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CBN.com – Lisa Ryan recently interviewed the football hero to get the latest.
LISA RYAN (reporting): The St. Louis Rams hadn’t won the Super Bowl since 1951, but then Kurt Warner came on the scene. This NFL quarterback has big talent and bold faith. Not only did he lead the Rams to a Super Bowl victory in 2000, but he set a Super Bowl record and won NFL's Most Valuable Player award -- twice. To everyone’s amazement, Warner had sat on the bench during college football, and he’d worked in a grocery store for minimum wage just the year before.
KURT WARNER: It had been a long time coming, obviously before I got my opportunity, but it was a great ride. I would have never planned it to go the way it did, but now that I look back, I’m so thankful that I went that route.
LISA (reporting): Kurt told us recently that he hasn’t forgotten where he came from.
KURT: It’s amazing how each one of those times in my life really shaped who I was. God used every area, every situation, to shape me, so that when I finally did get that opportunity, I was really ready for it, I was grounded, and my priorities were straight.
LISA: A lot of people would have given up.
KURT: Well, I think a lot of people wanted me to give up. They weren’t sure if it was ever going to come about, that my dream was ever going to come true. But I just always believed that that was going to be part of my life, and whether it was playing arena football, or however long it lasted, that was going to be a part of my life. And I loved it. I enjoyed it. I had a passion for it. It gave me a smaller platform for a while, and now a larger platform.
LISA (reporting): Kurt’s amazing journey has inspired many people not to give up.
KURT: I definitely think that’s part of why God used me in that way, because it’s given a lot of people hope and inspiration to fulfill their dreams, whether it’s football or whether it was some other walk of life. It’s encouraging to know that people are looking at my life and saying, 'Look what he’s been able to do. Look what God has done for him. He can do the same for me.'
LISA: You had that great Super Bowl season, quarterback, MVP, the whole nine yards, and then this last year, you had some injuries, the Rams had kind of a tough season, and you had some setbacks. How do you deal with the setbacks of the game and of the season?
KURT: This past year was probably the most difficult experience I’ve had on the field -- injury, come back from the injury, get injured again that first game back, didn’t win a game that I started all year long. But what a great opportunity for people to see where I’m really at! Everybody, when I’m on top, can say, 'Of course he’s giving credit to God. Of course he’s happy. He’s always smiling, he’s on top.' But I’ve noticed through the difficult times, like this past season, people have really hung more on to how I respond, how I live my life, how I approach things, whether I still have that same joy and happiness than they ever did when we were on top.
LISA (reporting): His wife, Brenda, encouraged him to surrender everything to God in July 1995.
KURT:
I got to the point where I understood I was missing the boat, I was missing
the point of what this was all about, and surrendered my life over to the
Lord.
LISA: With the notoriety that has come from your career in football, and early on the great success that you and your team experienced, how has that given you opportunities to share your faith?
KURT: It’s amazing. I think that’s been part of it, way back when, the first year, the Super Bowl season. Getting the opportunity to win the Super Bowl and stand up on the podium and say ‘thank You, Jesus,’ opens a lot of doors. It let people know where I was in my life and what my focus was, and the doors have just been opening since then. People have seen the sincerity. They’ve seen the impact that God has had on my life.
LISA (reporting): For this season of his life, Kurt sees football as his ministry.
KURT: In this situation, in this setting, for this time period, I’m able to be a light to a lot of people, and I don’t want that light to go out. I don’t want it to be covered up. I want it to shine as brightly as it can in good times and in bad, and even more so in bad times because everybody can find somebody who’s going through great things and who is going to stand up and say, 'Thank You, God. Thank You for what You’ve done. It’s God that got me here.' But it’s in those difficult times, those lean times, that people really say, hey, I’ve been there, or I’m there now. Look how this guy is handling it. Look how God’s shaping his life through this difficult time. That’s where the power is.
LISA (reporting): Kurt and Brenda also want to help shape others’ lives. They’ve started a charitable foundation called First Things First, based on Matthew 6:33.
KURT: We developed our foundation really designed to promote Christian values, to let people know if you put first things first, anything is possible.
LISA (reporting): As a family they give more than just money; they give their time.
KURT: Every program that we design we’re involved in. We take our family. We spend time with different groups. We go out to dinner or bring them to church with us. We spend weeks at a time with Make-a-Wish families down at Disney World. We do a variety of things, but it’s all geared around spending one-on-one or small-group time with individuals and letting them get to know us, and we get to know them a little bit, and really sharing most importantly, and not just handing them a check and saying, 'Here. Take care of some of your needs with this.' We want to influence them directly.
LISA (reporting): Kurt and family are also involved in a project they hope will influence the next generation.
LISA:
You’re a dad of four, soon to be five, kids, so you have a heart for
children and what’s influencing their lives. Now you’re a part of
the 'Good Sports Gang' video series. Tell me about that.
KURT: It’s an animated children's video that has sports balls as the characters. Similar to a VeggieTales that has vegetables, we’ve got sports balls, so we’ve got footballs, basketballs, soccer balls, and we’ve animated them. I’m actually the coach on the video, so I get to kind of give the group a mission on every episode.
LISA: Lots of principles. Tell me about some of the biblical principles and the premise of this first video that’s coming out in this series.
KURT: This first one is going to be about the fact that we are each unique. God created us with a special purpose. That’s kind of the story. No matter what you feel, no matter if you feel like you don’t fit it, or don’t belong, or you are not able to accomplish a particular goal, that God has a specific plan for you. Our goal is to seek Him, find Him, and find out what His plan for us is, and when we do that, we’re going to be happier than we could ever have imagined we’d be.
LISA (reporting): More videos will be coming out soon, each with a personal message from NFL star Kurt Warner. You’ll get to meet some of his family, too. The 'Good Sports Gang' videos are sure to make a touchdown with kids everywhere. In everything he does, Kurt says he wants to follow God’s game plan more than anything else he does.
KURT: I know there’s going to be some awesome opportunities out there for us, and we’re just trying to make sure we do all we can and do exactly what God wants us to do.
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