NFL Star Delivers Sermon During Press Conference: 'Preach the Gospel ... Our Nation Needs Salvation'
For the second consecutive week, New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis delivered a powerful message at a postgame press conference.
Following the Saints’ 20-17 victory over the Carolina Panthers on Monday night, the 34-year-old linebacker took no questions. Instead, he spent the entire press conference praising God and exhorting his fellow Christians to do likewise.
“I want to encourage every Christian — not just Christians with a platform — preach the gospel. Share the gospel,” Davis said.
He later added that he “can’t be the only person that feels like our nation needs salvation.”
Davis has now set a pattern of using postgame press conferences to praise God. He did the same thing a week ago after his team’s 16-15 season-opening win over the Tennessee Titans.
Following that Week 1 victory, Davis explained to the gathered reporters that on the Friday prior to the game, his 4-year-old daughter had suffered her third seizure. He later learned that on the way to the hospital she had stopped breathing twice. Davis and his wife Tamela then spent the night at the hospital.
“And in the middle of the night, probably about 3 o’clock, I heard a knock,” Davis said after Week 1. “And the knock was my daughter. I prayed for her. I said, ‘God, let this just be an attack from the enemy that’s just trying to be a distraction, and let him have overplayed his hand and my daughter come back stronger than before.’”
God answered his prayer.
“She woke up talking clearer than she was talking before. Now anyone who deals with epilepsy knows that it takes a few days for them to come back,” Davis said.
“The next morning when she got up, my daughter was so sharp. She was able to talk to me and her mom. I mean, clear conversation. She’s sharp for a 4-year-old. No stuttering, all her words clear,” he added.
“I started saying praise God, praise God.”
Davis’ heartfelt account of his faith and his daughter’s recovery inspired his fellow believers. So he had to do something similar in Week 2.
“The last time I was up here, God did an extraordinary work through me,” he recalled.
“It exceeded past myself and into and around the country. And with that I owe proper praises to God. It had nothing to do — very little to do with me and everything to do with Him. So I have to be obedient.”
Davis then gave a welcome report on his daughter’s progress.
“So first I will update everybody on my daughter. She had a phenomenal week. She’s doing great. Full bill of health. She’s doing phenomenal,” he said.
The New Orleans Saints posted a clip of Davis’ press conference on X, formerly Twitter. An accompanying tweet emphasized the good news about Davis’ daughter.
“My daughter had a phenomenal week, she’s doing great. A full bill of health.”
A message from @demario__davis 🙏 pic.twitter.com/vw9P8e5EM2
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) September 19, 2023
His daughter’s recovery was indeed big news. But Davis had more to say.
In Week 1, Davis opened his press conference by reading from Revelations 3:20. “See, I stand at the door, and knock: If anyone hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and eat with him, and he with me,” he said following the victory over Tennessee.
The “knock,” he later explained, came from God, and it involved his daughter’s health.
On Monday, following the Saints’ Week 2 victory in Carolina, Davis returned to the “knock” theme.
“As I said before, that knock at the door was answered. And God came in and did a wonderful work in my family,” Davis said.
Then, he made the “knock” theme universal.
“The reality is when you see a message go around that strong, it’s a lot of people out there that are hurting. And it’s a lot of people who are waiting on a knock,” he said.
With so many people “waiting on a knock,” Davis said that Christians must act. Spread the Word.
“That’s what we have to be doing as believers is sharing the gospel. Preach the gospel,” he said.
NFL stars have a unique platform, but Davis asked Christians to proclaim God’s Word everywhere.
“Share the gospel in our schools. Our schools need God. Share the gospel in our courtrooms. Our courtrooms need God. Share the gospel in the hospitals. Our hospitals need God. Share the gospel. Preach the gospel. It is the power of God that will bring salvation,” he said.
Davis added that his Week 1 message resonated because “people are looking for salvation.”
The star linebacker then concluded the press conference and promised to talk to reporters about football later in the week.
What a remarkable and heartening thing that any public figure would speak as Davis has for two weeks straight.
Now in his 12th NFL season, the former 3rd-round pick of the New York Jets has garnered his share of on-field accolades.
In 2017, Davis led the Jets and the entire NFL with 97 solo tackles. Two years later, as a member of the Saints, he earned 1st-team All-Pro honors from the Associated Press.
Davis, therefore, has a long record of football accomplishments and thus commands respect in the ordinary professional sense.
Most important of all, however, Davis speaks truth, and he understands that everyone has the power to do likewise.
Indeed, the lack of a national platform must not stop millions of Christians from following Davis’ lead.
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