{"id":13559,"date":"2018-09-12T11:02:15","date_gmt":"2018-09-12T15:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=13559"},"modified":"2018-09-12T11:02:15","modified_gmt":"2018-09-12T15:02:15","slug":"tony-dungy-god-nbc-voice-christian-athletes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/09\/tony-dungy-god-nbc-voice-christian-athletes.html","title":{"rendered":"Tony Dungy: \u2018God Has Me at NBC\u2019 to be a &#8216;Voice for Christian Athletes\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rzWluu0UkXM\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Former NFL coach Tony Dungy has never been shy about his faith in Christ. Even after leaving the NFL, he is using his new platform as a sports analyst on NBC to \u201cbe the voice\u201d that encourages Christian players to bring their faith to the field. Regardless of the backlash they might face.<\/p>\n<p>Dungy sat down with Jenna Browder of CBN News to discuss how his faith has influenced his career. He was also promoting his new inspirational children&#8217;s book series, Austin Plays Fair and Maria Finds Courage, which he co-wrote with his wife, Lauren.<\/p>\n<p>During the interview, Dungy was asked about the backlash he received after reporting, on air, comments made about God by Philadelphia quarterback Nick Foles prior to Super Bowl LII.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe told me he felt that God had him on that Philadelphia Eagles team for a reason,\u201d Dungy recalled. \u201cHe had been the backup quarterback, now he was starting in the Super Bowl and he felt very confident he was going to have a good game because he believed God had him there for that purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the interview, Dungy and Foles both received pushback from fans and viewers who wanted them to keep their faith to themselves.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of people said, \u2018Well, you shouldn\u2019t bring religion into it,\u2019 and I was just reporting the facts,\u201d Dungy said. \u201cBut believe it or not, I got much more support than I did heat. So many people wrote in and said, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m glad that you said and reported on exactly what he said and I\u2019m glad you talked about his faith in Christ.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The media shouldn\u2019t discount athletes who discuss their faith, Dungy said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think people have to understand that Christian athletes have the same ability to espouse their views as anyone else has and if we ask them a question about, what is allowing them to play well, and they say, \u2018It\u2019s my faith in Christ\u2019 or \u2018It\u2019s the Holy Spirit,\u2019 we can\u2019t hold that in and we can\u2019t begrudge them of that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>In a series of tweets in February, Dungy further explained why he believes God gave him the job at NBC for a greater purpose.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am just thankful for the boldness of Coach Pederson and those Eagles players to express their faith,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;I was proud to be able to use my job\u2014where God placed me\u2014to help their voice be heard.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Aside from his current job as a sports broadcaster, Dungy and his wife help run the Dungy Family Foundation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Dungy Family Foundation has worked with Christian organizations and pregnancy care centers, as well as organizations focused on youth development, in Florida, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Indiana,\u201d the website explains.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s clear that Dungy\u2019s focus both on and off the field, is telling others about the love of God and how it can radically change your life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former NFL coach Tony Dungy has never been shy about his faith in Christ. Even after leaving the NFL, he is using his new platform as a sports analyst on NBC to \u201cbe the voice\u201d that encourages Christian players to bring their faith to the field. Regardless of the backlash they might face. Dungy sat&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":600,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3383,7,3294,10],"tags":[3778,764,914,459],"class_list":["post-13559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-celebrity","category-entertainment","category-football","category-sports","tag-christian-athletes","tag-nbc","tag-nfl","tag-tony-dungy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Tony Dungy: \u2018God Has Me at NBC\u2019 to be a &#039;Voice for Christian Athletes\u2019<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former NFL coach Tony Dungy says he believes God gave him his new job at NBC to help Christian athletes share their faith.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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