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Benjamin Watson on Revival in College Football
In my work as a historian, I study and write about sports and Christianity in America. My first book is all about the ways that Christians, for more than a century, have been eagerly engaging in sports, seeing it as a mission field and a strategic cultural space where faith in Jesus can be promoted and shared.
And yet, this year in college football, something seems different—or at least more intense.
It started with the images of baptisms led by Ohio State football players in August. Throughout the season, and especially in the College Football Playoff, players have been going viral for proclaiming their faith.
What’s going on with this mini-revival in college football? How should Christians engage with and think about it?
There’s no one better to speak into these questions than Benjamin Watson. A former National Football League (NFL) tight end and current college football analyst and Sports Spectrum contributor, Watson is a writer, speaker, and keen observer of American culture who knows what it’s like to be a prominent Christian athlete.
I spoke with Watson about what he’s seeing with the infusion of faith in college football, how it relates to his experiences, and what it means for the church. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Let’s begin with your own faith and football story. How did your identities as a Christian and an athlete intersect as you moved up from high school to college and then to the NFL?
My story goes back to my earliest memories. My father played football at the University of Maryland, and football was always part of my life. Growing up, he was on staff with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), always in sports ministry in some capacity. I remember going with him to high school chapels when I was a kid, and college and NFL chapels sometimes.
There was always this marriage between sports and faith. I never saw the two as being separate or in different silos. I saw the convergence. We don’t carry faith with us into sport. Our faith transforms us from the inside out. And so wherever we go, we bring the Spirit of God with us. Christ is in us. It’s not like I have to figure out how to work my faith into my sport. That’s just who I am. I’m a new creation who loves to play basketball, to play football, or whatever it is.
It’s not like I have to figure out how to work my faith into my sport. That’s just who I am.
At my high school in South Carolina, I was president of FCA and then went to college at Duke for a year, where they had AIA [Athletes in Action]. And then I got to Georgia where FCA was the big thing.
I can’t even point to a time when sports and faith weren’t together. It was always part and parcel.
It seems to me that we so often focus on the public proclamations—you know, athletes thanking their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ after the game. But my sense is that faith really takes root for athletes in the ordinary parts of life, away from the flashing lights. How did your faith speak to those everyday needs and concerns you faced in football?
The apostle Paul told Timothy, “Watch your life and your doctrine closely” (1 Tim. 4:16, NIV). It’s exciting when people hear athletes proclaim Christ’s name. But the true measure inside the locker room is how athletes live, whether they are authentic. Specifically when it comes to how my faith gave me perspective in college or pro sports, there is a tremendous amount of pressure, expectation, and identity wrapped up in performance. I’m the oldest of six kids. I’m the son of a pastor. Perfectionism has been my Achilles’ heel for my entire life. I’ve always felt like I couldn’t do enough, or I wasn’t good enough.
But faith has given me a perspective of grace. It’s given me a perspective in injuries and wins and losses that says this isn’t the end of the world, that there is more to life. You can get so consumed with the sport and the accolades and the approval that your identity gets so wrapped up in it.
And then also, later in my career, once I started getting older, I started feeling like, “Lord, if you give me another year, I really want to be on a mission.” I wanted to have a listening ear for a guy who’s struggling with being a dad for the first time, or I wanted to lead Bible studies, even though it’s uncomfortable. Probably my fondest memory in sports was in 2015, baptizing two of my teammates in the training room rehab pool at the New Orleans Saints facility.
Trust in the Lord gave me purpose. You realize that you’re only going to be in that position for so many years before God moves you somewhere else.
You mentioned being an example for younger players. During your time in college and pro football, were there prominent Christian players who inspired you? Who did you look up to as models and examples of the Christian faith?
For me growing up, I looked at guys like Darrell Green. I looked at guys like Aeneas Williams or Kurt Warner, who were open about their faith. I wanted to be like them in football.
Faith has given me a perspective of grace. It’s given me a perspective in injuries and wins and losses that says this isn’t the end of the world, that there is more to life.
Once I got in the NFL, drafted by the Patriots in 2004, it was a guy named Don Davis. He’s on staff with the NFL Players Association right now, but he was a linebacker back then. And Don was kind of our default chaplain in New England. We had a chaplain, but Coach Belichick wasn’t letting them in the building very much.
Don’s story was totally different from mine from a faith aspect, the way he grew up. But I saw somebody who embraced his role as an athlete and also as a minister within the locker room.
When he left, I kind of filled that role because I saw it demonstrated to me. And then when I left, Matthew Slater filled that role and has done it to the nth degree for a long time with the Patriots.
And so there were always people in the locker room who sharpened me. But they also challenged me to be the next. And that’s what discipleship is all about.
