(Photo by Karen Brewer)

 Coach Tommy Bowden, Coach Bobby Bowden, Rev. David Gallamore


        More than 2,000 men of all ages, including many fathers and sons, gathered in the sanctuary of Rock Springs Baptist Church for a special night to hear a father and son, respected not only for their success as football coaches, but also for their witness for Christ. 
      Clemson Tigers Head Football Coach Tommy Bowden, a member of the Easley church since coming to Clemson, and his father, Florida State Seminoles Head Football Coach Bobby Bowden, shared their faith, encouraging the lost to be saved and Christians to be committed role models. Both men mixed football stories and humor before sharing the serious message of the Gospel.
      Pastor David Gallamore said that Rock Springs was honored and privileged to have both Coach Bowdens to speak at the Men's Rally. "They’re great coaches and have done a marvelous job on the football field," he said. "And both of these men love the Lord Jesus Christ and are very open about their faith." 
      Tommy Bowden, who said he began his coaching career as a graduate assistant under his father, told the men that he appreciated their coming to hear them speak. "I think that it’s very important that Christian men meet together," he said, "that men socialize together, go to church and have Christian friends." Using an analogy of when a coal from a hot fire falls to the side, away from the other hot coals, losing its spark, losing its heat and productiveness, he added, "We need fellowship. We need to be together as Christian men." 
      The Christian life is not an easy one, he explained. "Paul said in I Corinthians 15:31, I die daily. There will be challenges every day about being the man of the family and taking your responsibility. I think how we act, what we do and what we say outside of the church is important, if we profess Christianity. If we are going to choose the name, we need to be careful how we act and what we say.    
      "It is our responsibility to our wife and children that they grow spiritually. It’s not the government’s job, the church’s job, the school’s job, or our wife’s job for our children to grow spiritually. That’s our job. It’s not our job to take our children to church, drop them off, and pick them up. We need to be sitting with them. That’s our responsibility, as commanded by God. It’s our job to teach our children. I first learned about Christ from my father. Proverbs 22:6 says, Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. 
      "In Biblical times, they didn’t have Bibles. They had scrolls, which stayed in the synagogues. A man would learn and go back and tell his wife and children. When the Israelites left Egypt, and had all the miracles — the manna, the water, the protective cloud — they told their children, generation after generation after generation. 
      "I had devotions with my family once a week, starting when my children were about three or five years old, telling them what God has done for me and how he has blessed me. That is our responsibility, as men of the household. God said we should take our roles seriously. 
      "As it says in Ephesians 5:23, we are supposed to be the head of the household. There is one President of the United States, one CEO of a company, one Head Football Coach, one head of the household. It says in Ephesians 5:25 that we should love our wife as Christ loves the church. It’s our responsibility. 
      "How we act, what we do and what we say and how we make reference to God is important. God takes that seriously. Satan trembles at the Word of God, at the Word of Jesus Christ. Isaiah 6:1-5 and Revelation 4:8 say that angels circle, night and day, over God, saying, 'Holy, holy, holy is His name.' It is a reverent name, and we should treat it as such and be careful how we talk about Him. Have you ever noticed how Hollywood — movies, music, and the television industry — uses Jesus’ name and God’s name in vain? Why don’t they say, ‘Ah, Krishna’ or ‘Ah Buddha’? Why don’t they use Allah’s name? Because Satan doesn’t care. There is only one that makes him tremble. They tarnish, dilute, and try to compromise the true Word of God, because Satan and the demons tremble at His name." 
      Contrary to what some may think, he said, not all ‘gods’ are the same. "Acts 4:12 says that there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved. They are not all equal. They are not all the same. There is only one. 
      "A lot of people say, ‘The Scriptures don’t apply. They were 2,000 years ago. You mean they’re the same today as they were back then? You mean God is really jealous? You mean men are supposed to teach their children?’ Hebrews 13:8 says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Mark 13:31 says that heaven and earth will pass away, but God’s Word will not. It doesn’t change. It doesn’t change. 
