Adam Hayward, the 27-year-old linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, shared his personal story of transformation through Jesus Christ. When meeting this handsome professional athlete, many of his characteristics are clear. He is humble and sincere. Beyond the tattoos and muscle, there is a gentleness about Adam that can only come from one place. He demonstrates a love for the game of football and an even greater love for Jesus. He avidly seeks to utilize his football career to further the Kingdom of God and spread the Gospel wherever he can. He ministers to others in various ways, whether it be by playing his favorite Christian rap in the locker room, traveling to a foreign nation on mission trips, raising funds for breast cancer research, or spending time with underprivileged kids. When Adam surrendered his life to the Lord, he discovered that his old life was gone and a new life in Christ had begun.
A CHILDHOOD DREAM
Adam grew up in southern California and started playing sports at the age of six. His first love quickly became football as he told everyone, “I’m going to play professional football.” As a young man, Adam surrounded himself with other ball players and based his identity on the game he was so passionate about. He described his high school experience as a varsity football player, which involved too much partying and not enough studying. He was scouted by 30 colleges, but each opportunity for a scholarship slipped through his fingers as his GPA continued to drop. By Adam’s senior year in high school, only one school maintained their offer and that was Colorado State. The condition was that Adam had to bring up his GPA. So he hit the books, taking seven classes and night school. This wouldn’t be the last time Adam would buckle down and work hard for what he wanted. He succeeded in pulling up his GPA and earned his scholarship to play football at Colorado State, over 1,000 miles away from his hometown.
His freshman and sophomore seasons went well as a safety; however, by the summer before his junior year, his mother Pauline fell ill again. She had beat breast cancer once before, but Adam said this time, “It came back three-fold.” By the time football season started, Adam’s head was not in the game. He struggled to deal with her illness and lead his life. Then he received a call from his dad. Adam recounted the words his father spoke, “Your mom isn’t doing too good; you need to come home right away.” Pauline Hayward passed away on August 6, 2004. “It made me lose my mind in a sense,” Adam said. When he returned to school he quit football. It was just too much to handle. Adam spent the next year drowning his pain by “getting into trouble, hanging out with the wrong people, and partying.”
Before the next football season started, Adam’s love for the game drew him back in. He knew his mom would not have wanted him to quit, after all she was his biggest fan. He wanted another shot on the field, but his position was already filled. So, he transferred to Portland State University for the 2005 football season, which was his senior year. In 2006, he fought for a hardship to get one more year of eligibility to play. He was successful and played another season at Portland State, which he dedicated to his mom. This was Adam’s pivotal season in which he earned his new position as a linebacker. It was on the 50-yard line of Portland State’s field that Adam began the tradition of kneeling for a prayer to God and a quiet moment for his mother before each game. He still continues this practice today wherever the team goes. Adam worked hard and it paid off. He graduated with a degree in Criminal Justice and was picked in the sixth round of the 2007 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, fulfilling a childhood dream.
photograph courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
GROWING IN CHRIST
In 2009, one of Adam’s teammates, Jermaine Phillips, invited him to Grace Family Church and he started attending periodically. However, Adam was still living his old lifestyle of partying – one that he explains was full of emptiness. Adam was unknowingly trying to fill a void in his heart with all of the wrong things. One Sunday at church, Pastor Craig Altman was giving a message on knowing who Jesus Christ is and knowing Him as your Lord and Savior. Adam said, “I had no idea what he was talking about.” He had been to several Bible studies and church services over the years, but never really paid attention. This time he decided to listen. “By the end of the sermon, I was in tears. I knew that I accepted Him in my heart – that I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior,” Adam said.
After that day, Adam candidly shared that he battled his old lifestyle with the one he wanted to lead as a Christian. He explained it was tough to let go of certain friends, partying, and even music that didn’t glorify God. “For a long time, I was trying to do both. I was going back and forth trying to please everybody and still be the “cool” fun guy to hang out with and be the good-hearted guy I wanted to be and knew I could be – who I was made to be,” Adam said.
Adam explained that he would meet with the team Chaplain to study the Bible and then turn around and go out with people he shouldn’t. He still hadn’t quite cleaned up his language yet either and a teammate called him out on it in the locker room: “For a Christian you’ve really got a bad mouth.” Adam responded with another curse word before sitting down at his locker. He broke down and realized, he wasn’t cursing at his teammate – he just cursed at God. “That was God convicting me [to change my ways],” Adam said. He felt that he was not living as he should and needed to give it all up to Christ – really surrender himself. “Right when I did, that weight from the emptiness I had in my heart from my mom dying, that anger I had, it was finally released,” Adam said. He figured out that “no matter what you do, He is still going to love you.”
He made the necessary changes in his life and kept seeking God. Adam learned that living for Christ has so much more to offer than his previous lifestyle, and you can still have fun. He enjoys hunting, fishing, scuba diving, and other extreme sports. “I don’t have to get wasted to have a good time,” Adam commented. He also learned that living a Christian lifestyle doesn’t make him weak. As he explained, “I’m not weak by any means. It actually makes me stronger.” This new life with Jesus was a growing process and something he knew he could share with others who’ve had the same struggles.
