Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - NFL Tight End Colby Parkinson: Being Salt & Light in the Work Place | Faith, Integrity & Diligence

Episode Date: August 25, 2026

Colby Parkinson, tight end for the Los Angeles Rams, joins Jonny Ardavanis for a raw conversation about faith, football, and what it really means to be "salt and light" (Matthew 5:13-16) in a secular, high-pressure NFL environment.Colby opens up about a difficult season where he feared being cut from the roster, the identity crisis that followed, and how a shift from a works-based mindset to a grace-based one transformed not just his walk with Christ — but his career, leading to a breakout season with the Rams.Stay accountable in a digital world: check out Accountable2You at accountable2you.com/dialin — use code DIALIN for 25% off your first year.In this episode, Colby and Jonny dig into:- What it looks like to honor God through work ethic and integrity in professional sports- How to handle failure, benching, and uncertainty as a believer- The temptations of wealth, fame, and access that come with NFL life- Being a godly husband and father to Melanie, Brooks, and Forest Parkinson- Why character (salt) isn't enough without vocal witness (light)- How to have gospel conversations without fear of "ruffling feathers"Whether you're an athlete, entrepreneur, or working a 9-5, this conversation on purpose, humility, and living for an audience of One will challenge and encourage you.Timestamps / Topics: Matthew 5:13-16 | Salt & Light | NFL Faith | Identity in Christ | Overcoming Setbacks | Christian Fatherhood | Workplace Ministry🔔 Subscribe for more conversations on faith, work, and following Jesus in every field of life.

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titled Psalms of Trust, Living with Confidence in God at all times. This book draws on a lifetime that HB has from pastoral ministry that leads you through 10 Psalms that have carried different believers through grief, anxiety, and seasons of waiting. I'd recommend that you get your copy today at Moodypublishers.com and search Psalms of trust. A few of you might remember that several months ago, I tried to go to the Bears Rams game. Everybody knows I'm a Bears fan, but really I went to the game to support Colby. My name is Colerick Parkinson. I am a tied end for the Los Angeles Rams.

More importantly, though, I am a husband to Melanie Parkinson and father to Brooks and Forest Parkinson. I want to talk about more than just honoring the Lord in athletics in this episode because I want to talk about what it looks like to be a salt and light. Salt is who you are, how you function. Light is when you actually open up your mouth and say, the reason why you notice I live different than you is because Jesus is my master. And you're like on a team. There's like this dynamic of like it's not just having the best talent. It's like the unity of the way that we operate. It's the vibe. So how would you respond to someone that say like, I want my character to speak,

but I'm nervous about relationally ruffling the feathers of those that I'm around. if I get into a conversation with them about the gospel, or they know that I don't participate in what they participate in because I want to honor Jesus. Like, how would you respond to that? Hey, folks, my name is Johnny Erdoganus. I'm sitting here with Colby Parkinson. Colby, introduce yourself who you are, what you do,

and then we'll dive into it. Sounds great. Thanks for having me, Johnny. My name is Colby Parkinson. I am a tied end for the Los Angeles Rams. More importantly, though, I am a husband to Melanie Parkinson and father to Brooks and Forrest Parkinson. I'm also on the Rams.

It's a quick story just to kind of dive into this. A few of you might remember that a couple months ago, well, several months ago, I tried to go to the Bears Rams game. Everybody knows I'm a Bears fan, but really I went to the game to support Colby. And that's who we, you know, Colby was there looking for us the entire game. We never made it to the game, long story short. But Colby, it's been so good to get to know you over the last few years. You've become one of my good friends, goes to our church.

