You�d think a longtime major league pitcher � especially one who made millions of dollars as a 19-year veteran, former All-Star and member of multiple playoff teams � would kick back and relax for awhile after retiring. Maybe travel to exotic locations or buy a mansion and sip daiquiris by the pool.

Not Scott Sanderson.

�I took three weeks off after my last game and then started representing players,� he said. �I knew later in my career that this is what I wanted to do.�

Sanderson, 51, is currently a partner at Moye Sports Associates, which is based out of Suwanee, Ga., although Sanderson works out of his home in Lake Forest, Ill. He met MSA president Mike Moye during his playing career when both men were on the board of directors of Professional Athletes Outreach, a Christian ministry.

�I knew for the last six years that when I finished playing, I wanted to represent players,� Sanderson said. �It seemed like there were so few former players doing it. As much as there�s a need for legal help and advice, it didn�t seem like there was a great wealth of baseball advice.�

That�s a subject on which Sanderson is an expert. After three stellar years at Vanderbilt University, the Dearborn, Mich., native was selected by the Montreal Expos in the third round of the 1977 draft. A year later, Sanderson broke into the major leagues and put together a solid career that lasted until 1996.

The 6-foot-5 right-hander won 15 games three times, earned an All-Star selection in 1991 and finished with a 163-143 record, a 3.84 ERA and 1,611 strikeouts with seven different teams. Control was his calling card: He allowed only 625 bases on balls in his career, an impressive average of 32.9 per year.

Despite his prowess and longevity, Sanderson always seemed to be undercard to the main event wherever he pitched. He typically toiled in the shadows of more luminous stars like Greg Maddux, Rick Sutcliffe, Dave Stewart, Bob Welch, Jack McDowell and Chuck Finley.

The notable exception was his All-Star season, when he went 16-10 with a 3.81 ERA as the clear-cut ace for a moribund New York Yankees team (71-91 record). He was selected by that year�s American League All-Star skipper Tony La Russa, for whom he had played the year before in Oakland.

�It was an extremely gratifying reward,� Sanderson said. �After years of hard work, there was some real gratification from being on that team.�

Sanderson played for some of the best teams of his generation, including the 1984 and �89 Chicago Cubs, the �94 Chicago White Sox and the �90 Oakland Athletics � all of which won their respective divisions. Yet none of the teams for whom Sanderson played ever won a World Series. The 1990 A�s, heavily favored in that year�s Fall Classic after winning 103 games in the regular season and sweeping the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series, were shocked by the Cincinnati Reds, 4-0, in the best-of-seven series.

�That�s a real luxury I had: great teams and really great players � Hall of Fame players � and I got to watch them go about their careers,� Sanderson said. �It�s not an overstatement to say I had an unbelievable experience to live out a boyhood dream. It�s the kind of thing you dream about.�

Becoming a sports agent was a natural progression after his playing days ended. For 14 years, he served as a player�s union representative and contributed to three different collective bargaining agreements.

Sanderson and Moye represent mostly baseball players � including stars like Boston ace Josh Beckett, Houston first baseman Lance Berkman and Colorado first baseman Todd Helton � although the firm also counts Detroit Lions quarterback Jon Kitna and U.S. Olympic sprinter Allyson Felix among its clients.

In a profession where materialism and avarice are prevalent, Sanderson said he and Moye consider their job an opportunity to model Christ. And with his vast first-hand knowledge, Sanderson relishes the opportunity to counsel his clients in a broad range of issues like handling success and failure on the field, dealing with a difficult manager and playing through injuries.

�There�s a lot of teaching that goes on, whether we mean it or not,� Sanderson said. �It�s great to have a baseball ministry.�

Sanderson grew up in a churchgoing home, but it wasn�t until his freshman year at Vanderbilt that he trusted in Christ for salvation. When two of his senior teammates invited him to attend a Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting, he jumped at the chance.

�I�m the youngest of five children. I�m not impulsive,� he said. �I don�t react quickly to things I don�t investigate. I did some investigative journalism and found out that the claims Jesus Christ made were correct. Shortly thereafter, I asked Christ to come into my life.�

He is also involved in Unlimited Potential Inc., a baseball ministry that shares the gospel through clinics and Bible studies worldwide. He and his wife Cathleen, who have been married for 28 years, have a son in college and a daughter in high school.

It�s an exciting time for Sanderson, even if the thrill of taking the mound every fifth day is now a distant memory.

�God blessed me to stay in baseball and have such a wonderful opportunity with Mike to mentor players,� he said. �It�s a great joy to watch these players mature as men and players with their families. It�s a neat opportunity to take faith into the workplace.�

The Cincinnati Bengals selected Appalachian State free safety Corey Lynch in the sixth round of the NFL draft.

Lynch’s wife Cissie is the daughter of Franklin Graham and the granddaughter of Billy Graham.

“I’m going to bring a lot of dedication. I’m going to bring character. Those are always tops on my list, and definitely some game-changing plays,” Lynch said about his selection by the Bengals.