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LIVING THE DREAM
Growing up, Adam enjoyed watching Baltimore’s Ray Lewis and Tampa Bay’s very own Derrick Brooks play on TV and looked up to them for their amazing talent on the field. He was blessed with the opportunity to play with Brooks for two seasons and “ended up being under his wing,” Adam shared. Adam recalled his happiest moments in the NFL so far and talked about his experience in San Francisco during the 2010 season. He was told he would get more playing time and was still awaiting his opportunity when something unexpected happened.
The team Chaplain told him that the famous In-N-Out Burger of the West Coast was a faith-based fast-food restaurant. “No way,” Adam thought. They visited the burger joint and when Adam turned his cup over there it was – a scripture reference in Proverbs. The print was tiny and didn’t contain the actual text of the scripture. The reference was Proverbs 3:5, which says: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” (NIV). Adam remembers saying, “You know what, I’m going to trust in the Lord like this cup says.” The very next game they put him in to start and Adam had an amazing game.
MAKING AN IMPACT
Adam has embraced his ability to use football as a platform to spread the Word of God. He is an extremely gifted athlete, and he knows only God promoted him to the Pros, so that he will use it for His glory. “God has put me in these situations and molded me to be right where he wants me to be. My vocation, being a football player, is my ministry,” Adam said. With his newfound direction from Christ, Adam started going out in the community more to bring the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ to others. His favorite Christian rap artist, Lecrae, shared with him Romans 1:16, which says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…” (NIV). Adam takes this approach when sharing Christ with his teammates and others. He will not be ashamed.
Score International gave Adam the opportunity to teach American football and serve the people of Costa Rica on mission trips. “In the daytime, we got up early to deliver food to people or to go build stuff. Then, we would eat, change clothes, and teach football until 12 at night,” Adam explained. He found this experience so humbling, as these people live tough lifestyles. He would present the Gospel to the people they were playing football with and the men were receiving it. Adam said it was a blessing to witness. To learn more about Score International, visit their website at www.scoreinternational.org.
Being a professional athlete allows him the chance to talk with youth groups, school kids, and football teams. These kids can easily identify with Adam because of his past. He shares with them that they can’t let their past hold them back. He tells them that he faced a lot of trials and tribulations to get to where he is today, and encourages them to never give up and to never think they aren’t worth it or worthy to be a Christian. Being able to share these truths with youth is exactly why Adam enjoys spending time with the kids of Idols Aside, a ministry that reaches people for Christ through sports. Adam is on the advisory council for this ministry and also serves on the board of directors for 4KIDS of Tampa, a “faith-based non-profit organization that focuses on recruiting safe, loving, and stable foster families and others from the community of faith to help children who have been removed from their home due to abuse, neglect, and/or abandonment” (www.4kidsoftampa.com).
Adam really loves working with youth, but also is passionate about helping to raise funds for breast cancer awareness and research. Last year, he served as the honorary chairman for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in St. Petersburg. He ran the race in honor of his mother and shared his story with all of the race participants. All of this community involvement, his ministry work, and Adam’s wonderful season last year make it easy to understand why he was chosen as the Bucs’ Man of the Year for 2010. This recognizes his accomplishments on and off the field and also made him a finalist for the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. He is truly making an impact for Christ everywhere he goes.
LOOKING TOWARDS THE FUTURE
Being a professional athlete has a limited timeline. Adam recognizes that he won’t be playing football forever and has to be prepared for what will come next. He can see himself working with youth groups in the church. “I just love working with kids,” Adam said. He has aspirations to start his own foundation in the future with two different branches. One will be a faith-based breast cancer foundation to raise funds through a fishing tournament and the other will be a faith-based youth ministry.
Adam is also involved with The Dream Center of Tampa Bay, which is “a faith-based organization that desires to demonstrate the love and grace of Jesus Christ throughout the East Tampa/Ybor area of Hillsborough County, Florida by providing practical service, meeting needs, and reaching out to the community” (www.facebook.com/dreamcenteroftampa). This is an outreach started by Grace Family Church and will be modeled after Dream Centers in other metropolitan areas, offering sports activities, after school activities, mentoring, and tutoring, among other things. The Dream Center is still undergoing renovations. Adam is excited about the help and support The Dream Center will bring to the youth in the Ybor City area once it opens.
Some might say that Adam takes on too much for a young man playing professional football with his practice, game, and workout schedule. However, Adam said that before he gets involved in anything, he asks our heavenly Father for guidance. He also chooses to work with people and ministries that further the Kingdom of God. Adam is paving the way for his future, and he has set his sights on ministry work. He thanks God every day for His strength and love that got him where he is today. The most important thing to take away from Adam’s story is that through Jesus Christ we are transformed; our old life is gone and a new life begins! Glory!
Tune in this season to watch Adam play and to cheer him on.
