Famed sports author and PGA club pro Steve Eubanks believes Christ should be shared in sports, no matter how imperfect the speaker is.
“He may not have the language correct. Look, go ask the average second baseman about dispensationalism. You might as well ask him to split the atom,” the Godball author told Sports Spectrum.
“He” may have no idea what that means. But if he has the heart of a believer, he’s going to talk about God. Everyone who feels that tug on their heart should share it.
“Go out and say so,” Eubanks said. “Say so to that person that you run into. ‘Hey you know what? I’ve been where you are,’” he says as an example.
All one has to say is that there is hope. There is a path forward, and that’s all there is to it.
“That’s the open invitation,” Eubanks confirmed. “You don’t have to be eloquent. You don’t have to be perfect.”
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In 2024, Eubanks wrote that more and more athletes are sharing their faith to the point where it might be called a revival. Eubanks attributes this change to the growth of online platforms and an effect from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson publicly thanked God for bringing him to the Super Bowl a few nights before the game in 2024. So did the Texans’ C.J. Stroud and Will Anderson Jr., the Chiefs’ Trey Smith, the Steelers’ Minkah Fitzpatrick and the 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey and Brock Purdy.
“Whether I do good or not, I’m rooted in my faith in God,” Purdy said before quoting Psalm 23. “That passage is saying I already have what I need. I have a Good Shepherd … and it’s what I go back to every single day.”
Eubanks’s latest book, Godball: How Athletes Are Saving Christianity, just came out in June. In it, the author said today, it’s hard to watch any after-game interview or press conference that doesn’t offer credit to God. He uses his skills as a sports journalist to uncover why faith in sports is so prevalent in America today and cites the Supreme Court case Kennedy v. Bremerton.
Former PGA Tour golfer and NBC analyst Paul Azinger offered a reason why many have turned to Christ: “Professional athletes recognize the out-of-proportion amount of money that they earn, and because of that they want to be of service to others. That’s what separates a lot of athletes. They’ve never surrendered to anything in competition, but they realize that surrendering to Jesus Christ is where they get their peace.”
Regardless of the “why,” we can be glad that players are keeping God close to their hearts. The pro sports world is a pretty secular industry, and we need these kinds of players to bring the light to it.
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