Eagles quarterback Nick Foles just turned 29 two weeks ago. But any wise man plans for the future, and Foles is no different.
As he prepares to play in his first Super Bowl, he’s been a hot topic of discussion considering he’s the Eagles’ backup QB who was pushed into action when Carson Wentz went down with an injury late in the season. And many people are discussing his path to the Super Bowl, which saw him almost retire from the game.
That had him thinking about other careers. He told the media on Thursday that after football he’d like to become a pastor.
“I want to be a pastor in a high school,” Foles said Thursday. “It’s on my heart. I took a leap of faith last year and signed up to take classes at seminary. I wanted to continue to learn and challenge my faith. It’s a challenge because you are writing papers that are biblically correct. You want to impact people’s hearts.”
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He ultimately continued playing football because he loves the game, but also because he knew he’d be able to glorify God through the game.
“It took a lot more faith to come back and play than it would’ve to go in the other direction,” Foles said. “Either way would’ve been fine. Either way, I would’ve trusted in God. I would’ve done something else and glorified God in that instance.
“The reason I decided to come back is I’ve loved the game of football since I was a kid, I loved playing sports, I loved being part of a team, and I knew as a person that the more growth I’ve had and the more opportunity I would have to glorify God and trust in Him would be to go back and play football.”
Consider Foles’ time with the Eagles as a training ground for his future pastoral endeavors. He’s among the team’s Bible study leaders, and younger players on the squad know they can approach him with their spiritual questions.
“Guys like Nick and Wis (left guard Stefen Wisniewksi, who also plans to become a pastor after football) can spit out scripture all day and it’s awesome to take in that knowledge,” said special teams ace Kamu Grugier-Hill.
Nick Foles tears up when talking about playing well for his daughter and setting an example pic.twitter.com/4ctCQj2FsK
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) January 30, 2018
But students are ultimately who Foles desires to impact because high school kids are at a point in their lives where the decisions they make begin to significantly impact their futures.
“When I speak to (students), that’s such a time of young men and young women’s lives that there’s a lot of things that are thrown at them. So much temptation in this world, so much going on with social media and the internet that you want to talk to them and address it and share all the weaknesses I have because I’ve fallen many times,” Foles said. “It’s something I want to do. I can’t play football forever. I’ve been blessed with an amazing platform and it’s just a door God has opened, but I still have a lot of school left and a long journey.”
Related links:
– NEW PODCAST: Eagles’ Zach Ertz, Brandon Graham, Malcolm Jenkins; Patriots’ Matthew Slater, Trey Flowers, James White
– Eagles Nick Foles says prayer helped keep him in the NFL after contemplating retirement
– Nick Foles puts first things first after leading his team to the Super Bowl
– Eagles Stefen Wisniewski says prayer is vital to his daily walk with the Lord
– Eagles Trey Burton wants to share the love of Christ to the city of Philadelphia
– Eagles QB Carson Wentz after suffering knee injury: ‘God has a perfect plan’
– Philadelphia Eagles players talk about their faith in Christ at Super Bowl LII