You have no right to be ordinary . God has called you to be extraordinary . Oh How's it going, everyone? My name is Chris Renzema. I'm really excited to be here tonight with you. We're going to kick it off with a couple songs this morning. You're the resurrection that we've waited for. You buried the night you came. With the morning . You're the king of heaven. The praise is yours. The long with the quiet, the louder the chorus. All. For War. All. We were. Sing a new song. He's dead, he's dead and gone. At the winter we'll sing a new song. That hallelujahs flow like a river. We're coming back to life . Reaching towards the light. Your love is like springtime time. For your living water. God, we thirst for you. The dry and the buried. We'll flower and bloom. You're the sun that shine in you. Store my soul. The deeper you cause. Oh, the deeper we'll go. We will sing new songs. Day is day and gone with the winner. We will sing a new song. That out of you is flow like a river. We're coming back to life. Reaching towards the light. Your love is like springtime. Like springtime. Have. Its contents. Lord come Tensorial love my soul in like garden. In like garden I will grow. Oh, I will bloom. For come to in the soil contain. So you love my soul. In like a garden. Oh oh, in like garden I will grow. Oh oh oh I will grow. Oh oh oh I will grow. Whoa. Oh oh oh oh yeah. We will sing a new song. Stay He's dead and gone. With the winner. We will sing a new song. That I've is flow like a river. Come Coming back to life. Reaching towards the light. Your love is like springtime. Like springtime. My. And I know my God is love I know my God is love. This is enough to know my God is love I know my God is love. Yeah I know my God is love. And this is enough to know my God is love. I know my God is love. Yeah I know my God is love. And this is enough to know my God is love. Yeah I know my God is love. Yeah I know my God is love. And this is enough to know my God is love. Cause he is good and he is God. What I heard it's not what I got. And he is earth. It also kind. Would I serve? It's not what I find. What more could I say about it? My God is love. What more could I say about it? My God is love. For more could I say about it? My God is love. All right. Thank you Chris. Thank you Chris. That was amazing. If I could sing, that's exactly how I would sing it. So thanks so much. Chris Renzema is going to be in concert tonight and here at 8 p.m. I hope everybody comes for students. It's $10. And, looking forward to having you all. Thanks so much for being here with us today. It's going to be a great night. Welcome today also our college for a weekend guest. And so if you're a college for a weekend guest, if you just raised your hand like this and so we can see you and with a loud with a loud shout from Liberty students, if you think every student here looking at, looking at Liberty for CFAW should come in the fall, go ahead and give them a big shout. How about that? That's right, that's right. I'm going to ask God. God is going to speak to you while you're here this weekend. And he is going to let you know that liberty is the place for you. We also have some special guests up here in the in the box up here. If you turn that light on, the LCA Bulldog state champion football team is up there. Congratulations. State champions made us all proud. We also have a special guest over here from the very first class in 1971. Standing by Doctor Townes is evangelist Steve Wingfield. And so if you would give Steve Wingfield a warm welcome. All right, let's pray together. Heavenly father, we thank you because we are your people and you are our God. And we have come here today for one purpose, and that's to join our hearts and worship to you. And father, we thank you for Jesus Christ. We thank you for the spirit of God who empowers us to be conformed to the image of your precious son and God. Today, we pray for Coach Dungy as he comes and brings a message that you have given him. And I pray that every single person under the sound of his voice would also be in the hearing of your voice, and that you would speak through him and that we would be obedient to the message that you give us through your servant coach, Tony Dungy. And God be with us today like you never have before. We pray these things in Jesus name, Amen. Good morning everybody. Let's get ready to stand to our faithful father. Yes. Good God, good. You are God. Use the poor and the rich, each for his glory. Our hearts magnify God. He brings growth and exalt. Lifts us up from our morning hours. Magnify God, Lord. Yes. Are souls magnify the. Come on. Proclaim this is no would be. Shine this for the nation. God our feet with evil good sovereign would restore lords. Yes, we rest in rejoice in our salvation. We cry all every power chins up. Who can stop the Lord for daughters Holy like our God. No one is lonely. My God. My, my, my. Are we safe for the Lord? Has any given our hearts rest upon the Lord? He has gone once before for the kingdoms of the. We are so