Leland Watley, II

get ready to learn Terry Shelton‼️

Sports make a great game - but a terrible God. Listen carefully if you’re an athlete… One day the season will end. One day the career will end. One day the applause will stop. If your identity is in the game, you’ll feel lost when the game is gone. But if your identity is in God, the game simply becomes a platform. Sports are meant to be played. They were never meant to be worshipped. Train hard. Compete with excellence. Honor God with your effort. But never forget: Your purpose is bigger than your performance. “You shall have no other gods before me.” {Exodus 20:3}

I played for Nick Saban, Bill Belichick, and Sean Payton. I studied under some of the greatest coaching minds in the history of professional football. And after the Lord saved me, I realized something that changed everything. Every single leadership principle that made those teams thrive is biblical. They just did it for the glory of man instead of the glory of God. Here is what I mean. Belichick taught us to do our jobs. Scripture commands us to work as unto the Lord, not for the approval of men. (Col. 3:23) Belichick held Tom Brady to a higher standard than anyone else. Scripture says to whom much is given, much is required. (Luke 12:48) Belichick cut the cancer immediately, no matter the cost. Scripture tells us that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. (Gal. 5:9) Belichick sacrificed personal credit and took responsibility for every loss. Scripture calls leaders to be servants first. (Matthew 20:26) Brady sacrificed personal stats for the good of the team. Scripture says do nothing out of selfish ambition, but in humility consider others above yourself. (Phil. 2:3) Brady could encourage a teammate and confront him in the same breath. Scripture says speak the truth in love. (Eph. 4:15) These men did not know they were pulling from eternal, biblical commands. But the principles worked. They always work. Because truth is truth whether the man wielding it knows its source or not. Now imagine this. If these principles built a two-decade dynasty in professional football with men who did not know the Lord, what would God do through His church if we humbled ourselves and followed the same playbook? What would happen in your marriage if you coached yourself harder than you coach anyone else? What would happen in your home if you cut the cancers of laziness, passivity, and selfishness? What would happen in your leadership if you stopped protecting your ego and started serving your team? The blueprint is not new. The playbook has been written for two thousand years. The question is whether you are willing to run it. I spent 10 years in the NFL and the best locker rooms I ever walked into operated on principles that Scripture laid out long before football existed. Stop looking for a new framework. Open the Book. And do your job.

At the end of your coaching career, your trophy case will collect dust. But the kids you’ve developed will be out in the world leading their own families and communities. That’s the real win, knowing you did the best you could to create a productive citizen. Reach one, teach one.