SPARK Talks 2019: Week 4

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From a young age, God put in me this desire to create art.

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He gave me the space where I'm free to create and an imagination

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fueled by His creativity.

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I'm inspired by natural wonders and by architecture.

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I work with multiple mediums, from murals to ceramics, but

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really enjoy working with porcelain clay.

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Before I begin, I always invite God in with a simple prayer.

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God, what do you want to make this morning?

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And with that prayer, ideas will come to me and the results are

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usually quite unique.

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The process of creating can be an emotional one.

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All pottery must go through multiple steps and can fail at any

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step.

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My clay is subjected to many changes and looks very sloppy

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during the process which makes me doubt it will look as good as

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I planned.

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But the finished piece is always better than I imagined.

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I step back and I see how God had His hand in the results.

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I'm Gail, and the joy of creating art with God is what ignites

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life in me.

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Well, welcome to Crossroads, you're joining us for Spark Talks,

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where you're going to get to hear from a couple different

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people with something that might inspire you.

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Right now I'm in California and you'll get to hear more about

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that later and who these people are behind me.

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But first, we're going to spend some time worshipping together.

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And this is an opportunity to set our hearts and our minds in a

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place to be prepared for what God has to say to us over the

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next hour or maybe even over the next week.

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So join us as we sing these songs.

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Well, welcome to the Crossroads.

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My name is Lena Schuler and I'm the Crossroads Anywhere

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Community Pastor, because the beautiful thing about Crossroads

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is you can experience it anywhere you are.

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And right now I'm in Newport Beach, California, with some new

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friends.

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Yes. I have had the joy of getting to know some of these people

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in this room.

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The Byerlys over here have been so hospitable and gracious to

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host us.

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And next week we actually get to hear some from the Byerlys and

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from my good friend Megan.

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And they're going to be part of our Spark Talks series.

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So next week, wherever you live, you want to check out

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Crossroads.net and find the location nearest you and head

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there.

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And if there's not a location close to you, join us on

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Crossroads anywhere, because we're going to get to experience

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together what's happening in your local community, whether you

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live in Florence, Kentucky; Mason, Ohio; or Newport Beach,

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California.

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So check us out next week for Spark Talks.

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And you know, one of the great tools that we have at Crossroads

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that you're able to use whenever you want is something called

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the Connect Map.

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If you head to the Crossroads Website, you can check out the

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And on there you can filter for groups and people and locations

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that are close to you.

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And that's how some of the people in this room with me right now

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actually met each other and became friends a couple of years

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ago is through that Connect Map.

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It's a sweet tool if you've not checked it out, you should.

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And if you live somewhere outside of the Greater Cincinnati or

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Lexington area, make sure you put yourself on the Connect Map

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and reach out to the people around you so that when someone

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moves, they might be able to find you.

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Right now, we actually get an opportunity to be generous.

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One of the marks of our team at Crossroads is that we're a

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generous team.

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What that means is we believe that what we have is all God's to

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begin with.

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And so we get the joy of giving in a way to be obedient to God.

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And because it's His anyways, He lets us keep a whole bunch of

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We just get to give a portion of it back to Him.

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And so if you want to be generous and give right now and fuel

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things like tools being made, like the Connect Map and

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communities here in Newport Beach, California, getting to form,

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you could do that by heading to Crossroads.net/give

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as a way of saying the God, "I believe that all of this is

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Yours to begin with and I want to see more people around the

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country meet You."

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I'm Conor and I go to Crossroads.

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I grew up in a family of five boys and then my two parents,

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very, very close-knit family that was very faith based.

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I decided to go away to college and to take life into my own

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I drank and I partied and I had a blast.

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And fast forward four years, I got a degree and got a great job.

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I started dating a woman and we dated for about two and a half

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years.

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And that was great.

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We talked about taking that next step and the next step being

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marriage.

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So I bought a ring.

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A week before our engagement she ended everything and that

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wrecked me.

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I was not eating.

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I lost a ton of weight.

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I couldn't find motivation to get out of bed in the morning.

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I decided that I had one of two options, I could go to my own

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vices and I could party and I could drink and I could sleep

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or I can turn back to my faith.

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And I decided that I'm gonna give God another chance.

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And that led me to Crossroads.

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During the announcements on that very first Sunday they talked

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about how young adults was starting up.

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And so I knew that this wasn't a coincidence, this had to be a,

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you know, a God thing.

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And I decided to take a step of faith and go to young adults.

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I felt like as I walked through those doors they could see my

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pain, they could see me hurting.

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I think Josh, one of the leaders, saw that I might have been a

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little bit uncomfortable and lonely, and he made a beeline

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straight for me.

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And for the first time in a very, very, very long time, I felt

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like I could connect with somebody and they wanted to hear my

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story.

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I felt loved.

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I felt accepted.

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So that next week we formed our pod at young adults, it's

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basically a small group.

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So it's about 15 people.

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So what I didn't realize at that moment was that Pod was gonna

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become my family.

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They were people from all walks of life, but we all were looking

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for something and that was community.

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And we found it.

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Those people are my best friends and my family to this day.

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When I was in my in my darkest spot, I felt like God had

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forgotten me.

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And because of Crossroads, because of my young adults pod, my

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faith has completely changed.

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I'm not worried about what my future looks like.

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As long as I trust in Him, He is going to provide.

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I had no idea how much of an impact this place was gonna have on

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And so to those who give, truly, thank you.

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Well, yes.

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Yes, I'm making an aggressive move today.

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I have some new shoes on.

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Obviously everyone always knows.

