God. Family. Football. How Coach Denny Duron Builds Champions On and Off The Field #146

Coach Denny Duron—pastor, pioneer football coach, and star of Fox Nation’s God, Family, Football—joins Dan Wheeler, Terry Steen, and Brian Roland for a powerful conversation about faith, calling, and legacy.

From being drafted into the World Football League and signing with the Washington Redskins, to walking away from the NFL in obedience to God’s voice, Denny shares how he has consistently chosen calling over comfort. He recounts the revival at Louisiana Tech, the prophetic word that led to an undefeated season, and how that move of God launched decades of ministry and coaching impact.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• How the Hebrew war cry “Rak Chazak” (be strong, finish strong) became a rallying cry for his teams
• The story behind the revival at Louisiana Tech and its lasting impact on ministry leaders worldwide
• How Denny helped build Evangel University’s football program from scratch and what he’d do differently as a young coach today
• The incredible journey of Evangel Christian Academy in Shreveport, with 14 state championships and players reaching the NFL
• The TOPS system Denny uses to evaluate players beyond talent—measuring skill set, hustle, toughness, resilience, coachability, and other-centeredness
• How daily Bible teaching and discipleship shape his players far more than wins and trophies
• Honest stories of fatherlessness, forgiveness, and restoration in the lives of his athletes
• Why Denny refuses to “sit on the sideline” in his later years and how he keeps finishing strong

Denny also pays tribute to his parents’ spiritual legacy, honors the vital role of wives and mothers as “agents of influence,” and prays a heartfelt prayer for listeners who are hungry to come back to God or say “yes” to Jesus for the first time.

If you need fresh courage to finish strong, to stay faithful in your calling, and to see every moment as a God-given opportunity, this episode will challenge and inspire you to live with a “Rock Chazak” mindset in whatever field God has placed you.

Transcript

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Dan Wheeler: 0:02

I am super excited about tonight's podcast, because we have a guy who loves God, family and football in that order. Now, ladies, if you hear the word football, don't go away, because this man loves the Lord. He's got so much great advice, and he'll talk about the women in his life as well, because without them, I don't think he could do what he could do. I'm Dan Wheeler. I'm joined by Terry Steen and Brian Rowland guys. We're all huge football fans, and I've noticed there's been a real resurgence in faith among football players. Have you noticed that?

Brian Roland: 0:37

I hate to say it Dan, but it's Ohio State, the Ohio State

Dan Wheeler: 0:40

University. He's saying that because I'm a Michigan fan,

Brian Roland: 0:44

they really have and it's just been amazing, because it's the athletes that have started this, and it's progressed now through the students in that but I would do want to make mention, though, that on November 30, in 2024 at the Ohio Stadium, there was a midfield scuffle at the end of the game, and while guys were fighting, there was Ohio State and Michigan players praying, yeah, exactly was, was Donovan Edwards from Michigan, and just got junior from from Ohio State. That's great. You saw the fighting when I'm behind them, and they show the circle and then pray, praying.

Dan Wheeler: 1:15

That's neat. Terry, you've noticed it. Oh

Terry Steen: 1:17

yeah, yeah, amazing, even on a high school level, even on, yeah, beyond. We had a thing here in Tampa at the University of South Florida, a couple months ago that our church was involved in. Filled out the auditorium, 10,000 people, 3000 saved. Where was that? Was the university.

Dan Wheeler: 1:39

Hearing is backstage and well, you know Fernando Mendoza Heisman Trophy winner always thanks. God gives him the glory. And you know what? Our guest is, a big part of that resurgence. He has a resume a mile long, and he's a great example of finishing strong. Let's bring bring him on. Coach Denny,

Unknown: 2:01

well, man, I'm great. I got excited hearing your conversation. I think I interrupted

Dan Wheeler: 2:11

a few praise gods, and that's good. That's always welcome on this. Denny, he's a pioneering coach, evangelist pastor, and featured on Fox nation's God Family and football. So Danny, I'm watching an episode last night, and you guys are starting practice, and one of your players is running around shouting, rock jazzak, rock jazz. And I'm like, what is that? And then it comes up on the screen that it was an Israel Israelite, Israelite war cry used by Joshua's warriors. Yes, and it means to finish strong, which is podcast.

Unknown: 2:53

You may just, you may just have to adopt that war cry we start every we start every practice with rakazaq Rock

Terry Steen: 3:02

man, yeah.

Dan Wheeler: 3:07

Well, Denny, you were drafted out of college the Birmingham Americans the World Football League, and then you signed with the Redskins. But before you played a game with the Redskins, your life changed. Tell us what happened.

