Big Game Sunday with Curtis Lofton and Gavin Sawchuk

well today I'm excited to introduce uh some of you already know these two guys some some of you are football fans but I'm excited today to invite Gavin saltchuk and then Curtis Lofton is actually a regular attender here at People's Church would you welcome both these guys today to the stage as we have a good conversation welcome my brothers welcome welcome welcome well most of you know uh Gavin running back for current running back for the Oklahoma sunas and uh Curtis is a part of the staff there at OU and played at OU and also played in the NFL and I've uh grown close with Curtis and and love him and his heart and for the Lord and uh Gavin just hearing about your your spiritual journey is exciting as well isn't it wonderful to have men that have influ fluence but love God and so well I want to just Begin by getting the just everybody get to know you a little bit uh I why don't you to tell us where you're from um and then tell us a little bit about your high school football career Gavin yeah uh like Pastor said my name is Gavin Sawchuk I'm from Aurora Colorado I went to a school called Valor Christian High School it's um probably like 25 minutes west of uh of where I lived uh probably like 20 minutes south of Denver and um yeah my high school care career it was good I ran uh I ran track and played football that school um had a lot of great teammates had a lot of uh just great people around him me and surrounding me so uh you know it was a great School uh loved it there Lov Colorado and excited to be here at Oklahoma man it just just feels like home the first time I came out here I pretty much knew I was going to end up here at Oklahoma so um thankful for the people here thankful for everything the people surrounding me like Curtis uh like the coaches on staff you know just just made the place feel like home okay how many yards did you rush for in High School oh come on now you got to know that now I don't know the total I don't know the total I know um my senior year I was uh probably like around 2100 my senior year and uh I think my senior year I broke uh well Christian mcaffrey went to my high school so uh I broke his record on my senior year so uh for rushing yards so come on now that's dropping right let drop us some names right there broke Christian McCaffrey's record Curtis tell us where you're from about your high school career um I'm from king fisher America the yellow jackets um so in my high school career um I started as a freshman I was undefeated seventh eth ninth and then lost four games went undefeated my junior year and lost in the semifinals um I had 187 tackles uh my last year 12 touchdowns you know I mean you have your s here Gavin I don't know well over 12 [Laughter] though and so um you know I played offense and defense and I kicked and I return kicks and um I actually was a better basketball player well I love basketball more than I love football and uh had to make a tough decision do I go I can go anywhere I want to in football or I can go to a place in Minnesota for basketball I never heard of and so so um decided to end up going to OU tell us a little bit about how you got recruited to Oklahoma suitors yeah um I think I got to offer my first year uh or my freshman year uh later in the spring probably in the spring and I didn't really know much about Oklahoma honestly I was um I was a Notre Dame fan growing up and didn't really know much about Oklahoma decided to take a trip out here right before covid hit and uh really just fell in love with with with the place the campus the people um even though it was the old coaching staff um still loved you know everybody that was around the program loved the history behind the program what it meant football meant to Oklahoma um the tradition of running backs is great there you know so you got to be able to carry that tradition and you know that they uh got a lot of good coaches um so they it was just great to come out here and great to visit then and even with the new coaching change you know I knew I was going to stay at Oklahoma I didn't I didn't commit because of the the coach as I commit because of the people here and uh the place felt like felt like I belonged so that's you got you got an offer you a freshman year of high school yes sir and what was you doing in eighth grade of your freshman year to get to get an offer well I had a lot of good um good players around me at my high school so my my freshman year my quarterback he wented up he he ended up in Nebraska uh we had a a left tackle that he played for Washington he just declared for the draft so um had a lot of good players that were getting recruit recruited around me so you you know the college coaches would come in see their filming and like who's this guy you know running the ball and so the coaches put in the word and you know was able to get some some good uh some good uh film out then that's awesome tell us Curtis about your recruitment to Oklahoma well I grew up a DI hard Oklahom State fan and um you know um I probably would ended up there but sometimes pistols don't fire right and um for me it it boiled down to this is you know I went to Oklahom State and you know they tucked me up to boom pickin's swed and they said you know you leading