'Evangelism Linebacker' Derwin Gray Preaches 'God's Dream' at Liberty University
The Evangelism Linebacker, pastor Derwin Gray spoke at Liberty University's convocation, relaying to students at the Christian college a message of "God's dream" for all of His children.
"At the core of the dream is you, me, and humanity," the former NFL player said during Monday's event, according to the university's news service. "There has never been a moment where God has not thought about you or His purpose for you. That purpose is found in His story that is about His glory."
According to Gray, "God's dream" is to see unity and salvation in the church among all races and nationalities.
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"I fell head over heels for Jesus because he was head over heels for me," said Gray, sharing his own story of being saved by God's grace with the Lynchburg, Va., school.
Derwin Gray retired after six years in NFL, playing five years with the Indianapolis Colts and one year with the Carolina Panthers. Since then, he become a renowned preacher. Gray is also the founding and lead pastor of Transformation Church located in Fort Mill, S.C.
In one year, Transformation Church grew from a congregation of 178 to 1,500. And Outreach Magazine has ranked it as the second fastest growing church by percentage.
Gray told The Christian Post in a previous interview that his church included about a 60 percent majority of the race (Caucasian) reflected in the local population. The remaining 40 percent reflects a mixture of other ethnic groups. On average, U.S. churches have an 80-20 split between majority and minority ethnic groups.
"I'm very passionate about the Gospel, and the Lord Jesus, and one of my core convictions is that the result of [applying] the Gospel in the local church whenever possible is that it should reflect the ethnic diversity in which it finds itself," Gray stated.
Gray added that he would like to see other church leaders be encouraged by the ethnic diversity found at his church -- stressing that the Gospel, not his ethnicity was his main motivation. He told CP that was the message he wanted to give church leaders.
