Normally, I balk at stories that feature celebrities who are also Christians. I enjoy seeing God glorified in all areas of our society, but too many times we as believers can end up glorifying the celebrity rather than God, who works in the celebrity's life. In addition, I think youth pastors can at times fall into the trap of highlighting celebrities that are Christians to say, "Hey, look! Christianity's cool! You can follow Jesus, too!" When I lived in Colorado, the Colorado Rockies would host a "Faith Day" at Coors field on a Sunday. After the game, a Christian musician would perform, and different players would share their testimony. Now, I think this is a great thing for the Rockies to do, because as far as I could tell, they were trying to use the platform they'd been given on account of their God-given talent to share Christ with others. However, I never felt comfortable that churches would highlight the event with huge gusto. This was especially true at my own church, which would make a big deal of this event, far bigger than our annual "World Missions Sunday." My beef is not with the event itself, but with the American Church (in general, not across the board in every instance) giving more kudos to Celebrities Who Happen To Be Christians than to faithful servants who serve their whole life long as missionaries--whether as their vocation or as their way of life in whatever position they find themselves.
That being said, here's a story about a celebrity who has allowed God to work in his life. I see this particular man as a celebrity who seeks not to glorify himself, but to humbly serve God in everything he does, knowing that he is a sinner in need of Jesus.
"I know a lot of people will look at this and say, 'Here we go again, another professional athlete who got mixed up on drugs, was in the gutter somewhere, and decided to become religious,' " Lepsis said Friday from Dallas, where he is studying at a theological seminary. "My story couldn't be any further from that. I didn't grow up in the church. I wasn't at rock bottom. I'm not stupid. I didn't seek God, God was seeking me. This happened to me and it can happen to you if you accept the free gift that God has given us."
Read it all here (the link goes to an expanded version of the article, which was originally published in
The Denver Post on October 11th).
