Watch: ESPN's Pat McAfee Stops Program to Talk About Salvation
The Lord works in mysterious ways, so one never knows when, where or how he might enter people’s thoughts.
“Boston” Connor Campbell, a regular on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show,” interrupted a football-related segment on Wednesday to raise a question about salvation.
Host Pat McAfee then allowed the ensuing conversation to proceed for more than three minutes.
“Did you guys see that new commercial that’s saying, like, you want to find out if you’re going to heaven or hell?” Campbell asked out of the blue.
Now, readers should temper their expectations regarding what followed.
For one thing, Campbell raised the question in a tone of dubiousness, not necessarily curiosity.
“Have you seen this? They’re sending people to a website,” Campbell added, suggesting doubt — perhaps with good reason — that a website could predict salvation.
Likewise, the scene did not exactly lend itself to a serious theological discussion.
After all, when men gather to discuss sports, the atmosphere is so casual that it fosters good-natured irreverence. Thoughtful observations of a spiritual nature, therefore, might occur by accident, if at all.
After Campbell raised the heaven-or-hell question, McAfee joked that not many people with talent, as far as he knew, would find their way to heaven. He also said that hell, though filled with more talented people, sounded like not such a good time.
From jocularity, however, came moments tinged with seriousness. Funny how God can work that way.
“Documentary I saw is they make you relive your worst memory over and over and over,” show regular Anthony DiGuilio injected.
“That’s what hell is?” McAfee asked.
“That’s what they said,” DiGuilio replied.
“It’s just eternal damnation,” Ty Schmit then said in response to Diguilio.
“Well, we watched different documentaries,” DiGuilio quipped.
“That sounds like the same — eternal damnation,” McAfee said.
An air of solemnity came over the studio. It lasted another 10 seconds or so before someone had to crack a joke. These were, after all, men gathered to talk sports.
After a few more questions and comments about the website, the show went on as normal.
WARNING: The following video contains language that some viewers might find offensive.
“The Pat McAfee Show” is not exactly a regular forum for theological conversation. But it does not pretend to be. And therein lay the heartening element of this story.
Many people have little or no concept of sin. Or, if they do, they might recognize it on an intellectual level only. And since everyone succumbs to temptation of one kind or another, they might conclude that their own sins require no special attention.
This broad reluctance to acknowledge that our sinful nature places us in a state of dependence on God places by far the strongest barrier between Christ and the people who need him but have yet to embrace him.
Meanwhile, McAfee, a former punter and kickoff specialist who played eight seasons with the Indianapolis Colts, has enjoyed what Forbes called a “meteoric” rise in sports media. After drawing large audiences on YouTube, he signed a five-year, $85 million contract with ESPN in May.
By design or otherwise, McAfee and his show’s regulars brought a brief theological discussion to a woke sports network. Better yet, they engaged in the sort of conversation that some viewers might not encounter anywhere else.
Thus, we see God at work in the unlikeliest of forums.
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