“I just thank Jesus Christ for everything he’s done for me so far. He’s led me to Appalachian through a great career, and I believe he’s led me to the Bengals for another great career. So I’m looking forward to it.”

It is early morning at the large cafeteria hall of the Sunrise Ministry in Auburn, Calif., and Professor Paul Felix is giving an Olympic performance in the face of poor conditions. The volume on his body microphone is jumping from faint resonance to raised screeching to silence, and the veteran pastor isn’t fond of his handheld mic. “Can we fix this?” he asks. “I like to talk with my hands.”

At the front table, the soft-spoken daughter who otherwise tried to emulate the man with the booming voice, smiles at the irony. After all, Allyson Felix usually lets her feet do most of the talking.

In four months, the sprinter may be the female track star of the Beijing Olympics, running three distances — including two relays — with a chance to win three gold medals. But on this morning, she is the youthful, beaming, 22-year-old Sunday-school teacher who has just introduced her dad at the church’s annual father-daughter breakfast.

“My family has always been there to make sure I understood what we were learning in church,” she tells people. “My running is a gift from God; My success is not of myself. I know that my actions on and off the track should be a reflection of God, because people watch what you do and what you say. My father taught me that.”

It is the first time Allyson has had the occasion to introduce Paul, who suspects ulterior reasons for his increasing demand. “I realize that when people ask me to come and speak these days,” he says, “there is usually another motive, because they can ask me to bring my daughter.”

It is understandable. In 2004 Allyson won a silver medal in the 200 meters at the Athens Olympics when she was just 18. Last summer she became the second female (after East Germany’s Marita Koch in 1983) to win three gold medals at a world outdoor championship. Felix won the 200 meters and ran legs on the 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter relays. She may run the open 100, as well, at the Olympic trials in Eugene, Ore., this summer. With the Beijing Games beckoning, she seems only on the cusp of her potential.

When she speaks of her faith, she doesn’t come across as an athlete who blindly attributes a winning shot or lucky punch to a higher power, but as one whose lifestyle choices have ennobled her to achieve them. She maintained a full course load at the University of Southern California, where she graduated last year with a degree in elementary education. In the winter she teaches Sunday school to students in third through sixth grades. “My beliefs calm my heart and my mind,” she says. “I understand why the journey is more important than the medals.”

Go to the home in Santa Clarita, Calif., that Allyson shares with her older brother, Wes (also a sprinter and USC grad) and you won’t see a single medal or trophy. Those are on proud display at her parents’ house a few blocks away.

In hearing Paul, you understand why Allyson gives such thoughtful answers and keeps celebrations to a minimum. In an age of fist-pumping and self-congratulations, her humble and studied comportment come from the father who earned three masters degrees, taught ancient Greek and became president of the Los Angeles Bible Training School. On this April day he speaks lovingly of the infant he and his wife nicknamed “Shug,” a diminutive of sugar.

“It is a great calling,” he says, “to be fathers our children can pattern themselves after.” He calls the Bible “the one authorized textbook for raising children” and admits “we live in a culture that often doesn’t value women for the right reasons.”

Later Paul tells the parishioners, “she can win all the medals she wants, but if my daughter isn’t walking in the truth, then the medals don’t matter that much.”

It is a word of both caution and hope for a sport that, for years, has had trouble walking in competitive truth.

The track world needs Felix at a time when the BALCO drug scandal is still rippling through it. Marion Jones, the five-time Olympic medalist whom Allyson once idolized, has admitted to steroid use and is now serving a jail sentence for lying to a grand jury. The list of coaches and athletes caught in this and other drug webs reads like an all-star team. Justin Gatlin, the defending Olympic champ in the 100 meters, is under IAAF suspension. And even cheery Maurice Greene, the gold medalist in the 100 at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, was recently implicated in press reports.

Mindful of public cynicism track has endured, Allyson recently volunteered for an enhanced drug-testing initiative of international officials that will incorporate blood testing and increase the frequency of her out-of-competition tests before the Beijing Games.

“I understand where track is,” she says, while signing church programs and table placements for people at other tables. “I have to live up to that. And I have to live up to my dad.”

Todd Jones vividly remembers his worst outing ever.

It was June 1, 2007, and the Detroit Tigers were at Cleveland. The Indians were threatening to close a 9-5 deficit in the eighth inning, so Detroit manager Jim Leyland brought in Jones, the team�s veteran closer, to nail the game shut. Two runs scored before Jones retired the side, but the Tigers spotted him two more runs in the top of the ninth.

It wasn�t enough. Jones imploded in the bottom of the ninth, surrendering a three-run homer to Victor Martinez and two more runs to absorb a bitter 12-11 loss.

�That was nice,� Jones recalled, sarcastically. �There�s usually one game a year where a fan leans over and says, �Mr. Jones, are sure you�re right-handed?��

To survive as long as Jones has in the pressure cooker of being a major league closer, you have to possess a thick skin and a sense of humor. But more often than not, it is Jones who has had the last laugh. Last September, he entered baseball�s 300-save club, which includes just 20 other members. And this season � the 16th of his career � he has been a sturdy anchor for underachieving Detroit.

