Pt 1: Moses Ehambe + NBA Journey

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Ask About My Faith Podcast, where our hope is to inspire everyday faith conversations.

[00:00:09] I'm Jess and I'm Abby. Today we are honored to have a special guest with us. He is not just an NBA coach, he is a living testimony to the transformative power of faith. Joining us is Moses Ijambay, a man whose journey from Pro Basketball player to NBA coach has been nothing short of divine.

[00:00:29] Today Moses recounts a remarkable doors that God has opened for him throughout his career, sharing highs and lows and some of the unexpected twists in his story.

[00:00:39] Moses' response to these divine moments have been simply inspiring and you'll be amazed by the way his unwavering faith has opened doors beyond the court. Let's jump in.

[00:00:51] We are so excited to have you on our podcast today. Thank you for joining us. Thanks for having me so excited.

[00:01:01] It's a busy time for you will get into that a little bit more here shortly. Why don't we go ahead and start with your story of how you came to Northern Lord?

[00:01:11] Oh my goodness. That's pretty easy. My dad is a minister. He has been a pastor for my entire life. I grew up in the church. There is a song out there by La Cray and one of the lines is, I don't have a horror story. God kept me in my youth and I give them all the glory.

[00:01:31] It's been a tremendous ride, but even though I grew up in the church. I mean I was Christ like but I wasn't always nice like. I went through my time. But I think God it wasn't crazy. I went to high school or whatnot. You know all the great things that have been in high school and FCA and people knew me as I guess you could say a child of God.

[00:01:58] I loved Jesus and whatnot. But it wasn't until I got to oral opportunity in Tulsa Oklahoma. I scholarship to play there, play ball there. It was there for four years but it wasn't until then that I truly experienced the importance of having a relationship with Christ.

[00:02:19] In my youth it was more so okay mom and dad or pastors of the church, my mom leads worship. I play the drums so I have to go to youth. I have to go to Bible study. I have to go to Sunday service. I have to go to every single worship practice because I'm the drum player. I have to. So it became more so my faith became more so a routine. But it wasn't until oral opportunity that my faith became my own.

[00:02:48] It started to become more so a more so a relationship. Yeah, I've routine. So what's there somebody in college that encouraged you to dig deeper in your faith or how did that come about?

[00:03:02] Oh my goodness. Yes. Plenty of guys. I got hooked up a ministry called Guts Church. That's church pastor Bill and Sandy Sheer.

[00:03:13] They just had tremendous leaders in leadership. Chris, who else was there? Sean Schaefer. There's so many guys that just kind of put me under their wing and just really challenged me to have that relationship with Christ.

[00:03:33] Be the leader that they see within me sometimes even throwing me up on stage and having you know do was announcements or different things like that.

[00:03:43] At first it's like oh my goodness, I can't do this. What are you doing up there? And I do it. It's like oh my goodness, this is actually a gifting of my you know.

[00:03:51] And just really just challenging me to live the right way because they saw that leadership. I guess you could say purpose in me. Yeah.

[00:04:01] To just take it out and bring it out of me there's a quote, the greatest loss in life is when something great inside of you dies while you're still alive.

[00:04:11] Wow. So they saw greatness in me and they just brought it to life right? My gifting was just lying dormant because I really didn't even know but those men of God just taking on their wings and just pull it out of me even when it was uncomfortable.

[00:04:30] But yeah, for sure. Well, and it just goes to prove the people that you surround yourself with especially as a young adult are so important.

[00:04:40] Well, for those of us or there may be some people listening who you are in a position where you could be more of a mentor type person and wow, for us to be able to call out the giftings and what God wants to do in someone's life.

[00:04:56] Yeah. At an early age man that that could be a huge what's the word like just launch them into what God's called them to do almost definitely most definitely we're called we're blessed to be a blessing like that.

[00:05:12] Yes, a conversation with an individual today and he was talking about. He was just talking about his life and different things like that and he has a nephew that plays Probalt and I was like, yo, if you ever need an ex I played Probalt for 11 years.

