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SPORTS SPECTRUM
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CONTENTS 2 — Super Bowl History
Scores, locations and MVPs from previous games.
3 — Fun Facts: Atlanta
What you need to know about the host city.
7 — Total Dependence on Him
Much has been made about the rich contract Kirk Cousins signed in 2018, but the man who earned that deal strives to live in a place of faith in Christ.
10 — A Heart Transformed
Demario Davis thought he had a good heart — until he was challenged by God’s Word. The fruit from his life these days shows a man fully devoted to Christ.
13 — On Mission in the Unknown
Case Keenum has enjoyed very little certainty during his seven years in the NFL. But he and his wife, Kimberly, have learned to invest where God has them at that moment.
16 — The Genesis of Football Sunday
A quarterback’s idea is now a worldwide movement centered around the Super Bowl.
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$18, 4 ISSUES (PRINT) For information on subscriptions, back issues, discount bulk issues, or changing your subscription address: Web site: www.sportsspectrum.com/subscribe/ Phone: 1-866-821-2971 Mail: 640 Plaza Drive, Suite 110, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 Email: support@sportsspectrum.com General correspondence, Letter to the Editor, or Writer’s Query No unsolicited manuscripts, please E-mail: support@sportsspectrum.com Permissions, Reprints Phone: 1-866-821-2971 E-mail: support@sportsspectrum.com COVER • PHOTO CREDITS: Case Keenum (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey) Demario Davis (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty) Kirk Cousins (Photo by Adam Bettcher/Getty)
PUBLISHER Sports Spectrum Media PRESIDENT Steve Stenstrom
VP OF MINISTRY OPERATIONS Howard Haworth MANAGING EDITOR Jon Ackerman jon@sportsspectrum.com ART DIRECTOR Aaron Dean Sauer aaron@sportsspectrum.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Becky York becky@sportsspectrum.com PODCAST HOST/PRODUCER Jason Romano DIGITAL MEDIA MANAGER Jimmy Page CONTRIBUTORS Cody Benjamin
20 — And That is Our God
The little-known yet incredible story of a zealous college football player/reporter following God, seeking his purpose and feeling abandoned — only to find out years later that the Master Planner was authoring a salvation story greater than anyone could ever imagine.
26 — Increase Devotionals
3 weeks of devotionals from professional athletes and chaplains.
Sports Spectrum Global is a multimedia ministry with the purpose to impact people by connecting faith and sports in a relevant way, ultimately directing people, with resources for discipleship, toward a personal, loving God who demands Christ-centered lives. Printed in USA. Copyright © 2018 by Sports Spectrum Publishing. Bible quotations, unless otherwise noted, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to SPORTS SPECTRUM, 640 Plaza Dr., Ste 110, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129
32 — Gospel Message
You can know Christ personally.
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SUPER BOWL HISTORY DATE
Jan. 15, 1967 I Jan. 14, 1968 II Jan. 12, 1969 III Jan. 11, 1970 IV Jan. 17, 1971 V Jan. 16, 1972 VI Jan. 14, 1973 VII Jan. 13, 1974 VIII Jan. 12, 1975 IX Jan. 18, 1976 X Jan. 9, 1977 XI Jan. 15, 1978 XII Jan. 21, 1979 XIII Jan. 20, 1980 XIV Jan. 25, 1981 XV Jan. 24, 1982 XVI Jan. 30, 1983 XVII Jan. 22, 1984 XVIII Jan. 20, 1985 XIX Jan. 26, 1986 XX Jan. 25, 1987 XXI Jan. 31, 1988 XXII Jan. 22, 1989 XXIII Jan. 28, 1990 XXIV Jan. 27, 1991 XXV Jan. 26, 1992 XXVI Jan. 31, 1993 XXVII Jan. 30, 1994 XXVIII Jan. 29, 1995 XXIX Jan. 28, 1996 XXX Jan. 26, 1997 XXXI Jan. 25, 1998 XXXII Jan. 31, 1999 XXXIII Jan. 30, 2000 XXXIV Jan. 28, 2001 XXXV Feb. 3, 2002 XXXVI Jan. 26, 2003 XXXVII Feb. 1, 2004 XXXVIII Feb. 6, 2005 XXXIX Feb. 5, 2006 XL Feb. 4, 2007 XLI Feb. 3, 2008 XLII Feb. 1, 2009 XLIII Feb. 7, 2010 XLIV Feb. 6, 2011 XLV Feb. 5, 2012 XLVI Feb. 3, 2013 XLVII Feb. 2, 2014 XLVIII Feb. 1, 2015 XLIX Feb. 7, 2016 50 SPORTS SPECTRUM 2 Feb. 5, 2017 LI Feb. 4, 2018 LII
LOCATION
FINAL SCORE
GAME MVP
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Orange Bowl (Miami) Orange Bowl (Miami) Tulane Stadium (New Orleans) Orange Bowl (Miami) Tulane Stadium (New Orleans) Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Rice Stadium (Houston) Tulane Stadium (New Orleans) Orange Bowl (Miami) Rose Bowl (Pasadena, CA) Superdome (New Orleans) Orange Bowl (Miami) Rose Bowl (Pasadena, CA) Superdome (New Orleans) Silverdome (Pontiac, MI) Rose Bowl (Pasadena, CA.) Tampa (Fla.) Stadium Stanford (Calif.) Stadium Superdome (New Orleans) Rose Bowl (Pasadena, Calif.) Jack Murphy Stadium (San Diego) Joe Robbie Stadium (Miami) Superdome (New Orleans) Tampa (FL) Stadium Metrodome (Minneapolis) Rose Bowl (Pasadena, Calif.) Georgia Dome (Atlanta) Joe Robbie Stadium (Miami) Sun Devil Stadium (Tempe, AZ.) Superdome (New Orleans) Qualcomm Stadium (San Diego) Pro Player Stadium (Miami) Georgia Dome (Atlanta) Raymond James Stadium (Tampa, FL) Superdome (New Orleans) Qualcomm Stadium (San Diego) Reliant Stadium (Houston) Alltel Stadium (Jacksonville, FL) Ford Field (Detroit) Dolphin Stadium (Miami) University of Phoenix Stadium (AZ) Raymond James Stadium (FL) Sun Life Stadium (Miami) Cowboys Stadium (Arlington, TX) Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis) Mercedes-Benz Superdome (NO) MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, N.J.) University of Phoenix Stadium (AZ.) Levi’s Stadium (Santa Clara, CA.) NRG Stadium (Houston) U.S. Bank Stadium (Minneapolis)
Green Bay 35, Kansas City 10 Green Bay 33, Oakland 14 New York Jets 16, Baltimore 7 Kansas City 23, Minnesota 7 Baltimore 16, Dallas 13 Dallas 24, Miami 3 Miami 14, Washington 7 Miami 24, Minnesota 7 Pittsburgh 16, Minnesota 6 Pittsburgh 21, Dallas 17 Oakland 32, Minnesota 14 Dallas 27, Denver 10 Pittsburgh 35, Dallas 31 Pittsburgh 31, Los Angeles 19 Oakland 27, Philadelphia 10 San Francisco 26, Cincinnati 21 Washington 27, Miami 17 Los Angeles 38, Washington 9 San Francisco 38, Miami 16 Chicago 46, New England 10 New York Giants 39, Denver 20 Washington 42, Denver 10 San Francisco 20, Cincinnati 16 San Francisco 55, Denver 10 New York Giants 20, Buffalo 19 Washington 37, Buffalo 24 Dallas 52, Buffalo 17 Dallas 30, Buffalo 13 San Francisco 49, San Diego 26 Dallas 27, Pittsburgh 17 Green Bay 35, New England 21 Denver 31, Green Bay 24 Denver 34, Atlanta 19 St. Louis 23, Tennessee 16 Baltimore 34, New York Giants 7 New England 20, St. Louis 17 Tampa Bay 48, Oakland 21 New England 32, Carolina 29 New England 24, Philadelphia 21 Pittsburgh 21, Seattle 10 Indianapolis 29, Chicago 17 New York Giants 17, New England 14 Pittsburgh 27, Arizona 23 New Orleans 31, Indianapolis 17 Green Bay 31, Pittsburgh 25 New York Giants 21, New England 17 Baltimore 34, San Francisco 31 Seattle 43, Denver 8 New England 28, Seattle 24 Denver 24, Carolina 10 New England 34, Atlanta 28 Philadelphia 41, New England 33
Bart Starr, QB, Green Bay Bart Starr, QB, Green Bay Joe Namath, QB, New York Len Dawson, QB, Kansas City Chuck Howley, LB, Dallas Roger Staubach, QB, Dallas Jake Scott, S, Miami Larry Csonka, FB, Miami Franco Harris, RB, Pittsburgh Lynn Swann, WR, Pittsburgh Fred Biletnikoff, WR, Oakland Harvey Martin & Randy White, DL, Dallas Terry Bradshaw, QB, Pittsburgh Terry Bradshaw, QB, Pittsburgh Jim Plunkett, QB, Oakland Joe Montana, QB, San Francisco John Riggins, RB, Washington Marcus Allen, RB, Los Angeles Joe Montana, QB, San Francisco Richard Dent, DE, Chicago Phil Simms, QB, New York Doug Williams, QB, Washington Jerry Rice, WR, San Francisco Joe Montana, QB, San Francisco Ottis Anderson, RB, New York Mark Rypien, QB, Washington Troy Aikman, QB, Dallas Emmitt Smith, RB, Dallas Steve Young, QB, San Francisco Larry Brown, CB, Dallas Desmond Howard, KR, Green Bay Terrell Davis, RB, Denver John Elway, QB, Denver Kurt Warner, QB, St. Louis Ray Lewis, LB, Baltimore Tom Brady, QB, New England Dexter Jackson, CB, Tampa Bay Tom Brady, QB, New England Deion Branch, WR, New England Hines Ward, WR, Pittsburgh Peyton Manning, QB, Indianapolis Eli Manning, QB, New York Santonio Holmes, WR, Pittsburgh Drew Brees, QB, New Orleans Aaron Rodgers, QB, Green Bay Eli Manning, QB, New York Joe Flacco, QB, Baltimore Malcolm Smith, LB, Seattle Tom Brady, QB, New England Von Miller, LB, Denver Tom Brady, QB, New England Nick Foles, QB, Philadelphia
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FOOTBALLSUNDAYF BY THE
NUMBERS N MOST SUPER BOWL WINS Steelers (6-2)
6 4
MOST GAME MVPS TOM BRADY
10
MOST INTERCEPTIONS LARRY BROWN
3
ROD MARTIN - 3 CHUCK HOWLEY - 3
MOST APPEARANCES Patriots (5-5)
MOST TOUCHDOWNS 18 - TOM BRADY, PASSING 5 - EMMITT SMITH, 8 - JERRY RICE,
RUSHING
RECEIVING
FEWEST APPEARANCES
0
Browns, Lions, Texans, Jaguars
MOST TACKLES 33 - Rodney Harrison
TOM BRADY
MOST WINS FOR A STARTING QB
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Most Sacks 5 - L.C. Greenwood MOST YARDS
2,576
TOM BRADY, PASSING 354 - FRANCO HARRIS, RUSHING 589 - JERRY RICE, RECEIVING
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YFOOTBALLSUNDAY BY THE
NUMBERS SUPER BOWL SINGLE-GAME RECORDS:
SUPER BOWL SUNDAY IS THE 2ND-HIGHEST FOOD CONSUMPTION DAY IN THE U.S. (AFTER THANKSGIVING)
505 - Most passing yards, Tom Brady (LII) 6 - Most passing TDs, Steve Young (XXIX) 204 - Most rushing yards, Timmy Smith (XXII) 3 - Most rushing TDs, Terrell Davis (XXXII) 215 - Most receiving yards, Jerry Rice (XXIII) 3 - Most receiving TDs, Jerry Rice (XXIX, XXIV)
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MILLION
50,000
ESTIMATED POUNDS OF GUACAMOLE EATEN LAST YEAR ON SUPER BOWL SUNDAY
$
Cost to make the Lombardi Trophy, which weighs 7 pounds
1.35 BILLION
ESTIMATED NUMBER OF CHICKEN WINGS EATEN LAST YEAR ON SUPER BOWL SUNDAY
350% NATIONWIDE INCREASE IN PIZZA ORDERS COMPARED TO A REGULAR SUNDAY
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*All stats through 2018
F PRAYER OVER ATLANTA “Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted...” — Proverbs 11:11 Atlanta is known — not only to the millions who live here, but also to the millions who travel through the world’s busiest airport — as The ATL. My prayer for Atlanta is that these three letters would symbolize more than an abbreviation or an airport code, but become a key reminder of three simple but powerful words to be prayed over our city: Awakened, Transformed, Loving. Remember the example of Epaphras, a servant of Christ who “wrestled in prayer” for the Christians that lived in three cities: Colosse, Laodicea and Hierapolis. “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.” — Colossians 4:12 (ESV) Let’s strive together in prayer for Atlanta to be …. Awakened — I pray that Atlanta would experience an awakening. That the eyes of the city would be opened to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Transformed — I pray that through this awakening a transformation would occur through minds being changed to embrace the principles of God’s Word, the Bible.
