It didn’t take long for Stephen Curry to start talking about Jesus when he stepped to the stage at Liberty University on Wednesday (March 1). “It’s great to feel the passion for Christ that is here,” Curry said. The NBA superstar visited Liberty in support of a sneaker donation initiative called Kick’n It for a Cause during a convocation at the Lynchburg, Va., campus.
Kick’n It for a Cause was founded by two Liberty students. ‘Kick’n It’ is a lifestyle brand that seeks to join the passions of sneakers and pop culture with the goal of community service. Their goal was to encourage students to donate up to 20,000 sneakers by March 1 to be sent to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Curry, of the Golden State Warriors, personally donated 500 sneakers to the cause. In addition to being a back-to-back league MVP, Curry is an unashamed Christian who can often be seen pointing to the sky after making baskets and writing Bible verses on his sneakers. Curry encouraged students to use their talents and abilities to serve the Lord wherever they end up. “Taking your platform and using it to shine a light for Christ is what it’s all about,” he said.
Curry described his public platform as an opportunity to point people to Christ and not to himself. “God has given me a special platform, but it’s not about me,” Curry said. “Whether it is winning games, losing games, making shots, missing shots it is all about giving glory to God.”
Christianity plays a part in the brotherhood with his teammates. Steph explains, “You ask anybody in their walk of faith – its all about finding accountability partners and finding people that can encourage you in your walk. Knowing nobody’s perfect. We all have very similar temptations, struggles through out entire walk of faith.”
The overlap, for both player and person, becomes intentional! Steph shares, “We have a group chat – we call it the discipleship group where we share Bible verses every single day and kind of do a bible study through text message. Every game day we probably have 10, 11 guys show up for the thirty-minute bible study, prayer service, daily encouragement that’s the biggest thing. You can get lost in the daily routines and the hype of what we do on the floor and forget why we’re here.”
Steph Curry, the basketball shot-smith, double dribbles his discipleship into the game he plays and into the lives he influences outside of it!
“The hardest part with how crazy society is and the pace of our life right now, you have to be able to continue to get feed every single day because there are distractions left and right”, Steph says, “find ways to impact people with how you walk, whether you say anything or not, that they can see something that’s different about you and how you carry yourself – that’s to follow Jesus.”