This week’s Faith, Family, & Football feature is: Luke McCown, Current Atlanta Falcon.
Luke was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the 4th round of the 2004 NFL Draft and is currently a member of the Atlanta Falcons. He is in his 9th NFL season and has been somewhat of a journeyman playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jacksonville Jaguars, and New Orleans Saints through the course of his career. Regardless of the team, Luke has always been a pillar in the locker room leader and on and off-the-field.
Luke comes from a football family that has excelled at the quarterback position on the collegiate and professional level. He is the younger brother of Bears Quarterback, Josh McCown and former Texas A & M Quarterback Randy McCown. The McCown families have been positive role models for the NFL community and are firm believers in faith and family values.
As Luke gears up for the holiday season and NFL playoffs, he took time out of his schedule to reflect on his Faith, Family, & Football with NFLPE. Check out our interview below to learn more.
PE: Why is Faith important to you?
McCown: It all started for me growing up in a small Baptist church with Godly parents. I got to see how real their Faith in Christ was and how it not only affected their life, choices, decisions, etc., but how they interacted with others because of their beliefs. My parents kept me in church, (Sunday AM, PM, Wednesday night youth groups) pretty much anytime the doors were open my family was there, even when we (my brothers and sister) did not want to go. Seriously, there were times I tried to fake a stomach ache or something so I didn’t have to go. Mom usually saw right through that, though. While that may sound bad, church gave me a foundation and pointed me and my siblings in the right direction. I have two older brothers and one younger sister, and I’m proud to say we all walk with and serve the Lord. In Scripture, Christ says to love God and love others. That gives me a responsibility to care for those around me, let Christ shine His light through me, and to “go and make disciples”. How I lead my Family, parent my children, and love and cherish my wife, is a direct result of what the Bible teaches me…the same things I’m teaching my children. My Faith also, and most importantly, gives me hope; understanding my sinful nature, my Faith in the redeeming work of Christ provides me hope for eternity.
PE: Tell us about your Family and the impact they’ve had on your life.
McCown: Growing up the son of a saw miller there was never any shortage of hard work to be passed around. My brothers and I worked there every summer in the Texas heat and learned several lessons about business, leadership, hard work and the value of a dollar. Watching my father’s commitment to providing for his Family by being up at 4:30am and usually arriving at home after 6pm as owner/operator, left lasting impressions on me about hard work and leadership and what it took to be successful. I was one year old when my dad’s mill burned to the ground, and though I don’t remember it myself, the stories of my mom and dad locking arms and committing to restarting and rebuilding together, showed tremendous Faith in the work God gave them to do.
I believe that kind of thing can set a tone for your Family, which you may not know about for years to come. The Faith of my Family, and because we pray for one another, gives us an unbelievable support system that, as anyone in this business knows, is vital to making it through the tough times. And when our second son, Elijah, developed a tumor on his skull at 3 months old, my wife and I locked arms as I heard of my parents doing, and got through it together.
PE: What does being a father mean to you?
McCown: It’s truly the greatest honor! I believe that God is the author of all life and as a father; He has considered me responsible/prepared enough to give me the task of being a dad. It means I get to be the ultimate leader, and, with His help, show them how to be selfless leaders, and how to love and care for the hurting and the lost, how to pray and study their Bible, for my boys how to be gentlemen and my daughter to be the example of a Godly man she needs to see. It means that I get to make disciples out of them, and one day send them out so they too are prepared and equipped to lead families of their own making even more disciples.
PE: How has your Faith and Family helped you develop off the field?
McCown: Football has been a big part of my life for a long time, but what Faith has always done and, now even more so with my wife and kids, is put it right where it belongs. Football is my work and the platform for my testimony, my mission field and place where I get to compete and push myself to be the best, but it is a distant third behind my Faithand Family. Especially now that my oldest son is 7 and beginning to understand what Dad does for a living, I am much more conscious about him learning how to use the things the Lord has blessed us with to be a blessing to others. I once heard Dr. Tony Evans say, “A blessing is not a blessing until that blessing that has come to you flows through you to bless someone else”.
PE: How do you balance Faith, Family, and Football?
McCown: In my life, these are not things that need to be balanced, they are interwoven. God is and wants to be intricately involved in everything I do, especially Footballand myFamily because these are the places where I have the most influence. As long as I am listening to and following His lead, He will make sure my focus for each is adjusted properly through His eyes.
PE: What advice would you give to student athletes and current players in regards to Faith, Family, and Football?
McCown: I would tell them to purposefully read the Bible and seek to be who the Bible says we should be, to pray and ask for wisdom and guidance (James 1:5) and then to “seek first His kingdom....and all these things will be added unto you.” Matt 6:33
God gives way better advice than I do!
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