      "Life is full of ups and downs," he said, explaining how, in the 2003 football season, Clemson lost to Wake Forest and the next week defeated Florida State, going from what he called the lowest low to the highest high, and, in the 2004 season, defeating Miami and then losing to Duke, from the highest high to the lowest low. "That’s how my profession goes," he said. "It’s volatile." Other men could face different situations, he explained, but everyone’s life is full of ups and downs, highs and lows. "It deviates," he said of life. "It rains on the just and the unjust. It says in Psalms that God is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer. It (the Bible) doesn’t deviate. It never moves. It’s always there. Whether you’re high or whether you’re low, it’s concrete, it’s stable. 
      "We’ve all got to meet our Maker. Eventually, we’re all going to die. We’ve all got to confront God on Judgment Day. We’ll all be held accountable for what we know. We’ll be held accountable for our wife, our children, our co-workers. Everybody’s got a platform. It just so happens that, being the Head Coach of Clemson, I have several opportunities to speak. My father has ten times as many as I do. 
      "There is a Book of Life. When I die and stand before Him (God), He’s going to go down the list, and say, ‘Tommy Bowden, I let you be the Head Coach at Clemson December 3, 1998. Did you mention my name? Did you tell them? Could they see me through you?’ I’m going to be held accountable. "Your platform is different. Your platform could be your wife. Your platform could be your son or daughter. Your platform could be a friend or a co-worker. You don’t have to be a great speaker. It could be what you say, what you do, how you act, how you react. That could be your platform. That could be your witness. 
      "We’re all going to have to answer when He says, ‘Did you tell them?’" 
      Tommy Bowden then introduced his father, who, he said, "has been telling them for a long time." 
      Bobby Bowden, Florida State’s Head Football Coach since 1976, and a college coach for more than half a century, has the most wins in Division 1A football, and has twice led the Seminoles to a national championship. 
      "I have to feel very lucky," Bobby Bowden said, referring to his career as well as to his upbringing in a Christian home. "I was very lucky to have a mother and a father. Most of my players don’t have a family. They might have a mother, but most of the daddys are missing. And those boys need a daddy. Boys are raised by their mothers, and you wonder why they’re not tougher? The mother wakes them up in the morning. The mother makes their breakfast. The mother gets them dressed. The mother takes them to school. The mother picks them up after school. The mother takes them to football practice. The mother brings them back home. The mother cooks supper. The mother puts them to bed. The mother reads the Bible, if she does, and prays. The mother does it all. The boy grows up and wants to be a man — just like his mama." 
      He read a humorous poem about monkeys discounting the theory of evolution and saying that no monkey ever abandoned his family or used a gun or club or knife to kill, as some men do. "The monkeys even know better," he said. 
      "If you’ve coached as long as I have, and lived through as many generations as I have, you’ll see a lot of changes. One of the biggest changes I’ve seen is that boys are raised without a male figure in the home. I was very fortunate to have a mother and a father, and I was raised in a Christian home." 
      Bowden then shared his testimony, saying that, what he believes, with all of his heart, he would be willing to die for. 
      "I was raised in a Baptist church in Alabama, Ruhamah Baptist Church," he said. "When I was 11 years of age, I made a public profession, and I joined the church, because I knew my mama and daddy would make me, sooner or later. I joined the church and was baptized, and I thought that meant I was saved." 
      It was at the age of 23, he said, that he found out about grace, that he discovered that his works alone could not save him, because he would never be ‘good enough’ to go to heaven, that Christ had died for him and his sins, and that he must accept Him as his Saviour and commit his life to Him. 
      "When I was 23, I committed my life to Christ. I asked God to forgive me for the bad things I had done. I finally learned that I was saved through grace. The sins that I had committed, and the sins that I commit today, God has forgiven me because I confessed to God that I had sinned, and I asked for forgiveness. I know I’m unworthy. I believe. I trust him. I commit my life to Him. 
      "In 1953, when I was 23 years of age, I committed my life to Christ, and I said, ‘God, I would love to serve you through football.’" 
