Four-time Pro Bowl quarterback Randall Cunningham is keeping himself plenty busy these days.
Not only is he the lead pastor of Remnant Ministries in Las Vegas, he is also the coach for his 24-year-old daughter, Vashti, a two-time Olympian in the high jump.
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Vashti is one of three athletes — along with boxer Evan Holyfield and basketball player Zaire Wade — featured in “Legacy: In the Shadow of Greatness,” a Discovery Plus docuseries. The show follows their journeys as they try to follow in the footsteps of their fathers’ legendary careers.
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The second episode of the series details the role faith and Remnant Ministries play in the Cunninghams’ relationship.
“Remnant is that that’s left over after a catastrophe,” Randall said in the episode. “There have been a lot of people who’ve gone through a lot in life and somehow, God ends up sending them here to us in Las Vegas. On a Sunday morning, we’ll get probably 1,200-1,400 people.”
The episode shows Vashti visiting with other Remnant members, as well as part of a sermon delivered by her father. Fittingly, the message focuses on parenting in a Godly way and setting an example for children to follow.
“One of the things that I try to do, is I try to be the best father and my wife tries to be the best mother that we can be first, before we’re [our children’s] pastors,” the 16-year NFL veteran said at one point during the sermon. “And then after, when we’re the pastors, now we’ve got to take to them the truth of the Word of God. But if we’re not living it, we’re just hypocrites and our kids are not going to listen to us and we will not be able to hold them accountable.”
Later in the episode, Vashti discusses her faith journey and what it means to her.
God has always been part of Vashti’s life, but it has taken time for her to learn how to turn Biblical knowledge into a relationship with God that has practical implications for the way she lives. Even with a pastor as a father, there were some things she needed to figure out on her own over time.
“My whole life, I grew up in the church and I’ve always been hearing about the Bible and learning in classes and now in the sanctuary and everything,” Vashti said in the episode. “It’s been something that I have to understand more as I get older, and I’ve gotten to that place where I understand it now.”
In 2016, Vashti became the youngest American track and field athlete to qualify for the Olympics when she did so as an 18-year-old. She finished 13th, but later came away with bronze at the 2019 World Championships. She entered last summer’s Tokyo Olympics as the United States’ best chance for a women’s high jump medal and finished sixth.
As she now works toward a third Olympic appearance, Vashti is driven by one thing above all else.
“My faith is probably the main thing that keeps me going in my career,” she said in the episode.
Let us see JESUS
— VASHTI (@vashtizzle_) March 17, 2022
The first two episodes of “Legacy” are now available on Discovery Plus.
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