Retired NFL player urges men in Eden to ‘get in the game’

By Miranda Baines

Published: September 27, 2008

Mike Minter, a former safety for the Carolina Panthers, encouraged a group of men at First Presbyterian Church of Eden last week to “get in the game.” 

The former NFL standout wasn’t talking about football. Rather, he was referring to the spiritual game, where God is the head coach and his followers are the players.

Minter, who spoke Thursday during a men’s night out event, said he wanted everyone in the room to have the chance to celebrate on the field and to get up on the stage to receive an MVP award.

Minter recalled the Panthers’ 2003 Super Bowl loss to the New England Patriots. He remembered leaving the field humiliated, going back to the locker room in tears and watching the Patriots celebrate on TV.

“If you’re on the wrong team, the rope’s going to come down and you’re going to be escorted off the field,” Minter told the crowd.

Minter also recalled one of his most memorable days. It wasn’t the day he received a football scholarship to the University of Nebraska or signed with the Carolina Panthers. Rather, it was the day he joined God’s team.

The decision came after he attended a Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting, and Tom Osborne, then-head coach of the Cornhuskers, shared the good news of Jesus Christ.

“I said, ‘God, I want to be on your team, I want you to be my head coach,’” said Minter. “He got out his ink pen and wrote my name on the roster. It’s a permanent roster. When you’re on God’s team, you’re on it forever.”

Minter urged the men to surrender their lives to God and to give their dreams to him.

“When you get on God’s team, you begin to do amazing things. You say, ‘It’s not me, it’s God.’ I’m no more special to God than you, so if he can do it to me, he can do it to you. Whatever your dream is, put it down and let God do the work.”

Playing football was Minter’s dream since early childhood. He will never forget third grade, when he finally got a chance to play for his school team.

“I got the ball and I was running and all of a sudden, it just made sense, ‘This is what I’m supposed to do.’”

From that point, Minter said he began to develop his life plan around “football and Mike Minter.” God was not yet part of the picture, but he was working in Minter’s life before Minter realized it.

When Minter, who is from Oklahoma, got off the plane in Nebraska, it was 9 degrees and snowing. He admits to being a little scared of the unknown, and he almost accepted a scholarship at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where one of his teammates planned to play.

“The No. 1 thing that will snatch away your dreams is fear,” he said.

Trusting God and surrendering to his will wasn’t always easy for Minter.

“How many times in our life do we have our plan and God has his plan and they are not the same?” he asked.

At one time, Minter had competing offers to stay with the Panthers or sign with the Cleveland Browns. Cleveland’s offer was $5 million more, but he decided to stay with Carolina because that’s where he felt God was calling him to be.

Minter retired from the NFL in 2007 after 10 years with Carolina. Most important, Minter said, he has had the chance to share his story about “God’s team” with audiences in the United States and abroad, including in Cuba and with the troops in Iraq.

The Rev. Joel Long, pastor of First Presbyterian Church, gave the men one final challenge — “take the next step” and completely surrender their lives to Christ. “Surrender” was the theme for the evening, and Jamie Galloway, youth minister and worship leader at Rising Star Baptist Church, set the tone with songs such as “Take My Life” and the hymn “I Surrender All.”

The men walked away with some football stories but, more importantly, the confidence to pursue their dreams.

“He challenged the men to believe that there’s a God-given purpose and destiny inside all of them,” said Ted Hopkins of Reidsville.

Staff writer Miranda Baines can be reached at or 349-4331, ext. 35.