Unknown: 3:19

Well, I played two years in the World Football League. People don't remember the World Football League because most of the people that were my age are dead now. So I remember the World Football League was a league that was established to go head to head with the NFL. They just decided to bite the whole challenge off and pay. Well, in fact, play pay better than the NFL. So the average player in the world football league made three times the money that the NFL was playing was paying. I was drafted second by the Birmingham team in the World Football League, and their draft was before the NFL. They wanted to have that advantage. And so what I discovered was that you needed somebody to negotiate your contract so you weren't taken advantage of so I got somebody to negotiate my contract, and I didn't know whether it was the will of God for me to play football in the pros or not. I had been called into college football. I experienced this powerful prophetic anointing to preach the gospel when I was 17, it happened one night and then the next night, the exact same thing in a series of meetings. I wasn't scheduled to preach either one of those meetings, but as I opened my mouth to just give an introduction to the song that I was going to sing, suddenly the Spirit of the Lord came. Upon me, and I for 20 minutes, I preached the gospel. My dad was the scheduled speaker, so he was not only good with it, he was ecstatic, but I knew without any doubt that second night God had called me to preach, and I was so grateful. I really empathize with those who say I finally surrendered to the call because I didn't plan to preach. I never wanted to preach. I was terrified to preach. I didn't want to stand in front of people and talk about anything. But I can tell you, when I knew that God had called me, it was the greatest honor of my life to think that he would call me to speak for him. I was overwhelmed, and that's all I wanted to do. So I planned to go to a Bible college, as we call them, in those days, or seminary, and to prepare myself to preach the gospel. That was the joy of my heart. The Louisiana Tech recruiter came by and he said, Denny, we've been watching your films and we've been talking to your head coach, and you're not the kind of quarterback we're looking for, but we would like to offer you a full scholarship to play wide receiver at Louisiana Tech. And I immediately said, Thank you so much. And this guy was so impressive. I mean, there aren't many frames of my life during that season that I can remember vividly, but I remember that night like it was yesterday. This dude walks in. He's the defensive coordinator for the Bulldogs, Pat Collins. He is muscled up big neck on him, coat and tie. He has a shock of black hair just comes straight back, and he smells wonderful. It's a combination of cigars and Cologne. That's a dude. I mean, yet I knew what God had called me to do, and so I just told him, No. I said, not going to do it. I'm going to preach, and so I'm going to train to preach the gospel. He said, Will you at least come to a game? He said, we're having all the recruits in and it's Terry Bradshaw's last home game at Louisiana Tech, and Terry would, later that year, which was his senior year, become the number one draft choice of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the number one overall pick. And so we watched him play that night. My mom nodded and said, Son, go to the game. And so I went and watched him play that night. And he was amazing. He put put up probably, you know, 350 yards throw in and another 100 running. And they just beat the brakes off of Lamar University. Beat them 74 to something. And so it was great, but I wasn't impressed. And the people were gracious, but I wasn't impressed. The campus was beautiful, but I wasn't impressed. But what impressed me was as I was standing on the sideline watching 1000s of students empty out of the stands and going to their fraternity and sorority parties and back to their dormitories. I heard the loud thought that I knew was the voice of God. You always know God's voice because he tells you something you'd never tell yourself. And the word I heard was I've called you to play football here for my glory. Now this is what you got to understand. We didn't have 50 guys from Ohio State University being baptized before a game. We didn't have everybody in the playoff tournament showing up off the plane with FCA T shirts that said Jesus won. There was none of that. The only, the only Christian that I knew that was a professional baseball professional player was a baseball player named Bobby Richards. Oh yeah, and he had already retired. And then I knew of a guy named Bill glass who had a prison he was, he was still active during that time, but no one else, no one else. And so I went to Louisiana Tech, and you did well there. Well, yeah, I played two years as a wide receiver, and, you know, started games, had a great time doing it was really, you know, I was really locked in on my craft. And then the coach walks up in the spring of my sophomore year and says, Look, we're moving you to quarterback. You're throwing the ball better. Back to the quarterback, he's throwing it to you. Yeah. And if I had known that, I certainly wouldn't have let that

Dan Wheeler: 10:10

ended up being a two time national champion college football American. I mean, you were a great man, no doubt.

Unknown: 10:18

But I gotta tell you about that. I got to tell you about that. When I when that coach told me that he was going to switch me to quarterback, I went back to my room, locked the door, got on my knees, and I said, God, please don't let them do this. Really, absolutely, I said. I said, please. I said, Lord, God, I do not want to play quarterback. I hadn't had, I hadn't had a great experience in high school, and they had done the same thing to me in high school. The first day I was a wide receiver, they changed me to quarterback the first day, and tried to teach me, you know, the secrets of the trade. You know so quickly. And I just I didn't like it, and so I prayed, and the Lord spoke to me again, and this is what he said. He said, I've ordained you to be the quarterback of this team. And he said, I'm going to give you an undefeated season for My glory, for My glory as a sign and a wonder that you will use to preach the gospel.

Dan Wheeler: 11:11

Wow, that's and if

Unknown: 11:14

you know those of you that are listening, if you want to get a big kick out of seeing something that just affirms what I'm saying. There was a network news reporter here at Shreveport that put together this three and a half minute video, and it's called Louisiana Tech revival, and it's called spirit of the game. Louisiana Tech revival, spirit of the game, you should you should look at that, because it affirms and confirms everything I'm saying in the words of my offensive coordinator, really, wow, we're going to look that. Because the very, yeah, the very first, the very first game that we played was against University of Louisiana Lafayette, and I was horrible. I was three for 16 throwing, and the second string quarterback came in, led us to our only score on Monday after that game that you can imagine. We just played the weakest team on our schedule, and we slipped by them, seven to nothing. And I walk into my offensive coordinator, and I said, Coach, don't move me. I said, God's ordained me to be the quarterback of this team. And I said he's going to give us an undefeated season. And then I walked out well to hear his version of that. That confirms everything I'm saying right now. But what happened was, of course, we ran the table. We went 12 and Oh, for the first time in the history of Louisiana, tech God sent a revival that shook the entire campus. And still to this day, there are men that are leading ministries and their children leading ministries all across America, parts of the world, and that's what God did. So that's where it all started for me.

Dan Wheeler: 13:02

Yeah, after your college career, then you played with Birmingham, we mentioned that, and then you signed with the Redskins, but you didn't play. You heard the voice of God again,

Unknown: 13:13

yeah, and it was going to be the easiest gig I'd ever had. I don't mean playing in the

Dan Wheeler: 13:17

NFL, back up to Theismann and Billy. Yeah, it

Unknown: 13:22

was going to be because I was the only young guy there, and I was the only guy not making any money, yeah, so, you know, and they had two other young guys there, and they brought me in for a mini camp. Didn't offer a contract. They just brought me in. And again, I'm just feeling my way because God had to speak to me to go into the World Football League for two years. And then, you know, now I've got to hear the voice of God again. But so I said, I don't know anything else to do but just to show up to the mini camp. Well, I did, and I threw with the guys for, you know, two days, and they released the other two and brought me as the only young guy. And they told me, when I walked into camp, they said, there's only one job open here. They said, You're not going to compete for the first job or the second job only the third job is open on this team, and it looked like I was a shoe in but I remember that day in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, during training camp where the voice of the Holy Spirit spoke to me in my morning devotions and said this simple sentence, this is your last day. So I literally finished the practice and then made an appointment with coach, George Allen, and walked into him and said, Coach, I'm leaving. And I said, please understand it's not football. I said, I've used football as a bully pulpit for years. I said, but it's just the voice of God in my spirit. I know that this is my last day. And he said, Well, we were going to give you a big chance against Baltimore Friday, because we were going to scrimmage Baltimore. My wide receiver, Roger Carr, was there. So it so it tempted me not, because of, you know, staying with. The football, but just seeing Roger. And I said, well, thank you, Coach. I said, but I've got to go. And then I turned to him and said, Coach, I want to ask you a question. I said, I've watched you here, and I've been so impressed, and everybody knows what a great leader you are. I said, but have you ever been born again? And he said to me, I don't really know what that is. I said, Well, let me explain. And I explained what it meant to be born again. He said, Well, I haven't had that experience. And I said, Well, coach, I'm going to pray for you that you will have an experience with Jesus Christ. I said, Can I pray with you now just before I go? And I did, and I prayed God's blessing on him, and then I walked across the street and got in my little car and sat there for a moment, a long moment, and I said, Now God, I no longer will have this platform allow me to influence those that do. And the funny thing is, guys, I've been doing that to this very day. That's great.