I want to talk about more than just honoring the Lord in athletics in this episode because as I mentioned to you, I feel like someone could be in any field in the world, and a lot of the principles are going to apply, whether someone's in high finance or orthopedic surgery or athletics, you know, it could be like, well, I want to honor the Lord with my work ethic and my integrity and things like that. But I think your story is compelling and it's been cool to just kind of navigate or I guess observe and be a part of what God's done in and through your life the last several years. But I want to just begin by first of all reading, I want to meet Matthew 5,

because I want to talk about what it looks like to be a salt and light in the world in this episode, but then I want to kind of integrate it with your story and how you approach those things as a tight end in the Rams. Jesus says in Matthew 5, verse 13, you are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again?

It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out to be trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way

that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven. One of the things I love about what Jesus says here is he doesn't tell someone to be salt and light. He tells them they are salt and light, meaning he's not telling anybody who is a follower of Jesus to become something they are not. So if you're a Christian, if you're a follower of Jesus,

you are salt, you are light, and you are to live in such a way where men, unbelieving men, see your good work, see the way you behave, and glorify the God you serve. Now, with that in mind, and maybe as the background to our conversation, maybe just share your story in the NFL, how you function and how you try to be assault and light and live in obedience to what Jesus says you are

through your work ethic, through your integrity, and so forth. Yeah, I mean, I think it's very similar, like you said, to any profession. You're in a secular world for the most part, unless you're working at a church or something like that in a, you know, nonprofit. You're in a secular world where sin is surrounding you, you know, manifests in different ways, whether that be kind of like what we talked about, how pride can surface or, you know, the desire for money, things like that can surface. But I think in the NFL, it can be especially exacerbated just because of the amount of wealth and the amount of access that we get as athletes or the, you know, people putting us on a pedestal, that type of

thing. So it's very humbling when I come to a verse like this. Like you said, like I don't need to pray, Lord, help me become salt. You know, it's Lord help me to act as you have designed me to be, help me to be the salt of the earth as you have designed, help me to be the light, especially in a dark world. I was, we were talking about John MacArthur earlier and how I was kind of listening through one of his sermons on this passage. And he mentions that when you put salt on something, distinctly different than what is being put on. Substance it mingles with. Exactly, yeah. I have that written down verbatim. 1979 sermon there, come on. I was there. No, I don't know. I remember. But there's a way to be in the world but not be of the world. And sometimes when you're surrounded

by an environment that can be prone to those different temptations, it can be sometimes easier, honestly to want to separate yourself. And I think it obviously comes from the Holy Spirit and him working in you. Yeah, so let's talk about just how many years have you been in the NFL now? Going to year seven now. Okay, so when I first came to one of your games a few years ago, you would say it was kind of just a difficult time in your career. Yeah.

You know, as we talked through Salt and Light, you know, living for Christ and maybe an ungodly world, that's just the world in which we live. Yeah. you talk just about your story of like kind of being, I would say, discouraged, you're afraid you're at one point you're going to be cut. And just even how the scripture itself, your perspective on what you're doing is its own testimony to the world that you serve God, right? And that your life has been changed by Jesus.

So just kind of talk about that journey because I think sometimes we overcomplicate like what this even means. Right. But in any field that anybody is in, they might have difficulties or might be temptations or might be like the propensity to doubt what God is doing. Like it's not going the way that I expected. That could be in athletics or it could be in sales. Sure.

And you kind of navigated a time where you were like, I don't know what next year looks like for me. Right. And just talk about how one Lord kind of proved himself to be faithful through that, how your perspective shifted. Yep. And now how your mindset towards your work and the integrity of which you operate is the salt in an ungodly world.

And salt being, I think MacArthur says, is your character. right in an ungodly world. It's just how you live. Yep. And then light is your vocal testimony. So salt is who you are, how you function. Light is when you actually open up your mouth and say, the reason why you notice I live different than you is because Jesus is my master. So let's just talk through that story, kind of how the Lord has led you through the last few years. Yeah. So I was in Seattle for the first four years of my career. Had a pretty good career. There, nothing crazy. It was kind of always the third or second tight end. Started playing a little bit more in my fourth year there.

