BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

Learning to Live by Faith “I studied Kenneth Copeland too,” Ted remembers, “his ministry, his teaching and faith. I’d never understood faith because I didn’t live by it. I lived by talent and gifting. But when Pastor Lamont asked me to give up my six-figure salary and to go on staff for $40,000 a year, I realized I had to learn to live by faith. I also had to humble myself to leave corporate America and serve my pastor as he served God’s people. “By that time, I had a wife and two children. Dawn was a schoolteacher, so together we didn’t make much money. Pastor Lamont was the chaplain for the Philadelphia Eagles, and I was his assistant. He got tickets to the games and took me with him. One day he said, ‘Hey, would you go get me a cheesesteak, some fries and a soda?’ “Yes, sir,” Ted said. But he had no money. “God, this is Your man I’m serving. He asked me to get him something to eat. So Father, I need You to provide so I can serve Your son.” As he walked toward the concession stand, Ted looked down and saw a $20 bill stuck to a piece of gum on the sidewalk. He blinked back tears while buying the food. Baby Steps “I was taking baby steps learning faith,” Ted says. “One of the hardest things about leaving corporate America was the loss of my company car. My sister had given me her old BMW. I took care of it and treated it like an idol. Then, I heard the Lord tell me to give the car away. That car had no debt. I’d painted it and babied it. Giving it away was one of the hardest things I’d ever done. “My wife thought I was crazy. Now we had to share one car. The Lord told me to go to a car dealership and pick out the car I wanted and buy it. I didn’t even have money for a down payment. I bought the car for $25,000 and drove away with a car payment of $580, which I also did not have.” Meanwhile, Pastor Lamont drop-passed the baton to Ted as chaplain of the Philadelphia Eagles. “He came to me and said that he wasn’t supposed to be chaplain to the Eagles—I was,” Ted recalled. “Two weeks after buying the car, I taught my heart out at the team Bible study. We had a new player who had come to us from the [New England] Patriots. He came up to me afterward and said, ‘I’ve never heard anyone minister the Word like you did. That blessed my life today.’ “He pulled out a folded check and put it in my pocket, and told me, ‘The Lord told me to give this to you.’ “I left hoping it was $580. When I unfolded the check, I saw it was for $25,000. I heard the Lord say, 'Enjoy your company car.' I just wept.” Learning to live by faith hadn’t been just for Ted and Dawn. It had also been so that he could teach the team faith. Ted had never thought he would be involved with football again. Now that he was, his goal was to touch the players’ hearts and allow God to change their lives. The Power of Influence With only a brief window of time to influence them, the most important thing Ted wanted to teach the players was to stop allowing football to be their identity. He taught them their identity should be in Christ. BVOV : 15

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