In 2025, Lawrence Rodgers celebrated his fifth anniversary as pastor of Second Baptist Church of Detroit. But when he serves his community, he draws strength from a nearly 190-year-old church history.

It is true that Detroit is the only American city where four major sports franchises play home games in the downtown core area. 

However, it is also true that within walking distance of Little Caesars Arena, Ford Field and Comerica Park — the homes of the Detroit Pistons, Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Lions and Detroit Tigers respectively — sits a Detroit institution that has been intimately engaged in a type of service where success is not measured by championship banners, but instead by the number of lives that are saved and transformed. 

And this nearly 190-year-old institution has often performed its best work during some of the most challenging historical periods known to mankind. 

That institution, founded in 1836 by 13 formerly enslaved people, is historic Second Baptist Church of Detroit, which, since 1857, has occupied a stately space at 441 Monroe St. within the cultural, commercial and entertainment district known today as Greektown.

“I’ve had people come up to me and say, ‘this church is why I am free’ because our church served as one of the last stations on the Underground Railroad. That’s heavy stuff and very humbling,” Second Baptist Church of Detroit Senior Pastor Lawrence Rodgers said about the oldest religious institution owned by Black people in the Midwest, which “claimed a mission” in 1836 “to free the enslaved and have them enjoy the full privileges of American citizenship.”  

On Dec. 22, the 41-year-old Rodgers, who celebrated his fifth anniversary as the senior pastor at Second Baptist in 2025, provided some insight about how he finds inspiration to serve his congregation and the greater Detroit community. 

Just as the players and coaches who participate in games played at the bustling sports venues near Second Baptist spend many hours studying past performances to get better, Rodgers says he finds strength by looking at photographs displayed within the church that reflect the significant history made by a host of special people. A tiny sampling includes: William C. Monroe, Second Baptist’s first pastor, who spearheaded the church’s involvement in the formation of two abolitionist societies — the Amherstburg Baptist Association and the Canadian Anti-Slavery Baptist Association. Second Baptist member and Sunday schoolteacher Fannie Richards, who became the first Black schoolteacher in a Detroit public school in 1868 and later taught an integrated class at Everett Elementary School beginning in 1871, the year the Michigan Supreme Court ordered Detroit to abolish segregated schools; and Robert Bradby, Second Baptist’s pastor from 1910 to 1946, who leveraged his relationship with Henry Ford to link hundreds of Black people to jobs at the Ford Motor Co. during the Great Migration.

The passionate tone in Rodgers’ voice when he provided an impromptu history lesson about Second Baptist provides a glimpse of the energy his congregation experiences when Rodgers delivers a sermon. But Rodgers says the history that he loves to share means little if it is not acted upon today. 

The red-hot Detroit Pistons entered Friday night’s contest against the Utah Jazz looking to continue their dominant west coast road trip, but came up short, 131–129, in a high-powered offensive duel against a middle-of-the-pack Utah Jazz.

The Pistons entered this game with the Eastern Conference’s best record, led by their exciting young star Cade Cunningham and his versatile supporting cast that have made it very difficult for many teams to find any sort of success against. That wasn’t the case this time around, as Detroit was left with the reminder that even the best of the best can suffer close losses in offensive shootouts. 

The game began with the typically offensive showing from Detroit, staying relatively even with the Jazz but still allowing Utah to find ways to score against their team who rank second in the league in defensive ratings. Detroit found themselves working to undo an early deficit, which ultimately came with a late first quarter run in which they scored 20 points to Utah’s 4 points and flipped the momentum back in their favor heading into the second quarter.

The Jazz continued to give Detroit their best effort at dethroning the team to beat in the East, as Lauri Markkanen, Keyonte George, and Brice Sensabaugh wouldn’t let up their scoring onslaught. Detroit’s Cade Cunningham was seemingly everywhere all at once, totaling a career-best 13 total first half assists to keep his team in the game heading into halftime of a late-night dogfight. 

The third quarter was where Utah did the bulk of their damage, pouring on the points behind Markkanen and Kevin Love who continued to stay hot from the free throw line while adding a few of their own deep shots from three. Piston’s Head Coach JB Bickerstaff mixed in his role players off the bench to create some sort of spark but couldn’t match Utah’s steady pace from their role players.

Ultimately, Detroit gave everything they had in the fourth quarter as they clawed their way back into this game led by Cunningham’s 29 points and 17 assists. Tied at 129 a piece with 18 seconds remaining, Utah closed out their final possession with Keyonte George’s two-point floater to take the lead, only for Detroit’s Cade Cunningham to miss his contested three point shot to finalize this game 131-129.

One key takeaway for Pistons fans is the continued need for another piece on this team, which has been a topic of discussion leading up to the NBA trade deadline. In these close games, their highly praised defensive presence could use a spark, which could lead to an addition or two over the course of the coming weeks. 

Detroit’s offense still remains one of the league’s better groups but surely wouldn’t be opposed to adding another premier scorer to propel them as the season rolls on. It’ll remain a heavy topic of discussion into the new year, but for now, Detroit will look to finish their trip out west and close out 2025 against the pair of Los Angeles teams.

They’ll take on the Los Angeles Clippers at the Intuit Dome this Sunday with tip-off set for 9:00 p.m.

Detroit Red Wings Hockey Hall of Famer Igor Larionov is regarded as one of the most knowledgeable minds in hockey. His wisdom about the game has earned him the nickname “The Professor.”

However, even professors sometimes give out bad advice. During a KHL game on Boxing Day, Larionov was guilty of such a transgression.

The coach of SKA St. Petersburg in Russia’s KHL, Larionov, was in the midst of game action when he moved down the bench, offering some of his professorial advice to backup goalie Egor Zavragin.

He told his backup netminder to take off his goalie mask. Zavragin did so. Almost immediately, he would regret that decision.

There’s nothing a goalie hates more than when a teammate takes a shot at them when they’re not expecting it.

​Usually, such transgressions occur during the pre-game warm-up or at practice.

In this game, it happened in the midst of the action.

Pretty unique kind of friendly fire 🧐 pic.twitter.com/hMXiqkCBOj

— KHL (@khl_eng) December 26, 2025

As SKA St. Petersburg was facing Dinamo Minsk, Dinamo forward Vitaly Pinchuk brought the puck along the boards toward the SKA end, passing in front of the St. Petersburg team’s bench.

Timing it perfectly, SKA defenseman Markus Phillips delivered a punishing body check, lifting Pinchuk over the boards. He was still airborne as he went crashing into Zavragin, who was sitting at the end of the bench.

The force of the collision sent Zavragin spilling backwards and down the tunnel leading to the dressing room. Impressively, almost immediately, Pinchuk was back on his feet, climbing over the boards and back into the action.

Red Wings Legend Regrets His Words

“Literally a minute and a half before, I told the goalie on the bench, Zavragin, ‘Take off your mask,” Larionov told Russian broadcaster MatchTV, according to translation provided by the website RMNB. “This isn’t junior hockey. You need to watch the game so they can see your face.’”

Just moments before the collision with Pinchuk, Zavragin found himself dodging a flying puck.

“In the second period, I told him, ‘Take off your mask again,” Larionov said. “‘People want to see you on TV.’ He said, ‘No, I was almost knocked out.’ Zava said he won’t take his mask off again, even on the bench.”

The incident left one unanswered question.

Can a player be penalized for backup goalie interference?