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I swear anytime I wear something

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new, people are like, "Oh, did you just get those?".

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Yes, I did just get these shoes.

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Thank you very much.

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A friend of mine does some contract work with Adidas and gave

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them to me.

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I think that's cool.

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And I'm -- I've got a lot of new stuff today.

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New shoes.

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And also there's been some new stuff happening on here.

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You know, we're trying to get more people speaking on stage,

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different voices, different perspectives.

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And so I've created an outlet that helps me have more teaching

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content every week, it's called BrianTome.com.

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I have a new podcast coming out that's called The Aggressive

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It's going really, really well.

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And actually, I'm going -- so, some people have already heard

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The Aggressive Life.

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And there's some other things.

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You can subscribe at BrianTome.com

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if you want to, but today I want to talk about why I would do a

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podcast called The Aggressive Life.

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Some of us would say, "Aggression? I've

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read the Bible a number of times or I've heard about it, but I

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don't remember seeing the word aggression inside of there.".

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Yes, the word aggression or aggressive is not in the Bible.

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Neither are the words empathy, delayed gratification, racial

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reconciliation.

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There's a bunch of things that are in the Bible, but the phrase

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itself isn't in the Bible, the phrase itself aggressions

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is not in the Bible.

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Aggression is all through the Bible.

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I'm not talking today about using your physical or financial

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might to power up somebody on somebody and have your way.

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I'm talking about taking control of your life.

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I'm talking about seeing something that you want and you think

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God wants you to have it.

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And feeling equipped by Him to actually go after it.

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Every single Bible hero you've ever heard of has one thing in

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common, other than they love God.

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Two things in common, they all were aggressive.

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We don't know of any prophet from the Old Testament who had a

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word from God and chose not to share it.

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We never -- we don't hear about him.

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It's only the ones who are aggressive enough to share it that we

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hear about.

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We don't know of anybody in the early church who did anything

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that was just passive waiting for it, it was all aggressive.

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Every Bible hero is a hero because they aggressively went after

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something.

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Jesus aggressively came to this earth, aggressively went to a

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cross and got nailed to it.

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Now you might think that was passive, Him going to a cross.

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No, he aggressively chose that.

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He could have talked his way out of it.

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He aggressively goes to it.

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This is a far cry from our culture today that is increasingly

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passive.

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The signs are everywhere, I mean everywhere.

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We have this theory that the reason my marriage isn't working is

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because I haven't met my soulmate.

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People are getting married later and later because we're waiting

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for our soulmate to come along.

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Hey, the clue phone's ringing and there's no such thing as a

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soulmate.

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They're not coming around, not going to happen.

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But we're passively waiting for this perfect person to be

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married to and what do you know?

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There is no perfect person to be married to.

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If you want to be married, you have to aggressively ask somebody

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out on a date.

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Shocking, shocking.

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Our culture is increasingly divided.

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Right, left, extreme right, extreme left.

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And they look like each camp is aggressive, but really they're

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only passive inside of their own political leanings where ever

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they are.

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Nobody's aggressively stepping over the aisle and shaking a

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hand.

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No one's aggressively stepping over on the other side to

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understand and strike up a conversation.

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We're still passive as a culture.

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We put airbags on everything, seatbelts on everything, helmets

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on everything, including three year olds who are on a tricycle

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in a basement.

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Nobody's ever had brain damage that way.

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And yet it's a symptom of our culture.

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And when you talk about the church.

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Oh, my gosh, the church, the body of Christ are some of the most

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passive weenie people going around.

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Totally passive weenie people going around.

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Someone just said say it again.

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Someone's into what I'm saying.

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Even classic stories of the Bible, we don't even understand.

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One of them I want to share in my remaining remaining moments.

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Jacob. Jacob, and Esau.

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They are twins who are born.

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Jacob is the second born and he comes out holding the heel of

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his older brother, who's born older by a couple of seconds.

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When you hear this talked about in Christian circles, Jacob is

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given the word of supplanter.

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He is the supplanter.

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That's not what the word Jacob means.

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It means one who grasps the heel.

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And then, when we don't understand because in Christiandome we

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just think we should just sit back and let go and let God.

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Just let whatever will happen in my life was gonna let happen in

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my life.

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And it looks like Jacob is constantly pushing, and so we don't

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like this.

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Like he's grasping.

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He's like, "No, no, I want to be first, I want to be first out

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of the womb.".

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He wants to be first out of the womb because in ancient culture

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to be the first born son meant you got the lion's share of the

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inheritance.

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That was yours by birth.

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It was your birthright.

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So as Esau, who's the first one out, he's kind of the manly man.

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His dad's favorite.

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Jacob is the momma's boy.

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He's mom's favorite.

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Esau is out hunting, he's hairy, he's hunting.

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He's kind of a classic male, if you will.

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Jacob. Jacob.

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He's cooking.

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He's home.

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But Jacob is actually far more aggressive than Esau.

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You can drive a truck and like guns, but be incredibly passive.

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By the way, if you have guns, you should be very passive.

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We're thankfully -- We need more people with guns to be passive.

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But nonetheless, Jacob goes and he posts up on the path where

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Esau is going to be coming back home and Esau is hungry.

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And Esau stops to Jacob and he sees his favorite stew

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there and says, "Oh, give me some of your stew.".

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And Jacob says, "No, I can't do that.

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I'll tell you what, though, I'll make a

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trade. I'll make a trade.

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I'll give you some soup and you give me the birthright.

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You let me be first born and get the blessing me for it and you

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And Esau goes, "Umm, I'm kind of -- I'm kind of hungry.

