Former professional/college football players speak in chapel, encourage students

October 2, 2019

Champions for Tomorrow visits campus

[/media-credit] Keith Davis played football and won championships at USC and started an NFL career with the New York Giants. He travels around the world to share his story of overcoming disappointment, struggle and conflict, Oct. 1.

Champions for Tomorrow speakers Keith Davis and Vincent Hobbs brought a message about perseverance to chapel, Oct. 1. The California organization has brought speakers to campus since 2011.

Besides speaking on campus twice before, Keith Davis has spoken at high schools, juvenile halls and other organizations in 60 countries. However, he says his story, which includes playing at USC, earning the highest GPA on his team and signing to the NY Giants, was impossible without God.

“God is definitely a God like He says in the book of Job,” Davis said. “‘And the Lord blessed the second half of Job’s life more than the first. The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. All that was lost in the pain and the issues and the emotions of the teenager life and when I wanted to live in all of those things, God completely turned it around.”

Davis has toured with Champions for Tomorrow since it was part of the Bill Glass Prison Ministry. Joe McHenry, a volunteer with Champions for Tomorrow, says that speaking at FCS gives Davis and Hobbs a unique opportunity.

“This school is different, they understand who Jesus is, and as a result they can talk about Jesus,” McHenry said. “At all the other schools they can’t talk about Jesus. We can point to the Creator, and we can allude to a few things, but we can’t say it.”

Both Davis and Vincent spoke about the idea of “getting a second chance.” Their message to students was that no matter what adversity one is handed in life, to run the race that God set out.

As he shares in the following podcast with Bryce Foshee, Davis grew up in a family defined by drug and alcohol abuse. Though initially ridiculed in college for his faith, refusal to party and sleep around and academic determination, Davis became a spiritual leader on his team.

Davis started sharing his story in college, but did not expect to speak full-time. He explains why he decided to share his story.

“It wasn’t like I intentionally said to myself, ‘I want to speak,'” Davis said, “but I had a heart to help and in that heart to help. It just began to open more and more doors. My teammates and I together began to say, “how can we make change?”

For more information about Champions for Tomorrow, read last year’s article, Champions for Tomorrow returns to campus. Homecoming activities continue, with Royal Battle at chapel, Oct. 3, and the homecoming football game, Oct. 4.

The Feather published a video recapping the Davis and Hobbs’s speech.