An Interview with Steve DeBardelaben, Athletes in Action staff member

Holly Meade: Tell me how you came to know the Lord, Steve.

Steve DeBardelaben: I grew up in a church-oriented, sports-oriented, family-oriented family. I went through my high school experience, I achieved everything I'd ever dreamed of-president of my class three years and was All-American in football and got a football scholarship to Georgia Tech. I was at Georgia Tech and at some point it just of occurred to me that life had to be a little more than cranking out a series of successful programs, that it just wasn't as big as I thought it would be. As I looked around on campus I saw-out of our hundred football players-about 10 or 12 that I respected the way they lived their lives and the influence they were having on their teammates. The common denominator in those guys was their relationship with the Lord and I was very attracted to that. One night after reading and lot of discussions with my friends in my dorm room I said, "Lord, if you really do exist and if Jesus is the way to have a personal relationship with You, then that's what I want.

HM: You probably could have chosen to do a lot of things with your life, but obviously God has called you to now minister to professional athletes and help share Christ with them and mentor them in their lives. What is your motivation? Why do you do that?

SD: Well, as a student athlete at Georgia Tech I was helped significantly by some [full-time ministry] staff members who were in a similar role as I am now and they were very helpful. Good friends helped me to understand the Bible and how it applied to my life and to my sport, so I wanted to help others in the same way that I had been helped. Shortly after coming to the Lord I began to speak on a regular basis because of the opportunity as a visible student-athlete with a top program in the country. They were frequently looking for speakers to speak to youth groups and sports banquets and things like that. So I began to speak a lot as a student-athlete. It was something that I enjoyed and did well and it seemed to have a positive affect on others. It was the combination of those who had built into my life and the effectiveness that I saw that the Lord could use me to help other people. The combination led me to Campus Crusade for Christ and, ultimately, to Athletes in Action.

HM: Share an example of someone you've been able to lead to the Lord and then how they have, in turn, used their faith to share with others.

SD: Sure. Currently, the University of Miami has a linebacker coach, Michael Barrel, who played for them as a student-athlete in the late 1980's. He had a very successful career but when he was a freshman, he was injured and didn't play. He was practicing but not playing and I met him one day in the training room informally. I started talking with him about his life and he was discouraged about his injury but still going on with life. I then said, "What are you up to today?" and he replied, "I'm going to go get a stereo." I asked if I could go along with him and he said, "Yeah, I guess so." We went by his room to get a coupon and while we were there he piddled around a little bit. Eventually he came over and said, "You know I really don't need to buy a stereo. I think I need God in my life. I'm empty inside." He knew what I represented so he felt comfortable initiating that conversation and it was in the course of that conversation and a few others that Michael opened his life to the Lord and began the pilgrimage of walking with Christ.

He had a turning point in his life as an athlete with the Carolina Panthers. Mike Bunkley (AIA Chaplain for the Panthers) had an opportunity to impact Michael as well. Michael signed the second largest contract of any linebacker in the NFL, so he was the second highest paid athlete in the NFL. But he really had this lack of satisfaction and had been entangled in some things that he knew weren't right. When he saw that, He became "sold out" to Christ and finally achieved at the highest level and said, "Lord, I want You to have my whole life." That was when Michael gave his whole life to the Lord. This last year Michael was hired as the linebacker coach now at the University of Miami and has the opportunity to give leadership to young men that were in the same position he was 15 years ago. Michael has had a great impact on a lot of kids, both in exposing them to Christ and coming to know Him.

HM: Working with such high-profile athletes, how do you keep from being intimidated by them or influenced by their fame?

SD: I've never been enamored by the situation simply because I had the mentality that I was a lizard in the palace and the lizard in the palace doesn't have any status. However, he has an opportunity to influence and I've seen the Lord open those doors and be in situations where I knew I was there and I didn't forget why I was there. You know that God opened the door and I was there simply to be a witness on His behalf and trust Him to work in peoples' lives.

Steve and Arlene DeBardelaben have been on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ for 36 years, the last 15 with Athletes in Action in Miami, Florida.

Holly Meade is the producer of The Lighthouse Report, a daily radio broadcast of Campus Crusade for Christ. Hosted by Campus Crusade President Steve Douglass, the program encourages Christians to be "lights" by praying, caring, and telling others about Jesus Christ.

Airtime for this interview is yet to be determined. Visit www.lighthousereport.com for more information.

Photo courtesy of Steve DeBardelaben