Dan Wheeler: 16:04

And then not long after that, you came to Evangel College, now Evangel University for Spiritual Emphasis Week, Terry and I remember that, yeah, we were there and I was graduating, we're offered the head coaching job, isn't isn't it true that at 24 you were the youngest coach in the country?

Unknown: 16:26

Yeah, I'm still having to call it Council guys. Can you know counsel with guys because of their PTSD of having a 24 year old coach?

Dan Wheeler: 16:38

Well, I'm sure now that's where we met, and you were starting the football program, and you were a pioneer in those early days of coaching. Evangel, can you give us a few quick lessons that you learned that have stayed with you?

Unknown: 16:51

Yeah, you know, I'm not at all like that guy that was 24 years old. Thank the Lord, because I begin to learn some things that are very, very important for coaches. Number one is you don't have to fix everything right now. Sometimes change is a process and should be. And I was so Trigger Happy, wanting everything to be exactly the way that it should be. That, you know, I just missed the process somewhat, and now I understand that in order for you to build anything, you've got to give a good foundation, you've got to have cooperation, you've got to have collaboration. You've got to have coaches that know what they're doing and that also are released to coach where you're not always over their shoulders. I actually hurt the feelings of a couple of guys that I played pro football with because I was going to be so in control. I called my old coach at Louisiana Tech and coach Lambright. I'm the head coach at Evangel University. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I was fake. I was faking it until I could make it

Dan Wheeler: 18:11

coaching guys that were just a few years younger,

Unknown: 18:13

oh, and a couple of years older than, yeah, yeah, Terry, you know, I tell you, Terry Flanagan and and also, you know, there were several others that had come back from the army, yeah, the Marines. So those guys were as old as I was. Our older one was Stan McGee was Stan, yeah, Sam McGee was three years older than me. And so, you know, it was different.

Terry Steen: 18:42

How many years did you stay at Evangel and then what was the impetus for you to make that next step into the evangelistic field?

Unknown: 18:55

Well, you know, I never stopped being on the evangelistic field. Here's interesting thing. You know, when I told Louisiana Tech Yes, I also said yes to God at the same time to preach the gospel. And so I preached. I preached over 200 times when I was 17. Oh my goodness, wow. And I'm not talking, and that didn't even count the times on the street corner are, are on a bench at McDonald's, or, you know, preaching to a high school assembly or a football team, that's just church preaching and you know, and I averaged that for all of those years when I was at evangelist University, I was preaching every weekend, bringing my money Back and paying for two, sometimes three staff members because they couldn't give me enough coaches, and so I just did it myself, and then also building a dressing room. That's, you know, I did that. I financed that dressing room to be built. I I financed the goalposts to go up. I. Yeah, and did all of it with such joy. I mean, it was the best thing in the world. I was never happier in my life than just being, you know, neck deep in all of those challenges.

Terry Steen: 20:14

What kind of how was it different going from the college level? Because, if I understand, right, you went to an academy and began coaching there as well while you were evangelizing, right? Tell us a little bit about that.

Unknown: 20:29

Yeah, yeah. Well, there was, there was a gap, you know, of time between it, because I left in 8282 was my last season, and then, and then my first season at Evangel High School here in Shreveport. Was 89 okay? And during during that interim, I was all over the world preaching the gospel and just having the time of my life. I had a black I had a black trio that traveled with me. The guy that's the hit was the head of that trio. Teddy Grover is still with me to this day as a worship leader church. And, yeah, and so, you know, that was a wonderful time. I was doing high school assemblies. And, of course, the football thing played in there, and I was preaching more than I ever had. I was in Pocatello, Idaho, one weird one year, and we, we were, I was there for a week, and in in five days, I preached or spoke 27 times. Can you imagine, in five days? And so I was busy and happy, and my mom said this to me. She said, You promised to give these boys a football experience. She had started this little school called Evangel when in 1980 and so it was actually headquartered in our church and Sunday school rooms, and that no real facilities. And she said, You told me you would give them a football experience by the time they were seniors. And I probably said that. I didn't remember saying it, but I probably did, because if my mom asked me to do anything, I'm pretty much gonna do it. I love that lady. And so, you know, I said, Well, how hard can it be? Well, it was a little harder than I thought, fellas, because we started at the one a level. And I thought, you know, they can't have any good teams in single a well, yeah, they have a lot of good teams in single A and we just got the brakes beat off of us. Every single week. We ended up, you know, I think, beating a couple of JV teams and then one really, really weak squad. But then we moved into the second year, and there was a one of the guys that pastored with me. John. Booty, son, Josh. Booty, I talked him into coming out for football. I told him, I said, Josh, we'll throw it every down. And I said, I'll protect you. I said, Just come play. And I kept one of those promises. We threw it every down, but he ran for his life, and so we again, were a little better, but we still had a losing season. The third season, however, we went undefeated in district and got beat in the quarterfinals. Now at that juncture, I was still traveling so much guys and I was preaching for brother David Wilkerson in New York City every month for three and a half years during that time. So I needed stability, so I went out and got a young coach here in town that had some success at Woodlawn High School, which was a five a school, and actually, I'd had the privilege of leading him to the Lord. He had invited me to come over and share with his team, and he fell under conviction and gave his life to the Lord and Dennis Dunn. And so he came over, and the next year, we kept the same offense. I stayed on as the offensive coordinator, and everybody you know kept their same jobs. And behind Josh moody, we had the same record exactly where the district champs and got beat the quarterfinals the fifth year we won the state championship.

Dan Wheeler: 24:12

Wow. Total of 12. Now, right?