But to peg Jones simply as a ninth-inning specialist is to completely overlook one of baseball�s most interesting characters. This is a man who believes that �humans are underneath a crotchet piece of cloth� (more on that later) and enjoys listening to music �that tells other people Christians can rock out, and we know a guitar riff when we see it, and we know a party and can get in a mosh pit and don�t have to drink.�

Mercy, there�s a lot of Dixie in that 6-foot-3, 230-pound frame. In his Georgia-bred drawl, Todd Barton Givin Jones will tell you about how the Christian faith is like taking a �Lipton Ice Tea plunge.� His brawny handlebar moustache screams �Gunfight at the O.K. Corral,� and he has an artistic rendering of John 20:29 � Jesus� provoking post-resurrection encouragement to Doubting Thomas � tattooed on his hand.

You gotta love this guy.

Jones grew up in Marietta, Ga., without any knowledge of church or the Bible, except for the holier-than-thou vibes he felt from Christian acquaintances. In college, he met his wife, Michelle, whose family, Jones said, �showed me God�s love and forgiveness.� He put his faith in Christ on Oct. 6, 1991, at Eden Westside Baptist Church in Pell City, Ala., where he still lives during the offseason with Michelle and their two children.

For the next 10 years, Jones was self-admittedly �lukewarm� in his faith. He didn�t study God�s Word much and fell into complacency. Eventually, though, spiritual growth started as truth of the gospel began to sink in �because I realized the price Jesus paid,� he said.

Now, Jones actively looks for ways to share his faith. Last Saturday, he gave his testimony during Home Plate, an annual evangelistic outreach, in front of an estimated crowd of 5,500 before Detroit�s home game against the Angels. His song selection for late-game entrances is �Last One Standing� by MercyMe, a Christian rock band who wrote the tune with him in mind. And when the Tigers are on the road, he frequently hosts the team Bible study in his hotel room and orders refreshments for the participants.

�The last two years in particular, I�ve really seen Todd�s faith mature,� said Jeff Totten, the longtime Baseball Chapel leader to the Tigers. �I think it�s greatly due to his increased desire to read and study the Word of God. Not that he didn�t do that before, but he�s had a greater passion for that in recent years.�

As Jones� knowledge of Scripture has deepened, so has his understanding of divine sovereignty.

�I think humans are underneath a crotchet piece of cloth,� he said. �We�re underneath and we see all the knots and the strings hanging loose, but God is looking from the top of it and sees the picture being knitted around you. We can�t see it because we�re underneath. God is making this big masterpiece in your life.�

A first-round draft pick out of Jacksonville State (Ala.) University in 1989, Jones broke into the majors with the Houston Astros in 1993, but his career didn�t take off until he was traded to Detroit before the 1997 season. In 4� years with the Tigers, Jones recorded 142 saves, including a career-best 42 in 2000, the only All-Star season of his career.

But he was shipped to Minnesota in July 2001, a move that inadvertently spawned a prolonged stretch of ineffectiveness, frustration and the loss of his closer role. From August 2001 through 2004, he posted a combined five saves while bouncing between Minnesota, Colorado, Boston, Cincinnati and Philadelphia.

�I had fallen from graces,� Jones said. �I wasn�t worthy. The ninth inning is pretty important to teams. I wasn�t doing my job. I had to earn my way back into that.�

Jones returned to prominence with the Florida Marlins in 2005, finishing with 40 saves and a career-best 2.10 ERA. He arrived back in Detroit in 2006 and combined to save 75 games the last two seasons.

This year, Jones has been one of the few bright spots for a Detroit team that spent lavishly on marquee free agents in the offseason but has struggled early on. While the Tigers stumbled to a 13-15 record through Wednesday, Jones has earned five saves in five chances and a 2.45 ERA.

�On paper, we were supposed to beat everybody, 10-0, every night and go 162-0,� Jones said. �We�re supposed to be great. We�ll see.�

Regardless of the Tigers� success this season, Jones has put together an impressive career. Besides his 306 career saves, he was the last person to throw a pitch in old Tiger Stadium, he played for the United States in the 2006 World Baseball Classic and he helped Detroit reach the 2006 World Series.

So how long will Jones, who just turned 40 on April 24, keep playing? It�s a good question � worthy of a patented Todd Barton Givin Jones crack.

�I just want to get through today,� he deadpanned. �As an older player, you lose sight of �have a good season.� You just want to have a good week. I can�t even think about what�s going on down the road. But I know one thing: God has been good to me. I�m so thankful to be able to do what I�ve done.�

NCAA college basketball is closing one of its most suspenseful seasons in scenic San Antonio with a Final Four of college basketball royalty: North Carolina, UCLA, Kansas and Memphis.