the defense and Bobby Reed leading the offense who can beat us I'm like coach you know I'm I'm playing from king fisher I got a lot to learn I don't you know and then versus you know at OU coach venol and Coach stops telling me hey you're going to earn you have to earn everything you get here and and you got what it takes to get to the next level but just so you know I'm recruiting and replace you every single day and um that kind of sit that kind of you know I'm one of the most competitive people you'll probably ever meet um you know I used to stay in the locker room in the NFL after I cut my tape off and for hours shooting or tape into the trash can until I tuck some of the guys money but um for me it really boiled down to this is where can I grow the best as a man on the field and off the field and then who can get me to the NFL and I didn't mind waiting to get to where I needed to get to and um so I got I could go anywhere but once I committed you know I went through some rough times at OU and I didn't really become Curtis loften till my third year wow to tell us Curtis what would what would would you say one of your top moments playing football at U if you just look back at your career with the Sooners what would be one of your most memorable moments well there's there's a lot to choose from um I would say for me that really touched my heart more than anything was um probably my junior year we're number one Missouri's number three game day is there but that was the first time that my father ever came watch me play and so you know I had to put on the show cuz part of me I wanted him to see what he missed out on and so I end up having 18 tackles I had a touchdown and um just played a really great game and so to me that game just really cemented in my head that's awesome how about you Gavin what in your career at Oklahoma what be one of your most memorable moments um I have a lot I mean I mean the Texas game was great but um I think for me it's really just moments like for every game and I would say it's just running out of the tunnel and uh being able to run out of the tunnel and just look around and see the whole crowd just cheering going crazy um you know I did you know the pregame ritual going down I uh before every game I run out the tunnel go right to the 27 yard line you know need get on knee and pray but um just looking around seeing the crowd go crazy excited for the the game the atmosphere it's really just breathtaking to take in that moment and really just you know see it all in front of you I ain't going let you get away with that so Gavin you know People's Church we all keep we keep it a 100 here in people's church and so in saying that when Gavin as highly as recruited as you were you know you didn't get to play yeah and so we had Eric gray and had all these other guys that were in front of you but my most memorable game for you now I don't know if you feel the same as when we played Florida State when we had a ton of guys opt out but offensive lineman and then you had to step up and run the ball and I was like uh oh I don't know about this kid yeah no I that that was a good one too um tell us about that game no I was I was excited for that one and uh I felt like all year you know I came to Oklahoma to play I'm not I'm not I wasn't here to you know sit on the bench or play on Scout te team or you know watch somebody else run the ball like I came to play so uh you know getting ready to go into that game you know I was going in the second string and everybody's like all right Gavin like you know it's just another game you know and I'm like you don't got to tell me I know I know I know how to play football i' I've played football my whole life you don't got to tell me what to do how to prepare I'm ready to go so um yeah that's what and that's what happened in the game you know knew from from the jump like this is my opportunity to take to take over so uh you know that was that was a great moment too and then uh that atmosphere of that game was was crazy as well so just being a part of that being a part of that you know the tradition and history of college football is just amazing how many yards did you rush for I think I was just at 100 come on man that's awesome Curtis what round of the NFL did you get drafted tell us a tell us a couple of big highlight moments from your NFL career well I think um so when I was coming out I put they put my grade in I said I was on to go late 1st early 2 so anywhere between 20 to 40 I end up going 37th overall and um you know that's that's a really big check that you get that I wasn't expecting but um I think some of my highlights of my of my career early on was um most line middle linebackers don't start till their second or third year or fourth year and I was an instant starter and then that following year I was on the front of Sports Illustrated and I became a captain and then fast forward I led the league in tackles all those years and then I get to New Orleans and um we went through one of my most memorable years was the 2012 because we went through so much Verity and we were historically the worst defense in the NFL and then we came back that next year and we were top three and so just the with the same players and so you know it's just kind of like life you know it's