Derek Carr had incredible response when teammate said he wanted to get baptized
Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr is a devout Christian who believes in putting his faith into action.
“[God] is the reason I play football. He has given me this special talent, and I want to use it to glorify Him,” Carr says on his website. “I am grateful for the opportunity to further His Kingdom by sharing my faith on and off the football field.”
After signing a five-year, $125 million contract last June, Carr was asked what he would do with the money. “The first thing I’ll do is pay my tithe as I have since college,” he said, referring to the biblical practice of giving 10 percent of what you receive to the church.
A few months earlier, Carr gave a ride to a stranded motorist who didn’t know who he was at the time.
Now we’ve learned, courtesy of former Raiders wide receiver Cordarelle Patterson, that the young quarterback also takes a hands-on approach to baptism.
Patterson, who was traded to the Patriots last month after one year in Oakland, talked about his experience with Carr in an interview Wednesday with radio host Adam Schein on SiriusXM’s “Mad Dog Sports Radio.”
ICYMI: @ceeflashpee84 tells @AdamSchein about the time Derek Carr baptized him…seriously! pic.twitter.com/5g9dTxT8VT
— Mad Dog Sports Radio (@MadDogRadio) April 11, 2018
“We was in chapel one Sunday, and I just came up to him one day,” Patterson said. “I was like, ‘Man, I need to get baptized. I just feel like it’s time for me to change my life around at this moment. My life hasn’t been going like I’m planning it to be, but I want to change it.’ He talked to me. He sat me down. …
“He actually baptized me that same night in the hotel room.”
“Wow,” Schein said.
“I know, man. It’s crazy,” Patterson said. “It’s the things off the field that people really don’t see about Derek Carr.”
The wide receiver added that the 27-year-old quarterback is an “amazing” player and a team leader.
Carr and the Raiders are hoping to rebound from a disappointing 6-10 season in 2017 that resulted in the firing of coach Jack Del Rio, who was replaced by Jon Gruden.
But his primary focus will be on serving God and living his faith.
“Being a Quarterback is what I do but it does not define who I am,” he says on his website. “I am first and foremost a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
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