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Loving — I pray that as we are awakened and then transformed, this will manifest itself into our daily desire to love others more than ourselves. Atlanta is home to one of the largest, most diverse populations in the country. Pray that God’s love for all people (race, gender, ethnicity) will be displayed through His people sharing and caring for others. “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in Heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” — Ephesians 3:14-19 ATL = Awakened, Transformed and Loving. Lord, may Atlanta truly become a city on a hill. — Shane Williamson, Fellowship of Christian Athletes President and CEO
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FOOTBALLSUNDAY Kirk Cousins
TOTAL DEPENDENCE ON HIM By Cody Benjamin
MUCH HAS BEEN MADE ABOUT THE RICH CONTRACT KIRK COUSINS SIGNED IN 2018, BUT THE MAN WHO EARNED
AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn
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THAT DEAL STRIVES TO LIVE IN A PLACE OF FAITH IN CHRIST.
ighty-four million. Seven hundred and twenty. Each number helps paint the picture of Kirk Cousins. But one of them captivates him more. As an NFL quarterback, Cousins is perhaps best known for the salary he commanded as a free agent in March — the rare veteran starter who hit the open market. After six polarizing years under center for the Washington Redskins, the former Michigan State standout swapped perennial paydays for longterm commitment, and he did so with $84 million — all of it fully guaranteed — courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings. Paid like the prized jewel of the offseason, he instantly became a big-money star. As a human being, however,
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Cousins doesn’t necessarily evoke an $84-million lifestyle. He drives his grandma’s van. He took free agency phone calls from his parents’ basement. He likes watching HGTV. And perhaps most peculiar of all, he keeps a tower of 720 stones on his porch. Each month, Cousins removes one stone to signify he is one month closer to death. If he were to make it through all 720, he’d be 90 years old. But there the stones rest, outside his home, as a reminder of life’s brevity. Can you guess which number — 720 or 84,000,000 — means more to the Vikings quarterback? Consider, first, the kind of personality and purpose it would take for someone to actually assemble a tower of stones counting down toward death, and you shouldn’t struggle finding the answer.
Money, you see, is a motivating factor for most professionals. Cousins himself even emphasized stability and security when first addressing the Minnesota media upon his arrival; neither stability nor security were ever guaranteed, financially, to Cousins beyond a single season in Washington. But Kirk Cousins is also Kirk Cousins, and even those yearly contract squabbles now reflect well on the quarterback, who lives for more than personal gain. “It wasn’t easy, but I saw the value of [the annual uncertainty in D.C.],” Cousins said in his interview for Football Sunday. “I realized I like these one-year contracts, because it gives God a chance to write the script after each year. It takes the control out of my hands.” SPORTS SPECTRUM
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FOOTBALLSUNDAYF Total Dependence on Him | Kirk Cousins
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n the field, Cousins wants things in his hands. Coaches have wanted the same for decades. When every other future NFL player was showcasing blazing speed or the bulk of a growth spurt, the Illinois-born and Michigan-raised Cousins simply had the hands and the arm to light up youth football fields. “It was never running fast,” he says. “It was throwing the football. The one bullet I had in my gun was throwing the ball. I was always the all-time QB at elementary school recess.” Beyond taking the snap, reading the coverage and delivering the ball, though, Cousins learned from a young age that it’s also OK to surrender the keys. As a junior in high school, with no scholarships on the table and colleges on the prowl for upcoming prospects, he prepared to put his best stuff on display in hopes of playing at the next level — until the very first quarter of the very first game of his very first varsity season, when a hit to his left side resulted in a broken ankle. “I remember driving back from the hospital with a cast on my ankle, there were tears in my eyes, and I called my dad,” Cousins recalled. “I said, ‘I can’t play in college. I won’t play in college. I already go to a small school. The dream is over.’ … My dad said, ‘Kirk, you don’t know that. Think of Proverbs 3:5-6.’” “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Cousins’ father, Don, a former associate pastor at Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago, told his son to “believe that whatever the plan is — and it may not be football — whatever the plan is, the Lord is bigger than what you think or feel.” As for the broken ankle? The damaged hopes of a teenage athlete? A potentially ruined career?
“He’s not going to waste a hurt,” Cousins recalls his father telling him. “He’s going to use this for your good and for His glory, so you have to trust Him rather than have your fist at Him. You have to open your hands, open your heart, soften your heart and allow the Lord to speak to you.” His father told him to take the trial as a challenge. And Cousins accepted. “Thirteen years later, I’m saying, ‘Yep. God can be trusted for every need and desire.’” Of course, for Cousins, it didn’t actually take 13 years for him to realize it. It’s been more like a gradual revelation, one that began as soon as Proverbs 3:5-6 was presented as a foundation for life. As a kid, crushed by the weight of his injury, his embrace of faith was more so an attempt to “see if God really is who He says he is.” But it quickly morphed into surrender. And that mentality has been solidified countless times ever since, with every passing season of life pointing Cousins beyond himself.
“God keeps taking me to a place of total dependence on Him,” he says, “to a place of, ‘Lord, I wanted this, but the circumstances do not appear to line up to get that … and then, in the 11th hour, the Lord works in such a way that a door is opened.’ He’s not late, but He’s also not early. You have to live in a place of faith, knowing that, for 90 percent or more of the journey, it doesn’t feel like He’s there. It doesn’t look like obedience is the right choice. And then you look back and say, ‘Absolutely, the Lord knew all along what was right.’” Does it mean Cousins has figured it all out? That he never doubts God anymore? Not in the least. “Certainly in an air-conditioned room, with time to think, I’m going to tell you that my identity is rooted in Jesus Christ and that He’s the foundation of my life,” he says. “And while that’s true and I believe that, it is hard to live out on a daily basis when
“I realized I like these oneyear contracts, because it gives God a chance to write the script after each year. It takes the control out of my hands.” 8
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YFOOTBALLSUNDAY Total Dependence on Him | Kirk Cousins
AP Photos/Bruce Kluckhohn
you throw the game-ending interception, season-killing interception, and you’re booed out of the stadium, and you start to say, ‘That’s who I am.’” Yet when he reflects on his own journey, it’s proof enough that God has been working. Not only did the broken ankle not keep Cousins out of Michigan State’s sights, but it simply preceded a career that’s included All-Big Ten honors, his selection in the 2012 NFL Draft, a 2016 Pro Bowl appearance and, well, that $84 million with a Vikings team that has all but rolled out the red carpet for him as face of the franchise. In his first season with Minnesota, Cousins threw for 4,298 yards, a career-high 30 touchdowns and just 10 interceptions. “Looking back now, I see that it was the perfect fit,” Cousins says of his move www.sportsspectrum.com
to Minnesota. “We just feel undeservedly blessed by the Lord that he brought us to Minnesota. He’s a good, good Father, and He’s poured out His blessings far beyond anything we’ve asked for.” How could Cousins, then, possibly cherish a symbol as solemn as the 720 stones every day he returns home? Isn’t the $84 million a much cheerier reminder of all that his very public faith in Jesus Christ can do for a man? To him, it comes back to surrender. “A follower of Christ becomes a follower, not just a fan,” he says. His life, he believes, means infinitely more if it’s shared, guided and inspired by God. So if a daily refresher about how fast life goes — and how easily it can be wasted — keeps him on that track, he’ll gladly take it.
