'Sports Illustrated' Huddles With Tim Tebow for Faith-Focused Article

Tim Tebow is on the cover of Sports Illustrated again (after three times last season), but this time it's not because of his football feats. The July 27 issue of the historic sports magazine focuses primarily on the University of Florida QB's exploits off the field, specifically his work as a missionary. He is labeled on the cover as "Man of Many Missions."

The article, by senior SI writer Austin Murphy, is shockingly open about the beliefs and faith of the senior quarterback, who Murphy calls "the most effective ambassador-warrior for his faith I've come across in 25 years at SI." This week, instead of reading about broken tackles, Sports Illustrated fans will be reading about broken inmates who have responded to Tebow's message of redemption.

It's quite remarkable that a secular publication has devoted this much space to what amounts to a cover story about the gospel and the way Tebow is sharing it. Mandel writes about an impromptu player meeting before the NCAA national championship game that ended up breaking into prayer and song. He writes about how Sunday services for Florida players used to attract three or four guys, but now the room is full. He writes about the dramatic increase in charitable hours from players on the team.

He even writes a verbatim quote of Tebow's gospel message to prison inmates: "'If you were to die right now, where would you be?' By which he means, in which direction would your soul be headed? 'For me,' he says, 'I have an answer to that question. I am one hundred percent certain I'm going to go to heaven because I have Jesus Christ in my life.'"

I have to say that I am proud of SI for writing an entire story that focuses on a good person in the world of sports and allows them to explain their faith without watering it down. It's easy to focus on the Michael Vicks of the world and how bad things can get in sports, so it's really awesome to see the magazine focus on the good. So often it gets thrown out in favor of the more controversial and popular topics.

But that's the other thing here that's really amazing: Tebow's faith is a popular topic. A lot of the time, athletes doing charity work fail to grab the attention of the public. But Tebow has managed to stand out to such a degree that he can merit this kind of attention. After the national championship game last year, 94 million people googled the verse that Tebow wore underneath his eyes. It's really a testimony to the way he has handled himself and to the ways God is using him.

What a pleasure to have him around college football and at the forefront of the nation's sports section for one more year.