ATLANTA — On the Saturday before the Super Bowl, former NFL players came together to encourage a group of men in their faith.
The Huddle, a men’s fellowship event from K.I.N.G. ministries, was hosted by founder Chris Broussard and held at Morehouse College in Atlanta and featured Pro Football Hall of Famers Brian Dawkins and Aeneas Williams, former NFL MVP Shaun Alexander, as well as longtime NFL veterans Greg Jennings, Takeo Spikes and NFL Executive Vice President and former defensive back Troy Vincent.
The event featured opening remarks from Vincent, who encouraged the men to make a difference and live for Christ.
“I fell in love with Jesus Christ at the age of 16,” Vincent said. “I’ve never turned back. It’s my one non-negotiable.”
Dawkins, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018, has always been passionate about his faith in Jesus and his message to the men in the audience was a simple but powerful one.
“I pray that I would have exercised every gift that He’s given me on this earth,” Dawkins said. “That I would have walked out, and stepped out in faith with every opportunity He’s given me so that I can do everything I can for other people, to bless other people. Don’t see yourself so important that you can’t give to your friends, that you can’t see God. He loves you and you are important but you’re not that important. Please hear me when I say that.”
Alexander spoke to Sports Spectrum and said that one of the biggest issues facing men right now is not just attending services on Sundays, or believing in God, but living as a disciple of Jesus.
“With the church, the issue is true discipleship,” Alexander said. “We actually create, our society creates churchgoers and not true disciples. Churchgoers go to church and invite others to go to church. They might be in your life, they might not, but they’ll see you Sunday. But God didn’t just say go and create churchgoers, He said create disciples. Disciples, they’re laborers, they’ll die for the cause, they teach the Gospel, they’ll pray for the sick, they’re lovers of God, they love God and love people. They’re followers of His way, His truth and His life. They’re believers. There’s just a big difference between a disciple and a churchgoer.”
The event was the brain child of Vincent and Chris Broussard, the FOX Sports commentator and founder of the K.I.N.G. movement. He shared with Sports Spectrum what the main purpose was for this event.
“Our whole goal is to strengthen men and boys in their relationship with Christ and to be an example to the next generation, so we thought what better place to do it than Morehouse College. With a lot of NFL players, with myself that a lot of students would know, we thought that was a great draw to get people from the city and students out. It’s been a totally Christ-centered event. If a group of NFL athletes had come to my school and talked about the Lord, I just got to believe I would have gotten saved, I would have been so impacted.”
Being the first of its kind, Broussard he hopes to keep this event going in every Super Bowl city and has already began preparing for next year in Miami.
“We’re already talking about Miami 2020. I’m down. I think this is an event we can do every year. It’s all about spreading the Gospel. One, getting them saved, but beyond that, getting them encouraged, and empowered for those that are already know the Lord that may have gotten a little stale in their walk. So this is just a different way to do it, that’s not the traditional church way to do it.”
RELATED STORIES:
— NEW PODCAST: Chris Broussard, FOX Sports Commentator
— Jaguars’ Calais Campbell accepts prestigious Bart Starr Award at Super Bowl Breakfast
— Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski reveals that a fallen tree nearly killed his wife
— NEW PODCAST: Wesley Woodyard, Tennessee Titans Linebacker (Super Bowl Preview)
— Los Angeles Rams All-Pro RB Todd Gurley at Super Bowl: ‘God means everything’
— Patriots rookie Sony Michel at Super Bowl: ‘Without Jesus Christ, there is none of this’
— NEW PODCAST: Patriots and Rams players from Super Bowl LIII
— Rams’ Rodger Saffold baptized after growing closer to God and walking ‘narrow path’
— NEW PODCAST: Kevin Nickerson, Los Angeles Rams Team Chaplain
— L.A. Rams WR Brandin Cooks feels God redeeming him after Super Bowl concussion
— C.J. Anderson gives glory to God after helping Rams to divisional playoff win over Dallas
— Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp lives for Christ while shining on the football field
— NEW PODCAST: Jack Easterby, New England Patriots Director of Team Development
— VIDEO: Matthew Slater always calls heads because ‘Christ is always at the head of my life’
— New England Patriots RB Rex Burkhead to cap rollercoaster season in Super Bowl