rest upon the Lord. Yes, I'm so rest upon the Lord. One for his for beside his birth are days and ghost are be with evil. Curse the story one we saw his we rest in. You don't see our salvation. We cry on every mountains of who yes of the Lord . For your is holy. Thy God. My no, my soul. To Niigata. Let's our God be us. He's faithful to my every breath he breathed upon us, our souls. He satisfies. We'll see our God is with us. He is faithful to us. Faithful every breath he breathes upon us, our souls. He sighs for we will see our God is with us. He's faithful to provide every breath he brings upon us our soul. Jesus is for. His soul. No one beside this forever nation. The gods are believer comes the sovereign word resort. Yes, we rest in joy , see our salvation. We cry from every mountain to forgive Sovalo Lord for noise. Holy the God of glory, Holy light, dark. God, you know what is holy. Like God, my God. Holy Jesus, underneath. Love. Yes, Lord. Yes. We'll make it hold up our praise this morning. Jesus inhabit our praises. Jesus sing this out. Sing. We're create a son. Suddenly articulate. Yet with the Dow thousand tongues to lift. One cry. And then from north to south and east to it. We've seen Christ be made magnified. Be lifted up. And where the whole earth we're echoing His eminence. Jesus name. What birds from sea and sky. From rivers, from rivers to the mountains we hear Christ be magnified. So all over this room we lift up our praise. We lift up our praise. She don't Christ be magnified. Who let his praise right Christ be magnified in name. Sing all Christ be magnified from the altar of my life to Christ be magnified in me. With every cry feature, find this in most men it's a song of praise. And every hymn amid heart is native cry child within one let it read tourney. We'll pray with you. Cry as we magnify . We be lifted up on Jesus. Begin on five. Second Christ be magnified. Mine Fulani's praise arise, praise Christ be magnified. We lift you up, we lift you up, Jesus, for Christ be magnified for the altar who Christ be. Lives been magnified. Let me. We make an altar of our praise. No matter the cause. We just want to say we love you, Lord. We love you, Lord. Oh, I won't bow to idols. I stand strong and worship you. And if it puts me in the fire. And I'll read your lies. Cause you're there to. That I won't be fooled by feelings I hold fast to what is true. And if you love me I'll be your fire. Just you will cause nothing. Just a good to resurrection life. And defines all in his suffering. Then I'll talk the way you lie. We're returning home with all the angels and the saints. My heart will still be shouting down. My soul will be the same CFAW Christ be magnified. Let me praise the Lord Christ be magnified in me. You know Christ be magnified from the altar of my love. Christ be magnified in just the I'll take it all for Christ be magnified. Let his praise arise. Christ be bound to fight for your cause. Seek for Christ B-bar amplified from the altar of my Lord Christ. Be magnified and be we. Lift up our worship. We lift up our praise. We. Hello, Liberty, this is James Brown, host of the NFL today on CBS and blessed to be a special correspondent for CBS news. Well, today you will be hearing from one of the most influential voices in society that will be coach Tony Dungy. Now, many of you might know him as a sports broadcaster on NBC's prime time Sunday Night Football and as a former coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts. He is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as one of the all time greatest coaches and you know, he and his wife, Lauren, they enjoy the distinction of being New York Times best selling authors, including children's books. He is indeed a much sought after speaker, a very biblically literate teacher and frequent seminar leader at the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove in Asheville, North Carolina. Tony and I have known each other probably over 30 years. We're really very good friends. He helped me to understand the game of football very well because I had never played it, had never broadcasted it, and more importantly, to understand the personalities of the people that he was coaching, well, we got a chance recently, maybe just a couple of years ago, to fish, to go fishing out in the Gulf down there in Tampa. I had never been out on the ocean fishing, had never caught a fish. So Tony wanted me to experience that. But I went into the bathroom because my wife said, JB, put your sunscreen on first. Make sure you do that. And I did, but there wasn't a mirror in the bathroom. So I came out to go fishing and Tony, my good friend, along with the other guys on the boat, they never told me I looked like this can you believe that? And other boats were going by and people were looking at me like, who in the world is that? Come on, Tony, why didn't you tell me to rub the sunscreen on in? Well, he wanted me to catch a fish. He allowed me to catch a Spanish mackerel. Pretty decent sized fish. I was pretty excited. But then Tony wanted to show how good he was at fishing. He threw his line into the water and he was struggling almost immediately with a significant size catch. I noticed a fin in the water going after his line and whatever he had on the hook, and the guys were telling me it was a shark, trying to also take Tony's fish off the hook, and it bit Tony's fish in half. This is what it looked like when he pulled it up onto the boat, and he still had the biggest catch of the day, which goes to show you that the Lord shows him a lot of favor in whatever he does. But you know, while Tony goes by many titles, the most important description that he insists on that must precede any title about him is Christian. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Tony Dungy. Wow. Hey, thank you very much. It is awesome to be here. And as you can tell my friends, Ames Brown, who was here not too long ago, kind of. He tried to prep me for this and get me ready, but I was not expecting this, my goodness, as a football coach, I'm used to talking to 53 people, and I didn't know that we were going to have this type of crowd. But James told me that it's very, very exciting place, exciting time. Doctor Tony Evans, I know you've had him before. He's a good friend of mine as well. So to follow those guys and be here with you, it's just a thrill for me. This is also a little bit special for me because I was seeing the football team up there in the box. I have a 17 year old son who's a senior in high school, and his dream ever since the sixth grade was to go to college and play college football. One of the schools he was considering was Liberty. Yes. And selfishly, I was hoping he would come here because I know what this school is all about. I know Coach Chadwell and what he's all about, how he coaches. I know the professors, how they feel. So I was pulling for liberty. So unfortunately, my son picked Butler University in Indianapolis. So I had to take a video of this convocation and send it to him to show him what he was missing. But, you know, it was kind of ironic as he was going through the process of trying to make his decision all winter and all spring. He kept hearing from his friends, what are you going to do? Where are you going to go? So and as he was being questioned like that, I kept thinking about this. I was preparing my talk for you guys and thinking about that, because I know you're a little bit farther ahead in the process , but you're getting those same questions. What are you going to do? What field are you going to go into? Who are you going to work for, where are you going to live? And you're going to continue to get those questions over and over again. But I'm here to tell you today that those are not the questions that you need to be focusing on. The biggest decision that you make in your lives will not be what you're going to do. It will be how you're going to live. Because the answer to that question, how am I going to live? That will answer a lot of those other questions. And answering the question, how am I going to live? Will tell you what kind of life that you're going to have down the road. So today, in our time together, I hope to give you some thought provoking ideas was about answering that question for yourself. And I want to give you 3 or 4 key points to think about. And I want to give you five scriptures that I know will help you make those decisions. So to start with, I want to get a little more specific with my question. How are you going to live? Are you going to live by the world's standards or by God's standard? And what do I mean by that? Well, what's the world's standard? I can tell you this. The world focuses on success. It's getting to the top of your industry, making a certain amount of money, having certain things on your résumé, all those measurable things. That's what the world is going to focus on, most people would look back on my career and say, you know, Tony, you were pretty successful. You were the head coach of two different NFL teams. So that means you got to the top of your profession. You made over $20 million coaching during your career. So you did well financially. You won a Super Bowl. You were named to the pro football Hall of Fame. So you've got that on your resume. You were a success. But I can tell you this when you retire and look back on things, you're going to ask yourself, as I did, did it really matter? What did I do that made a difference? Did I do anything significant? Webster's dictionary defines significance as being important or having a meaningful effect, and I ask myself that all the time. Was anything that I did really significant success or significance which is going to be the driving force in your life? I went to the University of Minnesota. My coach was a guy by the name of Cal Stoll. The very first meeting we had as a freshman, he addressed the freshmen football players. He said success is uncommon, therefore not to be enjoyed by the common man. We're looking to have success here and we can't just be content with