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Deal. Deal.".

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So he sells his birthright.

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Jacob gives him the pot of stew.

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And Jacob gets the birthright.

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And some of us go like, "This is just dirty.

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This is just evil.

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Why? Why?

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Why would -- why would Jacob just not give it?".

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Well, Jacob's a giver, I give things and I also sell things.

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I do, in fact, if you think that this is wrong, then the very

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idea of business you think is wrong, because business is all

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about making a deal.

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All of us in here get a paycheck to some degree or another

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because there is a deal being made.

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In fact, even today in our culture this is why we're drawn to

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socialism, because we'd rather not make a deal.

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We'll just sit back and let somebody else take care of us.

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No, we need to go forward.

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Jacob makes a trade.

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He makes a business transaction.

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And it's fair.

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It's not -- it's not seedy.

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It's the underhanded.

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It's a business transaction.

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And then Jacob goes on and he has an amazing life.

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Now, you might think to yourself, "Well, this is not right.

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I think Esau's a bad --"

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Well, let's see what the Bible says about this.

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The Book of Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 14 and following.

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Here's where it talks about, you notice aggression is all

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through this even though the word aggression isn't.

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Here's what it says in verse 13:

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Strive, I might say be aggressive

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Aggressively, try to be at peace with everyone.

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If you want to spiritually grow, you want to be holy, you've got

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to have an energy about it.

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You've got to want to try something new.

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What's the last new thing you tried with God?

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What's the last new prayer technique you've tried?

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What's the last new Bible system you tried?

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What's the last new book you open yourself to?

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What is it?

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Well, I'm not growing, I'm not growing.

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Okay. What are you doing?

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You've got to be aggressive.

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In that very next verse.

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What is bitterness?

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Bitterness is when someone has done us wrong.

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Maybe they've wrongfully used their aggression, they've done us

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And then how do we stay bitter?

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We stay bitter because we passively keep waiting for it to get

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better.

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We get bitter because we passively expect it to go away.

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No, no, you need to aggressively love your enemy.

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You need to aggressively pray for your enemy.

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That's how bitterness gets away from us.

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Bitterness never just goes away by sitting around waiting.

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Now here's the next and last verse, check this out:.

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"That no one is sexually immoral."

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You'll have to be aggressive to be sexually pure, by the way.

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If you're passive in our culture, you will fall into sexual

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"That no one is sexually immoral," here it is:

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Esau is the one who is unholy.

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Jacob goes on from this and he makes a lot of mistakes, he does,

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makes a bunch of them.

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I like the word aggression because I want to make aggressive

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mistakes, and Jacob for sure makes mistakes in his life.

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But when we make an aggressive mistake, it'll take care of

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itself because nine other mistakes we made aggressively are

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going to more than make up for that.

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Jacob goes off and he ends up wrestling with God and God

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renames -- He names the whole nation of Israel after Jacob.

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Because as Jacob is wrestling with God and God's just playing

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around with him.

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While he's wrestling with God, God touches his hip, jacks up his

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And he says, "You know what?

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I like how you hustle.

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I like how you're aggressive.

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You're going to be named Israel, which means God's fighter."

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And the whole nation visual is named after a guy who's being

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aggressive.

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And God says, "I want your DNA in and through my entire

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nation.".

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One of our Tome family motto is Tomes Hustle.

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We don't do everything well.

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It's not -- when something goes well, it's not because we're the

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best looking.

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We're certainly not.

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It's not because we're the most articulate.

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It's not because of anything.

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But when something goes right, God may be using our desire to

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That's why I named my son Jacob.

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I named him Jacob because of this story and wanting to say,

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"Let's have the value of hustle and aggression in our family.".

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And I want you to have the hustle of value and agression.

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Nothing great can happen in your life and lose the grace of God

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intermingles with your aggression.

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Grab your life by the throat, friends.

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You only have one life to lead.

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Ask her out on a date.

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Start the business.

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Stamp out the addiction.

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Don't just go, "Oh, I wonder if I'm addicted or not.".

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Stamp, aggressively go after it.

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It's the aggressive ones that are powerful ones.

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Hello, everyone, I'm Solomon Wilcots, and I am honored to be

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here with you today.

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I just wanted to stop by to share with you my story of how

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prayer and faith has changed the trajectory of my life from the

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very beginning.

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And to validate how prayer and faith works and how God will

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stand on His word.

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I go to scripture where in Jeremiah 33:3 it says:.

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Our ability to call on God in the moment when we run into

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roadblocks, that really is a wonderful opportunity to not only

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grow close to Him, but I think we often will understand that

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sometimes hard work, perseverance doesn't always work.

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I know we've been told that if you just continue to push

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forward, if you continue to try hard, if you just persevere,

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that you will be able to achieve your goals, dreams, and

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aspirations in life.

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But what happens when hard work just isn't enough?

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What happens when perseverance falls just short?

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I'm here to share with you just a few examples in my life where

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those moments occurred and prayer provided the

00:29:22

breakthrough those roadblocks that would have prohibited me

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from achieving dreams and aspirations.

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Go back to being 9 and 10 years old.

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I grew up in a church where most of the congregation there were

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family members: cousins, aunts, uncles, I come from a large

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extended family.

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My grandparents were in the church.

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My dad was a pastor there.

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That idyllic life came to an end when my parents divorced when I

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was about 10 years old.

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My three older brothers went to live with my dad and I decided

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to stay with mom.

