{"id":382,"date":"2009-07-28T00:55:49","date_gmt":"2009-07-28T04:55:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2009\/07\/28\/ambassador-warrior-tebows-platform-for-christ\/"},"modified":"2009-11-21T21:30:40","modified_gmt":"2009-11-22T05:30:40","slug":"ambassador-warrior-tebows-platform-for-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2009\/07\/28\/ambassador-warrior-tebows-platform-for-christ\/","title":{"rendered":"Ambassador-Warrior Tebow’s Platform for Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tim Tebow, the now-famous college football quarterback (previously discussed<\/a>), is currently featured on the cover of Time Magazine<\/em><\/a>, with the\u00a0headline “Man of Many Missions.”\u00a0 With a fruitful college football career and an outspoken heart for Jesus Christ, Tebow truly does have many (very successful) missions.\u00a0 The champion college player had the option of quitting school and entering the NFL, but chose instead to finish his college career, in part because<\/a> of<\/p>\n

the platform that I had at the University of Florida, the opportunity that I had to minister to a lot of kids around the south, and the US for that matter, and just what was going on around the University of Florida, how much I loved it, how I loved being a Gator.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tebow’s statements about the value of his witness express the very heart of Christianity, and of living\u00a0his Truth with Feet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

My goal to do that is for my teammates and people in general to see that I\u2019m a genuine person, someone who cares about them. When someone needs something, I want to be the first one there. If there\u2019s a new sick kid in the hospital, I want to be there first one to visit him.<\/p>\n

I think they see that and they say \u2018What is it about him that does that?\u2019<\/p>\n

Then I have the opportunity to say, \u2018That\u2019s my relationship with Jesus Christ.\u2019 And you\u2019ll get to minister your faith and what you believe in by your actions first and not always preaching or trying to share it first, but how you act and what you do first.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The sincerity and effectiveness of Tebow’s ministry impacted even the Sports Illustrated<\/em> writer, who said<\/p>\n

I would say he’s the most effective ambassador-warrior for his faith I’ve come across in 25 years at SI.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tebow displays the qualities of an “evangelical” Christian that many people–Christian and not–fail to understand.\u00a0 Some Christians cannot imagine evangelism without Bible thumping.\u00a0 Many non-Christians assume “witnessing” involves a Christian “forcing his religion” on someone.\u00a0 Both are wrong.<\/p>\n

The best Christian witness is life example.\u00a0 Tebow doesn’t coerce his teammates or the others to whom he witnesses.\u00a0 He establishes credibility, respect, and admiration based on the accomplishments in his daily life–something that makes others come to him<\/em> and want to know what makes him tick.\u00a0 The validity of his witness, as displayed in his daily life, is the foundation for his “evangelism.”<\/p>\n

Likewise, a military member should strive to witness for Christ in his daily life, seeking to be the most professional, credible, caring, and respectful troop that they can be while displaying the Christian value of servant leadership.\u00a0 This applies whether those that are observing him are his peers, subordinates, or members of a foreign country.\u00a0 Though the “Christian-ese”\u00a0word witness<\/em> sometimes sparks outcries from those who do not understand it, living a Christian witness is entirely consistent with rules, regulations, and common sense.<\/p>\n

Like Tebow, Christians in the US military also have a unique opportunity, given their platform<\/a>, to be an “ambassador-warrior” for Christ.\u00a0 Whether it is the admiration of the elite and select, as with fighter pilots and Special Forces, or it is the instant respect and gratitude given to combat veterans who have fought and suffered at their country’s request, Christian Airmen, Sailors, Soldiers and Marines have a unique story to tell, and the platform to reach many for Christ.<\/p>\n

Christians should serve God faithfully wherever\u00a0He places them, being a “living witness” and unspoken Gospel to the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tim Tebow, the now-famous college football quarterback (previously discussed), is currently featured on the cover of Time Magazine, with the\u00a0headline “Man of Many Missions.”\u00a0 With a fruitful college football career and an outspoken heart for Jesus Christ, Tebow truly does have many (very successful) missions.\u00a0 The champion college player had the option of quitting school and entering the NFL, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,3],"tags":[2,10,41],"class_list":["post-382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-living","category-culture","tag-military","tag-religion","tag-tim-tebow"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}