GLOBETROTTERS' LEMON VISITS AREA CHURCH

On Sunday evening, Meadowlark Lemon found himself in an unfamiliar place for a basketball legend. Alone in a public place.

"In a few nights, I'll be in an arena with 10,000 people," said Lemon, who starred with the Harlem Globetrotters for 38 years.

But Sunday, the "clown prince of basketball" walked around a church parking lot, in Cape Girardeau, with no one seeking his autograph or attention.

This was Lemon's second visit to Bethel Assembly of God Church in two years. The first time, he had come to the city for a basketball clinic, he said, and hit it off with C.J. Campbell, the church's pastor.

"I don't think this is the last time I'll be here," he said.

Lemon keeps about 150 speaking engagements a year, he said, and 75 percent of them are in churches.

"The local church is my ministry," Lemon said.

Besides speaking, he also proved to be an efficient parking attendant.

As two girls drove up in a white Camaro, he helped them straighten out their car as they backed into a space.

"Don't hit my car, now," he warned the driver as her door opened wide toward an older, battleship-gray station wagon.

"Is that your car?" she asked.

"No," said Lemon, smiling.

Lemon was practicing what he preached. In the Sunday morning service, he told the congregation how to have joy.

As he appeared in the evening service, he continued on the theme. Singing two gospel songs from his compact discs, he got the crowd of 150 clapping and swaying in their seats.

He also appreciated being introduced by the pastor as the Globetrotters theme "Sweet Georgia Brown" played in the background.

"I've heard that song about a million times now," he said. "I think I like it better now that it's on my CD."

Before preaching, Lemon pulled Crystal Kaufman from the audience to help him show off basketball tricks he had demonstrated that morning.

Kaufman was reluctant.

"It says you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength, don't you believe that?" Lemon asked.

"I don't know if that works for sports," she said.

After throwing around one of the half-dozen black and red basketballs on hand, Lemon told the congregation how to have a vision for their lives.

Never give up, he said. Stay busy with life.

"I've been reading the Bible for about 17 years, and I've never seen the word 'retire,' " Lemon said. "I left the Globetrotters, but I didn't retire. I went on to another gig."

Campbell was glad to have Lemon come, for several reasons.

"The people were really in tune to what he was saying," Campbell said. "And with the basketball tricks."

Dan Scott, the church's 6 foot, 4 inch youth pastor, has mastered at least one of Lemon's tricks.

"I think I got the concept of bounce passing the ball off my butt down pretty good," Scott said.