What's Your Platform?

We often see celebrity athletes or coaches use their high profile exposure in front of television cameras as an opportunity to share a personal message. This is sometimes referred to as “having a platform”. Some of these athletes and coaches have taken the opportunity to share a Bible message or a statement of their personal relationship with Jesus Christ. In the BCS Championship football game this year you may have seen Tim Tebow’s “John 3:16” message written on his eye black. Tebow has certainly used his “platform” to share his faith and open doors for ministry. One NFL coach who has taken advantage of his “platform” has been Tony Dungy, the recently retired coach of the Indianapolis Colts.

In Dungy’s new book, Uncommon, he shares a unique perspective on “having a platform”. You might be aware that Dungy had a son that committed suicide about a year before the Colts won the Super Bowl in 2007. In Uncommon, Dungy shares a story of a father who had called him because his son appeared to be slipping into depression and considering suicide. This was because the son’s finance had died in an accident prior to their wedding date. The father asked Dungy if he would call his son and share words of encouragement with him. Over the next few weeks Coach Dungy called the young man several times. He told him that, “it may not seem like it at the moment, but things would get better, and ending his life wasn’t the answer. There were more people than he realized who cared about him who he would leave behind, crushed. They would wonder what they should have done, what they could have done. He would leave an empty hole in their hearts.”

Dungy knew the loss that the young man was feeling and tried to help him understand that “while the ache may always stay with us, God will help us push through.” After a few weeks passed, including the date on which the son would have been married, Dungy said that he could tell that the young man was beginning to “push through the dark clouds to find a ray or two of sunlight”. In one conversation, the young man began to thank Dungy for his encouragement and asked him what he did. “By the way,” he said, “what is it that you do”? Dungy told him that he was a coach. “Oh, cool,” the son said, “High school or college?” He didn’t even know that he had been talking to a NFL Super Bowl Championship coach.

The point is that the young man didn’t care that Dungy was anybody famous. He was just a guy that his dad knew who had lost a son – and who cared enough to take the time to call him. Dungy’s platform was not that he was a famous NFL coach, but that he had lost a son to suicide.

What a powerful story for all of us to realize that it is not fame, notoriety, or celebrity that gives us the “platform” for touching other lives. It is the life experiences that God gives us whereby we realize His grace and recognize that He alone can meet our deepest needs. This story leaves me with just one question, “What’s my platform?”

How about you? Have you really thought about what your platform is? It may not be related to sports even though you are highly involved in them.

Purchase Tony Dungy's new book,Uncommon, here.