Lausanne World Pulse – Perspectives Articles – YMCA Tribute Breakfast: The “Big C” Y

By Leighton Ford
March 2011

(Editor’s note: These remarks were delivered by Leighton Ford during the Charlotte [North Carolina, USA] YMCA Tribute Breakfast on 16 February 2011. The words and convictions below represent the constancy of what we are called to as followers of Christ in a changing world. Our prayer is that as you read Ford’s words, that you will be re-inspired to make your witness for Christ stronger and more deliberate where he has placed you.)

In receiving this honor this morning, I do so gratefully, and on behalf of all the wonderful staff and volunteers who make this YMCA outstanding in our city, and our world. Most of all I want to give the honor to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whose name makes the YMCA so distinctive.

Recently, the national YMCA changed our brand name to “The Y.” That has caused some consternation. I have no huge problem with that change. After all, we all call it The Y. I tell my wife several times a week, “I’m going to the Y”—not “the YMCA.”

What does matter to me, and I am sure to all of us here, is that we keep this a “Big C” Y, with Christ always unashamedly central. Think of those initials: Y – M – C – A. Which of them are distinctive?

Not “A.” There are many “associations.” That’s generic.

Not “Y.” It was at one time for “young” men. No longer. Just look around at all the gray hairs (and no hairs) in this room, including mine.

Not “M.” There are as many women as men at the Y, and especially at my Saturday a.m. yoga class!

That leaves “C” as the one distinctive letter. What would we be if we lose that?

I’ve been a member of Central, now Dowd, since the mid 1960s, with hardly a break. All of our local family are members now. I’ve used the gyms at most of the Ys in Charlotte. Starting with our oldest son, Sandy, I coached youth basketball on Saturday mornings. Tom Dooley was my big nemesis as a coach. He and I worked together to recruit the first young African-American men into the basketball program. I don’t think our team ever beat Dooley’s. For some reason, when we drafted players, he always ended up with some 7-year-old who was already six feet tall!

It was my privilege to speak at the first annual Y prayer breakfast, and then to bring the address for the next half dozen or so years—until I ran out of new things to say. Whenever I tell people in other places about the Charlotte Y, I do so with pride about the size and quality and diversity of the Charlotte Meckelenburg YMCA, with some of the biggest branches in the country.

But mostly, I tell them this is a “Big C” Y—with an emphasis on the centrality of Jesus Christ in all we do and are.