he's in eighth grade maybe.

But he was one of the kids that, you know, played basketball for us.

And so a neat thing too, and we can talk about this now or later, is partnerships.

We don't own a gym.

- Hm.

No, 'cause you were playing in the gym at the church, I believe- - Yes.

- At one point, yeah.

- So, we'll probably have close to 550 kids.

We don't own a gym, and so- - Go figure.

(laughs) - Yeah.

And so we use a lot of local churches, Peoria Christian School, Northminster Presbyterian Church, Woodland Baptist Church.

We've used Redeemer Lutheran in the past, Trinity Lutheran, Peoria First.

And that's what...

So that is a neat- - Partnership.

- Yes.

If you think about that, to build a gym, that's millions of dollars.

But we're able to use those.

And then soccer, we don't own a soccer field.

- [Christine] Right.

- And so we partnered with Bethany Baptist Church out on Heinz Lane out north.

And so we were at three different locations at one time for soccer.

So, you know, you might have had a child here or here or here, and now we're at one location.

- Which is really much more convenient for the parents, or they're very thankful.

- Yes, and for us too.

- Yeah.

(both laughing) - I guess.

But that's a lot of logistics.

So you're doing a lot of- - We are- - A lot of thinning.

- We are.

Baseball's probably our hardest sport logistically just because taking care of fields.

Northminster Presbyterian Church, they have a softball league out there, and we approached them about expanding it to a Pony League-sized field.

And so we've got an 18-foot trailer, and we got our field machine, and we travel and go out there and take care of the fields.

We also use Reservoir Gifted.

It used to be Washington Gifted.

We partner with Richard's Baseball on that one.

And so we, you know, try to take care of those fields, and then Von Steuben grade school.

So we use those.

- So you know whether or not they're using their facilities at all times, and it's a nice partnership again- - It is.

- That they're in use for other events.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Good for you.

So you're still kind of the athletic director?

(laughs) - Well (laughs)... - [Christine] Are you?

- A little bit.

We have an athletic director, and matter of fact, he grew up in our program.

And then our coaching and development director, he grew up in our program, so that's kind of neat to- - So they know.

They get it.

- It's neat to see, yeah.

- Well, just recently there was a fundraiser by Build Peoria.

- Yes, yes.

- And you won.

So tell us about what you won and how it came about.

- Okay, so we met at Build Peoria.

And you almost won the best dressed- - I did.

- Construction worker.

- I know.

I just didn't have loud enough friends.

(both laughing) - But Build Peoria is a local non-for-profit, just some neat people that just wanna see Peoria- - Grow.

- Grow.

- Choose Peoria.

- And get better.

And they love it here.

And so they're a non-for-profit, and they've built, I believe, six maybe different- - Projects.

- Venues, projects.

And so we applied this year, and we won as far as being able to get the grant.

And so we were at the dinner.

And so what that money's gonna enable us to do is build new dugouts.

Two of our dugouts were built by Eagle Scout projects back in 2008, 2007.

- [Christine] They've seen a lot of cleats.

- They have, and they need updating.

We're gonna be able to, with that money, put some scoreboards and do some other necessary improvements on the ball fields.

And so Build Peoria was great.

Darlene Violet is wonderful.

- She's a force.

- Yes, she is.

- And got a lot of vision, but she's a fellow Buckeye.

I'm from Ohio too.

- Okay, okay.

- So she knows how to get things done.

- She sure does.

- And it's very exciting.

So you also have a ladies' auxiliary, I believe, or do you still?

- We did at one point in time.

And before COVID, we had a super seniors group that would meet once a month.

And so we had different speakers come in and things like that, but kind of with that, and then a lot of those people, just the age, you know, aren't able to come out.

- They can't get around.

- But they used to do a women's auxiliary, and they used to do garage sales at The Christian Center.

I remember the last one.

I'm kind of glad we're done with that, (laughs) but I think they used to cook and do some different things.

That was kind of before my time.

- Okay.

- So yeah.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- BC, Before Chad.

- Before Chad.

(laughs) - So then how do you raise funds?

How do people donate?

- Sure.

- Or how do they get involved with things just if they're somebody who just doesn't know anything about The Christian Center?