Unknown: 24:16

1414, and we've been in the finals 17 times. We have had kids play. We've had 120 kids play in bowl games. And I'm gonna just tell you guys, this is all glory to the Lord. And I'm not just saying that nobody around here will touch the glory of what God has done here with a 10 football. We don't even understand it. I mean, I'm a football guy, I'm telling you, it can't happen, not that quickly. It just can't, you know, and and we actually won the mythicals national championship. Beat West Monroe in our first five a championship. And West Monroe is, like, one of the powerhouses of the. South, and they were undefeated. We were undefeated. There were 54,000 people that filled the Superdome in order to watch that final. We won it. And whoever had won it would have been the national champion that year. And we won that mythical national championship last year, we had seven kids that were in the NFL. And so what you're talking about here is something that everybody in their rational mind says, Oh, y'all are recruiting, never, never. They're saying, Oh, you're cheating. I'll never put the name of Jesus on anything if I'm going to break a rule,

Terry Steen: 25:44

you know, Coach we and it's just been God, one of the things that we emphasize here at Fearless faith and on our finished strong podcast is the importance of leaving a legacy, and it's never too late to do it. Everything we do should have that in mind as far and it's good for you. Sounds good for you with all the players you You have touched, and you're sitting here talking about all these NFL players, talk about a legacy that you were able to leave with those students had to be increased, still alive. Terry, but tell us about how you were able to impact them the way you were.

Unknown: 26:33

Yeah, well, you know, we don't impact people. The word of God impacts people. The object is to get them to the word and the word to them. So I don't know if I have one of those Bibles around, one of those big Bible we, the very first thing I did was, you know, we began, initially, to teach them and to give them extra instruction from the Word of God, but when I came, you know, and so I was, you know, with the team for a long time, and then I stepped aside because we had good coaches. And besides that, my sons were playing, and my sons were all quarterbacks, and I couldn't. I coached two of my boys for one year each, and because there was no one else, and at the end of those years, I retired both times because I couldn't help them. I watched my sons and not the defensive backs. And so I actually lost a another state championship that we should have won as a coordinator, because my oldest son, Denny Rodney, was playing in that game, and I watched him the whole time and wasn't able to find the path to the end zone to make up a deficit. We only lost by six points to make up that deficit, until the final seven minutes. And I turned to him and I said, okay, buddy. I said, I've let you down. I said, I'm sorry. My daddy's heart. I've watched you every, almost every play, I said, But this last series that you were in, I said, I know the path to the end zone. I said, we'll be in the end zone in five place. And so I felt like we were going to get it there. And they ran seven minutes and 40 seconds off the clock, and I stood there, and I promised myself, I said, I'm not going to do this. And then I coached my son, Dez, because there was no one else for one year. And then after I stopped coaching him, the next coach took over, and Dez set the state touchdown record for one season. He threw 59 so that shows you, I was in his way too, but I came back to coach guys in the year of 2020 the famous covid year, we had lost our program. We were 28 players, mostly ninth graders, some eighth 2/8 graders that were starting both ways. We were playing in the four a level, the next to the top, and we had to start all over. So I came midway in the season. I took over, and the first thing I did was this, I bought my boys all of them Bibles. With that were note taker Bibles. And I got an old prophet of God who is 80 years old and is one of the most amazing, eccentric, powerful fun, brilliant Bible teachers that you've ever burned out in your life. He has mission stations, orphanages, Bible schools, churches all over the globe and especially in Southeast Asia and God. God sent him here because I prayed him in and so every single morning, at seven o'clock, we've got 20 minutes getting them to the word and the word to them. Do they understand every session? Absolutely not. But this is a supernatural book, and the Bible says it will never return. Void. If you could see this is a new one here, but if you could see the bibles of my boys, they look like an old Holy Ghost preacher's Bible. They are marked up cover to cover, with the lessons that they get every single day. And so we're not wanting to be, you know, a Christian team, like we're in Christian America. And, you know, football is, you know, mom and football and apple pie. What we're really interested in is these young men understanding the doctrines of the book. And that's why the assignment I gave Irvin Rutherford, this teacher, was this, teach them doctrine, Irv, teach them the doctrines of the book. And that's what we're getting in those classes every single morning. Beautiful.

Brian Roland: 31:23

Well, you know, Danny, it kind of leads us right to the next topic of your TV show on Fox nation. It's a series called God Family faith. And I know it's God Family football. God family family football. Sorry, and it's going in the fourth season this fall. Can you explain the title to me. I hear there's more than this, more than just I

Unknown: 31:44

didn't, you know, I didn't choose that title, but it sure fits us. There's a young man by the name of Aaron Ben word, and he was part of a Christian duo, father son duo, called Aaron Jeffrey that had a lot of hits back in the contemporary Christian music era, and he broke away from his dad and decided there were some things he wanted to do, and his ultimate goal was to be a Hollywood producer. So he went out and he accomplished that. Well, he would call me because I really hit it off with the kid when he was about 12, and so I've known him his whole life, and he would call me and he would say, Hey, how's the football team going? You know, I'd tell him how they were doing and, well, how are you doing? And he was always say, I'm going to come up there one of these days and do your story. And I would laugh. And I said, I don't know what kind of story that would be, Aaron. I don't really know what you're talking about. He said, Oh, you and that football team. So he called me in 2020 he said, Hey, how's the football team done? So we're holding five. We're not going to win a game. I said, we got 28 we got 28 guys, and they're babies. And I said, all I've done is stop emphasize winning, and I'm just emphasizing fundamentals to hopefully get them ready for their sophomore year. He said, Oh, that's the story I want to do. And so he rolled in, and he brought a guy that was the creator of a show called Hard Knocks. You had, had won six Emmys, yeah, and they began to work on this series. I have no creative input and don't want any, but these guys are brilliant in their storylines and the way that they are able to create from real time footage. Because this is not, this is not a staged deal. This, you know, this is reality television at its best. Nobody even gets paid. You know how to get paid a dime for this? And no one else does. It's, it's reality television, and

Brian Roland: 33:55

it's about fan stories, you know, and about coaches. Is about players touch of everything that the games. It's even about the families. Yeah, fascinating, but it's obviously that. It's obvious to me that you're more than a football coach, you're a counselor, you're you guide, you're a motivator. Can you tell us a little bit

Unknown: 34:15

about that? Well, I just feel like the most important gift is the one that's needed, right? The one that's needed. I don't I don't savvy myself as a counselor, but I can counsel, and so can you, if the counselor lives in you, right? The Holy Spirit is in you, that's right. You've got something to say to help someone who is struggling, and

Dan Wheeler: 34:37

you've got kids from all kinds of backgrounds. I mean, I saw one story that focused on one of your players, and his dad had never been involved in his life. He walked away after he was born, and he kind of came and wanted to be involved in the kid really struggled with that.