being average. I'm looking for guys who are driven and want to be successful. That's how we're going to win a championship. And he went on to say that you can be uncommon in two different ways. You can either have a skill so rare that no one else has it, that can make you uncommon or, or you can have the drive or desire in your heart to do the things that everybody else could do. But most people won't. Well, as soon as he said that, I said, that's me. I have that drive. I want to be successful. I'm going to be the first one in the building. I'm going to work harder than anybody. I really want to help our team be successful. I want to be successful. And that was great. That was good stuff that Coach Stahl talked to us about being successful on the field, being successful in the classroom, growing as a person. All that was great, but I found out that Jesus had something a little more than that in store for us. Jesus said significance is uncommon. And he went on to define significance in his sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter six. He said this. So don't worry about these things, saying, what will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear ? These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly father already knows all your needs. Seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So what was Jesus saying here? He's saying that all of these things. What am I going to do? How much money am I going to get paid? Where am I going to work? What am I going to get out of life? All these things many people think about. But if you really live for God and you want to live for God and honor him, you don't need to worry about any of that because God will take care of all of that for you. If if you just make up your mind to follow Christ, if you make God your priority, he'll give you everything you need. So the question then becomes, are you going to seek worldly success? Or are you going to seek God's kingdom first? That is going to be the biggest decision that you will make in your lives. And how you answer that question is going to impact you day to day, moment by moment. The decision that you're going to have to make for the rest of your life. I can tell you this if you decide you're going to seek God's kingdom, it's going to look a little different. How are you going to do that while you're on this journey through school, through a career, if you decide that you're going to go after significance rather than success, you're going to have to do it a different way, different than most of the people around you. Why is that? Because most of the people around you will be worried about success, worldly success. Jesus made that very clear a little farther along in his sermon in Matthew chapter seven, he said this you can enter the kingdom of God only through the narrow gate, the highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide. For the many, many, many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. Well, Jesus was talking about the pathway to heaven. There he was talking about salvation as you know, in his time, the prevailing thought as you work your way to heaven, you keep the commandments. You do everything God wants. That's how you get to heaven. And Jesus was saying, that's the popular way, that's what people think. But that's not the real way. The real way is a narrow road, and it's faith in me. Well, he was talking about heaven, but those principles, he talks about that narrow road, that narrow gate, that narrow path that applies to life as well. If you decide that you're going to walk and live for Christ, you will be following a narrow path and not the crowd and not doing things that everyone else is doing. I was very blessed. My parents ingrained that into me when I was growing up, and I had a lot of situations as a very young man where I had to make decisions and I'll never forget the first one that I had to make on my own without my family there to consult. And that was my first class at the University of Minnesota. I was a freshman September of 1973. Couldn't wait . I'm on my way making decisions myself. First class in September, 8:00 Monday morning. Psychology 101 class. Everybody had to take. Get started. I'm there. I'm walking in. And believe it or not, it was a building very similar to this. And I'm getting ready to walk in the door and there's a guy standing there and he's selling the notes to psychology 101. I'm thinking, man, that might help me. You know, I want to be the best that I can be. That'd be great. Knows where? $15. And I'm thinking, oh, and you have to understand now, 1973, gas was $0.39 a gallon, so $15. I'm thinking now I can get the notes to help myself, or I can drive for two months. So I go up to the guy I tell me about these notes, and there's a lot of people there. And he said, this class meets Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the big auditorium. Tuesday, Thursday you meet with your small group. I've got the notes so you don't have to come on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. And