We hope you can join us Sunday night…it’s going to be a blast!
Feb
05
2010
05
2010
Cool article on the Colts….you ready for the game!?!
Faith a Pillar of Indianapolis’ Success
2/04/2010 4:30 PM ET By Terence Moore
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Now this is different. More than a few executives, players and coaches for the Indianapolis Colts are deeply into the spiritual, and they are sincere about it. “I’d say around 100 percent of the guys,” said linebacker Clint Session, studying a ballroom filled with teammates on Thursday at their seaside hotel, where nobody was shy about discussing his faith.
Then, in the NFL, there was that collection of Christians during the latter 1990s for the Jacksonville Jaguars, led by Mark Brunell and Tony Boselli. Among their teammates was Esera Tuaolo, a gay defensive lineman, who wrote in his autobiography, “They really pressured guys, especially the younger players. An older player might start preaching to a younger guy in the locker room that he needed to change his ways because the end was near. You could feel the threat of rejection … It felt like if you didn’t go to their Bible study, you weren’t part of the team.”
Those Giants never won anything. Those Knicks were a mess. Those Jaguars never reached a Super Bowl, but these Colts have. Twice, in fact. Not only that, these Colts are just another Sunday away after chapel service from capturing a second world championship in four years.
Here’s the irony: The venerable Tony Dungy, a devout Christian who set the foundation for the Colts’ openness with spirituality, really wasn’t that open about his faith — at least not in close quarters with his team.
Said Session, who played two of his three years in the NFL under Dungy, “You obviously knew about where he stood as a Christian, but Coach Dungy did a good job of respecting everybody’s religious beliefs in the locker room and saying, ‘This guy here may not be a Christian, so I’m not just going to present everything (about salvation) to him.’ But on the other hand, Coach (Jim) Caldwell sort of has a better feel for the guys, and he knows what we have on this team when it comes to spiritually. So he knows it’s not off the wall to go say something about the Bible, because everybody on the team is on board with it.”
Yes, everybody, or close to it. For verification, after Caldwell succeeded Dungy this season as part of a meticulous plan devised by the two buddies years ago, the Colts continued their dance with the NFL’s all-time elite. They finished 14-2 after starting 14-0. They reached the playoffs for the 10th time in the past 11 seasons. They had more otherworldly performances from quarterback Peyton Manning. They eventually blew past the Baltimore Ravens and the New York Jets to begin the postseason en route to their upcoming date with the New Orleans Saints.
Through it all, Caldwell completed his evolution from that assistant coach who came to Indianapolis with Dungy in 2002 to this unofficial Sunday School teacher who happens to be the Colts’ new head man.
He often puts a scripture on the board before team meetings.
He never misses the Colts’ weekly Bible study. He even takes the essence of those messages back to the team as a whole — for those who weren’t there.
Rarely does he finish a press gathering without a spiritual reference or phrase.
This spiritual thing with the Colts isn’t just a Caldwell thing. Before every game, tight end Dallas Clark has spent his seven seasons with the Colts kneeling in one of the end zones for a little prayer. Interview after interview, wide receiver Pierre Garcon attributes much of his obsession with trying to help earthquake victims in his native Haiti to his strong Christian convictions.
Other Colts players are more private with their words and actions regarding their faith, but they aren’t afraid to express it when asked. And, as is the case with Caldwell, Clark and Garcon, they don’t strike you as needlessly preachy.
Just extremely sincere.
“For many of our guys, their faith is important to them, because I think they know it’s something that helps us whether we’re on and off the field,” said Colts center Jeff Saturday, in his 11th season with the team. “The Polians (Bill, the Colts’ president for 12 years, and his son Chris, who is the vice president of football operations) have done a fantastic job of bringing good guys in — not necessarily faith-driven guys, but just good people that are team guys. These are guys who aren’t about themselves, but guys who will put the goals of the team ahead of their own.
“It’s seems like when one of those guys who fits that mold leaves the team, they always have somebody else to fill his place.”
Offensive guard Ryan Lilja agreed, saying, “It’s a special group of guys, but at the same time, the way our team runs things on the spiritual side, you’re not pressured to go to Bible study or anything else. These things take place before meetings or after practices, and times and places are optional. You’re not pressured at all to go.”
It’s just that most Colts players want to go. And even though Lilja added, “I really don’t know if there’s a correlation between wins and the spiritual side of this team,” I know, and you know.
Deep down inside, Lilja knows, too.
I mean, nobody.
This really is different. Historically, when it comes to professional sports, the most lethal combination in any locker room beyond that of T.O. and a starting quarterback has been that of the Bible and the playbook.
Here are some quick examples from a decades-old list.
During my San Francisco newspaper days, I covered the God Squad of the San Francisco Giants in the early 1980s. The slew of non-believers blamed the small but vibrant group of believers for the team’s devilish play.
Nine years ago, Charlie Ward’s remarks about Jews were misconstrued after somebody revealed the discussion — well, their version of the discussion — of a private Bible study among teammates on the New York Knicks. Ward nevertheless was ridiculed in the aftermath, along with the rest of the organization.
Feb
04
2010
04
2010
Role Model for God
Great testimony from Tim Tebow. What can you do in your own life to be a role model for God?
Bonus ESPN Story:
Jan
15
2010
15
2010
Enter in…
![haiti_1559159c[1]](http://oasisblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/haiti_1559159c11-150x150.jpg "haiti_1559159c[1]")
Don’t know about you but what I’ve seen from what is going on in Haiti is “disturbing” to say the least. It’s heart wrenching. It seems like there are a couple responses that we could have. One, look the other way because it’s just to hard to look at head on. Or two, look the tragedy head on and let our hearts get “wrecked” by it. Though not the easy option I think we should choose to “enter in” and to be overwhelmed with compassion and prayer for these people.
I remember when we visited Haiti two summers ago thinking how incredibly bad this place was. This was before any sort of tragedy of this magnitude had come their way. To think of this place now and to see video and photos that represent their reality is hard to do. Yet as Christ followers our response has to be to engage…to feel their pain as best we can from 1000’s of miles of away. When we do I think we step closer and closer to the heart of our Heavenly Father.
Let’s fervently pray that the name of Jesus would be made known as a result of the this…that might sound like a church answer but honestly it’s a good one. There will be people, thousands and thousands of them that will examine their lives at a deeper level than they ever have before and many of them will be incredibly open to the things of God.
I got a mass email from Bill Hybels today and he said this: “I have been committing myself to praying for this situation every time I eat or drink something through out my day. It will be a very long time before any meals will be normal in Haiti.” I think he is right on and I’m trying to do the same thing.