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And while I had been used to living in a home that was full of

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energy, that was the bustling with a lot of people and a lot of

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chatter and three older brothers that took out their worst days

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on me.

00:30:19

Now there's no one there.

00:30:22

My mom worked two jobs to make ends meet.

00:30:26

She worked second shift on her second job, she would typically

00:30:29

get home around midnight.

00:30:31

I would see her in the morning.

00:30:34

When I was on my way to school, she was getting up in the

00:30:36

And then I would have to stay up till midnight if I wanted to

00:30:39

talk with her.

00:30:40

But typically I would be asleep by the time mom got home.

00:30:46

And you fast forward just a few years beyond that, I knew I

00:30:52

always wanted to go to college.

00:30:54

I loved to read.

00:30:55

I loved playing sports.

00:30:56

If I wasn't playing sports, I was somewhere reading.

00:30:59

If I wasn't somewhere reading, I was somewhere playing sports.

00:31:03

So naturally a kid who's curious, who loves learning, loves

00:31:07

playing ball, you want to go off to college and you want to

00:31:10

play sports in college.

00:31:12

It was a tremendous dream of mine from a very, very early age.

00:31:18

But at about 14, as I was coming out of middle school and

00:31:22

looking for a high school to go to.

00:31:24

I grew up in Compton, California, was in environment that I

00:31:28

desperately wanted out of.

00:31:30

And it was definitely an environment I did not want to remain in

00:31:36

to go to high school because no one came to Compton,

00:31:39

California, for Friday night football game looking for

00:31:44

potential college students.

00:31:46

So I remember going to my mom and I had to convince her to allow

00:31:49

me to move away about an hour outside of Los Angeles to live

00:31:54

with an older brother who was rarely home.

00:31:57

He was busy living his life, but he had a home in a better

00:32:00

community that offered me a better opportunity for education

00:32:04

and opportunity to earn a scholarship.

00:32:07

And after much chatter, after much talk of convincing my mom,

00:32:14

she relented and she allowed me to go live with an older

00:32:17

She laid out all the requisite things that I had to do.

00:32:21

And if I, of course, would screw up even one of those, she was

00:32:24

going to pull me back home.

00:32:27

But I acclimated very quickly, made friends with the right

00:32:31

friends, adapted academically, and I adapted athletically.

00:32:37

And I had a wonderful high school football coach who prescribed

00:32:42

for me various things that I had to do.

00:32:45

And that if I performed at a very high level that he would work

00:32:49

to help me earn a college scholarship.

00:32:52

So it was exactly what I wanted to hear.

00:32:54

And I remember by the time I was a junior, it was -- we were

00:32:58

going into our final game of my junior year.

00:33:01

Now, I remember the coach called me and one of the other players

00:33:05

into an office and he says, "Guys, I have some bad news.".

00:33:09

He said, "We have this final game that we need to win.

00:33:11

If we don't win it, we don't get into the playoffs.".

00:33:13

Now our school had not been to the California state playoffs in

00:33:17

19 consecutive seasons.

00:33:20

This would be 20 years in a row where we would have to sit it

00:33:24

out.

00:33:25

Well, he proceeded to tell us both that if we did not win that

00:33:28

game and get into the playoffs that his contract would not be

00:33:33

renewed, that he would be fired.

00:33:35

And then he proceeded to tell us that, "Those scholarships that

00:33:38

we talked about, well, that's off the table.

00:33:41

I don't know what's gonna happen if another coach comes in here,

00:33:44

but I could tell you that it would be real slim chance that

00:33:48

you'd be able to earn that scholarship.".

00:33:51

He said, "So here's what I need in order to win this games: I

00:33:54

need two interceptions from you.".

00:33:56

And then I kind of, you know, I just kind of went numb.

00:34:00

And I remember him telling my teammate he needed something from

00:34:03

There were some things he needed for him to do in order for us

00:34:06

to win this game.

00:34:08

And I just remember thinking to myself, "How is all -- and why

00:34:12

is it gonna put all this pressure on me?

00:34:14

This 14, 15 year old kid we've got to win this game in order

00:34:19

for all these great things to happen?".

00:34:21

But I remember going home that night and after just being very

00:34:25

overwhelmed because I saw everything flash before my very eyes,

00:34:30

all the dreams, the hopes, the aspirations of attending

00:34:34

college.

00:34:36

I'm thinking if we lose this game, I'm going back to Compton,

00:34:39

which is the last thing I want to do is to go back there.

00:34:43

And maybe having a sense of failure for having gone back without

00:34:49

accomplishing the goal that I set out to accomplish.

00:34:54

I just remember praying that night feverishly and not

00:34:58

necessarily to get two interceptions, but to certainly to want

00:35:02

to win the game.

00:35:04

I remember going to school the next day, that Friday morning.

00:35:08

And as we went through the day of going through classes, of

00:35:13

going through some of the pregame rituals for warming up,

00:35:16

I just remember having a great sense of calm that came over me.

00:35:20

No longer did I have the anxiety.

00:35:23

No longer did I have the fear of failing.

00:35:26

No longer did I worry about what's going to happen if we don't

00:35:30

win this game.

00:35:31

What's gonna happen if I don't come through and hold up my end

00:35:34

of the deal?

00:35:35

It was a sense of calm that came over me, and I remember just

00:35:39

having the game of my life.

00:35:41

In fact, I didn't even think I was good enough to get two

00:35:43

interceptions in the game, but I did.

00:35:46

I got two interceptions.

00:35:48

We won the game.

00:35:49

And I just remember this sense of adulation that came over me

00:35:55

because I could almost reach out and touch the dream that I had

00:36:00

out in front of me.

