A passionate person has the ability to draw other people to them, like a human magnet, captivating other people’s minds and grabbing their attention. Mike Minter is one of those people with this ability. He is passionate about
football, passionate about his family, but most importantly, he is passionate about his Lord and Savior, using every opportunity to show the love of Christ to those who he comes into contact with.

Respected and feared on the football field, Mike is known as one of the hardest hitters in the game. Mike is also respected for his faith, something that defines who he is. He has used the spotlight of the NFL to advance the kingdom of God, letting the light of the Holy Spirit shine through him so that others may see Christ. I recently sat down with Mike at the Panthers training camp and what I found was someone who had a drive for serving the Lord that was even greater than his drive on the football field.

His Life

Mike Minter grew up in Oklahoma, but had the dream of going to Nebraska to play football. His family was not very spiritual and his grandmother was the main spiritual influence that he had, until she passed away when he was seven. His dream came true when he was given the opportunity to go to Nebraska and play football, and that is where Mike became a Christian.

“Going in to my junior year, there were a lot of things going on in my life. When I got hurt my sophomore year, it was the first time in my life without football, so I began to think about things outside of football. “What if this is gone…what next? Is this what life is all about?� My wife and I had our first son and again you look at that and say, “Where do I go from here?� This is a young baby that I have to be a father to. All these things were going on and Tom Osborne (his head coach at Nebraska) was a great influence. He was a coach that was the same man on the field and off the field. He was a guy that I loved, respected, and there was something about him that was different. So, with that, you begin to seek and try to understand what is going on and you find out about God and Jesus Christ coming down on the cross, giving your life and getting a second chance.�
The more he talked about his testimony, you could see an even bigger smile coming across his face. “I’m not a dummy and when I see a great deal, I’m going to jump on it. So, I jumped on it, kneeled beside of my bed, and asked Him to come into my life. He began to work from that point on and it has been a journey ever since.�

Mike continued his career at Nebraska and was selected in the second round of the 1997 NFL draft by the Carolina Panthers. Since then, Mike has earned the reputation for being a hard hitter and leaving it all on the field, never holding back in the face of competition. He has become one of the faces of the Carolina Panthers franchise and a fan favorite because of the way he plays the game. His walk with the Lord has deepened as well, and he hopes to serve the Lord in the public even after his football days are over.

Q â€" What about life after football?“I’m going into the ministry. I want to learn from the bottom. I want to start right at the bottom and work all the way up to the pastoral stage, preach and do those things, and I want to coach. I just love giving what I have learned in my life, giving back to people, because that’s what it’s all about. I think it’s important. Everything that God has taken you through, everything that He has shown you, giving that back to other people because they are going through the same thing. Give your take on it and how God took you from point A to point B.â€?

His Career
I asked Mike a few questions about his career and how faith played a role in it. Most of us dreamed of playing in the NFL at some point, and here was someone who was living that dream.

Q â€" What is the toughest part about being a Christian in the NFL?
I think it’s two things. One is when people find out that you’re a Christian in the NFL, people automatically assume that you’re a super-Christian. They correlate gladiators and athletes, you know super heroes, and then you say that you’re a Christian, so you have to be a super-Christian. And I think that’s the hardest thing…it’s that people don’t realize that we’re not (super-Christians). You know, most of us are babies in Christ and we’re trying to learn and grow, so people are going to make mistakes. People are going to make bad decisions and you can’t look at that like “What? Come on.� and put all the pressure on us. I think that’s one of the hardest things, once people have put you on that pedestal, living up to it. And you know, people lose themselves in that. I see guys all the time feel like they have to be a certain way or else people will say, “Oh, he’s fake. He’s not real.� or “How can he do that? How can he mess up?� I think that the pressure that is put on us because of that is pretty tough.�

Q â€" What do you feel about the misconception that Christian athletes are not marketable?“I don’t think that it’s true. I think people respond to genuineness. People respond to someone being real and when you conduct yourself the way that you are going to conduct yourself no matter what, I think people respect that. They go to that because they want that. They see it and they want that too. I think people seek out the realness in life. I think what happens is that people can sense when it is real or when it’s not, regardless of how much you’re preaching or how much you’re saying, people realize that, “Man, that’s coming from his heart. That man really believes that or that woman really believes that.â€? Then, at the same time, on the flip side, we know that today, proclaiming Christ or saying Christ brings a different stipulation on it than if you’re not (proclaiming Christ). It’s amazing how, if you say, “Jesus Christ is the only wayâ€?, you get condemned then someone else says what they believe and it’s like, “OK…we’ll protect you.â€? When you say, “I’m a Christianâ€? and you’re strong with it, some people shy away from that and corporations shy away from that because there are so many religions out there today and they don’t want to offend anybody. I think that, if you’re genuine, it’s the Holy Spirit and they have to be drawn to that.â€?

Q â€" Do you share your faith with players from other teams?“You know, I share my faith with whoever wants to listen. Whether it’s players from another team or my own teammates, I think it’s just one of those deals where you live and people see that you live differently. I learned from Coach Osborne. He never came out and said that he was a Christian, but you knew. After you found out about Christ, God, and the Bible, you see it. You see it in his life. I think it’s all about the way you live and the example that you give when you’re playing against each other. You’re not out there raising cain. You play the game hard and respect the other team, and when you do that, people see it and respect it.â€?

Q â€" What was it like to play in the Super Bowl?
“That whole season was a magical season and to get to the Super Bowl was unreal. For two weeks, they were talking about us and the Patriots. It was the first time, really, that the media was in to what Carolina was doing. You’re playing in something that you, as a kid, were dreaming about and it goes fast. I remember the last drive, but other than that, I don’t remember anything…it goes so fast.�

His Advice

Seeing that Mike had a unique perspective on life and faith, I wanted to get some advice from him and see what his thoughts were on a couple of things. As we talked, I could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in that room, something that long to sense all the time. As Mike talked, I could see the desire to teach others come out in him.

Q â€" What do you feel is the biggest problem facing men today?“Man, that’s a good one. I think it’s attacks on the family. It’s strong. With how America is built today, you know, as men, you have to go out and work hard, be away from the family a lot, to even make a living these days, so it becomes difficult in that sense. I think, being able to understand ho to be a father to your sons is a big issue that we face as men…being able to sit down with your kids and let them know that you love them and let them know that you are not superman, you’re not super dad, and that you make mistakes too. It’s ok to make mistakes, just learn from it and move on and grow from it. Love them from the sense of letting them know that it’s not all about being macho. I think those issues, one, marriage, and two, kids, are some strong issues that are facing us today that aren’t really being talked about or we talk about it when it’s too late.

Q â€" What is your favorite Bible passage and why?“I’ve got a lot of those too. I really love Romans, you know, when you start in (chapters) six, seven, eight, nine, and ten, and it takes you through the Christian life. It takes you through, first, nobody has any excuse because God gives us plenty of examples of who He is. Then, it takes you to “Everybody has sinnedâ€? and then it takes you to when you accept Christ…this is what it’s all about. It even talks about, after you accept Him, the life of where you want to do something good and you can’t do something good. It shows the battle…the struggle, so that you know “OK, I’m not the only one.â€? You know, Paul went through this and God gave it to him so that he could tell everybody else “You’re going through this too and it’s ok that you’re battling, struggling, and fighting, because that’s when you know that you are in the battle.â€? If you’re not battling and you’re not struggling, then you know that you aren’t in a fight. Satan won’t waste his time on someone he’s already got. Then on top of that, it tells you the victory…how you get the victory and why you get the victory. That right there is just amazing.â€?

As our time concluded, I felt a bit of sorrow, wishing that I could spend a little more time with Mike and hear more of what God had told him and the things that the Lord had shown him and done for him. He reflected the light of Christ when he walked in that room, so powerful that no darkness could ever overtake it. He set his goals in the Lord while in college, and the Lord is blessing Mike each day as Mike strives to tackle the sin problem in our world today. Mike is a great football player who stays humble, realizing that it is the Holy Spirit at work in his life.

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