Signed with the Rams, had all these big expectations that I put on myself. No one else was doing it. I felt like I needed to come in and be the man. Our starting tight end at that point was hurt. So I was going to be the guy in my head for the first, you know, whatever, 14 weeks until he got healthy. And then halfway through the year,

things weren't going great. Kind of got benched, not entirely, but was not playing nearly. as much as at the start of the season. And I kind of had an identity crisis. I wouldn't have said beforehand that I was putting my value in my work, but it became very clear that I was when my work changed. And that led to some heartache and some conversations I had to have with my wife to work through it

and lots of prayer time. And I made this up in my head because I don't think there was any validity in it. But I felt like I only had six weeks left with the team to positively influence them. and I wasn't getting the time on the field, so it wasn't going to be on Sundays. So I had to readjust my framework, be like, okay, no matter what reps I get in practice, I need to do it with joy. I need to, James 1, consider it pure joy when I face trials of any kind, and just work hard for the Lord, and that can be my testimony amongst my peers and my coaches

because I wasn't going to have those big aha glory to God moments when I score a touchdown because I wasn't on the field. So I had that kind of identity crisis and that completely shifted my mindset. And honestly, that back half of the year, this isn't like a prosperity thing. It's a, I didn't play that much more towards the back half of the year. But I had so much more joy going to work every day. I felt lifted of the burden to perform, to earn the respect of my peers and my coaches. I felt like I could actually just play for the Lord.

I mean, you've talked about it in your sermons, how going from a, a workspace to a grace-based mindset doesn't make you passive in your work. It makes you active. It makes you want to work harder because you're working for the Lord. And I totally felt that shift in my mindset, which has been great. And that kind of led into this previous year, which, again, I don't think it's because I gave it over to the Lord that I had success last season. But I do think that was a gift from him and that he taught me so many lessons from that year beforehand, where I could maybe handle it a little better this year than I would have if I had immediate success. Psalm 119 verse 9 reads, how can a young man keep his way pure by keeping it according to your word?

One of the priorities of a person pursuing purity is the Word of God. I've said it before and I've written this for myself that if God's Word is not my priority, neither is my purity. Now, in addition to a love for the Word of God and a dependence upon the Spirit of God, One of the practical strategies for pursuing purity in a world that is littered with impurity is having some form of digital accountability. You have access, I have access by just the devices we have as an normative element in our life to all sorts of sin.

And I want accountability in my life. And so we've partnered up with accountable to you. And I've been using this software for the last several years and been so blessed by it. The other people on our team use it as well. And I want to recommend it to you. you can use our unique code dial-in to get 25% off the first year for your personal or family plan. And you can check out more information at accountable to you.com forward slash dial-in. I think it's cool to talk through and important to talk through kind of the element of the difficult season that you walk through like,

hey, where you're not seeing like a lot of playing time, the game that I went to a couple years ago on Monday night football. You know, you were in a little bit, but you're like, you almost, yeah, I wasn't in much. so different than the following year, which is like a year where you really excelled on the field and there was a lot of recognition, but that mindset of being a salt and light isn't something that happens

just when you're successful. I think it's sometimes it's like, oh, you're dominating, so how do you do it? And how do you think through that? It's like, well, when life's not going my way, and that's where it was. Two or three years ago,

you were like, it was a difficult time. You'd say, James won trials. Still need to have that attitude. Like, hey, I have an opportunity to honor the Lord. when things are not going my way, it's easier to be like, well, now that I'm really doing well,

I'm going to start deflecting some of the attention to God and I'll be a salt and light. But when things are not going away to be like, hey, I want to honor the Lord through my work ethic on the practice field, even when I'm not maybe getting what I want on Sunday. So I think that's a good point. You had mentioned kind of before we started talking,

just that before you even play on a Sunday, you'll say, like, thank you God for the opportunity to get to, to do something difficult, to do something hard. Maybe talk about that and how that is distinct from maybe the way the world competes. And I think, you know, Tim Keller says something like there's not a distinctly Christian way to be a plumber. Right.