like the perspective of how you see things and then my last year I got to Oakland and you know it was it was really weird and um I thought God was sending me out there to I'm about to submit my legacy in for football but man I really did more off the field than on the field and that for me is and we'll get into a little bit of that later on but that for me was one some of my biggest moments wow how many years did you lead the NFL in tackles so I entered an '08 to 156 I had more tackles than anybody that's Ray Lewis Patrick Willis John B you name it I led all those guys in tackles wow I did not know that fact right there I just learned a new Curtis lton fact right there hey Gavin tell us how you came to faith in Christ tell us your faith Journey yeah so I I grew up in a Christian home but but uh we weren really actively pursuing um you know we when I was younger we'd go to church but you know as I grew up started going to practices started having you know games meets whatever it may be on the weekends you know we'd always you know put that in front of church so we wouldn't have too much time to go to church so that lasted pretty much all the way up until until middle school and in Middle School um right around my sixth grade year uh I was just I just had my mind in a different place you know I was focused on trying to be the best athlete I can be trying to be the you know the coolest kid in school uh everybody should know me because you know I'm I'm I'm this and I'm that you know I do this on the football field and I run this time and track so uh that's that's where my mind was is how I can you know be great myself and how everybody can know me and um you know just kind of just got ended up you know not being focused in school getting bad grades uh joking around in class messing around um getting in trouble and uh my parents they you know sat me down and um I think that was the first time I really felt felt like I needed a change in my life and um I'm not I was kind of a tough kid growing up so you know I didn't really you know whoopings didn't work you know you could whoop me I'd still get into trouble uh you could yell at me I just in one year out the other didn't listen to it uh so I never really cared but uh my dad told me that you know after I got in trouble at school he told me that the first time he was like yeah that was that was disappointing like you that was disappointing to to hear that you did that and um and that hit me that felt like you know I let someone down I let someone that you know I I look up to that I know you know respects me and only looking out for the best in me I let him down um so I was it really just made me change my focus to okay you know uh I need to get my stuff together I need to stop you know being a kid stop messing around stop uh you know disappointing the people that I love and uh I moved to a private school in uh in seventh grade into a private Catholic School um and that was just the opport opportunity I had to really just soak into my faith and having the opportunity to be around Christ followers people that you know actively pursued God and then um being in classes where I could you know learn about God learn about the gospel learn about uh different things in the Bible just I just felt like I was you know soaking in all this knowledge that I never had before and uh it was just amazing time for me to be able to soak that all in and then that just continued out through my you know seventh and eighth grade and then in high school I went to a private Christian High School and you know continued to go and in my senior year I was really challenged by my teacher to uh how can I make my faith my own so you know growing up a lot of times we we piggy back off our parents Faith you know our parents go to church we have to go with them because you know they they bring us along with them or uh your mom sits you down to pray you have to pray with her you don't get a choice yourself so um that my senior year I was really challenged with how can I make my faith my own and it was you know you get to college and you got the freedom you can choose whatever you want you know you choose to not go to church you can choose to do this or that so uh my teacher told us it was about that first week that first week in college is the most important one because that's the first time you got to go to church if you don't go that first week you know you'll say I'll go the next week and then it'll be I'll go the next week and you know your months or semesters down the road and you haven't gone to church yet you haven't found somewhere where you want to go so um that was really the key for me senior going into freshman year how can I make it my own how can I plug into a church here in Oklahoma how can I find a group to be able to worship with if I going to get involved in FCA Bible studies whatever it may be so um that's that's how it came true to me so awesome Gavin so awesome Curtis tell us your faith Journey how you came to faith in Christ um so when my mom went to prison when I was eight I had to live with my grandma and my grandma she drag us to church Monday Tuesday Wednesday we went to revivals and um but I truly struggled how could this all loving God take my mother and father from me and so I grew up