00:36:01

I felt it was a major milestone that for all the hard work that

00:36:07

I put into it, that I needed help in this situation.

00:36:11

I needed help getting two interceptions.

00:36:14

I needed help winning the game, not only the help of my other

00:36:17

teammates, but I felt I needed divine intervention.

00:36:22

I needed that conversation with the Almighty.

00:36:26

And through that moment of humility, through that moment of

00:36:30

helplessness, I grew closer to Him.

00:36:33

And in growing closer to Him, all the sense of anxiety, fear,

00:36:37

and doubt subsided.

00:36:40

I just remember a couple of weeks later, my coach calling me and

00:36:44

a few teammates over to his house and we were helping he, his

00:36:48

wife and two daughters, they were moving into a better home.

00:36:52

He had been awarded with a better contract.

00:36:56

And I just remember coming away from that understanding that the

00:37:01

prayer that I was seeking, whatever was going to happen on the

00:37:05

other end of it, it had to do more than just having something

00:37:09

to do with me.

00:37:11

There were so many people who were blessed as a result, not only

00:37:14

my coach and his family for being blessed to move in a

00:37:18

different home.

00:37:19

He wasn't released from his job, so he had secure employment.

00:37:24

Our student body that year we became closer.

00:37:27

Not only the very next year, we came together, we won 14

00:37:31

straight games, went to the state championship game.

00:37:34

The student body population, we had greater unity, we came

00:37:38

together as a community.

00:37:41

We had 10 players the very next year, including myself, to earn

00:37:46

a scholarship to play Division 1 football.

00:37:50

It was something that was beyond whatever work that I did.

00:37:55

I think it was a direct correlation of being humble enough to

00:37:59

ask God for help in a time of need.

00:38:05

As I moved forward and went to college, I had great times.

00:38:08

I had some difficult challenges along the way, but I did

00:38:13

persevere.

00:38:14

And I remember 1987, 32 years ago, I was fortunate enough to be

00:38:21

drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the eighth round.

00:38:24

And I'm coming to Cincinnati.

00:38:28

Now, in the NFL, there are only seven rounds.

00:38:33

I was drafted in the eighth round.

00:38:36

If there were would have been many years later, I wouldn't have

00:38:38

been drafted at all, wouldn't be coming to Cincinnati.

00:38:40

I would have been an un-drafted free agent

00:38:43

But I was blessed enough to be drafted to come here and we went

00:38:48

to training camp.

00:38:49

In those days you go to training camp with 90 players, only 45

00:38:54

players are gonna make the team.

00:38:56

Roughly half the players who report to training camp are going

00:39:01

to be sent home.

00:39:03

Imagine you're coming out of college and you're going for this

00:39:06

dream job of yours and you're going to work the very first day

00:39:12

and they tell you,

00:39:13

"All right, you've got six weeks to prove that you could keep

00:39:16

this job because half the people in this room we're sending

00:39:19

them home.".

00:39:20

That's what it was like for me coming to Cincinnati, being

00:39:23

drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals.

00:39:25

And we went up to training camp in Wilmington, Ohio, on days

00:39:29

that were hotter than the one you experienced today.

00:39:32

90 players battling every single day.

00:39:36

Two practices a day, meetings that night.

00:39:39

Take the information from meetings that night to go back onto

00:39:42

the practice field the very next day.

00:39:45

And if you screw up, back to the end of the line.

00:39:48

And it was a battle, it was a war of attrition.

00:39:52

You had to perform and you had to perform at a very high level.

00:39:56

I remember six weeks later, you don't get the call saying that

00:40:00

you made the team.

00:40:01

In fact, you get a call saying bring in your playbook, your time

00:40:08

here has ended?

00:40:09

If you don't get a call, you sort of creep into the building the

00:40:13

day after Labor Day, hoping no one taps you on the

00:40:16

shoulder saying,

00:40:17

"No, you weren't one of the guys.".

00:40:20

Apprehensively, you continue to go, you sit in the meeting.

00:40:23

Then you're looking around.

00:40:24

You're in a room with Anthony Munoz, Boomer Esiason, Chris

00:40:28

Collinsworth.

00:40:29

And then you realize, I think I made it.

00:40:32

Now, they don't really want to tell you you made it, because I

00:40:34

think they want you to feel precarious about the job.

00:40:38

You'll play harder.

00:40:39

You'll try harder.

00:40:42

All I know is that I played in two games, that was my rookie

00:40:45

year we play our first game, then play the second game.

00:40:47

We come into the locker room and the veteran player say, "Guys,

00:40:50

don't come into work tomorrow, we're on strike.".

00:40:55

It was the year that the NFL players went on strike, and as a

00:41:00

rookie, you have no choice.

00:41:02

I'm getting calls from the ownership saying, "You need to cross

00:41:06

the picket line to play with the replacement players in these

00:41:09

games.

00:41:10

And if you don't, we can't promise you that your job will be

00:41:14

here when you come back.".

00:41:18

I remember going through that period, I was depressed because

00:41:23

imagine I had earned this dream job, I had earned it.

00:41:27

But now it's gone.

00:41:29

That's when I came to understand that the NFL was an acronym,

00:41:32

which means "not for long." [ laughter ]

00:41:35

And so I remember feeling helpless and I just remember praying.

00:41:39

And I remember having a conversation with the Almighty and

00:41:42

asking God to show me who am I outside of being a football

00:41:47

player.