[00:05:26] Okay. And he went to you know chat with him and you know, help him show them the ropes whatnot. He was like, oh man, I appreciate that. I just didn't want you to feel like I was like, oh man, my purpose.

[00:05:39] I call these to encourage to motivate you and to inspire you know, I am at where I'm at right now to be a blessing to those who are trying to get to where I've been.

[00:05:50] Yeah. Yeah. So we're blessed to bless.

[00:05:54] Right. Well, I hope those people who were mentors to you and called you higher.

[00:06:00] I hope they can hear their shout out those shout outs that you just made. Yeah, and being encouraged because obviously they are that act following God's nudge is changing lives even today.

[00:06:11] Yeah.

[00:06:12] Oh, yeah.

[00:06:13] I was meant to carry on right?

[00:06:15] Right. Yes.

[00:06:16] Yes. The trajectory. Yeah.

[00:06:18] So you are still a part of the NBA. We'd love to have you share about where you have been career wise and what you get to do now because you have it seems like the best job.

[00:06:29] Oh, yes. It's awesome. So I'm one of the basketball coaches. I'm in player development and basically what that means is I get an opportunity to help guys be the very best version of themselves on the court.

[00:06:41] You know, which is awesome to be able to be in a position like that. You know, these are these are guys that have made it right? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:06:53] Yeah.

[00:06:54] The opportunity to help these guys reach the dreams that they have, you know, in their life. It's really, really fun.

[00:07:01] I think which is my fourth season started off now currently in Minnesota.

[00:07:08] Okay. And player development is more than just their skills, right?

[00:07:13] Almost definitely. I mean, it is just their skills, but

[00:07:18] when you build the relationship with guys, you know, then it becomes like, I mean, just its relationships and then just filters in to just every day.

[00:07:27] You know, they build them. It's it's an awesome sort of, I don't want to say transaction, but it's just an awesome space.

[00:07:36] Ironing iron star, I'm getting iron.

[00:07:39] No kidding. Yeah. How have you gotten to this space? Because the trajectory may have been really obvious or maybe not so obvious.

[00:07:46] And you've gotten to share that story, I imagine. Almost definitely. In fact, I think I shared it today. It was, I mean, it's all God. Oh my goodness.

[00:07:55] It's not none of me. All of him.

[00:07:58] When I was I played, so I played ball for 11 years professionally, plays like 10 different countries, 11 different 23 different cities, something like that.

[00:08:07] That's left, but played into 10 different countries. And within doing that, my wife and I have always spoke about how, okay, when you're done with basketball, we're done.

[00:08:17] We're not going to get into coaching. We're not going to do it. We're just we're just going to go into our God needs us to be.

[00:08:22] And he holds coaching is where God is.

[00:08:26] You got to be careful with what you say. Yeah.

[00:08:30] Yeah. So we, I will never forget this. I'm playing in Russia. Very last. Well, I didn't think it was my very last season, but I'm playing the best basketball I've ever played in in Russia as an American.

[00:08:45] When you're overseas and as an American, and you play well, like the sky's the limit. Like there's more opportunities, more finances and different things like that.

[00:08:54] And as I'm going throughout my season in Russia, the Lord, I just felt a still voice say Moses, I need you to be done.

[00:09:05] What? No, I honestly thought it was just something out of nowhere, but it really was God saying I need you to be done.

[00:09:19] And it was kind of scary for me because at the moment I have five children. I have a beautiful wife. And this is how I'm providing for them. So I need this guy.

[00:09:29] I can't just retire and not play ball anymore. But so that happened. And I was kind of kind of a little devastated. So I decided just to fast to see, okay, let me just see if I really heard from God.

[00:09:43] But I'm at the end of my faster decided to go to a small Korean, the Korean Russian church in the middle of the city. I'm the only African American guy around.

[00:09:55] But I go into this church and they're like in the middle of a conference or whatnot. And I came on like the last day and the pastor was like, hey, I would like for us to do something different today.

