At the start of spring practice last week, Denzel Washington, at the invitation of coach Deion Sanders, addressed the University of Colorado football team via video.
“When you pray for rain, you got to deal with the mud,” he told them. “But good things grow out of the mud.”
The Academy Award winning actor’s virtual visit to the Boulder based team comes on the heels of Coach Sanders being warned to tone down references or conversation about his Christian faith.
Just last year, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) accused Sanders of engaging in “religious coercion” by having Christian speakers address the team.
“Sanders needs to understand that he was hired to coach football, not to force student-athletes to engage in his preferred religious practices,” wrote Patrick T. O’Rourke of the anti-religion organization. “He must cease infusing the football program with Christianity.”
FFRF was triggered after Coach Sanders invited Pastor E. Dewey Smith to speak with the team. At the time, FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor claimed, “Sanders is showing his brazen disregard for not only the Constitution, but also the rights of all his players when he decides to force his religion upon them.”
Dr. E. Dewey Smith is the senior pastor and teacher of The House of Hope Atlanta, The House of Hope Macon and The House of Hope WestPointe in Georgia.
Coach Sanders isn’t easily intimidated. In extending an invitation to Denzel Washington, he wasn’t only welcoming a popular actor, but also a newly baptized and ordained minister.
“Don’t rely on it [football or athletics] for your happiness,” Pastor Washington told the Colorado players. “Rely on the Almighty. Do not rely on this world for your happiness, because it’ll tell you Tuesday that they love you, and Wednesday that they hate you. Probably said that about your team. It’s not consistent.”
Over the years, Coach Sanders, a former two-sports star in the NFL and Major League Baseball, has historically invited Christians to address his teams. He believes players need to be regularly encouraged. He told those assembled in the player’s meeting room that he was especially excited when Pastor Washington agreed to talk with the time.
Maybe it’s because Denzel’s life, like most everyone else’s, hasn’t been a straight line.
The New York-born actor started college as a pre-med student, switched to pre-law, then switched to journalism. But then came the day that changed every day since.
It was March 27, 1975 – exactly fifty years ago this coming Thursday. Washington was twenty-one years-old and was helping his mother in her beauty shop in Mount Vernon, New York. Here’s how he described what happened.
“There was this older woman who was considered one of the elders in the town. And I didn’t know her personally, but I was looking in a mirror and every time I looked at the mirror, I could see her behind me. And she was staring at me. She just kept looking at me. Every time I looked at it, she kept giving me these strange looks. So she finally took the dryer off her head, and she said something I’ll never forget.
“First of all, she said, ‘Somebody give me a piece of paper. Give me a piece of paper.’ She said, ‘Young boy, I have a prophecy, a spiritual prophecy.’ She said, ‘You are going to travel the world and speak to millions of people.’
Later that summer, while working at a YMCA camp, someone suggested Denzel try acting.
Looking back on his life, Washington has said, “I have traveled the world, and I have spoken to millions of people through my movies.”
Wrapping up in his time with the University of Colorado Buffalo football team, a smiling Washington said,
I’m going to say this now, if y’all don’t send me a ticket to the national championship when you get there, then don’t ever go to none of my movies ever again. I don’t want to know you. Because I know you [are] going to be there. Now you remember that Denzel Washington said it: ‘You are going to the national championship.’
Time will tell how Sanders’ team performs on the field, but the high-profile coach is demonstrating to his players that boldness about one’s Christian belief is empowering and confidence inspiring off of it.
Image from X.
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