AMAZING STORY
Lockerroom Insight from Redskins' Chaplain
By Shawn Brown
The 700 Club
CBN.com - The Washington Redskins are one of the most valuable NFL teams in professional football. Brett Fuller, pastor of Grace Covenant Church serves as chaplain for the burgundy and gold. According to Pastor Brett, there’s a lot more to the job than just praying before, during, and after games.
“My responsibility is to be a chaplain to the entire organization, not just the ball players. Although the ball players are my target, there are 350 or more employees that work in the organization. And so I will wander the halls over in the front office as well as the football side to just see how people are doing and pray for them.”
One of those people was defensive end Kedric Golston. Kedric says, “Pastor Brett just did a great job of leading me and not pacifying me. Telling me what the Word says and allowing me to read it. You know, ever since then I’ve just been you know full out.”
Pastor Brett officially became the team chaplain around the 2001 season. But he’s been ministering to players and coaches since he first moved into the area in the early 80’s. It started when he was the chaplain of the Howard University football team and asked Redskins Hall of Famer, Darrell Green to speak.
“I realized there were a few holes in his testimony. So I said, ‘Mr. Green do you mind if we kind of get together and just do some study? Because maybe I could help you.’ So I showed up at 6 AM at his door on Tuesday. It was his day off. And we did 30 minutes of study. I said, ‘I’m only going to take 30 minutes. If you don’t want me back, fine.’ He said, ‘Can you come back on Thursday?’ And he and I have been friends ever since, great buddies. So that began an outreach to the Washington Redskins.”
Since that time, Pastor Brett has become a beacon of light in a sometimes dark business. “The NFL is a Not-For-Long league. And I’m not the first to coin that phrase. It does mean that you could be here for a cup of coffee and gone. And so literally there are people that are fired and then hired every week. And so you have to meet these folk and say, ‘Listen, I want you to know who I am, praying for you, anything I can assist you in, just let me know.’ And then we conduct Bible studies.”
Pastor Brett says that while praying with players and staff is important, the chapel services he conducts the night before games are critical for success. And by that he’s not just talking about the game. “The ball players would come to that and they would hear the Word. They’d hear principles of success. They’d hear how in the world to be a responsible husband, what it means to be a great dad, how to be an excellent employee in the profession to which God has called you. (They learned) to serve your employer, to serve your fans, to be faithful to your God with your talents. What it means to work hard and to see God glorified through what you’ve done.”
The Redskins have had a tough season so far, but Pastor Brett will as always, be on hand to reflect God’s love light during the highs and lows of NFL football. “When I think about my purpose as being chaplain for the Washington Redskins, it’s to serve that community as best I know how with the principles of the gospel on a regular basis. There are a number of people over there that aren’t Christians. My job is not to always try to take the Gospel and beat them over the head with it. But to serve them where they are and to let them see who I am to such a degree that they would inquire about who my God is.
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