Like you do the job. Plum. Yeah, like you do it. But what is the distinctive way in which you are an athlete or, and obviously this could apply to you if you're in sales or, you know, there's competition in different fields, but like, when you say thank you God for this opportunity, like how does the mindset on which you you walk under the field on a Sunday,

how is that maybe different than just, I'm a competitor and I love to compete. And competition, in of itself, I think, is the Lord, so it's good. So how do you think through that? Yeah, I mean, like you said, before every game, I'll pray, Lord, thank you for giving me an opportunity to do something difficult because I honestly don't want to do this all the time. You know, like it's a hard thing to go out there and block and run

and exert yourself in such a way. when some of the guys are as strong and big as they look exactly like you exactly yeah i'd be intimidated i would love to face the field of johnnies take it out take it out um but i just say lord thank you for this because that's for the rudest thing you've ever said thank you for this opportunity because i know i have to depend on you um and you usually ask like what's the difference between that mindset versus like the mindset of a non-believer because yeah people dig deep all the time and do incredibly impressive things as non-believers, but they bear that burden themselves. And as a believer, we don't have to bear that burden. We know that we can depend on the Lord

and that our hard work, our effort is honoring unto him. We don't have to have this expectation of ourselves to perform at the highest level because it's him that's working through us. It's him that we're honoring. So there's no, like, if it doesn't work out, kind of like two years ago when I was going through that difficult season. It's okay. You can still honor the Lord in the way that you handle failure and difficult seasons of life. Yeah, even when you're saying that about like the way you handle failure, I just think again, and I know I've already said this,

I don't think a lot of people think about the reality that the way you handle failure is an opportunity to showcase the God you serve. 100%. And I thought that was just a really interesting point about kind of the way that the Lord has led you the last few years. So you've talked about being a salt and light just through your work ethic, your attitude, your perspective, not grumbling and complaining when you don't. That's first, or that's Philippians too. I always love that verse. Do not grumble, you know, do all things without grumbling or complaining. And then it says in the following verse, so that you might shine

as stars, meaning not the distinction in a world of complainers and grumblers and whiners and blame shifters and this isn't happening because of this, this is I'm going to work hard without grumbling or complaining. So that's your work ethic. That's the salt and your work Let's just talk about your life off the field, right? So you're in an environment that there are opportunities to sin, there's temptations that may be come your way, maybe just talk about that. You know, first John 2 says,

do you not love the world or the things of the world? For all that is in the world. You know the verse, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but of the world. So you know as a believer you're not to love the world, but when you achieve success or recognition or success in the world, it's easy to,

I would say fall prey to that temptation, right, to conform. For sure. So talk about those temptations, you know, towards worldliness, towards sin, toward, I think you mentioned, just access. Yeah. And how does the refraining from the things that maybe are presented to you or I would say available to you function as a platform to live for Christ in that kind of environment? Yeah.

I mean, the first thing that I think of when I think of being disqualmie, from the world or from, you know, the environment that you're in is how you speak. I think the, you know, refraining of your tongue in those environments, not cussing and not speaking about women or whatever the topic may be is a very easy way to be distinct from the world. In today's world, it feels like you can just talk about anything, but to have that restraint and being able to separate yourself makes it very clear that you're different. and it's not you, it's obviously the Holy Spirit in you, giving you those convictions. And then the way we talked about money a little bit and how it's very tempting to be dependent on your own, you know.

Nest egg. Yeah, like, hey, like, I'm good. I made it to this number. I made it to this, you know, net worth. Now I can relax. But that's not at all what we're called to do. We're called to work, first of all. And we're also called to be dependent on the Lord.

