PLAYING WITH PURPOSE
By Scott Harrup

Jonathan Evans lives football.

Take a look across the yardage of this 25-year-old’s life and the highlights are written with sweat, both on- and off-season.


 • Duncanville (Texas) High School 1998 state championship • Baylor University Bears from 2000-2004
 • Signed with Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2005, then waived in June
 • Signed one-year contract with the San Diego Chargers in January 2006 before playing    
as a running back for Berlin Thunder of NFL Europe
 
Evans continues to explore his options. But whatever openings come his way, he has one focus.  “In life you need to have purpose,” he says.

Football, then, is not an end in itself. In the Evans playbook of life, there are non negotiable principles.

 • God: He’s the One who gives life purpose.
 • Football: To be played with the constant goal of demonstrating Jesus’ presence.

 “If I’m playing football to share Jesus with others and to make that an outspoken way of how I live my life, then I’m doing it with purpose,” Evans says.

Evans’ family gave him the kind of support necessary to nurture his athletic ability and his spiritual life. His father, Tony Evans, pastors Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, a Dallas church of 8,000, and is a nationally recognized speaker and writer.

 “I have a dad who works I don’t even know how many hours a week,” Evans says. “But I can only remember him missing one game my whole life.”  

For the senior Evans, that meant squeezing in those Duncanville High games between
sermon preparation, personal counseling, book writing and nationwide travel. Most recently, it meant flying to Germany and resisting the temptation to cheer himself hoarse before flying home for that Sunday’s sermon.

Growing up in a minister’s home kept church at the top of Jonathan’s priority list, something he has never regretted. He doesn’t take credit for that. It was definitely parental “coaching” that kept him on a pew-covered playing field. He’s still there today.
           
“That’s the most vital statistic for me,” Evans says. “It’s made me the person I am and the person I’m trying to be.”
           
The person he’s trying to be is a man of faith who takes his beliefs onto the football field then connects team truths with life off the field.
           
“A lot of things in football correlate with life,” Evans says.

            • Personal determination
            • A commitment to work hard
            • Consistency during the off-season in    
                preparation for the next season’s    
                challenges

“I have to be joyful in my trials and tribulations I know God is taking me through because He’s getting me prepared for the season,” Evans says.
           
In a world where boys and teens often grow up without a father figure, Evans encourages kids in his circle of influence to connect with godly mentors.
           
“You don’t want the TV and the streets to raise you,” he says.

“If you have somebody solid, usually that’s older than you who you can look up to, then you’re following in the hip pocket of someone who is directed by something bigger than TV or the streets.”

Married last June, Evans and wife Kanika provide accountability for other young adults regarding their spiritual lives and relationships.
           
“My guys are football guys,” he says. “Now I make a point of going to their games, and they notice when I miss one. You would think I was their dad in a way. That’s huge.”
           
In the Evans household, marital health remains tied to spiritual health. Jonathan and Kanika are reading the New Testament together.
           
“We’re listening to the apostle Paul,” Evans says, “seeing what he’s writing to the churches and expecting from them. And we’re trying to put that in our own lives as far as what God is expecting from us.”

There’s no greater playbook.

Article first appeared in Today’s Pentecostal Evangel, January 28, 2007. Reprinted with permission.

More from Jonathan:

Salvation is Free

The Sovereignty of God

Finding Purpose