I said, well, how do I know that what your notes are going to be, what the professor says, I'm doubtful and I'm going to start to walk away. And he says, the professor is on a video he can't change. He's on a video and you won't have to go to class. You just go on Tuesdays and Thursdays to the small group. Well I said, I can't spend $15 and this guy be wrong. So I went in just like a lot of other people did. We get in there? It's a big auditorium like this. Sure enough, the professors on the screen on a video, well, come out after an hour walk out. Guys still there. Everybody's streaming to them now. And they're ready to buy these notes . And I start thinking to myself, what would my mom and dad say? They're both teachers. They would say, you're going to get an education. You go to class yourself, take your own notes, get your own egg. So I walked past the big line of people, and I walked out and I went to the next class. Well that was the narrow road because the big highway was buying the notes. I have to say, in December, at the end of the semester, when it was five below zero, 8:00 on Monday morning, there was a little part of me that wished I had those notes, but I got my own a and I did it the right way because of the way my parents trained me and because of the decisions that I had to make. And that was just one thing that showed up because those types of decisions would come up again in my life over and over and over again. 11 years later, I kind of had the same situation in a different way. I'm now the defensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers. I was 28 years old now , just got hired by Chuck Noll. I'm the youngest defensive coordinator in the league. We had a good year. We're playing the Denver Broncos in a playoff game. We're in Denver Stadium. We're practicing. It's our last details before we're going to play the game the next day. As I'm coming off the field, this TV technician, he's taking down the stuff or putting up stuff, getting ready to broadcast the next day. And he tells me, hey, how are you doing, coach? Good job you guys. Big game tomorrow. He said, by the way, I was here a little earlier. The Broncos were practicing. You know, Gerald Willhite. I said, yeah, he's their backup running back. They were practicing a trick play with him. He's going to throw a pass tomorrow. Like, man, you're not supposed to tell me that. So I'm on the bus now going back to our hotel and I'm thinking I got this information. It could be very, very meaningful. It could be great for us, but I got it in the wrong way. That's not the right way to get information. And that's not. Should I tell my team? Should I tell these guys? Hey when number 47 comes in tomorrow, be ready for a trick play. One side of me was saying, yeah, I mean, you owe it to your team. You you're that's your job. You're trying to win this game, and, you got information that's going to help you win. Yes, you got to use it. And then the other side of me is saying, no, that's not right. That is not the honest way to do it. I wrestled with that all night, could hardly sleep. I decided God would not want me to do it that way. I'm not going to tell my guys. So the next day we're playing, it's a very, very tight game. I'm up in the press box calling the defenses, and I call in our our defense for this play. And sure enough, number 47, Gerald Willhite comes into the game. And I'm thinking to myself, man, I know what's happening here. They hand the ball to him. He starts running, stops it, throws the ball. Guys wide open wide open. Well he's not a quarterback. He's not John Elway. So the ball was a little bit short. They caught it. Ran to the six yard line. And I'm thinking man we are going to lose this game. On a play that I knew. And I could have had our guys ready for it. Did I let my team down or did I do the wrong thing? And I said, no, I did the right thing. And if we lose the game, that's just the way it has to be. But I know I'm going to be able to go to sleep. I called the next defense. We intercept the pass. Yeah We win the game fair and square. I felt so good about that. And that was just the Lord showing me just what Jesus said. Don't worry about those other things. Seek first my kingdom. Do it my way. I'll take care of you. I know what you need. Well, I'm here to tell you that you guys are going to have those same choices to make at some point. Are you going to be on the big highway and do what everybody else is doing, or are you going to be on the narrow path and doing it God's way? Well, after that game, we went on to have more what the world would call success. I climbed the ladder as an assistant coach. I was blessed to have some really, really good teachers, some great role models, some great players and part of the reason that I was able to move up the ladder is I did get some great advice from my mentor, Coach Noel, he told me some things that stuck with me. My whole life. The first thing he told me that I really wrote down, I was a player in 1977. He