Saturday’s two semifinal games will match UCLA against Memphis and Kansas against North Carolina. The two winners play Monday night for the 2008 NCAA Championship.

Among the crowds in San Antonio will be a sizable representation of coaches and players who, on the basketball court and beyond, see Jesus Christ as life’s ultimate champion.

“I’m always honored to be part of so many of my fellow Christians at this great basketball gathering,” said TNT announcer Ernie Johnson who will be emceeing the 13th annual Legends of the Hardwood breakfast Saturday morning sponsored by Athletes in Action and Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Former North Carolina and NBA star Hubert Davis will be awarded the John Wooden Keys to Life Award as a man of faith on and off the court.

Several prominent college players and coaches will be featured at the breakfast, which is expected to draw a crowd of 1,500 people just hours before the Final Four semifinal games at the nearby Alamodome.

While Wooden, a devout Christian and former UCLA coaching legend who won 10 NCAA titles, will be unable to make the banquet because of a recent fall and hospital stay, the Keys to Life award will be presented to Davis by Wooden’s daughter, Nan Wooden Muehlhausen.

CBS lead announcer Jim Nantz described Wooden as the perfect choice by the two Christian organizations for honoring basketball’s faith-filled coaches and players.

“He [Wooden] had always a saintly aura, someone who lived at such a high level morally and ethically,” Nantz said.

“I came to realize that when all of sports is over and spoken, how you are as a man and the life you live in and out of the spotlight is all that really counts,” Nantz said.

The Saturday breakfast also will feature USA basketball’s 2008 Olympics top executive, Jerry Colangelo, chairman and CEO of the Phoenix Suns.

Nantz, who will be broadcasting his 17th straight Final Four, said he is happy to spotlight the many positive stories in this year’s semifinals and championship game.

One of the stories Nantz and his CBS team likely will tell is of a preacher’s kid who made it to the sport’s ultimate weekend as a head coach. UCLA coach Ben Howland’s dad, Bob, was the longtime senior pastor of one of the largest Presbyterian churches in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Kansas head coach Bill Self and several member of his Kansas team have professed their faith in Christ in the past and will have the opportunity to voice it anew in the national spotlight.

Another big part of the Final Four faith activities will be Friday afternoon’s Athletes in Action Coaches Forum. Among those expected to speak are Baylor’s Scott Drew and Washington State’s Tony Bennett who led their teams to outstanding seasons and postseason NCAA play.

Also scheduled to speak at the forum will be former Baylor head coach Dave Bliss, who was forced to resign for covering up illegal payments to basketball team members in 2003 and for his part in attempting the hinder the investigation of the murder of a Baylor team member.

Bliss, who is out of coaching and living in Denver, has stayed out of the spotlight for most part since then. But in a Colorado media interview earlier this winter he said he wants to say he’s sorry to the coaches for the hurt and stain he left on the college coaching profession.

“Dave Bliss will be talking about the ethics and pressures of college coaching,” Athletes in Action spokesperson Katie Campbell said.

Several evangelistic groups will use the NCAA Hoop City public basketball carnival as a chance for street witnessing in downtown San Antonio, and several local churches are planning special Final Four services, testimonies and outreach on Sunday. And Christian alternative metal band Flyleaf will play at the NCAA World’s Largest Pep Rally, a free event near the Alamodome that will include spirit squads from each Final Four school.

Growing up in Columbus, Ohio, Michael Redd always had Christ in his life. But since he was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in 2000, the 29-year-old shooting guard has developed a stronger faith. Not long after he arrived in the NBA, Redd famously declared he would remain celibate until he married his wife and, by all accounts, kept that promise.

Then after signing a six-year, $91-million contract in August 2005, the NBA all-star used part of the money to help his father purchase a church. Redd’s father, the Rev. James Redd, is pastor of the Philadelphia Deliverance Church of Christ in Columbus, Ohio. Before his son’s generous gift, the congregation worshiped in storefront and basement churches. At a time when NBA stars are glorified for their wanton lifestyles, Redd stands out as one who puts his faith first.

I talked to Redd about faith and basketball.

Have you always been spiritual?
Growing up in a household that included parents that were pastors and people that were involved in ministry, that’s all I’ve ever known. It wasn’t until I left home that I really developed a personal relationship with Christ. For so long as a teenager and a kid, you piggyback off mom and dad. They’re ministering, they’re pastoring, so I think I’m automatically getting a pass to heaven. And that wasn’t the case at all, I found out. I had to develop my own personal relationship with Christ and begin to communicate with Him on a deeper level pretty much when I left home to go to the NBA.

You can stay home on Sunday to watch football, skip Tuesday night prayer meeting for the baseball game of the week, and miss Saturday’s church retreat in favor of a pro golf tournament–chances are, you’ll still hear about Jesus. Evangelical athletes populate the major sports, and many of them enjoy the chance to be outspoken about their faith–thanking God for that winning field goal, late-inning homerun, or 18-foot putt.

