Football great Bobby Humphrey tells Hoover prayer breakfast crowd to put faith behind prayers

Former University of Alabama and NFL standout Bobby Humphrey today challenged people in the Hoover community to add faith to their prayers and put it into action.

Humphrey, now vice president for business development for Bryant Bank and manager for the Speed City Track Club, was the guest speaker at the Hoover Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast, which drew about 560 people to the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel.

Prayer breakfasts are happening all over the country this month in conjunction with the National Day of Prayer this Thursday, but Humphrey said prayer is meaningless without faith, and faith is dead without works to back it up.

“There are things you’re hoping for that you can’t see, but I do believe if we continue to bow before God in prayer, we will see a change, but we have to put it into action,” Humphrey said.

He recalled a time as a young boy how he really wanted to play football, but his mother wouldn’t let him for three years. Without her knowledge, he joined his school team his eighth-grade year. He would go to practice after school and make it home before the sun went down each day.

Then the first game came, and he scored four touchdowns and won the most valuable player trophy, but he dreaded going home because it was after dark. He just knew his brothers had picked out a nice switch to be used on him, he said.

But when he got home, he showed his mother the trophy he won. “She didn’t know nothing about football, but she knew I had received something for my efforts,” he said. “She saw a look in my eyes and a passion that I had about the game, and she allowed me to play from that day forward.”

That was a faith about being able to play football one day, but that’s really not the kind of faith he is encouraging today, he said.

“The faith I’m talking about is faith and belief in Jesus Christ — that he can move every mountain you have to cross,” Humphrey said. “That faith is much more important.”

It’s the kind of faith that prompted a woman who had been sick for 12 years to creep through a crowd to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment so she could be healed, Humphrey said. It’s the kind of faith that prompted a blind man to receive his sight, he said.

Humphrey talked about problems he had in the early 1990s that put him in jail in Columbus, Ga., on charges of cocaine possession and assault and how that led him to turn his life around.

“I committed my life in jail that I was going to walk a different walk and I needed Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour to help me do that walk,” Humphrey said. “Your life can be changed, and your life can be different.”

And everyone must realize that life is not just about them, Humphrey said. Each person has something to give to help others, he said.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m going to live my life every day as if God is going to make it happen, and I really and truly believe God will deliver me,” he said.

Several ministers also spoke and prayed at the Hoover prayer breakfast this morning.

The Rev. John Fallon from Prince of Peace Catholic Church prayed that the leaders of the city of Hoover would have serenity to accept the things they cannot change, courage to change the things they can and wisdom to know the difference.

Fallon also asked God to give them patience for things that take time, appreciation for the things they have, tolerance for those with different struggles, freedom to live beyond the limitations of their past and the ability to feel God’s love and mankind’s love for one another.

“Help us work together and make it a better home for all of God’s people,” Fallon prayed. “Bless this meal we share together, and fill us with the strength to live in harmony.”

Blake Lindsey, pastor of the Church of the Highlands’ new Grandview campus, thanked God for the opportunity to personally connect with Him and build a relationship with Him.

He thanked God for all the leaders in the room and prayed for God’s blessing, favor, wisdom and protection to be over them and that everyone present would be salt and light to the world.

Buddy Gray, the senior pastor at Hunter Street Baptist Church, prayed that God would help everyone love Him with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and love their neighbors as themselves.

ABC 33/40 news anchor Brenda Ladun served as mistress of ceremonies, and Erin Saway Moore sang “The Lord’s Prayer” and “God Bless America.” The breakfast was organized by the Hoover Beautification Board.