Speaking of the ‘next’: In college football this year, we have young players talking about Jesus after games and going viral for it. As you’ve watched this play out, what examples stand out to you? Are there a couple moments that have really gotten you excited as a follower of Jesus?
I think it was Jahdae Barron, a cornerback for Texas. It was after the game they lost. And they’re sitting up there doing a press conference, and after it was done, he wanted to say one more thing. And so he talked about his relationship with the Lord. Thanked the people for following the team. Just a really classy statement.
I think it’s even more influential in losses. Not that God can’t use the wins and not that we aren’t thankful in the wins. I loved coming together on the 50 yard line to pray after a win, like, “Yes, thank you God.” But when you have that same consistent testimony, it’s often even more influential when there’s been disappointment.
So I’m encouraged, but I’m also prayerful. I think that the message for believers is to celebrate and encourage the young guys and imagine the influence that they have, but also be praying for these young men. I saw the Ohio State videos where guys were getting baptized. Hopefully they have that brotherhood because we know the importance of brotherhood in the Christian life.
And also be praying for chaplains and those who are spiritual leaders on campus, to disciple them.
The biggest fear I always had was, as a believer, that you’re going to do something or say something that ruins your witness on a massive scale. And that’s a humbling fear. We’re all going to fall short at some point in some way.
But we also want to pray for each other that our profession is evidence of deeper commitment.
In academic spaces, I often run into people who don’t get as excited about these outspoken Christian athletes. They tend to take a more critical tone or to play the theology police a little bit. How do you navigate that? Should we be concerned about bad theology that might be expressed from Christian athletes? For example, if a player shares something that suggests a prosperity gospel viewpoint—how should we respond?
Well, that’s why I say we have to be in prayer that brothers would be willing to critique, to speak truth in love to athletes. And that comes through relationship.
What happens a lot of times is that an athlete says, “I love Jesus.” And then the next thing you know, every single Christian organization on campus and around campus wants you to come speak. It doesn’t matter if you just became Christian yesterday or two days ago or if you just say it because that’s what people say culturally.
This is what people do in America sometimes. They think, Man, if that person says something about Jesus, then God will use that to save everybody. Maybe or maybe not, because a lot of people have been hurt by those who have professed Christ on a large scale. It’s been shallow and inconsistent, and there have been charlatans.
And so I think that number one, you need grace for people and to understand that there’s been a lot of bad theology we’ve all thought in our lives at times. We’re not all at the same maturity level. Part of becoming more mature as a believer is in your own personal practice but also the helpful and loving critique of others.
So what do you say to the guy? You help him along, you comment on what he’s saying, and you faithfully and lovingly address it—but in the sense of growing him up in faith and not cutting him down. I think that too many times we might be too harsh, chastising people. And it’s more about our own skepticism than it is about serving others.
Circling back to this year in college football, we’ve already talked about all these expressions of faith going viral. What do you make of what’s going on? Do you think there’s something new or different, or that this is tapping into something unique about our cultural moment?
I do see it as different, particularly because this is a different age from a technology standpoint. Studies continually show that young people now are facing different challenges when it comes to identity and comparison and loneliness, all those sorts of things. We’re more disconnected and connected at the same time than we’ve ever been before. And so I think that the way we’re able to hear and consume so much information is different.
Every generation has its certain cultural moment, with different ways the Spirit of God moves. He’s moving in college campuses right now, and he’s moving in different ways in Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America. And he’s moved in different ways across time. But he’s always been moving.
I think our biggest thing is to encourage and disciple and do all the things that he tells us in Matthew 28—continue to do those things for this moment.
God has moved in different ways across time. But he’s always been moving.
I also think athletes in the NIL [Name, Image, Likeness] era have found and captured their own voices in a way that has been different from my generation. These athletes have their own podcasts, they have their own social media channels. They feel OK being themselves and not conforming to what’s expected of them.
They understand their own power economically in ways that we didn’t when we were in college. And they also understand their own power to use their voices. I think that that feeds into them saying, “You know, it’s OK if I say that I’m playing ball and that the Lord put me here.”
One more question: What should Christians keep in mind as they watch and root for these players? What final thought or word do you have to share?
For believers, as you watch these games and as you hear athletes proclaim Christ, pray for them. Pray specifically that God would protect them physically and mature them spiritually, that the seed that they’re excited about doesn’t get snatched away but that it grows deep roots and bears fruit.
And then also see their example as a point of encouragement. Ask the Lord, “How should I be talking about my faith with my coworkers?”
Most people don’t have a huge microphone to talk to millions of people. Fine. You go to work and you’re around 10 people. Do those people even know that you love the Lord? Do they even know that you read the Bible? Let’s be a little introspective in how we’re living and how we’re evangelizing at our workplaces.
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