“Certainly in an airconditioned room, with time to think, I’m going to tell you that my identity is rooted in Jesus Christ ... [but] it is hard to live out on a daily basis when you throw the gameending interception, seasonkilling interception, and you’re booed out of the stadium.” SPORTS SPECTRUM
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FOOTBALLSUNDAYF Demario Davis
A HEART TRANSFORMED By Jon Ackerman
DEMARIO DAVIS THOUGHT HE HAD A GOOD HEART — UNTIL HE WAS CHALLENGED BY GOD’S WORD. THE FRUIT FROM HIS LIFE
ot long after Demario Davis joined the NFL in 2012, the linebacker launched the Devoted Dreamers Project, which is now the Devoted Dreamers Foundation. It aims to equip the next generation of leaders “to be successful spiritually, mentally and physically.” In 2017, Davis interned with United Way so he could find better opportunities for NFL players to become more involved in their communities. He repeated the internship a year later. In October 2017, Davis was one of 12 players to meet with a group of 11 NFL team owners at league headquarters in New York City to discuss player protests. As reported by ESPN, Davis at one point stood up and delivered a passionate message
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that eased tension in the room. One team owner told Davis he’d “missed his calling” as a public speaker. This past April, soon after signing as a free agent with the New Orleans Saints, Davis was awarded the Call to Courage Award by the Buffalo Pro Ministry division of Athletes in Action. Each year’s recipient is an athlete who “displays exemplary character through adversity and triumph. At the heart of his character is a commitment to Jesus Christ that is reflected in every aspect of his life.” In May, Davis and Saints teammate Benjamin Watson became aware of a Louisiana state law prohibiting ex-felons from voting while on probation or parole. So the players spoke out in favor of a bill that would restore those rights, wrote
letters to legislators, and soon saw the bill pass into law. In June, Davis teamed with Redskins cornerback Josh Norman and RAICES (the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services) to deliver toys and backpacks to kids in families that recently made it out of U.S. Border Patrol detainment. The athletes visited a Walmart at 3 a.m. and spent nearly $10,000. In July, Davis was one of 31 people recognized by Time magazine as someone who is “Changing the South.” In September, Davis, Watson and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell met with lawyers in the New Orleans Public Defenders office, as well as leaders of several local groups, to discuss criminal w w w. f o o t b a l l s u n d a y. c o m
AP Photos/Bill Feig
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THESE DAYS SHOWS A MAN FULLY DEVOTED TO CHRIST.
YFOOTBALLSUNDAY A HEART TRANSFORMED | Demario Davis justice reform. For Davis and Watson, it was part of their work with the Players Coalition, a nonprofit founded in 2017 by NFL players seeking to use their platforms to promote social equality. In December, Davis made Christmas come early for a New Orleans family with which he had been developing a relationship. He’d heard the story of teenager Samuel Butler, who was accidentally shot in the head in February. The boy can no longer walk or speak, and he receives his meals through a tube. When Davis discovered that the family needed a wheelchair-accessible van to transport Samuel, he surprised them with the gift.
In other words, Demario Davis has a big heart. He has also played some pretty good football this year. He was chosen as one of the team captains in his first season with the team, and he finished the regular season as the Saints’ leading tackler (110), leading a defense that allowed the secondfewest rushing yards in the NFL. That helped New Orleans earn the NFC’s No. 1 playoff seed with a 13-3 regularseason record. You could say he’s a big-time football player too.
Demario Davis (left) prays with teammate Benjamin Watson.
“It was the most sincere prayer I’d ever prayed. I said, ‘God, I need a new heart.’ That’s all I said.”
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FOOTBALLSUNDAY F A HEART TRANSFORMED | Demario Davis
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his is a position the 30-year-old never imagined himself in. While growing up in Brandon, Miss., Davis dreamed of making it to the NFL so he could make tons of money, play in Super Bowls, be the MVP and revel in fame. But it was far-fetched considering his reality was using drugs and alcohol, committing crimes, and aiming to project a “bad boy” image. But after finding himself in jail for burglary before even playing a snap for Arkansas State University, Davis was challenged by a chaplain and the Word of God. “Our team chaplain (Chuck McElroy), who I’d been going to Bible studies with, he started to spend time with me in the Word,” Davis recalled in his interview for Football Sunday. “He was talking about these radical ideas that I had never even thought about. And then he started to show me [verses] in the Bible that matched exactly what he was saying.” Davis was captivated by Matthew 7:18, which, as McElroy explained, refers to our hearts: “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” “My whole theory with God was, ‘At the end of the day, God you know I got a good heart,’” Davis said. “Well, this was showing me that I had a bad heart
because nothing but bad fruit was coming from my life. “But then he told me something that was reassuring and encouraging. He said, ‘God will take out your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh’ (Ezekiel 36:26). And that night I went home and I was scared, and I just prayed, and it was the most sincere prayer I’d ever prayed. I said, ‘God, I need a new heart.’ That’s all I said. ‘God, I need a new heart.’” Davis thought that quick prayer would result in instantaneous transformation. But by the end of the next day, he found himself still doing many of the things he was trying to rid from his life. So he approached McElroy. “Man, you said that God would give me a new heart if I asked.” “If you ask for a new heart, God will honor it and God will give it to you,” McElroy replied. “It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, but He’s going to give it to you.”
“Until we get a new heart, we can’t fix what’s coming out of us.”
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AP Photo/Josh Reynolds
So Davis waited. And as he continued to seek the Lord, the messages his chaplain had been preaching began to resonate. Davis started to understand why Jesus had to die on the cross and pay for our sins. “Until we get a new heart, we can’t fix what’s coming out of us,” Davis says. “God wants to come inside of us and clean us so that He can draw us back to Himself. It was like He was taking the scales off my eyes.” From that moment on, Davis’ desire for alcohol vanished. As he continued to make Jesus the Lord of his life and serve Him, Davis’ desire for drugs disappeared. And before long, God broke an impure relationship Davis had been in for five years. For the next two years, Davis remained pure. In that span, he met his wife, Tamela, and they were married a year and a half later. “That was the first time I ever did a relationship the right way,” Davis says. “To say that I’ve done that now and then look at the benefits of a blessed relationship … our beautiful children (Bailey-Grace, Roman-Parker and Summer-Joy), just to see the fruit that’s come from it, you just understand that God is a God of order. When we do things in His order, He can bless them more.” As Davis’ heart changed and his life was transformed by the Gospel during his college years, his perspective on everything shifted. He suddenly saw the game as a way to introduce others to Christ. He saw his teammates as souls that needed life breathed into them, and as people who could potentially change the world. He came to view football as a mission field. Thus, Davis serves the Lord by serving others. He serves his family, he serves his teammates, he serves his community. He now knows he possesses a good heart because he now sees good fruit coming from his life. “I let go and I said, ‘God I’m trusting You. I don’t know where You’re going to take me,’” Davis said. “He’s brought me closer and closer to Him.”
Y FOOTBALLSUNDAY Case Keenum
ON MISSION IN THE UNKNOWN By Jon Ackerman
CASE KEENUM HAS ENJOYED VERY LITTLE CERTAINTY DURING HIS
AP Photo/Jack Dempsey
SEVEN YEARS IN THE NFL. BUT HE AND HIS WIFE, KIMBERLY, HAVE
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LEARNED TO INVEST WHERE GOD HAS THEM AT THAT MOMENT.
his isn’t the reality anyone envisions for their NFL career. But reality it is for Denver Broncos quarterback Case Keenum. “Coming out of college (in 2012 from the University of Houston) I was undrafted, signed with the Houston Texans. Actually released but signed to the practice squad that first year, made the team,” he recalled. “Got cut after my third training camp (2014), signed with the St. Louis Rams off waivers. Signed back to the Houston Texans at the end of that year, then traded back to the St. Louis Rams (in 2015). Moved with the St. Louis Rams to L.A. (in 2016), and after that year signed with the Minnesota Vikings (2017). And then this past season (2018) signed with the Denver Broncos.”
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“We moved four times in one year, right?” asks his wife, Kimberly. “Six times in seven,” Case says. Such can be the life of an NFL quarterback. This uncertainty doesn’t sit well with Kimberly, a natural-born planner, and Case doesn’t love it either. But the Keenums know it can be common in the NFL, so they’ve embraced a life motto: “Have peace in the unknown.” As longtime followers of Christ, Case and Kimberly look to God for that peace. The two first met when they were in elementary school, and recall playing flashlight tag with each other during a youth lock-in at the church both their families attended in Abilene, Texas. Their first date came years later when she was a senior at Cooper
High and he was a junior at Wylie High. Case took her out for a sno-cone after a Fellowship of Christian Athletes event. They ended up at different colleges, but eventually Kimberly moved to Houston, where Case was en route to claiming all-time NCAA records for total passing yards, touchdowns and completions. Those came after six years at the school — redshirt in 2006, parttime starter in ‘07, full-time starter in ‘08 and ‘09, torn ACL in the third game of ‘10, but granted another year of eligibility in ‘11. The year he didn’t play football was the most defining one. Unable to do much for himself for a couple weeks immediately following the injury, Case’s mom and Kimberly took care of him. SPORTS SPECTRUM
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FOOTBALLSUNDAYF On Mission in the Unknown | Case Keenum
“It was a tough time for me — it was life-changing, definitely careerchanging,” Case said during his interview for Football Sunday. “But I realized this girl, this woman now, was the best thing that had happened to me in a long time. … Looking back on it, I can honestly say it was a really good thing that happened. Some really, really, really incredible things came out of [the injury].” Case and Kimberly wed nine months later in June 2011. He then proceeded to lead the NCAA that season with 5,631 passing yards and 48 touchdowns (with just five interceptions) as a married man. Those numbers, somehow, weren’t enough to entice an NFL team to spend a draft pick on him, and Case signed with the hometown Texans. And so began a life of instability, which neither Case nor Kimberly would choose — yet they’re so very grateful for the path God has them on.
Once she did, the insecurities vanished. A verse she had known growing up, but had never really applied, took on new meaning: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” — Matthew 28:19-20 Though the Keenums didn’t know what the future held, they felt called to act on this command. After all, these words were spoken by Jesus in His final moments on earth. “For me as a football player, for her as a wife, whether you’re a businessman, a teacher, construction worker, whatever you’re doing, as you’re going, as you’re doing those things, make disciples,” Case says. “For us, that’s pouring into the people that are directly in our lives
right now. It’s not slapping them in the face with the Bible, but it’s living our life as close as we can to chasing after Jesus. The best example: It’s getting poured into in our own walk with the Lord, and then trying to pour into others.” By virtue of Case’s unstable career, the Keenums have moved around a lot — and thus have lived in many communities, have met a lot of new people, and have spread the Gospel more widely than if they’d stayed in one city with one team. “Any place we’ve been, I never want to leave that place without giving the best I’ve got, without getting to know as many women as I possibly can,” Kimberly says. “I don’t want to waste that year. I know God has taken us to L.A., to St. Louis, to Minnesota, wherever it is, for such a purpose, and that purpose is to share our faith with others.”
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hat rookie year in the NFL was tough on both Case and Kimberly. “We didn’t know what we were getting into,” Case says. Says Kimberly, “I walked in just very insecure, and very selfish. I feel like a lot of us do that with new circumstances.” Their mission became clear, however, in the offseason that followed, when they attended a Pro Athletes Outreach conference. It was during that getaway when Kimberly felt God tell her, “Stop making it all about you. You need to walk into a room and focus on everybody else around you.”
