What We Heard:

Today at MLN, our special guest was Dan Alexander. Dan is a former Tennessee Titan fullback and linebacker. He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the sixth round of the 2001 NFL Draft. Before that, he played college football at Nebraska. While there, he rushed for 2,456 yards and scored 20 touchdowns in 38 career games. Alexander also played for the Jacksonville Jaguars, St. Louis Rams.

As a pastor’s kid, Dan was raised in a solid Christian home. He recalls the huge impact it made on his life when his father started an underground church in Saudi Arabia where he and his family attended. His mother was also very Christ centered and a strong influence on Dan’s formative years. He remembers his mother teaching him “don’t be defined by the color of your skin but instead by Christ that’s in your heart.”

What It Means:

Introspectively, looking on his life and career Dan says- people can call you ‘a man’, you can ‘be treated like ‘a man’, you can dress in a nice suit like ‘a man’ but… The suit doesn’t make a man. What’s inside the heart makes the man.

When asked “what lessons from playing football can you pass along?” Dan responds, “life can be broken into 4 quarters- you have to play the WHOLE game.” Don’t check out for a quarter or go into auto-pilot  during the game- play every quarter to win. He also said that football taught him loyalty. Football (and life) is a team sport. Just because an individual has an exceptional season doesn’t mean the team wins.

What We Do Next:

As leaders Dan says we must:
– Study God’s Word
– Have a mentor
– Be a mentor
– And remember…what we invest our time in, is what means the most to us.

Where are we investing our time? Who are we investing in?