00:41:49

This is the conversation most athletes don't want to ever have,

00:41:52

because they don't ever want to imagine themselves no longer

00:41:55

being the athlete, right.

00:41:58

But here I am, I'm forced to have this conversation because I

00:42:01

did everything, I worked hard.

00:42:02

I persevered.

00:42:03

I made the team.

00:42:05

Made the cut.

00:42:06

Then why am I sitting home on a sofa with an uncertain future?

00:42:12

So I begin to have a conversation with God and asked Him to show

00:42:16

me who am I without the game of football?

00:42:22

And it wasn't too long after that I end up meeting two gentlemen

00:42:25

who I remain very close friends with today.

00:42:29

They had played at the University of Michigan.

00:42:31

They never even got an opportunity to play in the NFL.

00:42:34

And they were working at a local insurance company here in town.

00:42:38

And we became close friends.

00:42:39

They were telling me about their job and I was so intrigued.

00:42:43

I said, I'm looking for a job.

00:42:44

I said, I don't care if I go back and play football.

00:42:46

If I could get a job, work every year in the offseason, that'd

00:42:49

be great because I need to figure it out.

00:42:52

So I end up like went in and I interviewed, I ended up getting

00:42:55

into a management training program where I work in

00:42:58

I worked as a claims adjuster.

00:43:00

I worked in human resources.

00:43:02

And every year, even though we were called back after the strike

00:43:05

to come back and play, even though I got to play in a Super

00:43:08

Bowl the very next year and I'm having the time of my life

00:43:11

playing in the NFL,

00:43:13

every single year when the season was over, I went to my real

00:43:17

job, a job that I felt that God had led me to,

00:43:20

because there is where I grew exponentially and begin to learn

00:43:25

and grow in ways that I never thought possible.

00:43:29

And had I not gone through that transition, that it would have

00:43:33

made it more difficult that when my playing days were over, it

00:43:36

would have been even more difficult to transition into a real

00:43:40

job.

00:43:41

And that leads me to this final story of how prayer and faith

00:43:45

helped crystallize my belief that God still answers prayer.

00:43:52

Later in my football career, I remember we were playing a game

00:43:55

in Spain, we're playing the San Francisco 49ers.

00:43:58

And my wife at the time, we were pregnant expecting our third

00:44:04

child.

00:44:05

And so we had some complications and flew back here, go in for

00:44:11

for inspection, for treatments.

00:44:14

And the doctor pulled us in a room and said, "I have some bad

00:44:17

news. The umbilical cord is not attached to the esophagus.

00:44:23

The stomach is not attached to the esophagus.

00:44:29

And the chromosome count seems to be off.

00:44:33

This is common in children who are expected to be born with Down

00:44:37

syndrome.".

00:44:39

And I remember crying a lot of tears.

00:44:42

I remember them offering us opportunities to abort.

00:44:46

And I remember thinking, I can't do that.

00:44:51

And I just went home and I called my mom.

00:44:55

And I can still hear her saying, "You know what?

00:44:59

I'm gonna get all the women at the church and we're going to

00:45:01

pray.

00:45:02

That baby is gonna be okay.

00:45:03

Don't you do anything?

00:45:05

You just pray with us."

00:45:08

And I remember praying and going back to my Bible.

00:45:11

And there was the scripture, Jeremiah 33:3 which says:.

00:45:21

That scripture keeps coming back.

00:45:23

After that, I didn't worry, I just knew seven months later I'm

00:45:26

going into the emergency room

00:45:28

or I should say the delivery room, and I had pretty much had

00:45:32

forgotten all the fear and anxiety had left me.

00:45:37

I just went to work every single day.

00:45:39

I was doing all the right things.

00:45:41

And when there were a team of doctors that rushed into the room,

00:45:46

that's when I became aware again of what the potential was to

00:45:51

have a child born with Down syndrome.

00:45:54

I remember Dr.

00:45:56

Nelson, after my son was born and this team of doctors doing

00:46:00

all these tests and poking all -- they were doing so many

00:46:03

things.

00:46:04

And I remember him just saying, "Who said this baby was sick?

00:46:08

This baby is perfectly okay."

00:46:12

Born to us was a healthy baby boy who thrives today

00:46:17

[ applause ] and by the grace of God, He answered our prayers.

00:46:24

I've told that story to other people and they

00:46:26

say, "Well, are you sure they just didn't misdiagnose?

00:46:30

Are you sure it wasn't that?".

00:46:33

But I believe that God does stand on His word.

00:46:37

I believe that during those moments of uncertainty, because all

00:46:42

the money in the world, all the fame in the world could not

00:46:46

heal my son in utero.

00:46:50

There was nothing being an NFL player was going to do to fix

00:46:54

that situation.

00:46:55

I had no choice but to fall on my knees and pray.

00:46:59

I had no choice but to have faith in the darkest moment.

00:47:05

And so that's what I leave with you here today.

00:47:08

Not only will God answer prayer when hard work and perseverance

00:47:12

falls through.

00:47:14

He will come into your life.

00:47:16

He'll draw you closer to him and he will answer you.

00:47:20

He did it for me, and I know he'll do it for you.

00:47:23

Thank you very much.

00:47:24

[ applause ]

00:47:38

>> Let's talk about some stuff you talked about here.

00:47:40

I love -- I love that line about hard work isn't enough.

00:47:45

Our own efforts aren't enough.

00:47:47

So you obviously, you're working hard, right?

00:47:52

You're getting scholarships.

00:47:54

You're doing everything you need to do, you're working on.

00:47:57

But then you've got the prayer thing.

