SAN FRANCISCO — The last time Seattle Seahawks center Jalen Sundell was in the Bay Area, he was quite nervous the night before his game. It had nothing to do with the actual game, but he was tasked with something he’d never done before — preach a sermon to his teammates.
As is common throughout the NFL, the Seahawks hold a chapel service the night before a game. They’re typically led by the team chaplain, who for Seattle is Jonathan Rainey. But Rainey does something unique, possibly the only chaplain in the NFL to do so: He assigns chaplain assistants. Every year, he chooses one from the offense and one from the defense.
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This season, Sundell is the offensive assistant. His partner from the defense is defensive end Mike Morris. Rainey’s thinking is that if he’s ever unable to lead chapel, one of his assistants could take his place. But even if they’re never needed as a last-minute fill-in, they will be charged with leading at least one chapel at some point during the season.
Sundell’s time came the night before Seattle’s regular-season finale Jan. 3 against the 49ers at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California — the site of Sunday’s Super Bowl LX, in which the Seahawks will face the New England Patriots.
“I’d never actually given an actual sermon before,” Sundell told Sports Spectrum on Monday at Super Bowl LX Opening Night in San Jose. “I talked at FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) events and other things like that, but this was challenging. It was great at the same time; it was really sanctifying too. It’s hard to write a message, to do it faithfully. It also just makes you trust in the Lord, allowing Him to have whatever He has to say come through your mouth.”
Sundell’s topic? Money.
“The Lord has really blessed us all with money and, honestly, it can be weighty to know what God wants us to do with His money and how to steward His money. It’s weighty, and it’s a big task,” Sundell said.
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Undrafted in 2024 after helping North Dakota State to three FCS national championships, Sundell first signed with the Cleveland Browns after the draft. But they had some concerns with his physical, so Seattle signed him before training camp. He ended up playing in 12 games in 2024, then earned the starting center job entering 2025. He missed four games this season due to a knee injury, but returned for Week 15 and resumed his starting position.
A leader on the field, the 26-year-old was “super honored” when Rainey asked him to be a chapel assistant, a role he had never heard of.
“I felt a weightiness to that calling, that that was part of my job to help point others to Christ,” he said.
Morris also called the special role an honor.
“What’s crazy is I actually prayed a prayer before the season and I was like, ‘Man, God I want to be a light in the locker room. I want to start speaking more. I want to be able to articulate more and grow closer to You,'” Morris told Sports Spectrum at Opening Night. “Pastor Rainey helped me with that with marriage counseling; I talk with him all the time about the questions that I have about the Bible because he can articulate it very well.
“It’s just helped me to grow as a man, grow as a person, and he made me a chapel assistant. I was like, ‘I don’t know if this is what I was talking about God,’ but I ran with it. Later in the season, I preached the chapel and man, it was just a blessing.”
The 24-year-old, who was a fifth-round pick by the Seahawks out of Michigan in 2023, gave a sermon about how God calls everyone to Himself, even those who don’t think they’re worthy. He used the example of Moses, who tried to deny God’s calling on his life, and Saul, who killed Christians.
“A lot of people in the locker room feel as though their lifestyle is too far from God, and that they could come to chapel and get the message, but [think,] ‘I’m going to go back and do my own thing because I feel so distant,'” Morris said. “… I just wanted to get the message across that there are so many broken people in the Bible and God has said so many beautiful things about them.”
Morris felt like the sermons from him and Sundell hit differently with their teammates because they all share similar goals and struggles. One reason Morris is strong in his faith, he believes, is because of the trials he’s endured, such as three hip surgeries and a shoulder surgery his rookie year. He said he was like many people who prayed to God primarily for their own benefit.
Yet, his trials “just helped me grow closer and have true reliance on God.”
Sundell came to rely on God through college teammates. Growing up, he had heard that he’d go to Heaven if he was a good person, but also had heard the Ten Commandments and knew he didn’t follow them. His “pesky” friends kept inviting him to Bible study, which he didn’t think was for him. But when COVID shut down sports in 2020, and took away the thing that made Sundell feel valued, he finally relented and went to Bible study.
“There was this disconnect of like, ‘How can I be a good person when this is what God’s telling you to do, and I know I can’t do that?’ Then we started reading, and the Bible told me that if I just place my faith in Christ that He would cover my sins, and that made way more sense than what I’ve been told,” Sundell told Sports Spectrum. “Without God’s intervention, I wouldn’t have been able to believe that, but thankfully the Lord saved me in that moment and used that logic to help get me there. So yeah, spectacular but but nothing dramatic. It was as simple as reading the Bible.”
Almost six years later, Sundell is that “pesky” teammate trying his best to get his new teammates to come to chapel.
Sundell, Morris and the Seahawks face the Patriots at 6:30 p.m. ET Sunday.
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