said to us, a rookie class, he said, your professional football players. Now that makes football your profession, but don't make football your whole life. If you make football, your whole life, you're going to leave the game disappointed. I wrote that down and he lived it out for us for 15 years, and that was great for me, he said. The world is going to tell you that you got to put everything into your profession. You've got to put everything into this football to be successful. We're on a little bit different path here. Well, five years later, he hired me as an assistant coach. I was the youngest assistant coach in the NFL at the time, 25 years old. Told him that I didn't know anything about coaching. What was my job supposed to be? And he said another thing that I never forgot. He said, your only job as a coach is to help your players be better. If you remember that, you're going to be fine, you're here to help your players. And it was the same approach that my parents demonstrated, same mindset that they had growing up as teachers. But it was also the same mindset that Jesus had. He said the same thing in Matthew chapter 20. He was talking about leading and being the head coach, so to speak. He said that worldly leaders, they kind of demand respect. They control their people by fear, by intimidation. But Jesus said, that's not the godly way to do it. In verse 26 he said this. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve others, and give his life as a ransom for many. See, Jesus had already told them that their path was going to be different, different than the majority of the world. Now he's giving them a very specific example. When you want to be a leader, it's not about being the boss. It's not about being the smartest person in the room. It's about watching out for other people rather than trying to prop up your own career. Well, that's not a message you're going to hear every day out in the world. You're not going to read that in the how to Get Ahead in business books, but that's a message from the greatest teacher in the world. Be a servant if you want to be a leader. So for the next 28 years in my career, that's what I tried to do. I tried to help my players every way I could, every single player that I had, every person, on my staff that I coached, I tried to help them. Coach Noll also gave me some great advice early on about climbing the ladder in my career. He said, hey, you know, you're very young. You're going to have opportunities, you're going to have chances to go places. But in your decision making process, I would just advise you this never make a decision on taking a job based on what the job title is going to be, or based on how much money they're going to pay you. Those aren't good things. Base your decisions on who you're going to work with, who you're going to work for, and what you're going to learn. See, he was tying that in to Matthew 633. Don't worry about the things that really don't matter in the long run. Worry about the things that are going to help you as a person. Well, I followed that advice, I've worked ten years in Pittsburgh. Then I went to Kansas City. I went to Minnesota. I worked for some great head coaches, some outstanding players, outstanding staff and my career was taking off. Eventually, I began to be considered for head coaching jobs. And when that happened, I had to develop a game plan. Okay, if I'm going to be the head coach, what's my Mo going to be? If I did get a chance to lead an organization and I decided I was going to keep the same mentality, the same approach that Coach Noll had, I was going to be a servant. I was going to help my players be the best I could be or best they could be. Well, I started to get some interviews in 1993, 1994, started to get considered for head coaching positions. I remember I went to Philadelphia, one of my first ones, the owner there is a guy by the name of Jeff Lurie. He still owns the team and he was looking for a new coach. We talked and it went really, really well. I felt like I was hitting it off with him and I asked him what type of coach was he looking for, what was going to be the decision making thing in his mind, and he told me he really wanted a family atmosphere. He wanted somebody that could bring the whole building together. He wanted somebody that was going to be encouraging, and I started feeling really good. I'm going to get this job because that's me. That's what he's describing. Well, I had another interview and. The owner asked me how I planned to run the organization, and I told him because of my feelings about the Bible and being a servant, I felt like I could serve the coaching staff, the players, but I didn't want to run the whole organization. I didn't want to be the general manager because I didn't think I could support that side of the building. If I was going to do my job with the players, I couldn't run the marketing department and the sales department and all that and the personnel. I needed someone else to do that and that wasn't what he wanted to