The story of Jeremy Lin’s breakout performance for the New York Knicks basketball team over the past ten days has been all over the media. Tonight, the sixth victory in a row for the Knicks since Lin took off, including the winning basket as time ran out. In five starts he’s scored 136 points, a feat unequalled by any modern NBA player. It’s called Linsanity.
Lin fans can be found on both coasts, in New York where he now plays, in the Boston area where he attended Harvard, and in California, where he grew up. Asian Americans have never had a sports hero of their own like Jeremy Lin. Even here in Madison, Lin has a following at the national office of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.
While attending Harvard, Lin was a part of the Harvard Radcliffe Asian American Christian Fellowship (HRAACF), one of eight InterVarsity chapters at Harvard. Tom Lin (no relation), was one of the key staff who launched HRAACF 18 years ago. He now lives in Madison and serves as InterVarsity’s vice president and director of Missions.
In an article on the InterVarsity website, Tom Lin said, “Generations of staff and student leaders have influenced HRAACF students, and I think we all count it a great privilege and joy when we see world-changers like Jeremy. I personally am inspired, and so thankful to God for the role that this InterVarsity chapter has played in Jeremy Lin’s life.”
The article includes comments from Jeremy Lin’s former InterVarsity staff mentor and the director of InterVarsity’s Asian American Ministries, a perspective on not only a rare athlete but a growing part of the American church, Asian American Christians.