We’ve scanned the sporting world to come up with a gallery of some of the most dominant athletes and coaches working today. Each of these men and women work hard, as their Bibles tell them, “to win the prize,” both in their sports and in their faith.

Joe Gibbs

The owner of champion NASCAR team, Joe Gibbs Racing, was also, until January 8, 2008, the head coach and team president of the Washington Redskins (he resigned). Gibbs’s Christian faith not only comes through in interviews and in football games–where he would often be seen praying on the sidelines–but is also displayed very prominently on his personal website where he offers a “weekly spiritual game plan”or devotionals–and even offers his readers free Bibles. He documents his faith journey and the biblical foundations he uses in his life and career in his 2003 book, “Racing to Win,” which also offers a companion book, “Racing to Win Bible Study.”

Mariana Rivera

The popular Panamanian relief pitcher for the New York Yankees has helped the team win four World Series titles throughout his career. The devoutly Christian Rivera–who is often seen reading the Bible before and after games–finds inspiration in the verse Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” He even has it inscribed on his pitching glove. He is deeply involved in philanthropy and financed the building of a school and church in Panama City. Rivera has also gone public with his intention of becoming an evangelical minister at the end of his baseball career and is devoted to a variety of charities that focus on children, such as Casita Maria and former Yankees manager Joe Torre’s Safe At Home Foundation.

Derek Fisher

Derek Fisher plays for a former powerhouse basketball team that is having something of a Cinderella season. The Los Angeles Lakers are better than anyone expected this year, but just good enough to have to scrape for every single victory.

It’s fitting drama for Fisher, a player whose career has been one intense moment after another, from his game-winning shot with .04 second left in the 2004 playoffs, to last July when his daughter Tatum was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Fisher was playing for the Utah Jazz at the time, and because Salt Lake City didn’t have a specialist who could treat Tatum, Fisher asked permission to leave the team so he could move to another city. The Fishers landed in L.A., where the Lakers offered Fisher a contract (at a loss of nearly $8 million).

Fisher has never been an outspoken player nor a very outspoken Christian. But throughout his career, his faithfulness has been cited by others. And if one of the tenets of the modern evangelical movement is commitment to family, Fisher is a resounding testimony to the depth of that value and the sacrifice it requires.

Shaun Alexander

According to his 2006 memoir, “Touchdown Alexander” the born-again running back for the Seattle Seahawks and 2005 NFL MVP and his wife, Valerie, were both virgins when they married. The couple now has three daughters–Heaven, Trinity, and Eden. In the book Alexander–who points towards the sky every time he scores a touchdown–also acknowledges that God is the key to his success: “Everyone has been given gifts that can be used to bring glory to God,” he writes. “And when we bring glory to God through the gifts He has given us, we are blessed. For me, the gift was athletic ability.” He is the co-founder of the Shaun Alexander foundation along with his brother, Durran, which they created before he went pro, and supports a variety of organizations, including the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Allyson Felix

Allyson Felix is very, very fast. She might be the fastest woman alive-in 2007, she won three gold medals at the Outdoor World Championships in Japan, matching a world record for victories. She also ran the 200 meters faster than anyone else in the world-the top three runs last year were all by Felix. Felix won a silver medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens when she was 18 years old, and is favored to climb the medalists’ stage again this summer in Beijing.

Felix’s father is a New Testament professor, and she has touted his Bible classes and her own seminary training on her website. Like a lot of evangelical athletes, Felix uses her platform as a runner to testify about her faith. “My speed is a gift from God, and I run for his glory,” she told Christianity Today. “Whatever I do, it all comes from him.”

Hunter Smith

The NFL has a potential rock star on its roster. The punter for the Indianapolis Colts has just began a career as a Christian rock artist with his band, Connorsvine, which includes his friend Chris Wilson, whom he met when they were leading worship together for a young-adult ministry at their church. The band has opened up for big-name Christian acts Toby Mac and Mercy Me. He has said, “I feel just as strong of a call to worship leading and ministering through music as I do in football.” Smith is certainly not the only sports figure to turn a hobby into a second career. Denver Broncos kicker Jason Elam co-wrote a just-released Christian novel “Monday Night Jihad,” which involves a pro football player who returns to his former profession as a member of a special ops team designed to stop terrorist attacks. And no, it’s not about Pat Tillman.

Jake Peavy

One year ago this month, San Diego Padres pitcher Jake Peavy made a phone call no husband wants to make: He called his wife to come get him out of jail. Peavy had been en route to the Dominican Republic, where he intended to teach a group of kids about Jesus and baseball. While unloading his truck at the airport, a security guard told Peavy to move his truck. Peavy resisted-with a curt remark. He was soon ticketed and jailed, and sat behind bars until his wife bailed him out and sent him off to complete his missionary journey.

Peavy says the situation caused a media frenzy in the D.R., which allowed him to proclaim his purpose for being there. So it was, at worst, a slight detour for a guy who has long been as dedicated to his faith–he volunteers for ministries and churches as much as possibleas he is to his job. Peavy is the all-time strikeout leader for the Padres, and he had a 2007 season to rememberhe was the lead leader in strikeouts, wins, and Earned Run Average.