“I want to help point others to Jesus no matter what I’m doing. And that is absolutely our goal as we are going.” — Kimberly Keenum 14
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YFOOTBALLSUNDAY
AP Photo/David Zalubowski
On Mission in the Unknown | Case Keenum
Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP
They were tempted to wait on really plugging into a community until Case signed a better contract. They could have avoided truly being leaders within an organization until he became a starter. But Case and Kimberly didn’t wait. “We don’t know how long we’re there, so I don’t want to sit and wait until I find my very best friend or the girl that fits me perfectly … I want to help point others to Jesus no matter what I’m doing. And that is absolutely our goal as we are going,” Kimberly says. “Uncertainty is tough,” Case says. “It’s unfortunate but it’s a big part of, obviously, our job and our life, not knowing what the future holds … I think that’s definitely an excuse not to maybe www.sportsspectrum.com
plug in. It’s definitely an excuse not to invest in where you’re at. But for us, our calling, who we are … that doesn’t change. There’s no uncertainty in the truth that Jesus is our Savior. There’s no uncertainty in the truth of what we’re called to do here on earth.” Right now, they’re called to Denver. Case signed a two-year, $36 million contract in March 2018, and became an unquestioned starter for the first time in his career. He posted career highs in yards (3,890), games started (16), completions (365) and attempts (586) — but also in interceptions (15), sacks (34) and losses (10). The Broncos missed the playoffs for the third straight year after winning Super Bowl 50, and turned in
“God has us exactly where He wants us. He’s equipped us and prepared us for that, and we’ve done the best we can with what we have. That gives us confidence each day; it gives us confidence on and off the field to do what we do — and that’s to be good disciples, good disciplers too, for Christ.” — Case Keenum
consecutive losing seasons for the first time since 1971-72. Case’s play in 2019 will have a lot to say about where he suits up in 2020. Wherever that may be, he knows it’s already a part of God’s plan. “God has us exactly where He wants us,” Case says. “He’s equipped us and prepared us for that, and we’ve done the best we can with what we have. That gives us confidence each day; it gives us confidence on and off the field to do what we do — and that’s to be good disciples, good disciplers too, for Christ.” SPORTS SPECTRUM
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T “IF WE DO THIS RIGHT, I THINK CHURCHES WHO DON’T USE FOOTBALL SUNDAY ON SUPER BOWL WEEKEND ARE GOING TO BE THE MINORITY.”— GARY MOLANDER 16
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By Jon Ackerman
THEGENESIS
OF A quarterback’s idea is now a worldwide movement centered around the super bowl
he conversation began as two friends just catching up, quarterback Josh McCown and pastor Craig Gross sitting around late one night in an Orlando hotel, taking in a Christian sports conference. Before long, the creative thinkers were tossing out creative ideas. Before they called it a night, one idea in particular stood out. “We were kind of kicking around some things and [had] this thought that, ‘We’re at this conference where we have a bunch of athletes and guys that are passionate about their faith and willing to speak out about it, what that would look like if we captured some of that content and just shared it with churches,’” McCown told Sports Spectrum in the days leading up to last year’s Super Bowl. “Super Bowl Sunday has become so important to our culture. If we leverage the importance that it draws in our culture, [we] said, ‘What would that look like if we leverage that moment to tell people about Jesus and to really have an impact?’” The Increase, a community of Christian pro athletes, had recently begun releasing videos of such pros sharing their stories of the decrease of self and the
increase of Christ (John 3:30). McCown was among the athletes who’d been filmed. Pondering ways to get the videos in front of more people, he thought, “Why don’t we put two or three of them together, the best ones, get a host that tees them all up, and present it to the Church? Hey Church, show this instead of preaching on Super Bowl Sunday.” The morning after that late-night brainstorm, McCown presented the idea to Steve Stenstrom, the president of Pro Athletes Outreach, the ministry behind The Increase. “It took me about a half a second to smile and embrace the idea and say, ‘That’s brilliant, Josh. I love it. Let me go to work on what we could do and get back to you,’” Stenstrom says. While still at this same conference, Stenstrom floated the idea to Gary Molander, the co-owner of Floodgate Productions, the company hired to produce The Increase videos. “My initial thoughts were, ‘Oh my gosh, yes. … If we do this right, I think in 10 years, churches who don’t use Football Sunday on Super Bowl weekend are going to be the minority.’ And I still believe that,” Molander says. w w w. f o o t b a l l s u n d a y. c o m
“That makes it fun to think about who we’re going to meet in Heaven some day and hear the stories of how they gave their life to Christ because they saw Football Sunday” — Steve Stenstrom That was February 2013. Within the next year, the idea had been branded Football Sunday. Six years later, it’s on that steep trajectory. The seed planted by McCown has sprouted into a movement now reaching 2 million people. “Not all ideas are created equal,” Stenstrom says. “So in this case it was very clear to me, having walked with the Lord for a long time and having been in ministry for many years, there’s just a language of faith and there’s an understanding that something is rich with God’s wisdom, and God’s divine direction. There’s just a difference, like when you hear an idea, that something in the spirit of God within your heart, as a ministry leader, knows that God is orchestrating something. And that was obvious in that moment. “Sometimes you’ve got to really mine for the gold, but this one was on the surface. It got my attention and it kept my attention, and that attention quickly led us to an action plan that we began to pursue and consider.” The next Super Bowl was 11 months away, but Stenstrom didn’t feel the door was open to debut this short film in 2014. “Producing the product was an easy thing for us to do,” Stenstrom says. “We already had the stories. We had a great guy in [former NFL quarterback] Trent Dilfer who was willing to host it for us in the first year. The creative side, the production side, the product side, we had.” It was the marketing and distribution side that lacked. But within that year, The Increase got connected to Life Church and Bobby Gruenewald, creators of the YouVersion Bible app. Gruenewald helped get The Increase videos put into Life Church’s Open Network, which is full of free resources (largely created by Life Church) for pastors and church leaders. He also facilitated getting the videos distributed through the app — one of the first times YouVersion accepted thirdparty content. “That partnership with them unlocked a church network that we didn’t have before,” Stenstrom says. And so Floodgate was given the green light to forge ahead and produce the first Football Sunday. With stories from athletes shot in early 2014,
Molander arranged to film Dilfer, who got the crew access to Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. They shot him in a day. “And then Steve had the idea of, ‘What if we sent you guys to the Super Bowl cities the week before?’” Molander says. “We’re like, ‘Are you kidding? How do we turn that around? We’re not the news; we’re editors and storytellers, we’re not the news. How do we turn that around so fast?’ Steve was like, ‘I don’t know, just do it.’ “So I’ll never forget that first championship weekend, where there’s four teams left and they’re all playing on Sunday. We knew that Monday morning we were flying somewhere, and we had no idea where.” New England and Seattle became the destinations. Tickets purchased, bags and gear packed, the crew set off for Boston first. They attempted to get access to players through the team’s media relations staff — no luck. They tried going through Don Davis, a former Patriot who worked for both PAO and the NFLPA — no luck. “It was one of the scariest feelings for me, just as a human, flying into a city, knowing nobody, knowing that the expectations were that somehow we’re going to interview the Patriots players,
who by the way are playing in the Super Bowl in a week or two,” Molander says. “It was insane.” Matthew Slater, New England’s special teams captain, became their ally. A well-known believer, he helped corral offensive lineman Nate Solder and defensive tackle Chris Jones to also sit down for interviews. Then it was across the country to Seattle, where, thankfully, quarterback Russell Wilson and offensive lineman Russell Okung were connected with The Increase and more than willing to help. “Just set up out there on our practice field,” they told Molander’s crew. “We’re going to start sending all the believers out to you.” “So here’s the thing: God always intervenes, every single time,” Molander says, adding, “It’s, ‘God, if You don’t do something, we can’t make this happen on our own. There’s no way. Like, if You don’t prod a player’s heart to come over to us where we’re set up, we can’t do it.’” Despite venturing into the unknown, the Floodgate guys returned home fired up, thrilled at the possibility of doing this annually. They landed in Fresno, Calif., that year on a Friday, then went right to work editing down everything captured into a 30-minute video. Already away from their families for a week, they didn’t emerge with a polished product unti the followingl Wednesday. With Dilfer as host, Football Sunday 2015 featured wide receiver Brandon Marshall and quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, along with the New England and Seattle players filmed just days before its release. “We set a very modest goal,” Stenstrom says. “We said, ‘What if five churches from every state on average did Football Sunday? So what if we have 250 churches sign up?’”
“SUPER BOWL SUNDAY HAS BECOME SO IMPORTANT TO OUR CULTURE. WHAT WOULD THAT LOOK LIKE IF WE LEVERAGE THAT MOMENT TO TELL PEOPLE ABOUT JESUS AND TO REALLY HAVE AN IMPACT?”— Josh McCown www.sportsspectrum.com
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THE GENESIS OF FOOTBALL SUNDAY
TRENT DILFER & GARY MOLANDER More than 1,400 churches participated in Football Sunday that first year. The estimated reach was more than 600,000 people.
Super Bowl XLIX featuring the Patriots and Seahawks took place in Phoenix on February 1, 2015. Stenstrom, a former NFL quarterback, was watching the game with his son, Blake, in an NFLPA suite when Marshall walked in. “I remember him tapping me on the shoulder and he said something to the effect of, ‘Hey, you told me about Football Sunday, but I didn’t realize what a big deal it was. I’ve had people texting me and DM’ing me all day saying they saw me in their church.’” Stenstrom knew they were on to something when “we blew past our human goal of 250 churches,” and the notion was only reinforced upon returning home to Denver to the feedback coming in from churches that showed Football Sunday. The vast majority said they would 18
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participate again in 2016. New for Year 2 was a three-week teaching series for pastors if they wanted to do championship weekend, Pro Bowl weekend and Super Bowl weekend, and a shorter 12-minute main video. Dilfer, Thomas Davis and Drew Brees were featured in 2016, along with Denver and Carolina players set to play in Super Bowl 50. More than 2,600 churches took part, reaching an estimated 1.32 million people. And according to surveys from nearly 400 pastors, more than 5,000 people came to Christ after watching the video. Three five-minute videos were added to the main videos and teaching series in 2017, when Marshall, Anquan Boldin and D’Brickashaw Ferguson were the featured athletes, joined by New England and Atlanta players set for Super Bowl LI. More than 2,750 churches participated, reaching an estimated 1.22 million people. The video also appeared on the Hillsong Channel 30 minutes before kickoff, and pastor surveys indicated more than 15,000 people came to Christ.
