INDIAN LAND, S.C. (CAROLINA SPORTS LIVE) — You’d think it would have been a near-death experience that changed the path of former Panthers player Derwin Gray. However, as it turns out, it was just a run-of-the-mill football play.
“We were playing the Buffalo Bills in Buffalo, and their running back broke through the line,” Gray recalls, then a defensive back with the Carolina Panthers. “I just came up and smashed him. But at the bottom of that pile, I heard a voice say, ‘What are you still doing out here?’”
It was 1998 when the answer started to take shape. Just three games into his tenure with the Panthers, the 5-11 former BYU star blew out his knee. Only 27 years old, he probably could have come back. Except he didn’t want to.
“The desire to play was leaving. So during injured reserve, I was in the cold tub and all I did was read the Bible,” he says.
It was at the Bank where Gray realized what was next. He had a plan. But never in his wildest dreams did he ever think it would turn out exactly how it did.
“It is one of these things where you are not sure, but you find yourself saying things like, ‘one day we are going to have multiple campuses,’” he explains.
Today, as the lead pastor at Transformation Church, Gray estimates he’s reaching an audience of more than 12,000 people between two South Carolina campuses. A first-time visitor to one of his sermons would quickly figure out his background.
“I’m a football coach disguised as a pastor,” he smiles. “My staff are the coaches, and you are the team, and we are equipping you to play.”
To do it, he’s got a whiteboard, just like you might see in a locker room. He calls the services the huddle. The rest of the week, the game of life, and he’s more than happy to help design the plays.
“Coaches are teachers. Pastors are teachers. Inspiration will only last for a moment. Transformation will last for a lifetime.”
His message hits hard. Just like he used to at stadiums across the NFL, and to his delight, the experience is just as fulfilling.
“I can rest in what Christ has done, and there’s new chapters that he wants to write in my life,” Gray says.
It was once all about football. Now, for Gray, Sundays are all about faith.