Tony Dungy

The coach of the 2007 Super Bowl-winning Indianapolis Colts is known throughout the NFL for putting his faith and family above football. At one point in his career–after his stint as the head coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers–he considered leaving football to work with a prison ministry, which he documents in his 2007 best-selling memoir “Quiet Strength.” Although he eventually chose to continue his career in sports, he writes that football is “an opportunity for ministry” and continues to be active in a variety of Christian organizations, including the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the National Day of Prayer, and Athletes in Action.

Curt Schilling

It would have been sacrilege for Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling to suggest that he was some kind of Jesus figure after his heroic effort on the mound in the fall of 2004, where he played through the pain of a sutured ankle wound and led the Red Sox to World Series victory. But in the press conference following his performance in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, Schilling said, “Tonight was God’s work on the mound,” and there was something messiah-like about his performance: he literally bled for Red Sox Nation, and the fans worshipped Schilling as their savior from 86 years of championship-less suffering.

Schilling, who says he was led to the Christian faith when his wife, Shonda, fought skin cancer, has a preacher-like persona. He has an evangelical outspokenness, whether critiquing his performance after a game, taking down Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens in the media (and in the case of Bonds, apologizing profusely afterwards), or stumping for his favored presidential candidate, John McCain.

Tim Tebow

College football fans in Alabama usually want nothing to do with college football fans in Florida, aside from the occasional bar brawl or shouting match. But Florida’s current football hero is the University of Florida’s Tim Tebow, quarterback for the Florida Gators, who was raised by missionary parents and educated at home. Tebow’s story has inspired lobbyists in Alabama who want a resolution allowing homeschoolers to compete in public school athletics. The bill’s name: The Tim Tebow Bill.

Tebow has also inspired athletic homeschoolers nationwide, becoming the first homeschooled athlete to win the coveted Heisman Trophy. He was also the first sophomore Heisman winner, and is poised to be a force in college and professional football for years to come.

Michael Waltrip

The NASCAR community–both fans and drivers–is comprised of a large number of Christians. And Waltrip, driver and owner of Michael Waltrip Racing, is known as one of the organization’s most outspoken people of faith. In an “Ask the White House” interactive forum, Waltrip said, “I talk to God and I talk to Jesus when I’m racing and before I race.” Waltrip is also active in his support of Motor Racing Outreach, a Christian ministry that aims to introduce NASCAR drivers, crews, and their families “to a personal faith in Christ, to growth in Christ-likeness, and to active involvement in the church through relationships that provide care in times of stress, knowledge of God’s word, and assistance in the development of leadership skills.”

Zach Johnson

Because golf tournaments extend into Sundays for those who make the final cut, a good weekend for golfer Zach Johnson means skipping church. But in true evangelical fashion, Johnson believes he is never far from Jesus even when walking the greens. When he won the Masters, one of golf’s biggest tournaments, on Easter Sunday last year, he said that Jesus had been walking with him every step of the way.

No matter how one feels about athletes saying such things, Johnson’s faith is clearly authentic. There were tears in his eyes as he spoke, and his performance did seem miraculous. He is the only player in golf history to win the Masters while being ranked outside the top 50 players.

Johnson has not spent much time on the leader boards since last spring, but he makes our list because the Masters aura doesn’t wear off for a year. Until someone else storms the back nine at Augusta this spring, Johnson is the owner of golf’s only green blazer.

Two shining moments from Allan Houston’s career have cemented his place in NBA history: his buzzer-beating shot in Miami that sent his New York Knicks to the NBA Finals in 1999, and his 53-point game against the Los Angeles Lakers four years later. But Houston is no showboating superstar. Hardworking on the court, he was a softspoken leader off it, In retirement, Houston has quietly staked his post-NBA legacy on helping fathers and sons come together in a series of basketball retreats called Father Knows Best, held since 2004 in Harlem and soon to expand to New Orleans. We chatted with Houston about how the program got started, why it’s needed, and why athletics and faith go together.

We’ve gotten used to athletes offering up a win to God or a good game. But with these retreats, you’ve gone beyond that. Where did your dedication to your spirituality come from?

My parents were instrumental introducing me to God through my faith in Christ when I was growing up in Louisville, Kentucky. But I didn’t really take it to heart until I got to New York. The Bible talks about having a form of godliness, but denying His power—I use the analogy of being on the team, but not getting any playing time. But in New York, a cousin of mine, George Hughes, and [teammate] Charlie Ward sat me down and set down some principles of the Bible. So it started to soak in when I was about 25, 26 or so. God just kind of showed me a lot from that point on.

I wonder if many athletes reach for God when they go pro. You’re suddenly making a huge amount of money, traveling a lot, and you’re only 24 or 25.

