Meet the NFL Team Who Cultivates a Culture for Christ
The Baltimore Ravens are adding in a new discipline as football season approaches: cultivating a culture of Christ, according to Yahoo! Sports.
The catalyst? Coach John Harbaugh.
“His relationship with God is the thing he leans on whenever he has tough times,” brother Jim Harbaugh said years ago. “When he didn’t get a job, he would say, ‘God has a different plan for me.'”
And John’s players agree.
“I would say just because our head coach is a believer, it gives us the ability to be more bold and more open, especially in this day and age and environment, you don’t see a lot of organizations being bold and outspoken, especially about faith,” running back Justin Forsett said.
“If (a team is) being led by a coach like Harbaugh, it’s easy and open; it’s not weird or anything like that. So it’s been great here, a great platform for us. We all get together, we have Bible studies we have a couple of studies that bring the families in, no one gets left out, (and) it’s a great group of men that keep each other accountable—even in the locker room, if someone is doing something wrong, we call each other out on it. So it’s great to have that group of people here, iron sharpens iron, and everybody is held accountable, and the standard is set. That’s one of the beautiful things about being around here, we don’t play, and we’re real transparent,” he said.
Yahoo points to Matthew 5:16 as the team’s inspiration. Harbaugh and other coaches host a weekly Bible study to create a spiritual foundation for the players.
And when corner back Tray Walker died earlier this year, Harbaugh asked his team to “find your faith” and “allow God to grow you.”
Amen to that!