with a ton of insecurities and a lot like a lot of people is you know I I knew the right things to say I knew the songs I knew the Bible verses and so I was in FCA and when I got to college unlike Gavin you know I was in them streets hard and um you know just kind of really strayed and didn't I never wanted to believe something based on something someone else told me and I think when I'm looking back at it is there's a lot of people that come in the name of Jesus but they don't come in the spirit of Jesus and so it kind of deterred me from and push me away from the faith and um so then I get to the NFL and you know it's like there's so many avenues that you can go there's a broad and there's a narrow and the broad's so much easier and you have have so much money so many things that come with that and you know I was always looking for more and so as athletes we always talk about Philippians 4:13 I can do all things to Christ who strengthens me but we don't ever read those verses before and so for me when I look at just my entire life and how I came to Faith was growing up I didn't have anything we put out pots and pans to catch the water and went to bed with our coats on and sometimes we ate oatmeal for three me for breakfast lunch and dinner and so now I'm in NFL and I can I'm on private jets I'm wearing whatever I want to wear I didn't find God then and I didn't find God now and so my whole life I was searching for something and I had an empty hole in my you know I remember I woke up one morning now mind you I had ass signed a 36 million doll contract and um I woke up and I looked at myself in the mirror and I hated who I saw and uh I remember just feeling like I was just being tugged by God and by the world and by by the devil and so I remember finishing practice and I was driving in my car and um you know I was I had committed that I was going to kill myself and um I said man they won't know that I did this you know on purpose they'll think that I was just texting and so and then I see a sign that says Celebration Church is great for kids kids and I was like well I'm a big kid so I guess I'll go and so it's just so in that moment that where I was committed to doing that God stepped in and um he guided my steps and so I went to um this overflow service in New Orleans and there was a pastor named Manley Miller who's a goofy D goofy looking dude not cool like our pastor you know our pastor sharp boy got them loafers on Ain got no socks that's how you know he look good and um you got to be a grown manad to pull this off yeah you know that's why I come to People's Church you know but um and so uh I was there and I felt he was God was like I'm here and he was pushing me and pulling me and and wanting me to but you know I was so worried about what everybody else thought and I wasn't worried about what God thought and so so I didn't go and um I was leaving and the Pastor said hey man um I want to take you to lunch I'm like go to lunch I ain't got nothing in common with you man but for whatever reason I said yes and through that I met with him every Tuesday for two to three hours for a year and God began to soften my heart and I remember feeling I was driving in my car and I don't know when I'm in my car I guess that's when Gody gets me alone and I can kind of block out everything and I just remember saying that I was even going give myself all the way to the darkness or I said God if you are who you say you are I need you in my life and in that moment I felt something never felt before and it wasn't an overnight change it was uh he began to prune me begin to clean me up and begin to clean up how I talked and I remember I was so afraid of who I was going to be in Jesus that I I didn't want to lose who I was and looking back on it now it's like man I wish I would done this a lot sooner because it's so much better and you know and you know I was saying the thing about Oakland you know fast forward you know I got to Oakland and I was jacked up my ankle was tore up I came off tearing my bicep and um I thought God was taking me there for football and um just this year was driving to one of the football games and I get a ESPN Alert it says that um DJ Hayden was killed at a stoplight and that was one of my teammates and so immediately I began going through my mind and thinking like did I give him the word and like I can recall several times that I was super intentional about sitting down and talking to him about God because you know often times as Christians we're not only to be bold because we're afraid of what somebody else is going to think but there's times that you never know could be the first and the last time that they get to hear the word of God and so I know I can lay my head on my pillow knowing that I gave that young man who died too soon the word of God and so that's that's how I came to Faith that's so awesome so awesome Gavin what's your favorite Bible verse and and why yeah um I would probably say James 1 2-5 and it's um brother therefore brothers and sisters um oh I'm blinking on it yeah consider it pure joy when You Face Trials of many kinds because the testing of your faith should produce perseverance and perseverance must be complete so that you may be finish this race and lacking nothing so um I would say that one