      From that day through the present, Bowden credits God with giving him his every job in football, jobs that he never applied for: Assistant Coach at his alma mater, Howard College (now known as Samford University) in Birmingham, Alabama for two years; Head Football Coach at South Georgia College for four years; Head Coach at Howard College for four years; Assistant Coach at Florida State University for three years; Offensive Coordinator at West Virginia University for four years; Head Coach at West Virginia University for six years; and Head Coach at Florida State University for three decades. "Every job was given to me," he said. "I think it was an answer to prayer, because I’ve always asked God to lead me. I can’t take credit for it. I tried to make myself available, and God has done what He has done. What God asks of you and what Jesus asks of you, if you accept Him as your Saviour, is to make yourself available. Is that too hard? He says, ‘Make yourself available, and I’ll do for you like I did for Bobby Bowden.’ The main thing is you have to put Christ first. 
      "As I said, I was about 23 when I realized I had to have a Saviour. The biggest question facing men is, Are you saved? Are you saved? If you’re not, what in the world are you waiting on? You cannot afford to go to your grave being unsaved."
      Referring to the tsunami which killed thousands upon thousands in Asia, as well as the terrorist attack in America on September 11, 2001, Bowden asked, "Do you think they knew they were about to die? Why, no. 
     "Men, be ready. Be ready. Jesus said, ‘I’m going to prepare a place for you, and I’m coming back. I’m going to come back like a thief in the night, and you won’t know when I’m coming.’ We’ve got to be ready. How do you get ready? Confess your sins. I sin, like everybody else. I’ve sinned, but I’m saved, because I believe in Jesus. I confessed my sins to Him. I asked Him to forgive me. I trust Him. It is through Christ that I’m saved. I don’t deserve it. I’m no better than any man, but I’m saved." 
      Bowden then used an illustration, not from football, but from baseball, as he told his favorite story, an incident that happened his senior year of college. He was the only member of the baseball team who had never hit a home run. In a home game against Auburn, Bowden hit the ball hard, and, although it didn’t get high, it was a line drive between shortstop and second base. 
      "It gets through," he said. "I flip that bat and take off for first base. All I want to do is hit the inside of the bag and get to second, so I sort of slide my foot against that bag as I’m going to second. 
      "I can see the ball. It got through the centerfielder and the leftfielder, too. It’s rolling, and they’re running and chasing the ball. I hit second base. I can’t see the ball anymore, and I look at the third base coach. He’s waving me home. I hit third base, and I start for home, and he says, ‘But hurry.’ Boy, I start running to home plate. Meanwhile, the centerfielder gets the ball and fires it to the shortstop. The shortstop takes it and fires that thing home. 
      "Their catcher is squatted down and blocking the bag. I’m running as hard as I can. All of a sudden, his eyes start getting big, and I think, ‘Oh, that ball is about here.’ "I hit him as hard as I can hit him. I try to run right through him. About the time the ball hits his mitt, I hit him, and that bull jumps up in the air. We scramble around. I reach over the top, and hit home plate. The ump says, ‘You’re safe.’ "It’s a home run. I’ve never had one. I’m so excited and get up to brush the red mud off me. The players come off the bench and start shaking my hand. We didn’t have high five’s back in those days.
      "Then, the first baseman yells to the catcher, ‘Hey, John, throw me the ball.’ The catcher gets the ball and throws that thing to the first baseman. He touches first base. The first base ump says, ‘You’re out. You missed first base.’ 
      "I distinctly remember getting second. What had happened was, when I came inside first base and tried to hit it with the side of my foot, I didn’t quite get it. I missed it. I was out. I never got a home run in college. 
      "Here is the significance of that story. If you remember anything I say, remember this, as you go through life: First base is Jesus Christ. If you do everything else you could think of, to get to heaven, it won’t work. You must touch first base. 
      "Those sins that you did, those sins that you did today, He has forgiven you for that. His blood has already paid for that. The only thing you can do wrong is reject Him. The good news is that God rejects no man. The bad news is that man rejects God. It’s in your hands, so don’t let it slip. Don’t let it slip. 
      "Don’t gamble on it, folks. I can gamble in football. If it won’t work, I’ve got another game next week. There’s always another chance. But you can’t gamble with your life. There are no exits in hell. There is no way out of hell. I hope to see every one of you in heaven one of these days."