hear. He wanted one person to run everything and be in charge, and he felt like somebody who really wanted to do everything was going to be that alpha male that he needed another interview. I got a question. A guy asked me how are you going to command respect? I've done a lot of research on you, Coach Dungy, and I hear you don't use profanity. You don't raise your voice a whole lot. How are you going to get respect? I said, well, probably the way I've done it my whole career and the way my father did it with me, I'm going to show these guys that I really care about them, that I love them as people, that I'm there for them. I think we'll develop this common bond and they'll really want to do what I asked them to do. Because of that. Well, I had another question, another interview from an owner. He said, I just paid $350 million for this team. It's very important to me. I'm looking for a coach who's going to bring us a Super Bowl championship. If I hire you, will this be the number one priority in your life? Bringing us a championship? And I told him, I said, sir, I'm very confident that I can bring you a championship. I'm very confident we'll win, but I have to tell you, it's not going to be my number one priority. My family is going to be way above your football team, but I do believe I'll bring you a championship. Well, I didn't get any of those jobs. Not one of them. So I'm starting to get a little discouraged. And people tell me a couple of things. The worldly advice was, you're probably going to have to change the way you do things. You can't be as close to the players. You can't be that type of person. You've got to be a little tougher atmosphere and put on this, air of, of superiority and maybe you just have to change the way you are a little bit. So second piece of advice I was getting was no be the way you are, but don't be so honest. In your responses. If they ask you if it's number one, yeah, say yeah, you'll be number one. Definitely Yeah. That's that's what I'm concerned about. Or tell them you're going to cuss a little bit more and, you know, kick people and do whatever you have to do to, to get them going. Well, that's what I was hearing from the world. Fortunately, our chaplain with the Minnesota Vikings, man by the name of Tom Lamphier, gave me some great advice to be on track. He said, hey, Tony, don't worry about that. Be the best assistant coach you can be. Bloom, where you're planted. Do what God's going to have you to do here. Let him take care of your your next assignment. And that reminded me of one of my mom's favorite verses in the Bible. Something else Jesus said in Matthew 1626. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world, but you lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? Was I going to change how I thought? How I acted just to be successful in the world's eyes? Was I going to be dishonest and deceitful just to get a job, or just to move up the ladder? So I decided, no, I wasn't going to do that. I'm going to stay on that narrow road. I'm going to honor the Lord and let him decide where that was going to take me. Well, two years later, I was going to interview with the Tampa Bay Bucs. They called me. So I did a little research on the Bucs and I found out that their owners were Jewish. Malcolm Glazer and his family owned the team, and every interview I had gone to before that, I want to let people know who I was. I had a cross lapel pin, so I started thinking, if these are Jewish owners, do I really want to wear this cross to the interview? I said, yes, I do, because that's who I am. Okay And I'm going to stay on that narrow road and I'm going to let them see who I am. So I wear my cross to the interview and sure enough, Mr. Glazer, he then asked me this question, hey, how are you going to lead my team if you're here, what are you going to do? And I'm thinking, do I tell him what I've told everybody else and I haven't gotten a job? Or do I make up a little something to show them how tough I'm going to be? Well, I told him the same story. I said, you know what? I've got a family. I know the way my dad raised me. I'm going to work on respect, being the best we can be, molding this team, being together, being the type of young men on the team that you can be proud of, that the city is going to be proud of, and they'll they'll gravitate to me because of that relationship. And he looked at me and he said, that's just how I raise my family. That's what I'm looking for. And I got the job and. The second year I was there, we got a new stadium, and Brian Glazer called me once the stadium went up and he said, I want you to know that the first event we're going to have in the stadium is a Billy Graham crusade. Yeah. And I thought back to my decision to wear my lapel pin and say, I'm a Christian and I'm proud of it. I thought back to my decision of going against what the world said and being honest with Mr. Glazer and telling him how I was going to run the team, and it just it reminded me of something Doctor Evans told us in a