Unknown: 34:50

Yeah, he did. And, you know, I actually brokered that reunion to even get that deal. Can really get them back together. But what I can tell you is this, although the reunion probably has not been what the dad or the kids wanted completely, because nothing's ideal after you've, you know, been apart that long, I guess. And I'm saying, you know, from just observing like everybody else, what I can tell you is that I think all the bitterness is gone, I really do. And I think that, I think that, you know, there were forgiveness issues on both sides. I think the dad had to forgive some things, and I think that kids had to forgive some things, and I think they have, you know, and they still see each other, and it's wonderful. Hasn't been that way always. We have another kid who whose dad came to watch him for the very first time, and he made all kinds of promises. He had just gotten out of prison, he was going to be there for him. He was going to, you know, watch over him. Now he's sorry that he went away. Well, kid never saw him again after that game. And we deal with it. We're an anomaly. We're an other side of the track, private school, when we moved into the system,

Dan Wheeler: 36:07

Academy, right? Parents founded it, right? Yes, yes, my mom, you're the Chancellor of it as well. One thing that really stood out to me, Denny, when I watched God Family and football, is you start every practice and you pray a similar prayer, but you say, God, bless our worship. Down football, be worship.

Unknown: 36:28

Oh, absolutely, I pray the same thing at Evangel university when you guys were there. Yeah, yeah, always, because everything should be worship. True Bible says, Whatever you do all to the glory of God. You say, well, well, how do you do that? Well, how about you do your best. How about you reach deep and find the reservoir of talent that God put exclusively in you. How about you max out? Amen. How about you never loaf. How about you never talk back to your coach. How about you are always a yes sir, no sir guy. How about you pick up your teammates when they're lagging behind. How about you never pout when you're on the bench. How about you understand that you earn everything you get. All of those things are virtues I have, what I call the tops system, which is the optimum performance spectrum. It's seven principles. They're not different principles. You've heard them before, but we score every kid on our team, one, two or three on these seven opportunities to perform, because it's important to understand that performance is only measured by one thing, and that's performance.

Terry Steen: 37:57

That's right, that's right. So true.

Unknown: 37:59

So if, if you are, if you are, there, it is, right, here, this, this is Judy brought it for me and but here it is, skill set. That's the first thing we measure. That's what God gave you, right? You know, but the Word of God says this first, First Corinthians, 1211, scriptures, okay, on this show, right? I mean, I've all these gifts, achievements, abilities, are inspired and brought to pass by one and the same Holy Spirit who apportions to each person, individually exactly as he chooses, not great. And here's the question we ask ourselves on skill set, how would you rate your God given talent, ability and potential? How would you rate it? And then we as coaches, rate it. And a kid gets a one for below average, a two for average and a three for exceptional. And what we do is rate them on all seven of these fundamental mastery, hustle, toughness, resilience, coach, ability, other, centeredness, and then we understand who is high on the spectrum and who is low. Crazy thing is, we've never had a guy low on the spectrum win a ball game for us, every kid that has ever won a ball game for us has been high on the spectrum, and not all of them have had a three as a skill set. We had a guy come in here who never played football before. He was small, he was low on the spectrum, and that whole year he just gave us fits. But, you know, something, something clicked. His senior year, he's still short and not real fast, but we were playing a very important have to win district game. He comes out of nowhere and tackles a guy that's got nothing. Nothing but green grass and goal line in front of him wins the football game for us. Holo tackle, but he had moved in that summer from being low on the spectrum to being high on the spectrum. In fact, a 30 is a perfect excuse me, a 21 is a perfect score. He had a 20 because the only thing that didn't change was his skill set. And so this is what we do with kids, to challenge them, and we also share with them, how all these principles are going to work in their marriage and in their job and in their future. Not talking too much, right?

Dan Wheeler: 40:49

We love it. We've got limited time with you. We want to get it all in. You're a father figure to a lot of them, and you pray a father's prayer, yeah, tell us what that's about.

Unknown: 41:00

Well, these young men, many of them, don't have dads. Others have absentee debts, or they've got abusive debts. There was a wide receiver that went on scholarship to division one school this year. Had great, great career here, but gosh, was he tough to handle, and he would roll out to practice, because we practice in the morning, some mornings, and he was just miserable, just miserable. There's a word for him, and, but I'm not going to use that. It's not, it's not a curse word, but it's slang, but it's But anyway, he was that that's what he was. And when he was that, on a given morning, all of us came to understand that he had spent the night with his dad the night before. Oh, interesting. And so, you know, as we begin to understand those things about these kids, then we began to be deeper and deeper involved in the rescue of that child from the way that they were feeling and the hopelessness and helplessness of that situation.

Dan Wheeler: 42:17

Yeah, I watched the show how you will call kids in and you really have to motivate them. And some of them, you've said they're going to be a leader. I think day day Drake may have been one of them, and he said, I don't want to be a leader, but you turned them into a leader. You've got to know how to motivate them individually, don't you? I mean, there are some kids you can really be hard on and really jump on and others don't respond as well to that, right?

Unknown: 42:43

Yeah, but you know, which of us responded well the first time, if we did, it was because there were good people investing in us, a great dad, a great mom, a brother who just kept pushing us. You know, some of these kids don't have any of that, so we don't discard them when they say, like they do, I don't want to be a leader. You know? What I eventually told them was this, son, you are a leader when you walk on that field, you're leading, whether you try or not, you just got to decide what kind of leader you're going to be. And Dana and I butted heads. I'm telling you. I mean, it was, it was, and it's on the show. It's yeah. And what I would say to the way, if there are ladies still watching the podcast, I hope there are. Here's what you have to understand about God Family football, probably our second largest audience, other than kids, and I'm talking about kids that are 14 down to four watch our show and are crazy about it every place we play. I've got these little 11 year olds and their little gang that are coming to the middle of the field and crowding around me, and they're not from our our side of town or our school, and from the other school, and they just want to talk to me because pastor Denny is here in our stadium, and they've been watching him, you know, all of that time. Yeah, but I want to say this, that the second probably the largest viewing audience, or ladies, I just heard from a pastor on the on the East Coast. That's a well known guy, and he just invited me to come and preach at his church. Well, I saw him at a conference last week in Miami, and he said, Hey, I've been wanting to meet you. And I've been wanting to meet this guy because he's he's wonderful. And I, I've watched him from a distance, but you know, I didn't, you know, invade his space. I just wanted to, you know, just know that him to know that how much I respected him. And so he comes right over and he says, I gotta have you to come to the church. And minister said, my wife watches your show. Mm. Mm, hmm. And said she loves God Family football, and that's because football, at times, is the least part of it. Yeah, it just becomes the context true for all of the drama, yeah, and it was, and it's real drama.

