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Men wearing uniform white T-shirts and green pants file through the chain-link gate, pausing to get checked off the attendance list by one of the officers monitoring their arrival. Each prisoner looks eagerly past security and the routine protocol, though, and recognition lights up his face when he spots the guest of honor, who is waiting in the shade offered by a cluster of tall trees.

“Coach! Hey, coach!” many of them call, flushing with pleasure when he raises a friendly hand in response to their shouts.

It is a sunny, pleasant day in Charlotte, North Carolina, and almost all the inmates held at the minimum-security prison have eagerly congregated on the green hillside for one reason: the opportunity to meet former Washington Redskins coach and NASCAR racing team owner Joe Gibbs.

This three-time Super Bowl champ has a singular reason for being there, too: recruitment.

Kickoff

“I feel right at home with you guys,” Joe begins as he takes to the portable stage to address the more than 200 men in front of him, “because we’ve probably got some racing fans out there.” His hunch proves correct as it’s met with cheers.

“And I know we definitely have some NFL fans out there,” he continues, and is answered with even louder cheering. “And maybe even some Redskins fans!” Whistles and rousing applause draw a smile across Joe’s face. “I knew you weren’t Cowboys fans,” he jokes, referring to the Redskins’ long-time football rival. “I can spot them anywhere.”

Believe it or not, Joe is going into prisons to talk football. However, he is not talking wins and losses, strategy, or player statistics. He is using the popular sport and his experiences at its summit as an analogy for life—and as his testimony for Jesus Christ.

“I’m sharing the most important decision I’ve ever made in my life, and that was giving my life to Christ,” explained Joe before the event. “I’m going to explain to them how easy that is and hopefully have an impact on their lives.”

Friends with Prison Fellowship Founder Chuck Colson, Joe had gone behind the concrete walls and razor wires of prisons prior to this May morning event. The last time he accompanied Chuck on a visit, he says Chuck was “charging in there. He was death row. He was AIDS ward. He didn’t care. He’d go in wherever and hold hands with the guys there and pray with them. I think he’s a man of courage.” Despite his experiences with Chuck and his admiration of prison ministry, Joe was uncertain whether this was an evangelistic arena he was being called to enter.

Then, last year, Joe launched the Game Plan for Life project. With the help of a national research firm, Joe identified 11 main concerns men have in life, ranging from health to finances to relationships. Each of these concerns earned its own chapter in Joe’s book, written by 11 different theological experts—including a chapter penned by Chuck Colson—to demonstrate how the answers to men’s most pressing questions can all be found in one place: the Bible.

To spread this message, Joe has been organizing evangelical events in several southern states, including one in Florida, where he was invited by Prison Fellowship staff to speak at a prison in Orlando.

“It was a life-changing experience for me,” Joe says. In the midst of about 1,000 prisoners and a drizzling rain, Joe shared the Game Plan for Life. “It was probably one of the most unique speaking experiences I’ve ever had. I still remember some of the faces. You could tell they were completely focused on what you had to say. It was sincere. That really jumped out at me, and I thought, this is something I need to do more often.”

Running Plays . . . and Fumbling

“Life is a game,” Joe explains to the prisoners sitting in the grass at the Charlotte Correctional Center, “and you and I are the players. And none of us wants to lose the biggest game of all.”

In a speech filled with personal anecdotes, raw honesty, and a bit of self-deprecation to garner both laughter and kinship, Joe pitches each point to drive home his football metaphor.

“If you and I are playing the game of life, do we need a coach?” he asks. “You bet we do! And who possibly could be the coach in the game of life? God. God is the only One who could be the coach in the game of life.”

Joe illustrates the “coach’s” love for his “players” and what it means to be part of God’s “winning team” before the “clock runs out” with experiences from his time as head coach of the Washington Redskins. Just as he did for years in the National Football League, Joe also runs interference throughout his testimony, providing counterarguments for the common doubts he hears from those who question God’s existence.

“Look at this world, the way it’s crafted and put together. Is it possible this is an accident? Did this just fall together?” Joe challenges. “Basically, we have two choices: Either we’re an accident, or somebody made us. My way of looking at it, where there’s a world, there’s a world maker. To me, that’s common sense.”

As Joe addresses a group of men who have obviously made some serious mistakes in their lives, one of his core messages is that being on God’s team does not mean always playing a perfect game. In life, as in football, there are victories, and there are defeats. To illustrate this, Joe shares one of his big losses.

In 1981 Joe entered into a real estate partnership, investing in land in Oklahoma. In just two years, this “sure thing” investment was bleeding $35,000 a month in interest alone. Seven of the nine financial institutions involved were forced to close their doors. “I got on my knees, and the tears were rolling, and here’s what I said: ‘God, I’ve been a fool.’ But you know the great thing about being on God’s team? Nothing is too big for Him.”

Every other partner in the investment declared bankruptcy, but Joe refused. Instead, he personally visited each of the nine banks and negotiated a deal so he could pay off every penny of all the loans that had buried him. Then for the next four and a half years, with the help of friends and financial advisors, he dug himself out of the overwhelming debt. “We went through all that and somehow, miraculously, came out on the other side,” Joe tells his audience of inmates. “So I don’t care how big your mess is. I don’t care how bad you’ve screwed up. If we throw ourselves at God’s feet, and we ask Him to forgive us of those sins, there’s nothing you’ve done that He won’t forgive.”

Whose Team Are You On?

For nearly an hour, as he speaks to the inmates gathered in the sunshine to listen, Joe keeps his Bible in his hand. Continued comparisons between the game of life and the sport of football advance Joe to his main point, and for his final run, he lifts the book above his head. “If God’s our head coach in the game of life, would He put you and I here to play a game without a game plan? I don’t think so.”

Joe declares that studying the Bible, God’s Game Plan for Life, is the only chance anyone has for victory. Furthermore, he continues, to be on the winning team means to make a conscious decision to be on God’s team. “Do you know what happens to you at that point?” he asks the crowd. “We are sealed. Nothing can take us out of His hand. And in the end, we win. Isn’t it great? Wouldn’t it be great to be in a game and know you can’t lose?”

Joe ends his speech with a recruitment challenge—inviting the prisoners to choose God’s team and pray to accept Christ into their hearts. In fact, he prays with them, just as he did at the age of nine when he chose God’s team, and again at the age of 32 when he rededicated his life to “playing” for Him. Now Joe has found his niche in prison ministry, by discovering “that connection to really speak to them, you know what I mean? Most of the guys, they either like motor sports or football, so I know we had an immediate connection.” And by teaming up with Prison Fellowship, Joe hopes to take the Game Plan for Life message into a different prison about every month.

“The relationship with the Gibbs organization and Game Plan for Life with Prison Fellowship will positively impact the lives of many prisoners,” says Prison Fellowship’s Director of Ministry Partnerships Larry Tucker. “It is a joy to work with an organization whose values and actions are Christ-centered.”