00:47:59

So is it -- is it you work hard and then when your work isn't

00:48:02

doing it, then the prayer picks up or is it intermingled

00:48:05

throughout or how does that work?

00:48:07

>> No, I think you need to do both because particularly as say,

00:48:10

if you're an athlete?

00:48:11

What happens if you get injured?

00:48:13

Because you know, it's inevitable.

00:48:16

You know, athletes, it's not about when I get hurt, you are

00:48:20

going to get hurt, particularly in a sport like football.

00:48:23

You continue to play, you are going to get hurt.

00:48:26

So I remember every single time before going out to a game, you

00:48:32

-- there is some humility there.

00:48:33

You have to have that and ask for protection and understand that

00:48:39

hard work and all the weight lifting and all the training does

00:48:42

not amuse you from injury.

00:48:46

That divine intervention conversation with the Almighty, it

00:48:51

really does help.

00:48:52

There's been many instances in my life where I didn't just pray

00:48:57

and ask for results without putting in the hard work.

00:49:00

>> Right. Well, talking about the physical game, when I was

00:49:05

talking with Solomon about, hey, let's have you kind of stand

00:49:08

You don't have to sit down.

00:49:09

This isn't a studio. Let's have you

00:49:10

standing up around.

00:49:11

And the reason why you didn't stand was?

00:49:14

>> Yeah, I told him, I said, "I have this old body that's been

00:49:17

beaten up by football, you know, bad back, bad hips.

00:49:20

>> Right.

00:49:21

>> I said, "I need to sit down.

00:49:22

You can stand that's good for you, but give me a perch to sit

00:49:27

on because, you know, I'm 54, but my body and joints are

00:49:31

>> Yet?

00:49:34

>> No, no, no. You

00:49:35

don't hit as hard as some ballplayers, so it's okay.

00:49:37

[ laughter ]

00:49:41

>> But that, man, that is I mean, that's really wild to be in a

00:49:46

profession for six years that's going to affect the rest of

00:49:51

your life.

00:49:52

>> Absolutely. Physically.

00:49:54

>> Physically, yeah.

00:49:55

Physically.

00:49:56

>> There was times I remember after a game the next morning and

00:50:01

you go to get out of bed and, whoa, I mean, you hurt from head

00:50:05

And all ballplayers will tell you this, the very next day you

00:50:10

have so much inflammation, you're in such pain that you get up

00:50:15

slowly.

00:50:16

And that's when you know that this isn't good for my long term

00:50:19

health. There's just no way this is good.

00:50:22

And you keep doing it and you keep getting back on that

00:50:26

horse, sooner or later, something is going to happen.

00:50:29

My body would pop in places that I even know existed.

00:50:33

And now I'm still feeling the pains from from having done that.

00:50:40

But I wouldn't change it for anything.

00:50:41

>> Well, what?

00:50:42

Why not?

00:50:43

I mean, it seems to me maybe there's some credibility to

00:50:46

football should just go away.

00:50:48

>> No, I don't think so.

00:50:49

I think it does still offer our youth opportunities to come

00:50:54

together and learn how to win as a team.

00:50:58

Learn how to operate within a team setting and still strive for

00:51:02

goals, dreams, aspirations, as I did in high school.

00:51:06

The game helped change the trajectory of my life.

00:51:10

We learn how to fail and still bounce back.

00:51:13

That moments of failure aren't permanent.

00:51:15

I learned that from playing sports.

00:51:17

I learned that from playing football.

00:51:19

I got beat, gave up touchdowns, came back and made a play.

00:51:23

You have to always get back up and keep fighting.

00:51:26

So there's so many things that we can learn, okay, that we can

00:51:31

carry with us the rest of our lives that we learn from

00:51:33

participating in sports.

00:51:34

Football did that for me.

00:51:36

It might be another sport for your son or daughter, but that

00:51:40

game should not go away.

00:51:41

There's always gonna be some young kid on some farm in the

00:51:45

Nebraska, he wants off that farm.

00:51:47

He's tired of bailing hay.

00:51:48

>> Right? But football offers him an opportunity to one day buy

00:51:52

that farm.

00:51:53

>> Well, it's not just that, I like a sport that gives a healthy

00:51:57

outlet for aggression.

00:51:58

>> There you go.

00:51:59

Absolutely.

00:52:01

>> A lot of young males need a healthy outlet for aggression.

00:52:05

And I think that are paranoia over football is coinciding with

00:52:09

our embracing of passively.

00:52:11

We just -- we just want less and less of a vigorous life.

00:52:15

And I'm concerned about it.

00:52:16

>> Well, you talk about being aggressive.

00:52:18

You cannot survive on a football field if you're not aggressive.

00:52:22

Even the quarterback who you don't think of is being aggressive.

00:52:25

I mean, if you watch Tom Brady and you watch him, he's head

00:52:28

butting with his offensive line.

00:52:29

He's getting jacked up and he's not going to tackle anyone.

00:52:33

But even when it comes to throwing that laser ball with the

00:52:37

clock ticking, he cannot be passive in that moment.

00:52:41

Defenders are swarming around Rob Gronkowski and he's still

00:52:44

going to squeeze that ball in that tight window.

00:52:47

And if he's passive or if he's at all tentative, there's no way

00:52:51

he's going to be able to win as many championship rings as he's

00:52:54

won.

00:52:55

>> You saw it on blows this out, he was a guest on The

00:52:57

Aggressive Life podcast and you did a great job.

00:53:00

>> And we did some race stuff on there, too.

00:53:02

It was a really, really good one.