[00:10:04] And I was like, okay, you just want everybody to get up and pray for each other. So this is going to be kind of uncomfortable because I'm this big African guy.

[00:10:16] And just every I'm like heading shoulders above everyone. And standing there, I'm like, okay, I'm just going to pray by myself. I don't think anybody's going to have the courage to come up and pray for me or whatnot.

[00:10:26] What was me, but lo and behold, this small Korean lady just she's shuffling her so I can see her just suffering or what herself around.

[00:10:35] To me, I'm like, oh shoot. And she speaks English. I'm like, oh perfect.

[00:10:41] Can I pray for you? So she prays for me and then she dead silent. And I'm like, okay, what's going on? Are we done?

[00:10:49] And she pauses and she's like, yeah, the Lord is telling me that he wants to take you somewhere very, very fast.

[00:10:56] But he can't take you. She literally said I see you going up a staircase of stairs. Very, very fast.

[00:11:04] But God is saying he can't do this for you unless you give him what he's asking you for.

[00:11:10] Wow.

[00:11:11] Any media I was like, oh, okay.

[00:11:16] Yeah, confirmation.

[00:11:18] It was confirmation the confirmation that I was looking for. Fasting it. Oh my goodness. It's so powerful.

[00:11:23] So powerful.

[00:11:24] Oh my gosh.

[00:11:26] But yeah, so we did that and got the confirmation.

[00:11:29] Smoke to my wife. Smoke to my agent. Smoke to my coach. Smoke to just different fans away. People thought I was crazy because I was playing.

[00:11:37] It's race. Yeah.

[00:11:39] Wife knew, okay, this is God. This is God because she knew my heart and how I work and how much I love the sport.

[00:11:48] But we did it and we said by the ball. One of the most scariest things a professional athlete is what do I do next?

[00:11:57] Yeah.

[00:11:58] Because there's so much time and effort on you.

[00:12:01] So much identity. So much identity. Yeah. Oh my gosh.

[00:12:06] So it's like, what do you do next? What else am I passionate about?

[00:12:10] But with me, I think I did a good job with getting different internships.

[00:12:15] And I did an internship at the league office in the NBA league office in Manhattan.

[00:12:20] Oh wow.

[00:12:21] Worked with some different teams and whatnot.

[00:12:23] So just so I can have relationships and different things like that.

[00:12:27] But when I said by the ball, literally the next day my athletic director at my alma mater gives me a call.

[00:12:35] I haven't spoken to this guy in so long that Mr. Mike Carter and he was like Moses my administrative assistant is going on maternity leave.

[00:12:46] And she's not coming back. I just learned it today.

[00:12:49] I would like to work for me.

[00:12:51] And I'm like, which was amazing because I was going to do next.

[00:12:56] Yeah.

[00:12:57] So I was Moses athletic assistant to the athletic director, you know answering emails and doing whatever he needs me to do.

[00:13:06] Yeah.

[00:13:07] Yeah.

[00:13:08] Is there nothing?

[00:13:09] I was assistant to the athletic director.

[00:13:12] I was actually I was also coaching at Victory Christian, which is across the street.

[00:13:17] You need another job.

[00:13:20] You got five wife, you know, you got to survive there.

[00:13:24] And so they blessed me with opportunity to coach and remember I did not want to coach my wife and I were doing ball.

[00:13:32] You don't fall coached those seven eighth grade guys.

[00:13:35] It was amazing just to mend and mold boys and well, terrific and being able to speak life into them.

[00:13:45] Being able to just grab any that lies and detrimental thinking that they've had like it was great.

[00:13:52] We ended up winning a championship.

[00:13:54] It was awesome.

[00:13:55] And I think that's where that fine coaching fire just like blew up.

[00:13:59] Yeah.

[00:14:00] So that happened that I got asked to coach on the high school level at that same school.

[00:14:05] That happened then I got asked to coach on the division one level at all opportunity.

[00:14:12] I got asked to coach university that we did.