“The beautiful thing about Football Sunday from my seat, and when you get a chance to talk to any pastor or a church leader, is we’re hosting an outreach event in partnership with local churches … and [millions of people are] watching it in the church buildings,” Stenstrom says. “So they’re already in the place where they need to be once they make a decision to follow Christ. It’s beautiful because again, those pastors and leaders, they know what to do. God’s wired them to be part of the Great Commission. And so we feel like we’re getting to partner with those pastors and leaders in the fulfillment of the Great Commission. “That makes it fun to think about who we’re going to meet in Heaven some day and hear the stories of how they gave w w w. f o o t b a l l s u n d a y. c o m
their life to Christ because they heard D’Brickashaw and Kirsten Ferguson’s story, or whatever it might be.” In 2018, all the same types of videos were produced, more than 3,100 churches participated, it again aired on the Hillsong Channel, and an estimated 1.32 million people were reached. But added was an on-theground outreach effort in Minneapolis, the Super Bowl host city. A Football Sunday edition of Sports Spectrum Magazine was produced, with 200,000 copies traveling to the Twin Cities to be handed out by a team of 25,000 people led by 400 pastors, who were also armed with 300,000 Gospel flyers. Football Sunday has morphed into a strategic vision that can be replicated year after year. In the next three to five years, Stenstrom would love for every church leader in America to know about Football Sunday, that it’s a resource there for them whether they use it or not. The pastors who do take part often experience their thirdhighest attendance day of the year, behind only Easter and Christmas. “There’s a segment, a large segment of the American population that loves football so much that if they knew they could hear from the pros playing in the games that day, or Trent Dilfer or Benjamin Watson or James Brown as host, then they would come,” Stenstrom says. “They would come on that day but maybe never come again. But it might be the one chance when they can hear the Gospel.” www.sportsspectrum.com
THERE’S NOBODY ON PLANET EARTH THAT SPEAKS TO THAT MANY PEOPLE IN CHURCHES ON SUPER BOWL WEEKEND. SOME OF THE LARGE CHURCHES IN OUR COUNTRY REACH 50,000
PEOPLE. BUT THIS IS REACHING NOW 1.5 TO 2 MILLION PEOPLE. AND I THINK WE’RE JUST SCRATCHING THE SURFACE. — STEVE STENSTROM
STEVE STENSTROM There’s no telling what God will do in the future. Stenstrom says this ministry will “remain faithful and obedient to do what God tells [us] to do without knowing the outcomes or the how’s.” Molander says, “We don’t ever want to plan the Holy Spirit out of this thing.” And it all began when an idea, sparked by a late-night conversation between a quarterback and a pastor, ignited a movement among millions. To convey the reach Football Sunday boasts, Stenstrom tells the athletes that they’ll speak to more people that day than any pastor in the world. “That’s the power of it when you think about it,” he says. “There’s nobody on planet Earth that speaks to that many people in churches on Super Bowl weekend. Some of the large churches in our country reach 50,000 people. But this is reaching now 1.5 to 2 million people. “And I think we’re just scratching the surface.”
KIRSTEN FERGUSON SPORTS SPECTRUM
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AND THAT IS OUR GOD
s a skinny journalism student at the University of Southern California in 2006, Ben Malcolmson yearned for one last great story to be published in the Daily Trojan, the campus newspaper. He’d already covered the football team during some of the finest days the program had ever seen — national championship games, Heisman Trophy ceremonies, undefeated seasons. Nearing graduation, he sought a glorious send-off piece. Malcolmson’s greatest idea ever hit him as he leafed through a copy of that very newspaper one day. His gaze stopped on an ad for walk-on tryouts. “No one’s ever written an article about this,” he said to himself. “This is pretty cool that the No. 1 team 20
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in the country just does an open casting call. This is pretty unique, this is pretty special.” He didn’t simply want to write about it, he wanted to try out and write about it. He hadn’t played football since fifth grade, he weighed only 165 pounds, he had never run a 40-yard dash — all of which would make the story even better. So he approached head coach Pete Carroll. “Well, it won’t be very interesting,” Carroll said, “but sure, go for it.” Malcolmson promptly got his butt kicked on the field. “I go home that night, I’m writing my article, and it was literally going to be the best article I ever had,” he said recently on the Sports Spectrum
Podcast. “This was unbelievable. I got to go through tryouts for the best football team in the country, and at that time had become just a perennial contender, just an unbelievable program.” Two days later, he received a call saying he’d made the team. “My first thought was, ‘This has got to be a prank.’ Like, there’s no way I made the football team, because it never even crossed my mind that that was a possibility. My only intention of being out there on that tryout was to write an article,” he said. If it wasn’t one of his friends crafting a hoax, it had to be Carroll. The jolly coach was renowned for cracking jokes and pulling pranks. w w w. f o o t b a l l s u n d a y. c o m
Photo courtesy of Ben Malcolmson
AND THAT IS OUR GOD
“Almost the moment I found out I was on the team, I had this deep sense that I was there for a purpose, that God had me on that team for a reason and a calling, and I couldn’t wait to see what it was.” — Ben Malcolmson Ben Malcolmson takes the field in 2006.
The note and Bible that Malcolmson left in each of his teammates’ lockers.
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“So I’m trudging my way over to the football building,” Malcolmson recalls, “with a little bit of excitement and a little bit of curiosity, but mostly just gearing up for him to pull the rug out from under me. Because he did tell me, ‘It’s not going to be very interesting.’ So I figured he’s probably setting me up for a nice little prank here.” “What do you think?” a smiling Carroll asked Malcolmson. “Well, the prank’s over, just tell me now,” Malcolmson said. With utter seriousness, Carroll responded, “No, you can run fast, you can catch the ball. We want you on the team.” Despite not having played football in 10 years, Malcolmson was handed the playbook for a team that had spent all but one week of the previous season at No. 1. The plays were “like 19 words long” and brought to mind “a Madden [video game] playbook.” He didn’t know how to put on pads or a helmet. He dreaded getting hit.
But once he did take a hit — and survive — he thought, “OK, I can do this.” However, Malcolmson was not young and zealous only when it came to writing. An active member of a Christian fraternity on campus, he was also on fire for Christ. College is when he began a lifechanging relationship with God, and being surrounded by frat brothers who were “sold out for Jesus” gave Malcolmson ample examples to follow. Surely this crazy, sudden adventure onto the USC football team was a divine calling, right? “Almost the moment I found out I was on the team, I had this deep sense that I was there for a purpose, that God had me on that team for a reason and a calling, and I couldn’t wait to see what it was,” Malcolmson said. “So I was pressed into that, almost from Day 1, just trying to figure out and just pray, ‘God, what am I here for? What is my reason for being on TOP BOTTOM the team?’” SPORTS SPECTRUM
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AP Photo/Matt Sayles
AND THAT IS OUR GOD
tars like Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush left for the NFL after the ‘05 season, but the ‘06 USC squad was filled with future NFL talent: John David Booty started at quarterback, Chauncey Washington led the team in rushing, while Steve Smith and Dwayne Jarrett both caught more than 70 passes and 1,000 yards that season. Linebackers Brian Cushing, Clay Matthews and Rey Maualuga led the stout defense. USC looked like a strong national title contender for much of the year, but dropped its season finale to crosstown rival UCLA, and was sent to the New Year’s Day Rose Bowl against Michigan. The Trojans won 32-18 and finished the season ranked No. 4 in the country. Malcolmson’s biggest contribution was entertainment. Some friends started a “Get Ben In” campaign, and it actually worked. In the last home game of the 22
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season, as No. 3 USC hosted No. 6 Notre Dame, Ben got in — for a quarterback kneel as the Trojans led by 20. But off the field, all season long, Malcolmson sought his purpose for finding himself in that locker room. Why did God have him in that position? Early on in the season, he thought it was to start a Bible study for the team. So he dove into his Bible, searching for the perfect passage to preach on, wrote out an entire study, included some discussion questions, and printed 100 flyers to give all his teammates. He entertained visions of this study becoming a longstanding Trojan tradition. “No one showed up,” Malcolmson said. A few weeks later, he was struck with the idea of starting a prayer group. “So I told all my teammates
Photo courtesy of Taylor Odegard
Mario Danelo, right, kicking in 2006.
Mario Danelo, left, with Taylor Odegard. w w w. f o o t b a l l s u n d a y. c o m
AND THAT IS OUR GOD
“I was a zealous 21-year-old college student hell bent on finding my purpose. I was fully expecting the hallelujah chorus to be sung in the locker room, gold light emanating from the doors … and I see just shredded Bibles all over the floor.” — Ben Malcolmson about this prayer group and we were going to pray together the day before every game, and this was going to be a pretty cool way to share the light with my teammates,” Malcolmson said. “And the time comes for our first prayer group, and again no one showed up. It’s just me sitting in the room.” Defeated, discouraged and doubting his purpose, Malcolmson came across Matthew 5. “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven.” — Matthew 5:16 “It hit me that lights just shine where they’re at, that they don’t need to go create events or go do things, but really they just need to be a light, first and foremost,” Malcolmson said. “That really hit me, and it just put me in this new place of, ‘OK, I just need to be a light among my teammates. I need to just be a good friend, just love people well.’” After a couple weeks, Malcolmson still saw zero fruit. The season was nearing its end. He had already made his celebrated appearance in a game. The team was selected for the Rose Bowl. Christmas was right around the corner. Malcolmson was struck with another passage, this time in Isaiah 55. “So is My Word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” — Isaiah 55:11 “And so I got the idea, ‘I’m going to get a Bible for every guy on the team, and I’m going to place it in their locker, and it’s not going to come back empty. God is faithful to His promise, and let’s see what happens here,’” Malcolmson recalled. His grandfather had recently started volunteering with Gideons International, an evangelical Christian association that widely gives out Bibles for free. So “Poppy” shipped 100 Bibles to Los Angeles, and late on Christmas Eve — after inserting into each one a note on red paper that read, “The greatest present you will ever receive, Jesus Christ” — Malcolmson snuck the Bibles into the football team’s locker room. He placed one on the seat of each locker.