Like, we're not called to be completely independent of him. And we talked about it in Matthew 19, how the whole part about the camel going through the eye of the needle and how difficult it can be. And that verse is very convicting for me as a guy with some worldly wealth. Like my contract is public. We do pretty well. And it's terrifying to think that money can get in the way of our peace on this earth and our ability to fully enjoy the Lord. Obviously, I'm very confident in my salvation because I know that that's not something I can. lose. And if I could, I would, as John MacArthur says. But the next verse in verse 26, it's something that I

come back to all the time. It says, with man, this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. So we can't do it on our own. But we know that with him, he's able to bring us that sanctifying approach to money, to living in the world, to those conversations that we can have amongst non-believers. Yeah, no, it's so good. And I think through the dependence on the Lord and kind of, you know, a lot of times people say that out of maybe one side of their mouth, like, I want to live dependently on the Lord. But then anybody can be basically angling their entire life to minimize the level in which they have to depend on the Lord.

Because as much as possible, we like to depend on ourselves. So do you feel like some of the difficulty maybe in your career of even the uncertainty, am I going to be cut, was so that you would come to the recognition that, you know, all of this is a gift from the Lord. You talked about just kind of like that the mindset of how you're operating now, do you feel like the Lord kind of led you through that difficult season so that you'd be able to, hey, I see this as a gift. It's obviously all a blessing from the Lord.

And now it's not a catalyst to pride, but for gratitude. 100%. And we talked about two seasons ago going through that difficult time. And then coming to this past season, you had just gone through your sermon series on work, which were, you know, monumental for me, honestly, and how I approached going to camp practices. Like, I know you love football. I was listening to you walking to the football field.

In my mind, I'm Rudy. Shout out Rudy. Shout out Rudy. And just that mindset of, okay, I'm going to honor the Lord with my work. And you look at my season last year, and I had career whatever in all the stats. The first half of the year, that was the, not the case. I didn't have a single touchdown until like the 10th week. I like was barely getting

the ball. That's true? Yeah. Oh way. Yeah. The back half of the year is when everything happened. But that first half of the year was still, I had so much joy in working hard and in playing a role for the team to help us, you know, have success. Like we've, we talked about the 13 personnel. We got, we got bogged down in the minutia a little bit about, you know, the X's and knows. Just like being able to be like the role player and help the team in past protection or the run game. And I don't. don't know if I would have had that same approach. I would love to say I would have, but without two years ago going through that difficult time

and just really considering it joy that I was able to have that impact. And then when those touchdowns did start coming my way, it didn't feel like it was, you know, because I was, you know, following the Lord closer or anything like that. Every time I scored it truly felt like a gift from the Lord. And I was just so grateful for the opportunity. And I mean, we talked about the Carolina game catching that touchdown. down and just tearing up after because I immediately just thought back to, you know, the tough time that the Lord brought me through and just the gratitude for being where I was. Yeah, you know, it's interesting because there is this element where you don't want to say, hey, because I recognize this, the Lord just started blessing me.

Right. But on the other side of that, I don't want to ignore that reality to go, I love the passage in Chronicles where it says, the eyes of the Lord roam to and fro. And I love this line, that he may strongly support the man whose heart is fully his. And so while you don't want to say like, hey, if you do this, God will do this. God does bless those who honor him and live for him. And so I think especially that when you're going into that type of thing, not because you're expecting God to do something for you, but because I just want to honor him where I'm at.

And then the Lord does bless that. We've talked about pride a little bit as we've kind of gone through this episode. But I just want to ask you, what are some maybe critical truths additionally that you preach to yourself to be humble. And we've talked about this, that humility is not a fruit of the spirit. It's imperative command for Speed 5. Humble yourself.

Be humble. And so the demeanor in what you operate is humble. It's who you are. You just are a grateful person. But what are some other things maybe that you just remind yourself of? How does just being a family man, your dad, how does that shape the way that you see life as a gift from God? and not have this kind of aura as you walk through the door that I'm the man or something like that.