[00:14:15] Yeah, right?

[00:14:16] So with the staircase that the ladies.

[00:14:18] Yes, right.

[00:14:20] And I was with the on the women's side collegiately for no more than three months.

[00:14:27] No, yep out of nowhere.

[00:14:31] Coach neat, Yorker for the Indiana Pacers gives me a call is like hey boxer.

[00:14:37] He needs to call me.

[00:14:38] He's like, hey, I'm late for him.

[00:14:39] He said, what are you doing?

[00:14:40] I'm like, I'm living a dream on finally coaching and it's going to happen to blast.

[00:14:43] And he was like, how would you like to coach an NBA?

[00:14:45] I was like, what?

[00:14:48] Come again.

[00:14:49] Yeah.

[00:14:50] And how would you like to coach an NBA?

[00:14:52] And I was like, of course, I would love to coach an NBA.

[00:14:54] But is this a joke?

[00:14:55] And I looked him up.

[00:14:56] He just got the head coaching job as the head coach of Indiana Pacers.

[00:15:03] And no one behold, no more than a month later, we all moved to Indiana.

[00:15:07] And I started my coaching career in that.

[00:15:10] Wow.

[00:15:11] Yeah.

[00:15:12] But it's that that didn't happen and all that happened within a year and a half.

[00:15:16] Okay.

[00:15:17] Boom boom boom boom boom.

[00:15:18] Yeah.

[00:15:19] Wow.

[00:15:20] You didn't even like finish out the seasons for.

[00:15:22] Wow.

[00:15:23] Her vision was spot on.

[00:15:26] It was.

[00:15:27] I wish this lady was the coaching that you and your wife agreed you wouldn't do after you

[00:15:32] were done playing right.

[00:15:33] Yes, right.

[00:15:34] Funny how God works.

[00:15:35] Yeah, exactly.

[00:15:36] So that happened and you know I'm there finally in the NBA moved everybody.

[00:15:42] We know we purchased a home.

[00:15:43] Everything was great.

[00:15:44] Then that coach gets fired.

[00:15:46] Oh, whoa.

[00:15:47] First year.

[00:15:49] Oh, and it was tough.

[00:15:51] Obviously for him and his family.

[00:15:53] But also for us assistant coaches like when the head coach is fired, then, you know,

[00:15:58] the rest get let go as well.

[00:16:00] You know, and we just my wife just lost her job due to COVID.

[00:16:03] We closed on a house.

[00:16:05] And then I get let go.

[00:16:08] Well.

[00:16:09] Okay.

[00:16:10] What did we just do?

[00:16:12] But in that moment, we had supernatural peace.

[00:16:14] It was ridiculous.

[00:16:15] Wow.

[00:16:16] So much peace.

[00:16:17] And within that peace, you know, the Lord showed up again.

[00:16:21] There was a guy.

[00:16:22] I remember I did an inter-trip it to the office.

[00:16:24] He reaches out to my wife.

[00:16:26] He's been trying to reach out to me but he just hadn't been able to contact me.

[00:16:29] He reached out to her.

[00:16:30] I remember this is that yesterday.

[00:16:32] She gets a WhatsApp message.

[00:16:34] His name is Jeff Ogre.

[00:16:36] Hey, I've been trying to reach Moses.

[00:16:39] Anyway, you can hook me up with him or what not.

[00:16:41] And she did.

[00:16:42] She ran out there.

[00:16:43] I stopped a lot more.

[00:16:44] I called him and he told me about an opportunity.

[00:16:47] I was going to get a message.

[00:16:49] His name is Jeff Ogre.

[00:16:52] I called him and he told me about an opportunity in the end of the end of Minnesota.

[00:16:59] And, you know, lo and behold, we used later.

[00:17:02] I'm here.

[00:17:03] Okay.

[00:17:04] Now, was that the position that you are currently in?

[00:17:07] Or is this a position that you have?

[00:17:09] It's morphed and changed.