They've driven past it, but that's it.

- So The Christian Center is funded by registration fees for the different sports.

We do offer scholarships.

So if someone signs up, they are going to play.

So we never turn a kid away due to finances.

We have a lot of business sponsorships and blessings like Build Peoria and just different fundraisers throughout the year.

We do a golf outing, and God's provided the funds to keep the doors open for 75 years.

And as you read the history book, I think it was 1953, they were thinking about shutting the doors.

- [Christine] Right.

- Because there just wasn't enough money.

And one of our guys, Malcolm Amsteds, made a plea and kept the doors open, and so- - [Christine] Here you are now- - Here we are now.

- 75 years later.

- Well, you know, a lot of times, well, prayers can be answered.

- Amen, yes.

- And so if it was something that was worthwhile, then praying about it certainly did work.

- Yes.

- So, what is your biggest challenge right now, do you think?

- Our biggest challenge right now is we struggle every year with coaches, trying to get people to step up to coach.

- [Christine] And why do you think that is?

- I just think that people are busy, and also they say, "Oh, I'm not qualified."

And we always say, "Hey, you know a little bit more than the kids, so you're an expert."

But getting coaches and just staffing too.

That new ball field behind the church was a memorial field, and Mary Hodgen was our administrative assistant for 22 years, and what a blessing she was.

And she wanted her memorials to go to that- - To that field.

- Field, yes.

So we built that field.

But just staffing, I think a lot of different businesses and organizations are having that right now.

So staffing and on the business side but also on the athletic coaching side.

- And how do you remedy that then?

Again, you tell them that they're the expert.

(Christine laughs) - Right.

We put out the plea, and then we have to make a lot of phone calls.

So you say your son signed up, so we might- - The grandkids, yeah.

- Grandkids.

But we might give your son a call and say, "Hey, we need you to coach."

- Oh yeah, if they would only listen to their dad.

Although we were talking...

So when our youngest son was playing, they had to wear these little wristbands, and they had to guard the person that had the wristband that matched their color, but you don't do that anymore?

- No, no, no.

You know, you always try to make things better.

- And more fun for the kids.

- And more, fun, yes.

And so we've went away from the wristbands.

- Okay, so 2,000 kids a year.

Can you grow it anymore?

Do you wanna grow the programs anymore?

- You know what?

I think one thing we want to do is make sure that people know about us, and thank you for inviting us today to do that.

And we wanna try to teach people that, you know, sports is so big in our society.

We think there's- - But it's not everything.

- No, but we think there's a lot of life lessons.

There's a lot of faith lessons that can be learned through athletics.

So we view athletics as a tool to invest in kids.

And so we are positioned as far as most of our sports to expand if the need arises, whether it's more soccer at Bethany Baptist, if it's more basketball, if it's, you know, we're talking about expanding possibly our indoor soccer.

Just, that comes- - Full circle.

- That comes full circle, but that's also, you've got a dome and so much time, but yeah.

And then baseball, yes.

So, we can expand.

We'd love to expand, and it's just who God sends our way.

We'll do our best, yes.

(Christine laughs) - So, all right, and then Camp of Champions, I remember when it was across the river, but you had Camp of Champions.

- We did for a number of years, Camp of Champions.

And I loved having the kids there every day.

I think at one point in time they had about 80 kids that used our facility, but then they went to more of a church-based, and so I- - [Christine] So like vacation Bible school almost?

- Well, yes, and I think they wanted to partner with churches, so they left our facility a number of years ago, but they were great partners.

- So you think that your most favorite graduate of The Christian Center, well, won a World Series against my home team, the Cleveland Indians at the time, so tell us about who that is.

- Yeah, so Ben Zobrist was a Christian Center kid, and I think I sent a picture to you.

- You did, of when he was a little kid.

- [Chad] That was when he was in Pony League.

- Is that right?

- Everybody thinks Ben... Ben Zobrist is what, 6' 1'', 6' 2''?

He was a little kid.

(Christine laughs) I mean, seriously, I mean, as far as- - [Christine] He was kind of scrawny.

- He's scrawny.

He grew kind of later, you know what I mean, in college and afterwards.

And Ben worked for us one summer.

I don't know if you knew that.