I'll talk about football first. I think, I mean, I keep going back to it, but this is my football testimony. It was like two years ago, I wasn't sure if I was going to still be on the team, which I don't think was ever the case. But just in my mind, you know, we tell ourselves lies all the time. And realizing that my desire to work hard and to honor the Lord cannot possibly come from me because we are all naturally predisposed to be selfish and we don't want to serve the Lord. I mean, one of my favorite books of all time is Dispins of a Godly Man by Kent Hughes.

And in his section on work, shout out, shout out Kent Hughes. And in his section on worker, it might be even in the intro, he talks about how we are all predisposed to not want to follow the Lord. And so just that acknowledgement that anything good in me I know comes from him. So to have humility, I think, is a natural byproduct of that. Especially in sports, like, I didn't do anything to be 6'7. You know, like, I worked very hard to be in shape and all. You are the largest man that sat in this room. Let's go.

Let me know when my record's taken. Someone else takes the crown. Yeah, okay, keep going, sorry. You didn't do anything to be 6'7. Yeah, I didn't do anything to be 6'7, and I didn't do anything to... Just be carved by Zeus. He's massive and strong. I didn't instill in myself a desire to work hard.

That comes from the Lord. From the Lord. Pre-fall, we were made to work like you talk about. So I know that that comes from him. And I think just the knowledge of God, I mean, your shirt says that, like, you know, like how we view and understand God, like turns into our praise of God. And if we understand that we are built and designed to honor and to love him, like who are we to be prideful.

Yeah. And it's a dangerous thing. I think it's a daily battle. It's not something that I figured out. I have pride prop up every single day. And, you know, like I'll do a, and you'll have a good practice or something. And, you know, it's hard to manage it on your own.

But like it says, in Matthew 19, with God, all things are possible. Talk about that familiar. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I was listening to a podcast other day with Joey Martin, and he talked to some other guys like, hey, have you, there's some golfers, Webb and Ben Crane, WebSense and Ben Crane. Like, have you ever gone home and your kids ask for your autograph? Of course not.

Like, the most humbly thing you can do after having a great game is go home because you're... Yeah, you're going right in. And your kids. Change your own diaper. Well, you know, after some games, I might have to. True, true. But no, you just go home and you're immediately thrown into the mix. And this is something that's been convicting to my own heart.

I thought your Father's Day sermon was great in how, I find it easier to work hard in football. I think it's such a performance-based, you know, output-based environment where you put this input in, you work hard in the weight room, you're going to get stronger, you work hard at blocking,

you're going to get better. It might not lead to on-the-field success, but there's definitely, you know, these visual things that you can see that can measure success. And then when you come home, you're not always going to see that, you know, like linear,

view of success. And that's something that I've been working on is how can I come home and work even harder? Because that is more important than anything I'll do on the field. How I raise my sons, how I lead my wife is far more important than any touch than I could catch. And I'm trying to have that mindset of, okay, I get home, I'm right before I go into the door, I'm going back to work. Let's go. Like how can I approach this as the same way I approach football? but with even more, you know, turned up a little bit more.

Yeah, and I love watching you to be a father, and it's been fun to watch the intentionality with which you operate with your boys, and they're so cute. And I think, you know, I think you do model that really well of just kind of like seeing that as ministry number one, you know. And the last question, and I want to just, I wanted to make sure we get here regarding kind of the,

we talk about Saul being your character, right? the distinction of the substance that you're mingling with. It's preservative. It's different. But then when Jesus says you are the light, that's your vocal influence. You're in an environment where other people in similar environments. And I don't want to overly make this niche to athletics where people go, like, I want my testimony. I want my character to speak for itself.

