Reggie White: Winning the Game for Christ

CBN.com - He's Green Bay Packers number 92 and the most honored defensive end to play in the National Football League. In his final season, this Minister of Defense, NFL's all-time sack leader Reggie White is not only determined to play his best, but also to win the lost for Christ. 700 Club Producer Janet White brings us this compelling story.

Reggie White and two other football players, Hardy Nickerson and Chris Carter started a ministry called CAUSE (Christian Athletes United for Spiritual Empowerment). Says White: It's time for the athletes to minister to the athletes. We've seen many guys that fall away from the Lord because they've been exploited by ministries. And we want to try to create a covenant for them. We're hoping to get that started and really leave a legacy in this game to where we can create some mentors for guys who come in when we leave.

This 14-year NFL veteran sees his career as an awesome opportunity to influence others for Jesus Christ. I believe that God has given us the opportunity, me and other athletes, to use this game as a platform to spread the gospel and to do good things for people, White says.

As a voice for the inner city over the past ten years, Reggie White has a mission to help those in need. I wanted to continue something where we could give food away, but I had no organization that I could continue that with, he says. White got his answer from Operation Blessing. Reggie White has a passion for the inner cities, and he has a passion especially for children, says

Operation Blessing's Corporate Procurement and Resource Manager Pam Erikson. This past September, during the Green Bay Packer's first away game, White teamed up with Operation Blessing's Hunger Strike Force and the Carolina Panthers to tackle hunger in the city of Charlotte. Operation Blessing hopes to feed the needy in each city where the Packers play an away game.

Through Reggie White Studios, White has also developed a scholarship fund for inner-city youth. Reggie chooses entire first-grade classes. Those in the chosen classes who earn a C+ or better average will get financial help. White hopes that some day, with the financial support of other corporations, he can fund a child's entire college tuition.

Reggie White will surely be missed on the playing field and it may take some time for Green Bay Packers fans to get used to not seeing number 92 on the field next year, but White believes his days as a pro football player are ending. In my heart, this is my last year. And I feel that there are a lot more things that God has called me to do and I'm ready to get involved with it.

What's up next for Reggie White? Through Reggie White Studios, Reggie hopes to provide quality family-oriented television and film programming that will present the gospel in a relevant way.

Jesus said we must present the good news and we can do that through the media and we created Reggie White Studios so that we can create wholesome entertainment through movies, through sitcoms, through the radio, and things of that nature. We have a great avenue, as I mentioned, through the media, that Jesus didn't even have. We can present the gospel in a way that He wasn't able to, says White.

Reggie believes a team concept will help the Christian community share the gospel message. If we understand that team concept, we'll change the whole face of society. And with Operation Blessing, with other organizations, what we are trying to do to help people and spread the gospel, if we only came together and removed our territorial attitudes, we will see people saved by the thousands.