I like to joke that he did, he put the tractor in the ditch a few times, but we've had a lot of people put the tractor in the ditch.

- [Christine] But he's the most famous.

- But he's the most famous.

And one of my favorite events is Play with the Pros Baseball Clinic.

Ben came back for nine straight years, and we started at ICC, and then we went to the Pekin Avanti's Dome.

And then we had one year at Louisville Slugger.

But he would come back right before Christmas and do a baseball clinic for our kids.

And Zach McAllister, the pitch for Cleveland, now is with the Yankees.

He's back up in- - Major from Chillicothe.

- From Chillicothe.

- And so after the World Series, they faced each other World Series.

- [Christine] Okay.

- We had to Play with the Pros that year, and that was crazy.

- Really?

- It sold out like in one day.

But yes, Ben is our most famous.

And I like to tell the kids all these travel sports now, we do offer travel baseball, but I was like, "Ben wasn't made in travel baseball," 'cause when he played for the Christian Center, he played in our Pony League but didn't play on a travel team.

- [Christine] Right.

- He played in his backyard.

He played with his kid friends.

- He could concentrate.

- Yeah.

- Right.

- Yeah.

So Ben is, he's been a huge blessing to The Christian Center.

- And an inspiration to the kids.

- Oh my.

- So do you think in your estimation with all of the youth sports and everything, do you think that travel is creating some problems for people?

- I think that in this area, there's a lot of talent, whether it's basketball, baseball, soccer, and I just think people think, "Hey, I gotta be on this certain travel team to be whatever."

- To get looked.

- Whatever.

But I disagree.

I think it's the kids in the backyard.

George already grew up the street from me.

- [Christine] Okay, all right.

- And the Emzers build a field in the backyard, and I don't know if this is, but I think that's where Joe got good with his older brothers, kids going out playing.

Used to see kids out in the driveway playing basketball.

- [Christine] Right.

- I mean, all the time.

And I think we've kind of gotten away from that into maybe some more travel.

- And organized.

- Yes.

- And maybe that's not letting kids be kids.

- Yes, and we do, and I don't know if I...

I didn't put this down.

We do a sandlot during our baseball season.

- [Christine] Okay.

- So usually two times a week, they come up from 10 to 11:30.

We say, "Mom and dad, don't coach 'em.

Let 'em play."

We kind of separate 'em according to ages, but then we have an adult or athletic director out there pitching to the kids, and we let kids play sandlot.

- Ha.

- Let kids be kids.

- And they love it.

And how many kids do you have, usually?

- It depends.

- [Christine] 'Cause the parents have to get or somebody has to get 'em there.

- Right, and that's sometimes the bad thing 'cause I'm sure there's some kids who would like to, but both parents work or something- - [Christine] And they have no transportation.

- Right.

It depends how many kids we have.

It was funny one year, is the Minor League team that was playing the Chiefs was staying in the hotel- - Right next door.

- Yes.

And they came over, I think, or some of them came over- - When they saw the kids.

- Interacted with the... And I don't know where I was that day, but I was around.

And I remember one of the dads brought out a big dog, kind of like "Sandlot."

- Oh yeah.

- And took a picture with all the kids and a big dog.

- What fun.

Yeah, exactly.

Okay, so really quickly, what's on the bucket list for The Christian Center?

Anything immediate?

- The Build Peoria.

- Okay.

- To get that, the concrete, the dugouts, to get that built.

- Okay.

And we could use some help with that.

- [Christine] All right, sounds great.

- Yeah, and basketball, we're getting ready for basketball.

- [Christine] All right, you need coaches.

- We need coaches, we really do.

- I know how to dribble, sort of.

(laughs) - Grandma, we can have you coach.

Wouldn't that be fun?

- You're so sweet.

Anyway, well, thanks for sharing the story- - You're welcome.

- Of The Christian Center.

We did learn a lot.

And where can people find you, The Christian Center online?

- [Chad] Yes, www.thechristiancenter.cc dot cc is in Christian center.

Okay.

And then or they can give us a call.

So, yeah, it's perfect.

Thanks, Chad.

thanks for having me.

All right.

Hope you learned a lot, too, because it's a great wholesome place.

So be well.

And thanks for joining us.

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