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He told no one of his mission. Malcolmson spent Christmas Day hopeful and expectant, eagerly awaiting December 26, when the team would reconvene. “I couldn’t wait to see what God had here, because this was the fulfillment of my purpose. He had brought me through all the challenges, all the heartbreak and defeat and discouragement, but I had finally found my purpose, and this was it,” Malcolmson said. “And so, I couldn’t wait to get there to the locker room that morning. I was fully expecting just like the craziest things; I was a zealous 21-year-old college student hell bent on finding my purpose. I was fully expecting the hallelujah chorus to be sung in the locker room, gold light emanating from the doors; I was so excited. “And I walk in to the locker room that morning with these great hopes and great expectations, and I see just shredded Bibles all over the floor. The carpet was completely covered with shredded pages of the Bible. It was such a huge gut punch, because I had poured my heart and soul into finding my purpose, and I had missed it all along. “So I kind of just threw in the towel and said, ‘I guess I missed my purpose. I missed why God had me on this team.’ I tried to do all these things, but every single thing had failed miserably.” aylor Odegard, one of the USC punters that 2006 season, remembers that day after Christmas vividly. “Literally Bibles everywhere,” he recalled late one recent evening. “Paper airplanes made out of the pages, covers torn off, little red things crumpled up and thrown around, the garbage can full basically all the way up to the brim, like overflowing, guys tossing Bibles. … It broke my heart.” Odegard figured a team chaplain provided the Bibles. He opened his, read the note and “kind of giggled.” Raised in a Christian household in Mercer Island, Wash., just outside of
Seattle, Odegard knew the Bible well and even helped teach it to middle school students while he was a Young Life leader in high school. “But definitely in college I had a little bit of a drift,” he says. “It wasn’t being anti-Christianity, it’s just when you don’t put yourself in the right environment, don’t surround yourself with people of faith, it’s so easy to just kind of forget.” He struggled finding a church and fellowship while attending USC, and instead was drawn toward a partying life as a fraternity member and football player. And that’s how many of his teammates knew him. But though he wasn’t actively living out his faith at the time, he understood the significance of the words — especially the red-letter ones — that floated by him on those paper airplanes. So he held on to his Bible, tossing it in the back of his locker as he hurried out to practice. Thinking he was the last guy in the locker room, he opened the door to head outside. But before he made it all the way out, he heard someone call out. “Does anyone know how to read this thing?” “I recognized the voice right away,” Odegard says. “I was like, ‘Oh that’s Mario.’” Initially, Odegard thought Mario Danelo, the record-setting USC kicker, was kidding. “What do you mean?” Odegard asked. “You’ve never seen a Bible before, man?” “Yeah, but I don’t know, what are you supposed to do?” Danelo asked. Torn between being late to practice and having to do bear crawls on the treadmill as punishment, or going back to talk with Danelo, Odegard felt something inside him say, “You should sit down with him.” So he closed the door and instinctively said a little breath prayer to himself. “God, give me words.” For the next 45 minutes, messages and lessons and sermons Odegard heard growing up came to the front of his mind. He answered Danelo’s questions, such as, “How do you read it? Is it like a book? Do you just
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read it from front to back?” Odegard explained the Old Testament and the New Testament. Genesis talks about the beginning, Revelation talks about the end. “Well, where do I start?” Danelo asked. “I’d say start with the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,” Odegard said. “Because ultimately, you read those books and they’re going to tell you how to be a better man. Those are Jesus’ boys, before and after He was dead. And there’s a lot of stories in there about faith and love and family and respect.” Odegard kind of surprised himself with the Bible knowledge he poured out. “It was all in me, it’s just unless you get it evoked out of you, sometimes you’re not offering it up. So this was a situation where it kind of flooded out of me.” “How do you know all this stuff?” Danelo asked. “It’s years and years of going to church and reading with my dad and thirsting to read,” Odegard said. Looking back, he doubts he would have sat down with Danelo had anyone else been in the locker room. He probably would have been too embarrassed to talk about God. But in that quiet moment as they sat alone, Odegard began to rediscover his own passion for Jesus. And before he left for practice — late by nearly an hour, but no coach had noticed — he prayed with his friend. “Lord, open up Mario’s heart to understand Your Word, and to understand the glory that is a relationship with You.” Hours later, as Odegard passed Danelo’s locker on his way to the showers, he caught a glimpse of the kicker sitting in his towel reading his Bible. The next day, same thing. As that week passed with the team prepping for the Rose Bowl, Odegard often saw Danelo turning pages of that Bible. And Danelo would come to Odegard with more questions. “It was an interesting thirst that he had,” Odegard recalled. “It wasn’t something that he was conveying to
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anybody else. … He just kind of kept it to himself. Which I did too.”
he 2006 USC football season culminated with the Rose Bowl victory over Michigan. Though it wasn’t the national championship they set out to win, the Trojans celebrated yet another successful season. The next day, Malcolmson and Odegard were among the many players to fly home. Four days later, on Jan. 6, 2007, they received separate but similar phone calls from teammates. “Mario died. He was found dead at the bottom of a cliff near his home in San Pedro.” Malcolmson had already returned to California and was on a fraternity retreat. He sobbed like never before. Doubts about whether he’d missed his purpose again resurfaced.
Odegard was at his family’s home in Mercer Island. He started hyperventilating. He made arrangements to fly back to L.A. the next day, but that night, he sat in his car processing the news with his father, Gary. Taylor told him how he had a chance to witness to Danelo and tell him about God and Jesus, but did he do enough? “Did I say the right things? Was I supposed to do more? All those things start to creep into your brain because someone’s eternal life is on the line right here,” Odegard says. “And it may not have been mine to save, but if I had the opportunity, could I have done more? All of this self-doubt started creeping
into my mind and it just broke me. It was in my soul; it broke my soul.” “Well Tay,” Gary said, “you know how you were a holder for Mario in all those spring games and getting ready for the season? Think about this: Many years from now when you pass and go to Heaven, you’re going to have Mario walk up to you and go, ‘Man, that was the greatest hold you ever gave me, Odegard.’ “You made a hold for him, it’s up to him whether he kicks it through. But you gave him the opportunity and that’s all you can ask for.” “Dad, I don’t know if I said the right words,” Taylor said. “It’s not you speaking, Tay. That’s not your job. Be the vessel,” Gary said. Four days later, the 100 or so members of the USC football team joined thousands of others at Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church in San Pedro, Calif. As the pallbearers carried the casket down the aisle, Danelo’s No. 19 jersey rode on top along with an elegant display of red and gold roses. There was also a book — a black book with a red piece of paper sticking out. His Bible. Odegard spotted it and immediately broke into tears. For Malcolmson, it was the first sign he’d seen of anyone actually keeping his anonymous gift. “I was just so struck by that because to me, it felt like God’s personal, intimate touch, just for me to comfort me in that time,” Malcolmson said. “It was like God had seen me and had given me this little nudge of comfort and it was so profound for me.” Said Odegard, “Knowing I was kind of the last opportunity for Mario to speak to someone about his faith before he passed away is kind of a big burden that I wore as a yoke for a while in my life. And to this day I still wonder, but I have faith that God is good and merciful. And even in his last days there, if Mario was enlightened or open to the Word and faith and committing his life to Christ, then that’s all it takes. That was the hope.”
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AND THAT IS OUR GOD anelo’s death sparked immediate life change in Odegard. He dropped out of his fraternity, opted not to play football his senior year, doubled up on school credits in order to graduate as soon as possible, and moved apartments to become “kind of a recluse.” He also started to attend church regularly, or watch online if he couldn’t make it, and he began reaching out to his dad for insight on which books of the Bible he should read. “I grew up. I became a man in 24 hours basically. I kind of put the childish things away,” Odegard says. A class project he began that year actually became the start of the real estate software company he owns today. NavigatorCRE is based in Seattle and “growing like a weed.” Now married, Odegard also rejoined Young Life and is active today with the Christian organization that focuses on adolescents. “The life changes that I saw through that time period, I think are instrumental to the man I’ve become now,” he says. Malcolmson, meanwhile, remained at USC and developed a unique relationship with Coach Carroll. Following his season on the team, Malcolmson became the football program’s director of online media, which at the time meant launching a website with exclusive behind-the-scenes content for one of the nation’s premier football programs — a brainchild of Carroll’s. Soon they ventured into the new world of Facebook and Twitter, and Malcolmson essentially became Carroll’s right-hand man. When Carroll took the Seattle Seahawks job in 2010, he asked his protégé to join him. Malcolmson had planned to stay in Southern California forever, but working with Carroll and in the NFL became an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. Struggling to find friends outside of the organization in Seattle, Malcolmson eventually learned of a Christian organization called Young Life, which was looking for leaders in the area. He agreed to attend a meeting at the house of an area director. That house was located in Mercer Island and belonged to Marshall Jamieson. His wife, Emily, happened to be Taylor Odegard’s older sister. Shortly after Malcolmson arrived for the meeting, Odegard did too. “I saw Ben in the backyard and I’m like, ‘What is Ben Malcolmson doing here?’ I had no idea he knew any of these people,” Odegard said. Malcolmson was just as stunned. He recalled Odegard being a partier in college. What was he doing at a Christian function? The former teammates began to catch up on the past four years, and then Odegard said, “I don’t know why I have to tell you this story, but I have to.” He began, “Do you remember the last week we were on the team together, there were Bibles in all of our lockers?” “My heart dropped,” Malcolmson said, “because I hadn’t thought about these Bibles really since Mario’s funeral, and had just kind of forgotten about that specific moment in time. I just played dumb in the moment. I was like, ‘Yeah, I kind of remember those, I don’t know.’” Odegard proceeded to tell him everything: how he was raised in a Christian household, he drifted in college, he was heartbroken to see the
“God spoke softly into my soul, ‘Mario is with Me.’” — Ben Malcolmson
www.sportsspectrum.com
The special assistant to Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, Ben Malcolmson published his book, “Walk On: From pee wee dropout to the NFL sidelines,” in July 2018.
Odegard (left) and Malcolmson in 2018.
“I don’t know why I have to tell you this story, but do you remember the last week we were on the team together, there were Bibles in all of our lockers?” — Taylor Odegard shredded Bibles, and the entire locker room discussion with Danelo. “I literally saw him tearing up in the moment,” Odegard said, “and I was trying to figure out, ‘OK, are you cool? What’s up?’” “Taylor’s telling me this story, I’m on the verge of tears,” Malcolmson said. “He’s like, ‘Isn’t that the craziest story?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s even crazier because I was the one who put the Bibles in the lockers, and I thought I had totally failed.’” “It took my breath away, candidly,” Odegard said. “I didn’t know how to respond. I was like, ‘What do you mean it was you?’” So Malcolmson proceeded to tell him everything: how he felt there was a deeper purpose to him being on the team, the failed Bible study, the failed prayer group, the Bibles from his grandfather, the devastation of seeing them shredded across the room, and the peace he felt from seeing that one Bible atop Danelo’s casket. “This picture starts to get painted and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh,’” Odegard says. “And I go, ‘Hey man, I don’t know what the bigger picture is here, but all I know is that you putting those Bibles in the lockers, I know it was devastating, but man, if we saved one, we could save 100.” As Odegard’s story sank in, an “immeasurable peace enveloped me,” Malcolmson wrote in his book, “Walk On,” published in 2018, “as God spoke softly into my soul, ‘Mario is with Me.’” “Only our God can do something like that,” Malcolmson says today. “Only our God can line up all those events, all those incredible, impossible events, so that he could save one person before he passes away, and then turn someone else’s life around … “Nothing’s wasted with God. God is always at work. He has an incredible calling for each one of us, and it’s real. And that is our God.” SPORTS SPECTRUM
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MONDAY Fight The Good Fight
Everything in the NFL is about gaining and accomplishing as much as you can. The average NFL athlete is only in the league for about three years. Therefore, they have a very small window of time to do anything and everything they can, to earn as much money and fame as possible, and to boast about their career in order to stand out above the crowd. In the mind of the NFL athlete, you have to make sure you look out for yourself, or no one else will. In a way, this is contradictory to what you and your team have to do in order to win: play as a team. But this profession is also about you alone. When you think about this lifestyle, it’s the exact opposite of what the Bible says we are to do. In John 3:30 it says, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (KJV). We can’t sit in the driver’s seat and allow Christ to increase in our lives. It’s either you in control or God. There are times when we think we have it all together and we can handle life on our own, but once we face trouble, we run back to God as our crutch, don’t we? It’s so hard to consistently buy into the notion of dying to yourself every day. We need to daily trust in God’s plan and the layout He has created for our lives. I want to die to myself, but I can’t do it out of my own strength or power of will. I’m leaning on God every step of the way. J.J. Watt once talked about the fact that in order to be great, you have to put in the daily work — the daily grind that is a constant battle against the flesh. It takes sacrifice. The same is true in your relationship with the Lord! It’s not something you choose to do some days; if you want to be great in your faith, you must remain intentional and consistent in your time spent with the Lord and your obedience to Him. You have to die daily and fight the constant fight against the flesh. This is what John 3:30 is all about. This is the way I want to live my life daily. Everything we do should be done out of love and our faith in Christ. Continue to fight this fight no matter what season of life you’re in. No matter the profession, battle or struggle you find yourself in today, know that God is on your side, ready to go to battle for you. It can be hard to keep an eternal perspective when everything around us points to the here and now. But in comparison to our life for eternity with Christ, our life here on earth is but a breath.