But I'm nervous about ruffling the relational feathers with the people I operate with to actually talk about the truth of Jesus Christ. And you're like on a team. There's like this dynamic of like it's not just having the best talent. It's like the unity of the way that we operate. It's the vibe, right? So how would you respond to someone that say like, I want my character to speak,

but I'm nervous about relationally ruffling the feathers of those that I'm around if I get into a conversation with them about the gospel or they know that I don't participate in what they participate in because I want to honor Jesus. Like how would you respond to that? Yeah, I would push back on that because, you know, Jesus came with a sword and we are here to ruffle feathers. I think there's a way to do it with grace and there's a time and a place to have those

hard conversations and there's the time to, you know, be a little more subtle. Like I think the Holy Spirit will guide us in those conversations. I'm not sure where it says, but the Holy Spirit will give you the words to say because there isn't a, it's not if trials will come your way. It's not if the world will persecute you. It's the trials will come your way. You will be persecuted. And that's okay.

And that means that that's a testimony to the fact that you're not of the world. You may be in it, but you're not of it. It can be intimidating sometimes. D daunting, yeah. Yeah, to have those conversations, for sure. But it's always so rewarding on the other side. I know I feel a lot of peace when I actually take that leap of faith and have those conversations. And I'm far from perfect.

I'm sure I'm batting 100, you know, in the grand scheme of like taking advantage. of those opportunities, but just praying that the Lord would give me the words to say the opportunities and the boldness to take those opportunities for His kingdom. You know, we never sow what we reap, and that's okay, because we're not the ones reaping. We're the ones sowing. You know, like, we're here to plant those seeds, to have those conversations and to have that perspective and realize that we're hands off. Like, we can do what we're here to do, but we don't have to worry about the outcome. It's up to the Lord. Be faithful. Yeah, and just the Lord's responsible for the fruit from that. I think like, you know, the big idea comes and we'll be in the plane and then I want

you to pray, but when Jesus says, you are the salt to the earth, he says, you are the light of the world. And then it says in verse 16, let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works. And then it says, and glorify your father who is in heaven. The big question is, how are they going to know who to glorify if you don't mention the God that you serve? If the watching world says, it glorifies your father in heaven, it means that beyond the scope of your work ethic and your attitude and your integrity and what you refrain from from the temptations or the indulgence that may be available to you as they know the God you serve. And the reason you're different is not just because a set of principles that you adhere to.

It's because my master is Jesus. And so I think that's so good, Colby, and so grateful for you and for your friendship. And wanted to just ask you if you would pray for someone, depending on whatever environment they may be in, where they want to be more of a salt and light. and in the field in which they operate, whether that be athletics, whether it be the public school system, whatever it may be,

that their character would function as a platform for their witness, and that they would then also be faithful to engage people with the truth in a kind, gracious way, but in an earnest way as well, because there's only one savior. Would you pray for them? Yeah, absolutely. Dear Lord, we just thank you for this time.

Thank you for Pastor John. and his ministry, Lord, we thank you for Stonebridge and dial in just for what you're doing with your church, Lord. God, we pray for just opportunities for the listener who is in an environment that is secular, that may be hard to have those conversations, those gospel conversations, God, for myself included, that you just give us boldness, Lord, that you would fill us with your spirit, that we would have open hands, Lord, and just give it over to you. for we know that what we are doing, what we are talking about has eternal impact. Lord, we love you so much, and we're so thankful for the fact that you have chosen us to serve you, Lord.

I pray that we would honor you with our work, Lord, that you would be just continually convicting us to your character. Lord, we thank you that we are the salt and light of the earth. God, I pray that we would be not of the world, but we can still be in it, Lord, and we pray for opportunities to be the light in a dark world, Lord. It is, when you turn on a lamp in the darkness, Lord, it is apparently, it is obviously different, Lord. And we pray for that. And that those, that difference may lead to some great conversations.

And God, we just love you so much. Again, we pray that this would fall on some ears that need to hear it, Lord, and that it would be encouraging and uplifting, Lord. We love you and we praise you. And your sons, name we pray. Amen. Thanks, Colin. Yeah, thanks, Johnny.