Dan Wheeler: 45:18

Yeah, I love that. I

Terry Steen: 45:19

love that you show those stories say, coach, let me shift gears a little bit, because you're just the one of the perfect examples for what we try to get across on this podcast of finish strong. You're older than we are. Well, maybe not, Brian, but

Unknown: 45:39

how old are you, Brian? Brian, how old are you? 75 I cannot believe. Why? Why do you look younger than me? Brian, I resent that

Terry Steen: 45:58

you're a pastor, you're a coach, you're a chancellor, you've got the media, you've got all this stuff going on. You're out speaking nationally and internationally. Two questions, how do you balance it all, and why do you do it? Why don't you back off a little bit? Why don't you get out and play a little goal.

Unknown: 46:23

Well, number one, I can't stand god. Okay, I'll tell you a funny story. This I had the Shreveport Country Club was given to me to my ministry. Wow, we're talking about clubhouse, ballroom, tractors, gorgeous 18 hole course that was by Golf magazine. Called it one of the grand old courses of the South I played five holes every two weeks, whether I needed to or not, and after five holes, I came back. Here's the point. Here is the point. There's not a lot I'm afraid of, but it terrifies me to think that I would make a choice to sit on the sideline if I still have breath in my lungs. Amen. Hallelujah, with a lost world. Yeah, so I'm, you know, my voice is gone. You know, I, I did a men's rally last night. There are 2000 men there, and I've never seen anything like it. They have a, they have a men's rally every, every month, and they don't have food trucks and and they don't, you know, have bag contest or, you know, anything special. There's nothing except the word and worship. And I walked in, and I was shocked, because I walked in a little late, and I was shocked at what I saw. It was unbelievable. And, you know, I was invited there. What you have to understand about all of these things that you mentioned, I didn't create any of it, not any of it. I'm talking about. My momentum has just been the result of stepping in to opportunities that the Lord opened up, stepping through doors that he opened up, and we had an agreement when I was 17 years old. As long as I open doors, you step through them, perfect. So I'm still doing that. I went to that meeting not because I have a brochure out that says, have this old guy come to your church. You know it's because God supernaturally opens doors and I'm going to step through them all as long as I have breath in my lungs. I was talking to him about my voice last night, and I said, I said, guys, I said, I am sorry about my voice. I said, but everything I've done in life has been an attack on my voice. And I taught you, I barked a few signals, you know, downside, red, you know, just got so and then I said, and then I became a coach. Hey, then I became a pastor in Genesis. He's the seed that proves this. I said, my voice

Dan Wheeler: 49:28

is just crazy. Make my day.

Brian Roland: 49:35

And then your kids and grandkids. Are you healing there too? I mean, obviously

Unknown: 49:41

I wanted to say that wonderful.

Brian Roland: 49:44

Well, I want to, I want to talk about your family a bit. I know your parents founded the Shreveport Community Church. Can you tell me a little bit about the wisdom, like in the power that they instilled in you as you were growing up?

Unknown: 49:56

Yeah. Well, I, I can tell you guys, if you know. If I mess up, it's not my mom and dad's fault, because I had the best parents on the planet. My dad was one of a kind. He was he was amazing, and when he died, three network stations here, ABC, NBC and CBS, locally, locally. They both. They all three, ran the story of his death as their lead story that night. And I heard one of the young ladies as she was doing the report in front of the church, and she said today, a Shreveport legend died a man who loved God and loved people. That was my dad. My dad was a great athlete. He just, you know, hand eye, just unbelievable. He taught me everything. Catch a football, throw a football, you know, he hit a baseball. He could pound it left or right handed. He played shortstop for the Beaumont exporters, which was their semi professional team when he was 18 years old. He was just the guy he played. He looked like a Dominican, honestly. You know, sex shortstop. He just had flair. He didn't just catch it. It was, it was showy, you know, that was, that was the guy he was. And, you know, and I loved him so much, and we were so very, very close. But, boy, he was a no compromise guy. He was a no compromise guy, and he would tell me the truth. And when I was growing up, you know, we we believed in corporal punishment, and you know, he was the best at it. Let me just tell you my mom. My mom was, you know, she's still with us. She's 90 or 91 years.

Dan Wheeler: 51:57

She's still the games, right? And cheers, she still goes to your games.

Unknown: 52:03

Oh, not only going to the game. She goes everywhere by herself. She visits hospitals and prays for the sick, and, you know, hangs out with her buddies and gets on private planes and goes to Key West. She is just all over the place. You know, she's wonderful, she's wonderful, but she was a writer, scholar, teacher, educator. She's the one who started Evangeline. She's the reason we are what we are today, and we have not varied from our blueprint, and that's the reason why we've been successful.

Brian Roland: 52:35

Well, I noticed that your wife, De Anza, and now is a co pastor with you. I'm sure that that helps.

Unknown: 52:41

Oh, yeah. And you're not listening to burden. I don't know if you know this, Brian, I'm not the pastor anymore. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, my son took, he took the church five years ago. Oh, and so I went full time football, and he went full time pastor. And so, so d rod, Duran, Pastor. D rod, Denny rod is, is our pastor, and Sarah, his beautiful wife, who I adore is they're both wonderful preachers. They got their doctorate degree from Southeastern University, and they just are doing an amazing job. And deonza is, or was, of course, co pastoring with me, and is still very active in the church, and also is writing books. And, you know, just doing everything that her hands find to do is what's wonderful to watch her at this stage in Age of her life.

Brian Roland: 53:36

You mentioned your wife, and then, of course, your daughter in law, and they're helping their husbands. How do How would you say that women help their husbands become better men?

