{"id":565091,"date":"2026-01-28T00:06:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T00:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/565091\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T00:06:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T00:06:22","slug":"the-chaplain-helping-the-timberwolves-stand-in-solidarity-with-minnesota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/565091\/","title":{"rendered":"The Chaplain Helping the Timberwolves Stand in Solidarity with Minnesota"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a lifelong resident of Minnesota\u2019s Twin Cities and a minister trained in deescalation, Matt Moberg has spent many of his past mornings at the Whipple Building in Minneapolis alongside those protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement descending on their cities. He\u2019s spent his nights at the 19,000-seat arena in the Target Center, as a chaplain to the NBA\u2019s Minnesota Timberwolves. <\/p>\n

\u201cSports can be done and sports can be held\u2014and I think the Timberwolves in particular do it well\u2014not as a distraction from real-life unfoldings,\u201d Moberg told Sojourners. \u201cIt’s a way to go, we\u2019re still going to come together, not in spite of that, but because of that, and figure out how we can move forward together.\u201d <\/p>\n

Now, Moberg\u2019s found himself in a small spotlight after his words reflecting on faith and social justice went viral on social media, where he chastised churches for \u201cposting\u00a0prayers for peace and unity today while my city bleeds in the street.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t dress avoidance up as holiness. Don\u2019t call silence \u2018peacemaking,\u2019\u201d he wrote. \u201cDon\u2019t light a candle and think it substitutes for showing up.\u201d <\/p>\n

Moberg became a Christian in college, he told Sojourners, at Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, moving from \u201ca business marketing major on a Thursday to biblical and theological studies on a Monday.\u201d He started attending Sanctuary Covenant Church, a predominantly Black church led at the time by Efrem Smith<\/a>. There, Moberg said any tint of white evangelicalism began to wash from his theology. <\/p>\n

\u201cI’d never been introduced to any kind of liberation theology. When I started to see Jesus on a bigger, more beautiful and robust scale than what I had been previously introduced to, I felt like, \u2018Yeah, this has weight,\u2019\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

After college, while working with Christ Presbyterian Church, he met Ryan Saunders. When Saunders was head coach of the Timberwolves, he invited him to work as the team chaplain\u2014a volunteer role coordinated by the NBA<\/a> with a history dating back more than 40 years<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cI do not want to be the lamp that players come in, and they rub, and then they hope for some kind of good fortune to pour out afterwards,\u201d he said. \u201cI want it to be relational.\u201d <\/p>\n

Moberg was also a co-senior pastor at The Table MPLS, helping found the church after the congregation he was working with joined a denomination that didn\u2019t affirm LGBTQ+ people. For the last two years, he\u2019s been working as a full-time artist<\/a> while parenting three kids alongside his wife. As a team chaplain, he offers a 20-minute service before games, for players and coaches from both teams who wish to attend. Those meetings spur opportunities for relationships and conversations, where he tries to help players stay grounded. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery game, I tell them who you are is more important than what you do, even if what you do gets more attention than who you are,\u201d he said. \u201cWeek in, week out, it\u2019s just relational check-ins \u2026 I’m not asking, \u2018Are you working on that jump shot? I saw your stats.\u2019 I’m asking, \u2018How are you handling your marriage? You’re a newly married individual, taking on this turbulent schedule, and you have all these different pressures.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

Many sports chaplains emphasize meeting players as people rather than superstar athletes. But in Moberg\u2019s seven years as chaplain, Minneapolis has weathered numerous crises. From the police killings of Philando Castile<\/a>, George Floyd<\/a>, and others; the COVID-19 pandemic; the shooting<\/a> at Annunciation Parish; the surge of immigration agents upending<\/a> daily life; and now three shootings in the past month, his emphasis to players is often on what it means to be a neighbor. <\/p>\n

\u201cGod has gifted you with extraordinary abilities, and that\u2019s not a small feat. You\u2019ve put in the time, you\u2019ve put in the effort, but that didn\u2019t remove you from your brother next door or your sister down the road. You\u2019re a part of this thing,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen one part is hurting\u2014I talk to our guys a lot about, if somebody down the road has been slapped up by somebody, you ought to feel a bruise on your cheek. There is a collective call that the scriptures hold us to.\u201d <\/p>\n

On Jan. 7, after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Macklin Good, Moberg posted<\/a> on Instagram, eyes filled with tears as his heart wrenched for his neighbors. He was trying, he said, to hold on to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s vision of faithful nonviolence. <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThe scriptures you love weren\u2019t written to keep things calm,\u201d Moberg wrote. \u201cThey were written to set things right.\u201d <\/p>\n

Two weeks later, after Customs and Border Patrol agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, Moberg\u2019s post somehow spread across the internet, now pasted on a screenshot reading \u201cSTATEMENT FROM MATT MOBERG, CHAPLAIN OF THE MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES,\u201d along with a team logo. Screenshots went viral, shared by hundreds of thousands across social media platforms. <\/p>\n

Moberg, who is careful to never act as if he speaks for the team or even in an official team capacity, was caught off guard. Team officials checked in with him to confirm he wasn\u2019t the one posting a \u201cstatement\u201d with team letterhead, but Moberg didn\u2019t seem concerned that it would affect his work with the team. The Timberwolves did not reply to Sojourners\u2019 request for comment. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey could not have been more gracious,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Wolves have been the least of my concerns.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"\"\/ The timeout entertainment wore \u2018ICE OUT\u2019 shirts while performing in the third quarter of the game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors at Target Center on Jan. 25, 2026 in Minneapolis. Matt Blewett\/Imagn Images via Reuters <\/p>\n

Since the posts went viral, he\u2019s faced online vitriol and backlash. Still, he is encouraged that his call for Christians to act justly is gaining more attention. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what to do but to be heartbroken with our megachurches in particular, which we have a couple in the cities\u2014you guys can be such a catalyst for good,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

In the days after Pretti\u2019s death, Moberg said one of the most beautiful things he\u2019s seen across the Twin Cities are candlelight vigils, where families can pause, mourn, and even sing together. The team has learned from that and worked to build similar spaces for players and coaches. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done the same thing in the Timberwolves locker room and in Zoom meetings or Microsoft Teams meetings along the way,\u201d Moberg said. \u201cThere\u2019s temptation when crisis hits: When the press comes with their cameras in your face, how do you polish your best paragraph to present to the public so that you look like you\u2019re informed and you\u2019re caring? We don\u2019t do that.\u201d <\/p>\n

In previous years, Moberg admitted his zeal for justice made him push players to consider speaking out during previous crises. But since then, he\u2019s learned to prioritize actual growth and relationships. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen celebrities out there who have reactively responded to crises at hand, but they had no bite behind their bark. And so they spoke up, but they didn\u2019t step in,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to be contributing to people who are being formed as actual children of God and not just puppets of a different kind of thing.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s temptation when crisis hits: When the press comes with their cameras in your face, how do you polish your best paragraph to present to the public so that you look like you\u2019re informed and you\u2019re caring? We don\u2019t do that.\u201d \u2014Matt Moberg <\/p>\n