[00:17:11] You started in one position at Minnesota.

[00:17:13] No, you're in a new position.

[00:17:15] How did that all pan out?

[00:17:16] It's sort of like the same position as player development.

[00:17:20] Yeah, it's the same.

[00:17:22] Okay.

[00:17:23] Yeah.

[00:17:24] Wow.

[00:17:25] So many places where you just had to have radical faith and say,

[00:17:30] I want a freak out right now.

[00:17:32] Yeah.

[00:17:33] Any sense any bit of logic would tell me to freak out and backtrack and go the opposite direction.

[00:17:41] Got to trust you.

[00:17:42] I love that he just gave you that overwhelming sense of peace.

[00:17:46] Most definitely one scripture that I and my beautiful wife, we stood on during that time was

[00:17:53] Proverbs 35 and 6 of your heart.

[00:17:57] Lean not to your own understanding and what you see lean not to it in all your ways, acknowledge

[00:18:02] me through prayer, the fasting through serving and then different things and that's nature.

[00:18:07] And all your ways acknowledge me and I will direct your paths.

[00:18:11] Yeah.

[00:18:12] You stood on that.

[00:18:13] It was like God.

[00:18:14] Yeah.

[00:18:15] You said it.

[00:18:16] Yeah.

[00:18:17] You said it and we believe in do it.

[00:18:20] Yeah.

[00:18:21] Well, and the crazy part of your story too is that you had little to do with the job offers.

[00:18:28] It was there reaching out to you.

[00:18:30] You're not a LinkedIn.

[00:18:31] You're not applying for the jobs.

[00:18:33] It's that God is literally putting you in someone's mind and then they're reaching out

[00:18:38] and you're like running up the staircase.

[00:18:40] It's crazy.

[00:18:41] And that's why I get to a point where when I find myself getting kind of like rattles

[00:18:45] and like worried and they're like, yo, the same guy that did that.

[00:18:50] Yes.

[00:18:51] And like I didn't even have to do anything.

[00:18:53] It's why you do something.

[00:18:55] You know what I'm saying?

[00:18:56] It's just tremendous.

[00:18:58] You know, whenever you go to the gym, you go to the gym and you lift weights and lift weights

[00:19:02] and you get stronger, right?

[00:19:04] Will it do feel like our trust muscle is bowl right now because of the system.

[00:19:10] And the spiritual lifting that we have been doing with just trusting God in every situation.

[00:19:17] Yeah, it's encouraging to remember he's the same God yesterday today and forever.

[00:19:22] The same God that brought me from being jobless in a new home with five kids and a wife

[00:19:28] that I'm supposed to be providing for who brought me here is the same God that's going to get me through this.

[00:19:34] Whatever this might be in that moment.

[00:19:37] Most definitely.

[00:19:38] And what was this?

[00:19:39] How have you been able to use that story, that testimony to encourage other people?

[00:19:45] Well, I think just by just by living and a lot of people see just the way just the way

[00:19:53] I am.

[00:19:54] Like I'm not like hotty or like God, look at that.

[00:19:57] I work in NBA and they let no, I'm just like because I know where I came from and I know how I got where I am.

[00:20:02] You know, it's just like all glory to God.

[00:20:05] This is not me.

[00:20:06] It's none of me, all of him.

[00:20:08] But just basically telling that story, I think just speaks louder than words.

[00:20:16] Yeah.

[00:20:17] I think there was a situation where I was talking to someone actually in the locker room about my story

[00:20:23] and they were like in awe of what?

[00:20:27] You know, and I think just that it's just been amazing because you could just tell how their faith

[00:20:34] just built was building up because of the story.

[00:20:40] There's this great, I think it's a scripture something about by the story of your testimony.

[00:20:49] Yeah.

[00:20:50] You know what I'm saying?

[00:20:52] Yes.

[00:20:53] What is that?

[00:20:54] But by the words of your testimony and but basically what I'm trying to say here,

[00:21:03] what I'm trying to say here is people can be blessed and encouraged just by hearing your testimony.