chapel service that I had. He said, you have to be a Christian all the time. Okay You can't be a Christian. Just when it's convenient. You can't be a Christian just when you're in certain settings. If you really want to represent the Lord, if you want to walk on that narrow road, you have to be a Christian all the time. Christian player, Christian coach, Christian husband, Christian father, Christian broadcaster, Christian neighbor, Christian, everything. And that has been my M.O. for 40 years, and that's what I would recommend to you today as you're thinking about what you're going to do in the future, where are you going to live, what you're going to do, who you're going to work for, what fields you're going to be in? Keep in mind, I'm representing Christ Christian first. Whatever that happens to be Christian first. That leads me to my final scripture that I want to share with you. The first four were from Jesus in the book of Matthew. The last one is from the Apostle Paul, and it's a message that I first really dug into in a Bible study. My rookie year with the Steelers. It's been one of my favorite verses ever since. First Corinthians chapter nine, verses 24 and 25. This is the Apostle Paul talking . Don't you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win. All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away. But we do it for an eternal prize. And I can tell you that Paul was right. These earthly prizes do fade away. Super Bowl rings are great. Okay, trophies. The money that comes with it. National championship. It'd be great for Liberty football team to win a national championship, but those prizes are going to fade away. My advice to you today is yes, run to win. Okay, but run the right race. Win the right race. Go after significance rather than success. Don't follow the crowd. Follow Jesus. Look to serve rather than to be served. Be excellent in whatever you decide to do, but make sure you're winning the right race. The race to heaven. Thank you very much. I'd love to. I'd love to finish with a prayer if we could. I'm going to pray for these young men in the box. Pray for all of you. But it's been awesome being here. And I really, really, really appreciate it. Let's pray. Lord, I thank you for your blessings. I thank you for your word and I thank you that you tell us if we serve you, you will take care of all of our needs. I just pray for all the young people in this auditorium who are making decisions. I pray that they can make decisions based on your word and your will, and make those decisions that are going to please you and honor you, and that when they do, you will show them the right way to go. You will guide their steps and order their steps in a godly way. We thank you for those promises. Lord we ask your blessings on our entire group and on the rest of this proceeding in Jesus name , Amen. Amen. You Oh! Your mercy. Never fails. Me and all my days I've been held in your hands. From the moment that I wake up. Until I lay your head. Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God. And all my life you have been faithful. And all my life you have been so , so good. With every breath that I am able. Oh, I will speak of the goodness of God. I will of your voice. You have led me through the fire, fire and darkness lies. You are close like no other. I've known you as a father. I've known you as a friend, and I have lived in the goodness of thy love. And all my life you have been faithful. You have putting all my life you have been so, so good, good, so good. Every breath in our every voice. Oh, I will sing of the goodness of life. I will sing of your goodness. For all my days. Your goodness is running after. It's running after me. Oh your goodness is running after. It's running after me. With my life way down I'm surrendered now I give you everything. Your goodness is running out. It's running after me. Your good is your goodness is running after it's running out. It's only running and say this is my God is running after me in my life. Laid down I'm surrendered now I give you everything. Your goodness is running down. It's running after me. All my life. You are faithful. And all my life you are living before. And all my life you have been so, so good. So with every breath that I am able. Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God. Almost They gonna say oh my life, you have been faithful. You. All my life you have been so, so right. So with every breath in I've laid. No one will see of the goodness of God. But I wanna see the goodness of God. So Good. Amen, Amen. Could you join me in thanking Coach Tony Dungy for being with us today? For those of you, for those of you who are visiting for college for a weekend, let me assure you this place exists to help train men and women to live like that and follow the narrow way of Jesus. So welcome to Liberty reminder tonight, back in here at 8:00 concert with Chris Renzema. You don't want to miss that. I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful weekend. You guys are dismissed