Oh, it’s tough, extremely tough. The athlete-celebrity life is people telling you everything you want to hear. Life becomes about you. You have to have perspective. Deion Sanders once said, “Man, my bed is as expensive as some people’s house, but I can’t sleep in it. I can’t enjoy it. My soul is not satisfied.” Everybody has that desire to have a spiritual connection with God. They just don’t know how.

And as an athlete you have this unique platform to talk about your beliefs.

Well, if I pique a person’s interest just because I can shoot a basketball, I think I owe it to them to say, “You know what? Your soul can be satisfied just like mine, just like other people, and this is how.” It’s not about trying to push something onto you. It’s about sharing something. If you have a party, you don’t invite people because you’re trying to push something on them. It’s just—I’ve received something I want to share.

And that’s what you’re doing with your retreats.

Right, I wanted to share my experience. I’ve had great father, great parents. My father was also a father figure to a lot of the players he coached and mentored. Even before I was thinking about playing in the NBA, I saw his example, his work ethic. My father has had so many pioneering experiences—the first black player at the University of Louisville, first black head coach in the SEC Conference, owning one of the largest minority businesses in the country—and it’s all come about because of these principles. Then you see the stats. Fewer than 50 percent of African-American males have a father. This is our way of addressing the issue, but not just in that demographic, any demographic.

How do you address that?

We talk about communication. We talk about finding a connection. We talk about the blessings of a father’s example and the blessings of a son’s obedience. We talk about how the relationship between a man and a woman. But we do it all in a fun way where they can enjoy the game of basketball. After a fun game night, we start with workshops with guest speakers like A.R. Bernard, one of the most dynamic teachers out of Brooklyn. He talks about communication, how key it is in a father-son relationship. We have a workshop on the issues of sex and dealing with women. We make it age-appropriate: our average age is about 12, but we range from 8 to 15 or 16.

And there’s basketball skills as well, but even that is not just basketball.

Right. My dad and I host a shooting demonstration where we teach fathers how to teach their sons to shoot. Fathers compete against and shoot against each other, and they compete against other fathers and son pairs. So the fathers cheer for their son or shoot against their son or their mentee. And they walk away not caring who wins and loses, because it’s just the experience.

The retreats also have a spiritual dimension, right?

The core of your relationship with your father or son comes from your point of reference. How am I going to learn how to be a good dad, other than by example? To me, that is dictated by my relationship with God. So, we don’t take anyone to church. But we talk about principles of love. The Christian message is one of love and sacrifice, and so we take those principles and say, “How do we apply that to our relationships?” We want them to have fun playing basketball, but we’ve prayed with fathers and sons, and we’ve had some emotional moments.

The phrase that stuck with me from one of the speakers at the last retreat is “God’s blueprint for a father-son relationship.” Can you explain what that means?

Jesus said, “I do nothing without my Father.” We’re all representations of our fathers. So we try to understand who we really are, in God’s image as a man. Once we understand who we are, then we know how to act accordingly. Once we act accordingly, we know how to be an example to our son, to love him the right way and understand his gifts, his strengths, his weaknesses and understand how to nurture those.

But what if your own father is a bad deal? How do you deal with that?

We don’t have to attach ourselves only to our biological father. We were created in God’s image. My father’s a great father, but there are things I’d like to do differently. Even though biologically we know we’re just like our fathers in a lot of ways, we’re still made in God’s image—the image of a strong, powerful man who has a destiny and a purpose. We can point not just to an imperfect man, but one who we were created in His perfect image. That’s why we call it Father Knows Best, the heavenly father.

How many children do you have?

We have four. The second one is a boy. He’ll be seven in April.

Obviously, your career took you away a lot, and swept you up in the thing bigger than just you. How did that work for you as a father?

Well, when I was at home, people knew not to call me in my house. When I was home, that was their time. One of the hardest things I dealt with as a player was balancing time, telling people no. People want you to speak out at this group, their church. How do you say no? How do you say no to someone who wants an autograph when you got two kids on your arm? My kids don’t care about me being on ESPN. All they care about is, “Are you going to play with me today on this puzzle? Are you going to read to me tonight?” You have to find a balance. And unless we’re connected to our heavenly Father, we’re going to say, “I’ll read to you tomorrow.” We’re not going to be able to make that sacrifice and do it the right way.

Rosanna Queirolo doesn’t fit the standard profile of a pro-life activist.  She’s a former model who has posed in skimpy outfits in Ecuadoran magazines, and is a committed environmentalist who believes in man-made global warming.  She was recently elected to Ecuador’s constitutional convention, its “Constituent Assembly”, on the socialist ticket.

But Queirolo has surprised her political party by becoming the Assembly’s most outspoken and aggressive advocate of human life and family.  It has earned her bitter denunciations from fellow members of the socialist Alianza PAIS and plaudits from Ecuador’s pro-life majority.  Now, Queirolo appears to be winning her battle to preserve family values in the nation’s constitution.

Queirolo began to provoke the ire of her socialist colleagues in recent weeks when she opposed attempts to insert language allowing homosexual unions into the new constitution, a measure favored by President Rafel Correa, also of Alianza PAIS.

