Former NFL RB Matt Forte Shares Testimony: ‘Inward Transformation’
By Movieguide® Contributor
On Sports Spectrum’s “I Once Was” series, former NFL running back Matt Forte opened up about the moment he accepted Jesus as his Savior.
“Matt Forte grew up going to church because it was the ‘religious routine’ and he viewed Christianity as an ‘accessory.’ In the NFL, he quickly became an outward success — a Pro Bowl running back, a household name,” Sports Spectrum wrote.
After being invited to a Christian conference, though, his world changed.
“Back in 2012, Josh McCown invited me to this NFL conference that was inviting you into a deeper relationship with Jesus,” Forte began his testimony. “I drug my feet going to the conference, sat there with arms folded for the first session, and about 10 minutes in, I was blown away. Taking notes, Tony Evans was preaching, and it just convicted me that I had not really ever in my life been living the life that God had designed for me to live.”
“We get to another conference in 2014, I just have this heavy burden of hypocrisy weighing over me,” he continued. “Feeling like an outward success ’cause by then I had played six or seven seasons, and I was a household name. You know you start to believe the hype that is on you.”
“So, in that conference, while the worship team was worshipping, singing songs on stage, I just was praying the whole time and asking God to allow me and help me to truly submit my entire life to His will and not my own,” he confessed. “To eliminate all the pride that is wedged up in my heart and allow Jesus’s word to envelop inside of me and create an inward transformation.”
Forte experienced just that. Now, he uses his social media to proclaim the name of Jesus.
“Gotta stay connected to the Lord like some glue cuz the harvest is plenty but the laborers are few,” his Instagram bio reads. It also includes Proverbs 3:5-6, which says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
After giving his life to God, Forte focused his football career on sharing his faith.
“When people look at me, I don’t want them to just see football,” he said. “I want my faith to speak for me and that it’s about more than that. It’s about reaching out to others and telling them about your faith.”
Forte left the NFL in 2018 after playing for the Bears and the Jets. “My career in the League has been nothing short of a miracle granted by God and put on display for His glory. I will cherish the many memories made on the field and the lifelong friends I’ve made over the years in the locker room,” he said at the time.
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