was my favorite just because just the fact of consider pure joy when You Face Trials of of any kind you know in life trials are going to come you know you're going to have you know adversity you're going to have you know different things that hit your door but uh it's how you respond really it's how you respond the attitude you take to towards it and uh realizing like you know how can you put your faith in front of in front of this and how can you have God lead you through this so that at the end of the trial your faith is what perseveres and it is what becomes complete it is something that you find okay so now I know this is my answer to when I face a situation like this this is how I can respond to it how can I uh refine my faith so that it is my first go-to I don't go to uh you know the things of this world when I face a trial I don't go to um whatever it may be someone else or uh someone that doesn't have the knowledge that God does you can respond in a Godly way and know that you know my faith is going to lead me through this God's going to take me through this and I will get through this adversity because of him so that that would be my favorite verse um simply just because of that's how I feel like I take my mindset of facing adversity and uh trying to just um renew my faith that's awesome how about you Curtis this guy is living it because when he wasn't playing every single day he had a light and so it almost gets me choked up talking about it because I what he's saying is I got to see in person and that's why I love my job but you know my my favorite Bible verse is Isaiah 54:17 that no weapon formed against me shall prosper I'm more than a conqueror and what that means to me is you know that in this life there's only be things that come against you and you know I used to I don't want to be considered I was a um I it's okay as a man to be afraid but it's not okay to be weak and when you get in that word God says I'm made strong in your weaknesses so whatever that comes my way whether a weapon whatever they send whatever sickness whatever I I know that it's not going conquer me and that God has my back and we don't go ride I love it okay before I do some rapid fire questions um Gavin first for you we've got you know lots of different people joining us even online and we got a church with a lot of students uh young adults um and as a a young man with a lot of Temptation uh with influence um what would you say to young men young women if you could give one piece of advice to your generation and even those younger than you what what wisdom would you give them what piece of advice yeah um for me I would just say don't be afraid to be the person God has called you to be um a lot of times I feel like especially in this world we're so worried about you know like Curtis said like what other people think of us uh the image that we give off um uh all those different things things of the world and I would just say don't be afraid to be who God called you to be um you know you can go through life daily and you know the right things but you choose to do the wrong things just because of your fear of what people may think of you or uh trying to fit in or trying to be this way or that way and the truth is I mean we can't we can't live like that that's living two ways and I heard this story once um that there's a man and he's sitting on a fence and on one side of the fence is you know Jesus God in heaven like you know living uh with him and on the other side is is the devil all his um demons and uh everyone that chose that way and he's sitting on this fence and God is sitting there waiting for him he's calling him and he doesn't choose to go with him so God ends up leaving devil ends up leaving and he Devil comes back and he's like oh you're with me come with me and the guy's like oh no I I didn't I didn't choose to go with God but I definitely didn't choose to go with you and the devil's like I own the fence and the moral of that story is our our reluctance to to act towards God or um the lukewarmness the Bible says uh of being lukewarm and uh choosing to be in the middle not wanting to you know pursue God and lose people or uh you know go the other way but that that reluctance that non-decision is is a lot of times what gets most people and um it's it's ultimately Disobedience towards God so um for me I just just don't be afraid to be the person God calls you to be don't be the person on the fence don't be you know lukewarm in your faith uh get plugged in get involved find a community where you can worship God and praise God uh go to church make it a priority in your life um I think of just what I've been through and you know I don't have I don't have football I don't have you know the University of Oklahoma I don't have so many things in my life without god without him blessing me and and allowing me to be the person I am today so um just pursue him and and don't be afraid of what other people think about it you know it's not we don't do it for the glory of Men We Do It For the Glory of God we do it to praise and honor him so that's what so so good so good Curtis what last piece of wisdom would you give people today if you could give one piece of advice or wisdom to our church family what would you say I would say this is um we