Bob Briner – Roaring Lambs

Bob Briner was a sports television pioneer, Emmy Award winning producer and evangelical Christian author. He called Christians to become, “Roaring Lambs,” — people who believed that the Christian faith was relevant to all the problems faced by modern man and then to act on that conviction. Rather than simply criticize Hollywood, the press, television and movies for its degradation of the moral fabric of our society, Bob Briner challenged Christians to go do something about it by joining such culture shaping industries and becoming influential leaders within them.

Bob Briner was born Aug. 28, 1935, in Dallas, TX. In 1956, he earned a degree in Business and English from Greenville College. He started as a high school football and cross-country coach in Kansas, worked his way up to a college sports administrator in Ohio and Michigan, then becoming a promotions executive for the Miami Dolphins football team and a general manager of the Dallas Chaparrals basketball organization, which became the San Antonio Spurs. From 1968 to 1971, Bob Briner was an executive of the new World Championship Tennis. Through this association, Bob became a key figure in bringing television and sponsor dollars to sport of tennis. With Jack Kramer and Donald Dell, he created the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), and as its executive director from 1975 to 1979, he supervised the Grand Prix tournament tour and developed major tennis tournaments in Israel, Iran, Cuba, South Africa and the Soviet Union. In 1976, Briner became the first Western sports executive to enter China after the Cultural Revolution and introduced National Basketball Association games to television there. In 1979, he left the ATP and, with Dell, a lawyer and former Davis Cup captain, founded ProServ Television. In 1986, he and Arthur Ashe won Emmy Awards for the program, “A Hard Road to Glory.” He retired as ProServ president in 1996.

Bob Briner was also a prolific writer, regularly contributing to the New York Times and Sports Illustrated. His first book, Roaring Lambs, was written in 1993 and is still today an inspiration to Christians to seek careers in culture shaping industries and to then lead those industries as positive influences for Christ. Subsequent books included Lambs Among Wolves and The Final Roar as well as devotional books for Christians and business and management lessons learned from Jesus. He wrote 7 books in total, a fitting number for a man that daily immersed himself in the Word of God and inspired a multitude of modern day Christians to be more influential for Christ; both through his own personal life example and through his written works. He also spoke in churches and on college campuses. His Roaring Lamb admonishment also inspired the creation of Roaring Lambs Ministries. In 1999, Bob Briner went to be with the Lord at the age of 63, survived by his wife; his son, Rob, his two daughters, Lynn Briner and Lee Ganton and three grandsons. In 2003, he was posthumously inducted into the Indiana Wesleyan University Society of World Changers as its first member. Bob Briner was a