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AP Photo/Jack Dempsey
JUSTIN SIMMONS 31
• DENVER BRONCOS SAFETY
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TUESDAY Blessed
[Open with Matthew 5:3-11]
Are you sure you want to be blessed? The word “blessed” has a lot of connotations in our culture. Most of the time when someone says they are blessed, it’s tied to some sort of tangible favor they’ve received. Being blessed is getting that job you were a finalist for, achieving financial gain or experiencing physical healing. New parents say they are blessed when a baby is born, and athletes consider themselves blessed when they win a championship or award. But could it be that what God says is blessed is completely different than our earthly understanding of what it means to be blessed? What if being blessed in God’s economy means life does not go as well as you want? In His very first public sermon, Jesus’ intro centers on flipping the idea of what it means to be blessed. Like today, the people of first-century Jerusalem linked blessing with earthly favor. So before He started His ministry, Jesus knew He had to set the record straight on who exactly was blessed. We have come to know this section of the Sermon on the Mount as the “beatitudes” (Matthew 5:3-11). Take a look at these verses and notice that who Jesus considers blessed are not the same people we would typically identify as blessed. The simplest definition of blessed I can think of is someone who has God’s face turned toward them. The ancient Biblical benediction prayer, recited at the end of many religious services, reminds us that God’s blessing is tied to His presence with His people.
WEDNESDAY Making All Things New
[Open with Revelation 21:5]
We are familiar with the verse John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son…” Many Christians can also recite the comforting words recorded in John 15:5: “I am the vine, you are the branches … if you remain in Me and I remain in you, you will bear much fruit for apart from Me you can do nothing.” These are some of the more popular phrases we quote when it comes to Jesus. Meanwhile, the statement He makes in Revelation 21:5 often gets overlooked, www.sportsspectrum.com
even though it has the power to radically transform how you see His presence in the world today. Unfortunately, we browse over it or ignore it completely because it is buried in an often-ignored book of the New Testament. In John’s revelation, we hear the words of Jesus: “Behold, I am making all things new.” On the surface, it doesn’t seem like a very profound statement. But if you look deeper into the context and the reality, you’ll see that Jesus is giving Christians hope because He is currently working in our lives and in our world. Even if we don’t see it, Jesus is making all things new. It’s not that He has made things new in the past, or that He will make things new in the future. He is in the business of making all things new right now, in our current circumstances.
THURSDAY Like A Lion
[Open with 1 Peter 5:8]
Until recently, I’ve always taken 1 Peter 5:8 to say that Satan is a powerful lion, who I need to run and hide from, who makes me stand frozen in petrified fear. Peter saw the work of Satan firsthand. Jesus even called Peter “Satan” when he rebuked Jesus for saying He would have to suffer (Matthew 16:23). But Peter also saw something greater than the works of Satan — the works and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Peter knew Jesus is greater than Satan; he realized Satan can do nothing more than try to mimic the work of God. And when he tries, he falls short. While Jesus was at His weakest, after He spent 40 days fasting and praying in the desert, Satan tried to tempt Him. Take a moment to read Luke 4:3-11.
FRIDAY
Put New Clothes On Your Brain [Open with Romans 1:28]
Our thoughts are powerful. So powerful that the Bible gives us many warnings on training our minds to focus on Godly things. Who you are is directly dependent upon what you think. When you and I engage in sin, we allow our enemy, Satan, to influence our actions. When we repeat these actions over and over, they become burned into our psyche. Inevitably, our actions become habits, our habits influence our thoughts, and our thoughts impact what we believe. The Apostle Paul understood what spiritual battle and internal struggle with sin looked like, and he taught the Corinthian people a very valuable lesson in one of his letters: “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” — 2 Corinthians 10:5 We are instructed to “take captive” our thoughts, bringing them before the King for judgement. In Christ, we are able to identify our faulty thinking, capture it and bring it before God in prayer. When we do this, we strip evil thoughts from harming us and influencing us. If our evil thoughts have the ability to produce poor actions on our part, think what Godly thoughts will produce in us. Imagine the character we will display or integrity we will live by if we are able to “set our minds on things above” (Colossians 3:2).
WEEKEND
Continue reading about transforming
Satan tried to “play” God. But Jesus to be like Christ: knew exactly what Satan was trying to do Colossians 3 & Ephesians 4:22-24; and resisted each temptation by relying 1 Corinthians 15 & Philippians 4:8 on Scripture. Satan may have influence in this world, but he does not have dominion over it. Scripture tells us Satan is “like” a lion, while Jesus is the true Lion of the tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5). Jesus is the true Lion and the King over all of creation. Satan may be roaring loudly, but all he can do is tell lies (John 8:44). You do not have to cower in fear of his lies, because in Jesus, “you know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).
Reza Zadeh Denver Broncos chaplain
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For more stories from the lives of athletes, all pressing toward the goal found in John 3:30, visit TheIncrease.com.
INCREASEDEVOTIONALS
MONDAY In Moments Of Uncertainty
Someone who seeks God is a person who seeks truth. All truth is God’s truth. To seek means to genuinely wrestle with the questions of life and earnestly desire to find truth. The essence of faith in God — what He wants from us on a daily basis — is to seek Him with this purity of heart. The days that I personally am most filled with peace are the ones when I’ve sought after Him because I don’t know what’s going on or what’s going to happen next. In these uncertain moments, I’m forced to chase after truth. Breaking my hand near the end of 2017 was one of those times. I sought God by looking back at my life, to the moments of uncertainty when something happened, yet God carried me through. These times have been some of my most peaceful moments — moments when I find myself walking blindly. I don’t know what’s next and because of that, uncertainty has placed me in a place of seeking and understanding what real faith in God is all about. When I seek Him, I’m able to experience true peace. When God’s Word says, “Seek first His Kingdom and all these things will be added” (Matthew 6:33), I think the first thing that’s added is a sense of peace. Things may not get better in your circumstances — you may not get a promotion or the car you wanted, you may not meet the person you hoped to meet; things might just not go your way — but I do believe that when you earnestly seek the Kingdom, you’ll find a peace that can overcome any situation you’re involved in. When I’m focused on so many other things, trying to control every situation I’m in, and/or trying to manipulate circumstances (sometimes even in my prayers before God), it’s a clear sign that I’m not seeking Christ. When I start to give God a to-do list, I might as well stop praying to Him and just pray to myself. In that case, I’m the one calling the shots and ultimately I’m the one responsible for it not going well. I’m trying to be God. You’ll find that when you try to control things, it gets pretty turbulent because we don’t make very good gods. You won’t experience the peace of Christ until you let go and give the controls over to God. Only you can know, deep down in your soul, whether you have peace or not. You can tell people you’re OK until you’re blue in the face, but until you experience the rest that only God gives, you won’t know true peace. And even in these hard moments, the peace in your heart grows because you can look around and see that although circumstances may not be good, the God inside of you is.
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AP Photo/Joe Mahoney
JOSH MCCOWN 15
Are you seeking God and experiencing the peace that only comes with genuine faith in Him?
• NEW YORK JETS QUARTERBACK
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TUESDAY Seen And Unseen
[Open with 2 Corinthians 4:16-18]
from His heart. It might be the greatest quote about God’s eternal intentions: “People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
There is a matchup that will not make the Can the external be more important headlines of any newspaper, but it might be the greatest matchup of our entire life. It serves as the greatest shaper of how we look at life and how we see our daily circumstances, no matter what they are.
It’s the matchup between the seen and the unseen. If we are honest, what we see often dominates our lives and our perspectives (bad news, tough breaks and even amazing accomplishments). But for the Christian, there should be an additional viewpoint to life’s events. We each need to look through Scripture to enhance our sensitivity to the unseen, so we can have a higher dependence on God, who can often appear to be unseen. He became seen by making the world, and He is, if we look carefully, very much seen in all that happens — the sunrise, our heartbeats, the human eye and so on. We see things as beautiful or big, but in the end, the most important things are not measured in size or monetary value, only in how the immeasurable God is using the measurable thing in front of us. That’s where we have to evaluate our spirit and motives — what we focus on. The truth is that we can’t properly navigate the seen if we only think about what is in front of us.
than the internal to a God who is eternal? He must remind us over and over that our lives here on earth, which are consumed with external appearances, are all vapors (James 4:14). The heart behind the actions is what counts. If David was chosen as king because of it, there shouldn’t be any difference in the way Heaven operates! Let this be a challenge to us. External appearances are not our identity. Our identity, confidence and qualifications come from what we fear and trust the most, which should be God Himself.
THURSDAY The Identity Of Esther
[Open with Esther 4:14]
All of us struggle with identity. There’s no greater example highlighting the unseen identity we receive from God than Esther. Esther is elected to be queen based on what’s seen — she’s beautiful. But ultimately, she’s queen because of something that’s unseen — she’s Jewish and going to be the freedom-enhancer of all the Jews.
FRIDAY Hosea’s Wife
[Open with Hosea 1:2]
We all have unseen sins we struggle with, if we are honest. But God does not divide us based on our seen and unseen sins. His love for us drives out sin of any type. The story of Hosea is one that often makes readers uncomfortable because of the dramatic sin it involves and the power of the unseen grace it illustrates. Why would a prophet marry a prostitute? And why would this be part of God’s plan? The message is simple, even though it is unseen in its application. It is so easy for us to judge, based on other’s actions, as more or less righteous before God than others. But that determination is only seen. God asked Hosea to marry Gomer because He wanted to prove to Israel that He is a God of grace. This unseen forgiveness becomes seen when it is given and accepted. You mean Hosea had to buy his wife out of sex slavery? Yes, because God wanted us to know His purchase of us back from our own secret slavery to certain sins is the same, if not worse than the sins of Hosea’s wife. Sin is sin. We are all in unseen slavery to sin, and it is only seen when we act. However, God does not hold our unseen slavery against us, but rather He chases us down like the sheep that is running away. He breaks the shackles of our sin for us.
