Pro Athlete Turned Pastor Tells PK Crowd About Repentance, Role Modeling
by Allie Martin
May 5, 2004
(AgapePress) - A former National Football League player says society has the wrong concept of forgiveness. Miles McPherson, who spent his years in the NFL as a defensive back with the Los Angeles Rams and the San Diego Chargers, has gone on the offensive for Jesus as a soul winning Christian speaker and minister.Today McPherson is senior pastor at the Rock Church in San Diego, California. He also travels the United States, speaking at crusades and conferences, encouraging Christian men to live godly lives.
The former pro athlete says forgiveness is possible for those who have made bad choices. But, he cautions, forgiveness must be followed by repentance. He notes that in the Bible, when a group of men brought a woman caught in adultery to Christ, his response was "Let the one without sin throw the first stone." But after dispensing with the condemners and offering forgiveness, Christ told the woman to "Go and sin no more."
The football player turned pastor points out that scripture's message is clear. "Yeah, there's forgiveness, but forgiveness comes when people repent. The problem with our society is that people don't repent. They say, 'Love me, forgive me, but I'm going to keep doing what I want to do,'" he says.
So McPherson urges a regimen of genuine repentance for true Christians. And as someone who has experienced the limelight of professional sports, the minister also has much to say about the importance of being genuine, especially for someone who is a role model.
The ex-NFL player says young athletes need realize that they are role models, whether or not they accept that responsibility. Therefore, they need to be taught that they will be admired, particularly by young people, and should lead honorable lives publicly and privately.
"When you have people watching you, cheering for you, clapping for you," McPherson says, "you are a role model. What comes with that freedom and that privilege is responsibility -- the responsibility to live aboveboard. We need to challenge that, and include that in the education of athletes."
He warns those who fall into this category that this means "people are going to watch you 24 hours a day. Part of it is, you have to be a role model to the kids who are younger than you, watching you, and you have to watch what you say, because whatever you do they're going to copy."
McPherson, who is also the president of Miles Ahead Ministries, made his comments during a recent Media Day event at the International Headquarters of Promise Keepers (promisekeepers.org) in Denver, Colorado.
