October 2, 2011 in
Gospel Light Minute with
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 Emmitt Smith Beyond his stellar college football career with the University of Florida, he played for the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals. He is the winner of 4 NFL rushing titles, and is the first player in NFL history to rush for over 1,000 yards in 11 consecutive seasons. In 2002, he surpassed Walter Payton’s All-Time Leading Rushing Record of 16,726 yards to become the NFL’s All-Time Leading Rusher. During his career, he led the NFL in rushing 4 times, won 3 Super Bowl Titles, League MVP honors in 1993, the Super Bowl MVP Award (in Super Bowl 28), and has been selected to the Pro Bowl 8 times. He is the only running back to ever win a Super Bowl championship, the NFL Most Valuable Player award, the NFL rushing crown, and the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player award all in the same season in 1993. He finished his career with a total of 18,355 yards. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010, and is the first player from the 1990 NFL Draft to be inducted.
A devout Christian and family man, he shows his strong belief in God in his daily life and in projects that he uses to help others such as the Charities for Underserved Children which he heads with his wife. He urges Christians to pursue their God-given dreams and to combine persistence, humility, determination, courage and faith to be a winner in their calling. His name is Emmitt Smith.
September 25, 2011 in
Gospel Light Minute with
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He is a former NBA basketball star who played in more consecutive games than any other player in NBA and ABA history. With 1,192 straight games played, he earned the nickname “Iron Man”. He played for the Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat. He was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. He is a three time NBA champion in 1987, 1988, and 2000. He was an NBA All-Star in 1990 and Pac-10 Conference Player of the Year in 1984. At the 2011 All Star Breakfast, he was awarded the Bobby Jones Award for character, leadership, and faith in the world of basketball at home and in the community. He is also well-known for beginning and ending his NBA career as a virgin. Currently, he runs youth camps through his foundation promoting abstinence until marriage.
While growing up in a very religious home, he did not accept Jesus Christ into His life until he was on his way to college with a full-ride basketball scholarship. Being an All-American player, and being very popular, he says of his salvation experience, “I had a lot of things going for me but at the same time I was very empty on the inside. Something was wrong. I finally decided that the most important thing for me to do was to find out what it took to go to heaven and understand more about this Jesus person that I have heard so much about.” He goes on to say, “I was at a church in Hermanston, Oregon and the amazing thing was that God really spoke through the Minister. He had a sermon that day, in which he asked, ‘do you want to go to heaven or do you want to go to hell?’ He spoke from what I now know as the gospel. I had to make a decision whether I wanted to trust Jesus and live by the standards that He set or be someone who seeks to please man.” Out of his ten friends that were with him that day, he was the only one to go to the altar that Sunday morning and accept Jesus Christ into his life. He said, “I learned that it wasn’t important to be a people pleaser, but to be a man who pleases his Lord and Savior…Now, I put everything on the line for Jesus.” His name is A.C. Green.
September 18, 2011 in
Gospel Light Minute with
He was an All-Metropolitan and All-American basketball player in high school. He graduated from Harvard University and received All-Ivy League honors and also became captain of his team in his senior year. After being drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in the 1970s, but falling short of making the roster, he was offered a position as a sports broadcaster for the Washington Bullets. He later moved on to the anchor position at WDVM-TV in Washington, DC and soon began working at CBS. While at CBS Sports, he worked as a play by play announcer for NFL telecasts and major events such as the NBA finals and the Winter Olympic Games. In 1994, he accepted the position of host of the NFL on Fox pregame show. He is the current host of The NFL Today on CBS and Inside the NFL on Showtime.
He says of his faith, ‘when I worked in the corporate world I was considered a success by the world, because of the good money I made, and the Corvette I owned, but I felt a “distinct emptiness” in my life. I knew the reason was because I wasn’t walking with God, and I turned my life back over to the Savior. I prayed that God would help me walk uprightly before Him, and now my life is ‘wonderful.” He challenges young people by saying, ‘ all other success in life, apart from believing and trusting Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for the forgiveness of sins and living for him, is “short-term success.” Knowing Christ brings peace. His name is James Brown.
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Gospel Light Minute #18
September 11, 2011 in
Gospel Light Minute with
Let’s Roll!
He is recognized as a hero for his actions aboard United Airlines Flight 93 on that fateful day of September 11, 2001. After United Airlines Flight 93 was hijacked, he and other passengers communicated with people on the ground via in-plane and cell phones, and learned that the World Trade Center had been attacked using hijacked
July 10, 2011 in
Gospel Light Minute with
She is a prominent women’s college basketball coach, with one of the best records in the history of women’s basketball. Known for her grace, class, strength, perseverance, and winning spirit, she holds the distinction of being the first coach in NCAA history to lead three different women’s programs to the NCAA Final Four: Rutgers in 2000 and 2007, the University of Iowa in 1993, and Cheyney State College (now Cheyney University of Pennsylvania) in 1982. She is the third winningest coach in women’s basketball history, and she is the third women’s basketball coach to win 800 career games. She was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in September 2009. She is currently the head coach of the Rutgers University women’s basketball team.
After watching her daughter fight for her life with spinal meningitis and watching her husband die from a massive heart attack, she says of those experiences, “I looked back on my life and just reflected and I thought, ‘I can’t go on. I can’t make it.’ The only way I could have gotten through these events is with confidence, trust, and faith in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” She says of her faith today, “Jesus is my Lord and Savior. And He’s my refuge. He’s the person that I can always count on, the person who I quietly talk to when no one else is there — the person who will give me strength to handle the most difficult of situations. And that I know is championing me to be able to speak to others.” Her name is Vivian Stringer.
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