00:53:05

Okay. Big question for you, last question for you here.

00:53:08

Solomon has not talked about his broadcasting career.

00:53:12

He went to work for free at a local TV station in Cincinnati,

00:53:19

just to earn ropes and climb the ladder.

00:53:21

And he's been on the sideline reporting gig at this

00:53:24

Super Bowl, a number of Super Bowls.

00:53:25

How many Super Bowls have you reported on.

00:53:26

>> Oh, four?

00:53:27

>> Four. How many Super Bowls have you won?

00:53:30

>> I've won none, Brian.

00:53:31

He already knew that.

00:53:35

>> You've got an interesting perspective.

00:53:37

Like you've been in the NFL and you've been in reporting at the

00:53:42

highest levels, not just in sports, but some other things.

00:53:45

What's God doing in the NFL and what's God doing in broadcasting

00:53:49

these days?

00:53:51

>> Wow. I mean, that's a very tough question because I think we

00:53:54

see it across the landscape of media, whether it's in sports or

00:53:59

whether it's in politics, that it's hard to be a truth

00:54:03

teller in media.

00:54:06

It's hard to be a truth teller.

00:54:09

In fact, you're almost rewarded for embellishing.

00:54:13

Right?

00:54:14

Whether it's in politics, whether it's in political news,

00:54:17

whether it's in entertainment news, and sports is like

00:54:21

entertainment.

00:54:23

So, for instance, I remember being in production meetings and

00:54:29

for instance, we were talking about JJ Watt, he plays for the

00:54:31

Houston Texans.

00:54:32

I absolutely love JJ Watt because I love the community work.

00:54:36

When you talk about the work that he did when there was a

00:54:40

hurricane, it struck Houston and he opens up this Go Fund Me

00:54:47

He just only wants to donate a couple of hundred thousand

00:54:50

dollars.

00:54:52

He ends up raising millions of dollars to give to those who lost

00:54:59

their homes due to the hurricanes in Houston, in the city where

00:55:02

he played.

00:55:03

So I want to talk about it.

00:55:05

I say, "Hey, we need to talk about this.

00:55:07

We always talk about the negative things when a player gets

00:55:09

arrested or when some of these things -- let's talk about, you

00:55:13

know, some of the work these players are doing in their

00:55:15

And I remember, oh, no, we're not talking about that.

00:55:18

But we could talk about who the player's dating.

00:55:20

We could talk about how they were arrested for whatever they

00:55:23

did.

00:55:24

And so to be able to find the space to do that consistently is

00:55:29

something that we often have to fight for.

00:55:31

>> Which that would be something that God would want.

00:55:34

God would want us to dwell on some of the positive things.

00:55:36

But you're saying where you've been in, that's hard to do.

00:55:40

>> Well, I would say, yeah, absolutely.

00:55:42

It's been challenging because you have producers, you have

00:55:45

bosses, they tell you, "Here is what we want.

00:55:47

Here's what we want to focus on.".

00:55:49

But when I came up through our journalism school at the

00:55:51

University of Colorado, you had -- you learned to be fair and

00:55:55

balanced.

00:55:56

Fair and balanced mean tell both sides of each story.

00:56:01

We don't do that anymore.

00:56:03

In fact, in the mid 90s, the FCC, the Federal Board of

00:56:08

Communications, they passed legislation where you don't have to

00:56:12

You could tell one side of a story and only that one side and

00:56:17

not lose your license.

00:56:19

So since the beginning of television, which the advent of

00:56:22

television and 1950s, you had to tell both sides of the story,

00:56:26

whether you're Walter Cronkite, Edward R.

00:56:29

Murrow or any of the great news broadcasters of the past.

00:56:34

And today you get to sell one side of the story.

00:56:38

>> We all know that one side of the story is not the whole

00:56:42

story.

00:56:43

I'm all right?

00:56:44

Well, we're glad that we've got folks like you who are in

00:56:47

places that the rest of us aren't.

00:56:49

Would you -- would you just up pray us out here today before we

00:56:53

have all of our community pastors come up?

00:56:54

>> Absolutely.

00:56:55

And close us out. Would you just pray for us?

00:56:56

>> Gracious eternal Father, Lord God, we thank you for this

00:56:59

opportunity to come and share the fruits that you have given us

00:57:03

one with another.

00:57:04

We pray, O, Lord, that you would continue to bind us to Your

00:57:07

word, that You would combined us as a community to stick

00:57:11

together in love.

00:57:13

We thank you, Father, for your word today.

00:57:17

We pray that as we leave here today, you would protect each and

00:57:21

every one of us to arrive home and at our destination safely.

00:57:24

We thank you and ask this in Jesus name.

00:57:27

>> Amen.

00:57:28

>> All right.

00:57:29

Let's bring up our community pastors. [ applause ].

00:57:46

Thanks for joining us this week for our Spark Talks.

00:57:49

I hope that right now you're feeling inspired maybe with a brand

00:57:52

new idea.

00:57:54

Next week for our Spark Talks all of our community pastors are

00:57:58

going to be speaking live in their locations.

00:58:02

And there will be local people in each of those communities

00:58:05

getting to share their stories.

00:58:07

And so it's a great weekend for you to check out what locations

00:58:10

are near you and maybe head to the location nearest you.

00:58:14

Or join us here on Crossroads Anywhere and get to hear a little

00:58:18

bit more about what's happening in California with this group

00:58:21

behind me.

00:58:22

We'll see you next week for Spark Talks.

00:58:23

Closed Captioning: Maverick Captioning Service, Cincinnati, Ohio

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