kind of talked about it earlier is um about way back in October I felt convicted of man you'll get up to work out but you won't get up to getting your Bible you'll catch a 5 a.m. flight but you won't get in your Bible and so I really you know because it says physical training is for some good but spiritual training is for all good and so you can't be a disciple of God without the disciplines of God and so I got up and I started getting in my word and it's not been easy but through doing that it's beginning to change how I think I've been able to hear God's voice clear it's beginning to change how I treat my wife how I view other people and you know through all those things you know it's like he said the test we're all going to be tested but if you're not equipping yourself and preparing yourself for the battle is because when you step out of this the devil's going to be sitting on your car and so I would say is start doing the disciplines of God so that now not only does it change your heart but it impacts everyone else and I said earlier is so that we don't just come in the name of Jesus but we also come in the spirit of Jesus Amen and you can't come in the spirit of Jesus if you aren't doing those things so good so good I want to close out with just a little fun with you guys so you you don't get long to answer so this is my rapid fire session all right so exactly what come your favorite food uh Wings bosta favorite restaurant uh neighborhood Jam neighborhood Jam I like breakfast o neighborhood jail all right favorite movie Interstellar uh anything with Denzel favorite actor Denzel uh Will Smith favorite actress Nina long uh hi Berry favorite song oh oh gosh um it ain't Christian now I like I like I like me some nips it depends what we doing am I praising or am I working out go ahead hold on I got to think of this one go ahead which one favorite song I'mma go um anything my nipy hust be honest with you anything about nipy hustle I'm an R&B guy I love R&B so um anything Michael Jackson Whitney Houston Alicia Keys all right okay okay church church right here favorite himym M favorite himym no weapon formed against me I don't know if that's a that's Fred hav but I don't know it's a him that's a modern day him I'm going say uh uh take my hand all right um I would say my life is in your hands love it love it last question who will win the Super Bowl tonight 49ers Chiefs oo it's split we got a split room hey would you put your hands together for Curtis Lofton and Gavin Sawchuk thank you brother for blessing us today what a great conversation these guys are the real deal they love God they're living for God they're living their faith uh Curtis worships here and I know him we eat lunch together and he's a great great man man of God and just grateful for their influence and how they're being a light for Jesus father I thank you right now that um you are the light of the world and I I thank you that today you want to light somebody 's World up with your presence with your goodness they're not living for you they're not serving you as Gavin said there'll be some here that are lukewarm across our locations online and today is their day to get on fire for Jesus to to get off the fence and to begin to serve God wholeheartedly have your way in these moments I pray in jesus' name is just eyes are closed you're locked away with Jesus for a moment if you're here at one of our locations today you're in this room today and you don't know Jesus Jesus as your lord and savior he's not the Lord of your life you you are on the fence maybe even on the wrong side of the fence and you're following just the devil his way you find yourself today in a place far from God but today you want to draw near to him you want your sins to be forgiven you want to be made right with God I want you to know no matter what you're doing no matter what you're going through God loves you he wants to forgive you of all of your sins he wants a relationship with you he wants you to spend eternity in his presence if that's you today you're far from God today you you're lukewarm you're away from God and today you need to give your life to Christ or recommit your back life back to the Lord as I count to three would you just Lift Your Hand high I want to lead you in prayer to say yes to Jesus the most important decision you could ever make in your life saying yes to Jesus and surrendering your life to him one 2 three just Lift Your Hand high I see your hand there others today see your hand others today you want to surender to Christ so awesome others today thank you so much to see your hand come on come on Indianapolis Midwest City Northwest Edmond just lift it high right now the ladies at Mabel Basset those of you joining online click the raise your hand button or write yes in the chat line you're saying yes to Jesus is there somebody else today I'm going to ask the hands raised across this building across all of our locations to pray this prayer with us to confess this prayer with your mouth believe it in your heart and God's going to wash away your sins pray with me now heavenly father I turn away from my life of sin and I turned my life over to Jesus I confess that Jesus Christ is my Lord and my savior and I will follow Jesus the rest of my life in Jesus name I pray amen