Unknown: 53:49

Well, you know, you're asking a husband that right?

Brian Roland: 53:53

Asking a husband a coach, a motivator,

Unknown: 54:00

a grandfather. Well, if deonza was here, she would say that that the wife should straighten the past, straighten the past around. That's what There you go. I'm just kidding. What she would say, honestly, and I've heard her say it many, many times, is it's my job to support my husband and to make sure in his his times of discouragement, that I understand that I'm the one who is able to encourage him the most, to speak words that are words of life. And let me just say this, you know, we've been through our share of struggles. Like everybody is. Everybody has, not just on the church war, but on the planet. Everybody's struggling. And when I've hit those speed bumps, you know, deonza has always, always kicked in. She's always been there. Her. She never made it about her. She literally would step out of whatever she's dealing with, and she's strong, and she would basically look right in my eye and say, you look at me. Do you understand everything that God has done in our lives. Do you have any idea the miracles that we have seen? And so she just absolutely so strong and so lasered, just to make sure that I never ever settle into this poor as me or self pity kind of thing, and that's what I would say to any wife that's listening. What you have to understand is that men are not going to telegraph their discouragement or their fear, at least willingly. They're not going to they struggle with self image. A man doesn't say if you ask him, What do you do? He never says, Well, I do building. He always says, I am a builder. What do you do? Well, I do accounting. No. He says, I'm a CPA, I'm a doctor, I'm a builder. Our identity is so intrinsically attached to who we are that when we are attacked, there everything unravels, and at that point, a wife needs to reinforce the identity of her husband, and it's hard, because many times the future of the wife and the prosperity the wife is attached to that man's job. So when he comes home and says, I got laid off, she goes into depression, and it's the worst thing that can happen that wife, at that point, needs to be resilient. You know? She needs to look at the spectrum and say, Hey, I need to be resilient. And needs to understand that that's a key moment. And what he needs to hear from her is this, well, you know what? You got this job and you were looking for this job, and got one, and now you're looking for another one, and you're going to get that one too. We're going to be just fine. We've always been fine. They just don't know what they're doing. Getting rid of you doesn't take much, but I can tell you, this can not only save your home, but it can take your home to another level, as far as peace and contentment and purpose, the wife is so important. I did a whole series years ago called women of God, agents of influence. And the whole premise of the of the series of messages is this, yes, the man is the head, but the wife is the neck. She turns the head, and that's the way it is in healthy marriages,

Dan Wheeler: 58:26

how many years have you guys been married?

Unknown: 58:29

Now? 45

Dan Wheeler: 58:30

this year. 45 and you have a whole hassle full of

Unknown: 58:34

seven kids, children, seven kids and 21 grand. Wow.

Dan Wheeler: 58:39

See, you always put up the statistics. Those are great statistics. Denny, before we move on into our final segment, I got to ask you how good is pops? Houston, you were a quarterback. This kid, from what I've seen, lights it up.

Unknown: 58:54

He's the best I've ever seen at this level, really. Yeah, he is, and I'll tell you why. Because not only is he really gifted, because his dad is a great athlete, his mom was a great athlete, but beyond the gifting, he is the single most devoted, committed, sold out athlete that I have ever been around. You know, we work out hard here, fellas. I'm just telling something. You don't win 14 state championships and not have an understanding of how to get after it in the weight room and how to get after it on your agilities and, you know, fundamental training. So when you when you show up here at seven o'clock in the morning after that chapel or that Bible study is over, we are getting after it. But pop shows up at seven o'clock, straight from the gym, because at 415 he's going through his own specialized workout. Wow. Every morning

Dan Wheeler: 59:57

they say the grace and then,

Unknown: 59:58

and then he gets here. Her, and we run 120 yard sprints, and he tries to win every one of them. Wow, he also is. He's a polite kid. He's just, he's self effacing,

Dan Wheeler: 1:00:18

amazing. Gotta be a dream to coach for,

Unknown: 1:00:21

you know? Yeah, you don't, you don't coach him. You just aim him, you know, yeah,

Dan Wheeler: 1:00:26

does he have another season left with you? Yeah, he does next year. Wow, we'll look for that. Is any final question we've covered so much here. It's been just a lot of fun, for sure, yeah?

Unknown: 1:00:40

And I sure enjoyed you guys. What fun it is to look back on our Evangel days, right?

Brian Roland: 1:00:47

Yeah, like, I like being with all you kids.

Dan Wheeler: 1:00:51

I remember, okay, we have speaking to you when you came to Evangel for Spiritual Emphasis Week, Terry, should we tell him what we was we didn't want to go to cinematography class that night. Oh, was that the year? So three of us, yeah, we've confessed this to the Lord. Asked his forgiveness. One of us wrote a note saying cinematography class has been canceled due to Spiritual Emphasis. Week, one of us taped on the door. One provided the tape. The teacher came from southwest Missouri State, and we watched, and he couldn't figure out, because security opened the building. We went through and locked the doors, and then they came. The teacher couldn't get in. He went and got security. They allowed him in again, and then we watched them all file out, and he was so upset, and but we did go to Spiritual Emphasis, gentlemen, but we're gonna have to learn how to say rock chizock. Am I saying rockazack? Finish strong, conquer, prevail. And Denny, you are just an example of what we are talking about. You are not sitting out of the game. You are not taking it easy. And man, I just, when you get to heaven, I know the Lord's going to say, very well done, a good and faithful servant. And I've always known that about from the time I met you. I just I said to these guys, I said, Denny is such a man of faith. He loves God with all his heart. And what I love is, of all of your titles, I think your personal favorite is a student of the Word of God.

Terry Steen: 1:02:34

Yeah, that should be all of our Yeah.

Unknown: 1:02:37

I love, I love the Word of God changes us. It transforms us. It's a supernatural book. And you know, the Bible says that if we hide His Word in our heart, that we won't sin against the Lord. You know, there's a there's an advantage of just hiding the word in our hearts, knowing what it says, understanding what it says to us as individuals. And, you know, and I just say, you guys, I'm sharing these things because you asked me to, you know, that's it. I'm not impressed with any of this stuff. All of these are just opportunities, platforms, platforms, to be able to share our faith. And the one thing that I, if I, if I left anything with you, would be that the most important thing you're ever going to do is what you're doing right now. That's the most important thing you're ever going to Yeah, yeah.