“God made us to procreate and the only way to procreate is through the union of a man with a woman.  A constitution cannot include just any human invention,” she said.

She further incensed homosexual activists when she objected to the inclusion of the word “sexual preference” in the document instead of “sexual orientation”, warning that the former term was less well defined and could lead to the approval of pedophilia and even bestiality.

The conflict between Queirolo and Alianza PAIS, which controls a majority of seats in the Constituent Assembly, heated up when Queirolo participated in street demonstrations demanding that God be mentioned in the new constitution as it is in the old, and that the traditional family and the right to life be protected.

She was also personally present to accept 100,000 signatures from a group of evangelical protestants who were petitioning to oppose changing the constitution to remove the name of God and the right to life.

Although opinions differ within the ranks of Alianza PAIS, President Rafel Correa, who founded the party, has stated his wish to remove the invocation of God from the preamble of the constitution and to open the door to homosexual unions.

The party is willing to leave a reference to the right to life intact, but members have made it clear that they interpret the passage as allowing what they call “therapeutic abortions”, a vague term that allows the procedure for a wide variety of purported “health” reasons (see recent LifeSiteNews coverage at http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/mar/08033101.html).

Her fellow party members accused her and fellow representative Diana Acosta, who has joined Queirolo in many of her battles, of allying themselves with “right-wing” forces seeking to use such issues to sink the new constitution.

“They’re using topics such as gay marriage, the decision to mention or not mention the name of God, and abortion, to generate opposition to the text of the constitution,” said representative Betty Amores during one of the Assembly hearings.  She called on Queirolo and Acosta to resign because they “have committed a grave ethical transgression” by marching with pro-lifers.

However, Queirolo was undeterred, stating that “my principles are non-negotiable” and threatening to take to the streets again if pro-life and pro-family principles were not included in the Constitution.  She claimed to have gathered 50 signatures from other representatives in the Assembly supporting her position.

“It’s no secret that my principles, my values, my beliefs are different from those of many from my party,” she told the Ecuadoran publication El Universo on March 25. “I will defend what I believe: invoking the name of God in the preamble, life without restrictions, and family.”

“It is necessary to enshrine the beliefs of the majority in the constitution,” she added, referring to the strong pro-life and pro-family sentiments of Ecuadorans.

Last night the conflict came to a head in a closed door meeting between Queirolo, Acosta, and the leadership of Alianza PAIS, including President Rafael Correa.  The two women successfully faced down the party, which acceded to practically all of their demands.

The party’s leadership promised that it would incorporate “the name of God in an ecumenical manner” in the new constitution, and stated clearly that “the new Constitution will guarantee life, and it will recognize it and protect it in all of its stages, including care and protection from conception.”

Finally, the party agreed that “matrimony will be maintained as a union of a man and a woman, recognizing free unions,” but stated also that it would “not discriminate against anyone because of their sexual orientation”, making it unclear if the party’s position was still compatible with homosexual “civil unions”.

Queirolo’s impressive victory could herald a bright future for her in Ecuadoran politics.  She has attracted significant press attention in her battle for life and family issues, and has shown uncompromising and determined leadership.  Despite powerful opposition from the nation’s president and the PAIS establishment, she is winning the fight to protect the traditional values of the Ecuadoran people.

Although the 40-year-old Queirolo may be most notable to Ecuadorans as a beautiful model, and later a TV anchorwoman and triathlon competitor, her educational achievements are impressive and substantial.  She is bilingual, and has a master’s degree in commercial engineering from an American university, as well as other degrees and certifications in family orientation and sports nutrition.  Her educational background and diverse career give her a firm foundation for her political role, one that could transform her increasingly successful foray into politics into a major political career.

Actor Chuck Norris has been selected to speak at Liberty University’s graduation on May 10.

Norris, the star of numerous feature films and the long-running CBS television show, “Walker, Texas Ranger,” was a mainstay this year in the campaign of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, whom Liberty University Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. endorsed for president.

Falwell said he chose Chuck Norris after speaking with Huckabee recently. “He [Huckabee] and Chuck have become close friends and he told me how he had been impressed with Chuck as a very thoughtful and intelligent person and as a strong conservative Christian. I can’t imagine any profession where it is more difficult to remain true to your conservative Christian values than the entertainment field.”

In addition to his acting career, Norris won many state, national and international karate titles in the mid-to-late 1960s.

He fought in and won the World Professional Karate Championship and retired undefeated in 1974. He was inducted into the Black Belt Hall of Fame as a fighter and instructor.

“The more I read about Chuck Norris, the more I am convinced that he is an excellent choice,” Falwell said. “LU is committed to placing graduates in every profession to make a positive difference in the world. That includes the entertainment industry. In fact, we had two students obtain major roles in a Hollywood feature film this week. There are so few conservative Christians in Hollywood, I believe we need to recognize, honor and hear from those who have been successful in swimming against the tide.”