Esther stood up for what mattered most, not just for the temporary seen circumstances. In a crazy turn of events, God’s grace is bigger in the unseen! she becomes the one who is listened to What is God doing in the unseen that we need to remind ourselves of, so that the rather than the one who is looked at. Her wise words to King Ahasuerus were words seen is not driving our lives? that would ultimately save all the people of Israel, and those who would be the line to Continue reading about seeing the unseen: Jesus, the ultimate Savior.
WEEKEND
WEDNESDAY
That’s often very true for us as well. We may be chosen because of a gift we have or a talent we have worked on, but in the [Open with 1 Samuel 16.7] end, God has a higher purpose for us as There are few stories better than David’s we stand before the kings of this world. selection as king to show that God’s heart The seen purpose for the place we are is after our hearts and not just the external at in our lives is just the shallow end. The unseen purpose of our existence, and our things of this life. Israel had a king it elected based on looks/popularity, and he platform, is something we should always be seeking. We are here “for such a time let the people down because of his ego. So where does God go looking for His next as this” (Esther 4:14). king? Through the prophet Samuel, to the fields in Bethlehem, where He finds David No one is here by accident. Your purpose is many times unseen, but there — a king whose “outward” appearance will come a day when it will be fully and status is a disqualifier in the eyes of revealed. most around him.
2 Corinthians 4 & Isaiah 47:10; Hebrews 11 & Isaiah 29:15
David’s Selection To Be King
But what the Lord says to Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7 is what we should all hear www.sportsspectrum.com
Jack Easterby New England Patriots team development/character coach
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For more stories from the lives of athletes, all pressing toward the goal found in John 3:30, visit TheIncrease.com.
INCREASEDEVOTIONALS
MONDAY Giving Freely
“One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.” — Proverbs 11:24 (ESV) I love the book of Proverbs. It’s blunt, straight to the point. There’s no beating around the bush. This proverb really hits the truth on the head. In a way, it seems to sum up our culture: Take care of what’s yours; hold on to what you have and don’t let go. We rarely look for ways to lend a helping hand or go out of our way to find others we can give to. It pains me to think about how many churchgoing Christians believe in the Lord but do not give back to Him through tithing. At the end of the day, what is it we’re holding onto? Our earthly inheritance or eternal investments? In college, when my wife and I first got married and placed our trust in the Lord, we decided to faithfully tithe at least 10 percent of our income to the Lord. When we were only making $400-$600 a month and tithing $60 at a time, we were thinking, “Man, this is crazy! Why are we giving all this money away?” But we trusted and obeyed God, and He’s been faithful tenfold. Luke 16:10 says, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” God worked in our hearts in an amazing way and prepared us for how we are to give now. Since then, God’s provisions have come to fruition for us like we’d never believe. Giving didn’t become easier when our salaries increased. In fact, it became harder. A career in the NFL brought with it countless expectations and requests from every direction. While this can be a burden, it can also be a great opportunity. When we were at ground zero in college, scraping the bottom of the barrel, we established a firm foundation in Christ. It seemed hard to give 10 percent when we were making close to nothing, but we realized it was even harder to give as that amount grew. Yet since the day we made that commitment, it hasn’t mattered how much we make; we’re sticking to giving 10-plus percent back to God. While that hasn’t always been easy or comfortable, we’re faithful to what God’s calling us to do. God doesn’t require from us a certain number or income in order to honor Him; He wants our hearts. Hearts that are obedient and trusting in Him. God’s entrusted each of us with resources and gifts to give back to Him.
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AP Photo/Steve Nesius
TREY BURTON 80
• CHICAGO BEARS TIGHT END
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TUESDAY Spiritual Wealth
[Open with Proverbs 19:1]
The man who walks in his integrity is
satisfied at the end of the day. Having done an honest day’s worth of work and treating people well, he has nothing to be ashamed about. He’s put forth his best effort, while knowing tomorrow is another day.
others, first and foremost. This can cause you to have a critical and smug attitude. The big question is: Do you hate these sins when you find them lurking in your own heart? Do you ruthlessly root them out? A psalmist prayed, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24).
However, the man who is crooked is foolish. He speaks lies and cuts corners to get ahead. He mistreats people for his own gain. His conscience bothers him from time to time, but he rationalizes his actions, Wisdom Of Holding Your Tongue [Open with Proverbs 10:19] telling himself that everybody does wrong things. He covers up his sins and falls In Genesis 1, God used words to bring asleep scheming about the next day. the world into existence. In John 1:1, when He describes His Son, He calls Him the Not surprisingly, the Hebrew word for integrity in Proverbs 19:1 can be translated Word. What God has to say with His words as “prosperity.” So, better is the poor who must have meaning because God is perfect. walks in his spiritual prosperity than the one who is perverse in his lips. That would “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts seem to indicate a spiritual divide between for nothing. The words I have spoken to the person who spends time tending to you — they are full of the Spirit and life.” spiritual matters versus the person who — John 6:63 spends time scheming to get ahead.
THURSDAY
God has freely given us the words of Proverbs 19:1 doesn’t really speak about middle ground, nor about the middle class Spirit and life. Humans fall into a different and its values. So ask yourself which side of category. You can’t call a world into being by your words. You are not the one who the spectrum you’re currently cultivating. originated language. You aren’t perfect. Your words can bring a sense of life to those who hear you, but they also often leave scars on hearts, impair thinking due to a lack of truth, and may even encourage Fear God, Hate What He Hates! the hearer to follow a bad example. [Open with Proverbs 8:13]
WEDNESDAY
It might surprise you to learn that it is not only righteous to hate certain things, but if you love God, it’s actually required. If you fear God, you are to hate evil. No surprises there. The Bible clearly states, “You who love the Lord, hate evil!” (Psalm 97:10 NKJV). And in case you think hating evil is just an Old Testament concept, note that this command is repeated practically word for word in the New Testament when Paul writes, “Hate what is evil” (Romans 12:9). You’re not to hate people, but you should definitely hate evil whenever you see it. You are also to hate proud and arrogant attitudes, evil behavior and evil speech. Where this quickly goes sour is if you make a point of hating these things in
But you can follow God’s lead and speak words that heal, share truths that alter thinking, and send out a trust invitation. If you can’t seem to say things that help, you can at least be prudent by holding your tongue, as Proverbs 10:19 states.
FRIDAY Receiving Wisdom
[Open with Proverbs 19:20]
One of the many amazing things about God is that, as long as you’re committed to walking with Him, He never allows an experience to go to waste. This is especially true of the difficulties and suffering you’re sure to encounter as you make your way through this journey called life. The Apostle James understood this well, so as he closed out a section of his epistle dealing with suffering, he wrote, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” (James 1:5). James had no doubt observed what many Christian leaders since the first century have seen: People don’t always know how to respond wisely during difficult times. That is why he instructed the first-century believers, who lived during very perilous times, to seek God for wisdom, and to be assured that He would give them what they asked for. God has promised to give wisdom to anyone who asks for it. Like many of the Lord’s gifts, He uses many means to provide you with the wisdom you ask for — His written Word, His Holy Spirit, life experiences, and other people. So ask God for wisdom, but be open to the many different ways He can give you what you’ve asked for.
WEEKEND
Continue reading about the fear of God:
Proverbs 15 & Ecclesiastes 8:12-13; Psalm 31 & Deuteronomy 6:24
Some people aren’t able to do this and unnecessarily bring trouble upon themselves. Some people struggle with speaking important words that positively impact others because positive words weren’t spoken to them. That’s why your best example is the God who created words. Hold your tongue when you have to, speak when you need to, and gain the wisdom to know the difference. Ted Winsly Philadelphia Eagles chaplin
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You CAN know
PERSONALLY
Our Problem, God’s Solution
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By Randy Alcorn
“God created mankind in His own image … God saw all that He had made, and it was very good” (Genesis 1:27, 31). God made human beings with personal and relational qualities like His own (Genesis 1:26) and desired to have a delightful relationship with them. But something went terribly wrong. When Adam and Eve chose to follow Satan’s advice in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3), sin poisoned the world and now we are all born with the desire to do things our own way, not God’s.
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Our sins against a good and holy God have distanced us from Him (Isaiah 59:2). God “cannot tolerate wrongdoing” (Habakkuk 1:12). Through sin we forfeit a relationship with God, and along with it our happiness. The result of all this is death. Spiritual death is separation from God in a very real place called Hell. Physical death marks the end of our opportunity to enter into a relationship with God and avoid eternal condemnation (Hebrews 9:27).
“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). There is absolutely nothing we can do to restore ourselves to God. He is holy, we are not. In fact, He says even our good deeds are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). But God loved us so much He sent us His Son Jesus, fully God and fully man, to deliver us from death and give us life (John 3:16). "God demonstrates His own love toward us … while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Jesus went to the cross to pay the price for our sins. He did for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. When Jesus died for us, He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The Greek word translated “it is finished” was written across certificates of debt when they were canceled. It meant “paid in full.” Jesus then rose from the grave, conquering sin and death (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
If these words reflect your heart and you would like to receive salvation through Jesus Christ, say this prayer to God. It's as simple as A-B-C: Admit, Believe, Confess. 32
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“Three questions every single human on earth has to answer: How did I get here? Why am I here? Is there anything after this? Jesus is the only One who can truly answer all of these questions for us. He tells we were uniquely made by God, we’re here to give God glory and we can enjoy Him forever! I challenge anyone to search for the truth — if Jesus really did live, die and rise three days later from the grave. It’ll be the best choice you ever made.”
NEW COPY BELOW Benjamin Watson, New Orleans Saints
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“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). God’s greatest gift is a restored relationship with Himself, delivering us from hell and granting us entry into Heaven (John 3:36). This gift depends not on our merit but solely on Christ’s work of grace for us on the cross (Titus 3:5). He is the one and only way to God. He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
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“If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
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“Whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24).
To be right with God, we must admit our sinful hearts and actions, and ask God’s forgiveness. If we do, He graciously promises full forgiveness: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Then we are to affirm to others that the resurrected Jesus is our Lord.
The life we long for is freely offered to us in Christ. We can believe His promise and call on Him to save us, humbly accepting His gift of eternal life: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). God’s Holy Spirit indwells us and helps us obey Him (2 Timothy 1:14).
“Dear God, I ADMIT that I’m a sinner and the penalty of my sin is death. I BELIEVE that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that He died and rose from the dead for my sin. And I CONFESS Jesus as my Savior. Please forgive me. I repent of my sin and surrender my life to You. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen." — Miles McPherson, senior pastor & former NFL player 3
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