[00:21:10] You know, and I really do try to do that as much as I can, just shining shiny my light

[00:21:16] and just being who I am and allowing God to take complete control.

[00:21:21] Yeah, and I bet your athletes too because they probably have that fear of like

[00:21:26] what's next for me when I'm done and to hear how you win from top of your game

[00:21:31] and then God like had the next thing and the next thing and the next thing.

[00:21:34] Maybe for them it's not coaching but God has a plan for them and I'm sure it's so encouraging for them to know

[00:21:40] there's more in life than where I am right now.

[00:21:44] Almost definitely.

[00:21:45] Yeah.

[00:21:46] And the main way they see that is by how other people live.

[00:21:51] You know, people that are close to them, right?

[00:21:54] Like I'm really like open with everything.

[00:21:57] Like if I'm going through something or what not, I'll share it.

[00:22:00] You know, because I know if I'm going through something, I'm going to get through something

[00:22:04] and that getting through process is getting the next person through something.

[00:22:10] You know, I think that's the main culprit of just experiencing change and giving change,

[00:22:18] if that makes sense.

[00:22:20] I know that you're a big family man.

[00:22:22] You've talked about your life and your kids.

[00:22:25] You guys just had twins, right?

[00:22:28] We had twins.

[00:22:29] Yes, we have children, two sets of twins.

[00:22:33] Our first set Rachel and Esther, they are 12 years old, our last set.

[00:22:40] They're Abraham and Solomon.

[00:22:43] They're one.

[00:22:44] Oh wow.

[00:22:45] They're so sweet.

[00:22:46] So it was Rachel, Esther, 28, 20, then Titus.

[00:22:50] He's Ben.

[00:22:51] Salah is eight, she was born in Germany.

[00:22:55] Anishalom is five, she was born in, and then the two boys are born here in Minneapolis.

[00:23:03] Okay.

[00:23:04] Yeah.

[00:23:05] And as a family guy too, I know who you are on the field has to be.

[00:23:12] I know that you are like the same guy at home.

[00:23:15] And so I love if you could just speak a little bit to the level of character and integrity

[00:23:20] that it takes to be the same guy behind the curtain as you are on the court.

[00:23:26] Yeah, more definitely.

[00:23:28] I think it's just as important that I take care of.

[00:23:31] I mean, it's my first ministry is here at home.

[00:23:33] Yeah.

[00:23:34] So whatever happens with practice or whatever I'm doing out there,

[00:23:39] it's something but if not compared to what's here, you know what I'm saying.

[00:23:43] So I have to make sure that I'm in my type like I tell my guys all the time.

[00:23:48] Like I have two jobs going on my first job after I leave my second job and the first job is at home.

[00:23:53] I'm always on boom, boom, boom, boom.

[00:23:56] Yeah.

[00:23:57] It's awesome because that's what it's all about.

[00:23:59] Like my legacy because Lloyd has blessed Sarah and I with arrows in our quiver

[00:24:03] because he trusted us.

[00:24:04] He's in true.

[00:24:05] He's entrusted us with their lives and will be able to sharpen the sharpen those arrows so that in

[00:24:12] in charge we'll be able to, how do you say like shoot down or into the world.

[00:24:18] Yeah.

[00:24:19] Well, it makes it a little bit of place.

[00:24:20] Okay.

[00:24:21] Moses, I love that.

[00:24:22] I think that you have so much to share about probably parenting as well.

[00:24:29] So we're actually going to next week when we come back for the rest of our conversation.

[00:24:34] We'll hear a little bit about how you do that.

[00:24:36] A little bit about parenting and maybe a couple of practices that you use within your home to sharpen those

[00:24:44] those kiddos of yours to be amazing arrows for the kingdom.

[00:24:49] Thank you for listening to the Ask But My Faith podcast.

[00:24:53] We love your support and continuing to bring you encouraging and inspiring stories.

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[00:25:05] God bless you this week as you go out and share your faith.