Dan Wheeler: 1:03:31

We feel like God has prepared us all for this moment and what we're doing now, and he brought it all together.

Unknown: 1:03:37

Yeah, yeah. And, and the reason it's important is because it's what you're doing right now. That's it. And then the other thing is this is that the most important person you will ever be with is who you're with right now. That's good. I walk into because of that revelation in my life, I walk into a 711 which those stories like making a resurgence. I don't know if you've seen that, but you know, I walk into 711 or Kmart or whatever. Say, if I'm on the road and I'll walk in with an awareness of who's in the room. You just don't ever know when the most important appointment in your life is going to take place on just an average day, just who you're going to run into that is going to need the Jesus in your life. You know, I was in Amsterdam for the world evangelism Summit. You know Billy I think it's called Congress Billy Graham was when Billy Graham was alive, and it was. Being held in Amsterdam. We were publishing a magazine at that time called Winner's Circle magazine. So we had featured a fellow by the name of Doc Eshelman that really was the father of sports ministry, organized sports ministry in America, started athletes in action and all of that. And so he had the cover story. And so I went over there to deliver these magazines and pass them out to people at his request. And so I was walking through the city of Amsterdam one night, I had my little shoulder bag with me, my Bible and my shoulder bag and author blessed, who was a guy that used to carry the cross and all the nations of the world, I think he got them all. And so he's there in the city square around a fountain. His Cross is leaning up against the fountain, and he's there putting smiley stickers, smile, Jesus loves you, stickers on everybody that comes by. So I looked at him and I thought, wow, well, I'm going to help. So I just stopped. He didn't even know I was there. I just stopped and began to look to see if anybody was going to make eye contact. So this couple comes, they make eye contact. I walked right over to them, I said, I said, Do you know what this man is doing? Begin to tell them that Arthur blessed. And then got a chance to tell them about Jesus. And then got an opportunity to lead them to Jesus. Wow. And then got a chance to reach in and get my preaching Bible and say, because I couldn't leave them without adding anything. And I said, I'm going to give you my most precious possession. It's my Bible I preach out of and I said, I want you to take it, and I want you to read it. 20 years later, I get a letter in the mail. It says, Denny, I hope this is you. We have been looking for you for so long. Said the night that you shared with us, Christ changed our lives. We followed your advice and went to a church where we were discipled. Your Bible is still our most precious possession. We are now pastors, as we have been for the last 10 years. We just want you to know what happened on that night. Well, here's the point. What if I had been looking past them that night, and how many other nights Could there have been a story like that, and I just wasn't dialed in. That's powerful, and it's just so important for all of us to understand that there's ministry everywhere all the time, but we've got to keep our focus and our laser perspective as men of God who have the wealth of God in us, and that is our most important moment is what we're doing right now, and our most important appointment is who we're with right now. If you live like that, then I can tell you, God will give you fruit. I'm not there yet, gentlemen, but I'm trying to get there.

Dan Wheeler: 1:08:17

Denny, what an honor it's been to have you. You've inspired us to keep going, to finish strong, to rock shazack. And would you mind praying for the people who are watching right now, and that if someone doesn't know Jesus, they'll accept him. Thank you, father.

Unknown: 1:08:37

I thank you for what these men of God are doing, Lord, God. I thank you for Brian and Dan and Terry. I thank you for their families. I thank you for their lives. I thank you that they have determined to step through this door and that you have created a powerful following of people who think just like they think and believe like they believe. But Lord, there are others that are listening right now who have had the strangest experience, because it's as if their hearts are hungry. And that's an emotion and a feeling that's hard to even describe, but that's exactly what is happening. Their hearts are hungry. They want to know you too. They want to have purpose too. They want to see people's lives changed too. And so I pray for everyone who is watching right now and listening, I pray that they'll understand that you have already given the invitation for them to be your son or to be your daughter, and that all you are waiting on is a yes. Now, if you're listening or watching right now and something has touched your heart, maybe you've known the Lord and walked with the Lord during your life, but you don't feel close to him, and. You feel like you just need to run back to Father's house like that prodigal son. Did you just need to get back in relationship and friendship that is something powerful like you used to have? Then all I'm going to ask you to do is to understand one thing and then do one thing, I want you to understand. Number one, that you cannot save yourself, you can't restore yourself, you can't make everything right again. But Jesus already has there's someone, there's someone that's listening right now and and in fact, there are two people. There's a young man and there's a woman. And you, you really feel like you've disappointed the Lord so much that it's hard for you to even believe that He hears your prayers. And right now, in the name of Jesus, I come against that lie straight from the pen of hell, because this is what it is. Here's the truth of the matter. Not only does Jesus hear your prayers, but Jesus is anxious and willing to, in this moment, reveal to you that his feelings about you when you are at your worst have not even changed. He loves you as much as he did when you felt like you were performing well. He is for you as much as he's ever been for you, and he's never and listen to this, even in your reckless lifestyle, he has never stopped calling you son or daughter. He has never stopped calling you his son, young woman, listen to me. He has never stopped calling you his daughter. He loves you, and all you need to do today, right now, is to do this one thing. Just say, Yes, Lord Yes, yes. I receive your love. I receive your provision. I receive the fact that I am your child and that that is never going to change Hallelujah to Jesus. Name amen, amen.

Dan Wheeler: 1:12:19

Amen. Amen. Wow. Denny, I'm so glad this

Unknown: 1:12:25

worked out. Oh me too. I've loved being with you guys.

Dan Wheeler: 1:12:29

We really loved having you, and it's an honor to call you friend, and we're going to stay in better touch than we have the last

Unknown: 1:12:38

the three all need to get together and come watch pop Houston playing.

Dan Wheeler: 1:12:43

Do that. We would love to do that. Yeah. So thank you. Denny Duran, stay right there. We're going to talk to you a little bit afterwards. And if you're watching and you know someone who needs to hear what you've heard for this last hour, plus, please share it with them, and we're praying for you, and let's all finish strong together. God bless everybody.

John Matarazzo: 1:13:06

Thank you for listening to finish strong. For more information about finish strong and fearless faith, check out their website, F faith.org, make sure that you rate and review this podcast to help more people accomplish their God given purpose so that together, we can finish strong. You.