From Football to Faith

Yesterday we had the privilege of hearing from the man himself some of the ups and downs of being a successful professional footballer and the impact Christ had on his life and his teammates.

His career began at Charlton Athletic, where he worked as an apprentice before being offered a professional contract. He had a promising debut, but was dropped from the club at the young age of 20. Linvoy vowed to prove his previous manager wrong and show his worth through his performances on the pitch. He moved to Barnett, a lower league club, and although he wasn’t earning the astronomic salaries of today’s footballers, he was able to have all the material things he had wanted.  By the age of 27, after a good spell at Reading, he was beginning to question the purpose of what he found himself doing, previously the sum of all his dreams, that he had believed would lead to his fulfilment. He was on the verge of quitting when he was offered a place on a premiership side – Portsmouth – and took it.

Linvoy described himself and his colleagues as ‘always searching for something’, though, and through a friend of his wife he was invited to a church. Despite initial reservations, he discovered a personal relationship with Christ. Six weeks later his prayer to see evidence of the living God was answered when he was healed of a knee injury, Linvoy described this as ‘the moment his life started’. He began to talk about his new found faith to the press. This led to grief from his teammates but God placed different people along the way to guide him as he approached combining his new found relationship with Christ with his career.

Within three years there were nine Christians at Portsmouth, and he had seen four colleagues find Christ for the first time; this led to a closeness and unity in the team not seen before. Such was the change God had begun to make in the team, prayer sessions began before matches and Linvoy’s personal performances improved to the point of becoming a key member of Harry Redknapp’s team. As a result of his influence, the club began to host Alpha courses for fans and players alike, and in the three years he ran the course the three hundred places were filled each time.  Sky even asked to film the prayer huddle before the game, something previously unheard of.

Linvoy was a Christ-follower obeying the calling he had received through his relationship and transformation. There have since been charity roles, and he continues to reach out to other footballers. His life is testament to the power of the Holy Spirit and all that you can achieve when you say ‘yes’ to God.

There are so many lessons we can take from Linvoy’s story, but perhaps the most encouraging was this: no matter where you are, no matter how difficult the situation you find yourself in or how distant the people around you seem from God, the light and love that flows through us, empowered by the Holy Spirit that points to Christ, has the ability to transform those surroundings.