News : The field where sports don\'t come first: Athletes share their faith at Union HS

Body Builder Randy Hartz told students to pray, read the Bible and choose the right friends.

Ben Boothby and LJ Fort lead the crowd in the Panther Boom cheer during Fields of Faith.

UNI defensive lineman Ben Boothby shares his testimony at the Union Fields of Faith event.

UNI football star LJ Fort speaks about his faith Wednesday at Union HS.

Several hundred people -- most of them high school athletes -- filled the gym at Union High School Wednesday night to hear college football players and professional body builders tell them that sports should not be the most important thing in an athlete's life.

"You need to make Jesus first in your life," said UNI Panther L.J. Fort, one of several speakers at the Fields of Faith event.

Fort, a senior who is near the top of NCAA stats with an average of more than 12 tackles per game, and UNI teammate Ben Boothby, a preseason All Missouri Valley Conference defensive lineman, shared their faith in Christ with hundreds of students from throughout eastern Iowa who sat on the basketball court or in the bleachers. Many adults also attended the event; the crowd included about a dozen people from Vinton-Shellsburg.

Boothby told the crowd that while he grew up in a church in Clinton, he did not realize until he began his career at UNI that being a Christian is more than going to church and not drinking or doing drugs. He said that after ending up with the wrong crowd for a few months at college, he found a Bible study. Fort shared a similar story, telling the students how that after he lost his father, he turned to sports. But sports, he said, was not enough; he needed God.

Randy and Melissa Hartz of Sioux Falls, S.D., told a similar story. Randy became a word champion body builder who was featured on the cover of magazines. But along the way to this accomplishment, he said he became entangled in steroid use, which led to a life of selling drugs. He was arrested and spent three years in prison in Florida. While in jail, he told his wife it was time for them to change their lifestyle; he asked her to go to church.

She did, and when Randy left prison, the couple became active in church. They now share their faith throughout the U.S.

Melissa told the crowd how she was raised by a single mom in a household where alcohol and drug abuse and pornography was common, and how she was sexually assaulted at age 16 by someone she thought was a friend. Those experiences, she said, left her angry and led to a life of bad choices until she found faith in Christ.

Randy told the audience how he was inspired by "The Incredible Hulk," and Lou Ferrigno to become a body builder. But he encountered a trainer who told him that the only way to succeed was through steroids. While Randy at first rejected that idea, he said he later gave into the temptation. He told the audience that they need three things to make the right choices in life: Prayer, reading the Bible and to hang out with people who are "headed in the right direction."

"Randy and Melissa are champions," said Union football coach and FCA huddle leader Joe Hadachek as he introduced them. "They are champions as a couple and as parents." Hadachek said he has been trying for years to get Randy and Melissa to come speak at Union.

For the past five years, the Union HS Fellowship of Christian Athletes has organized the Field of Faith event as part of the national Field of Faith campaign. This national effort takes place in high schools throughout the country; Carl Gonder of the Iowa FCA said that nearly 150,000 people in 40 states were expected to participate in a Fields of Faith event. Gonder is the son of former WMT sports broadcaster Ron Gonder as well as a member of the Iowa High School Athletic Association's Hall of Fame for his success on the basketball court.

Aaron Thomas will lead another event next Wednesday at Aplington-Parkersburg High School. In good weather, the event takes place on the football field; Wednesday's event was moved into the gym because of the rain.

Several students also shared a favorite Bible verse or a testimony about how God has helped them through a difficult time.

The audience also heard from Jennifer Howard, whose experience as the sister of a teenager who became handicapped in a diving accident and as the mother of a girl who died after a long illness led her to establish the Sing Me to Heaven Foundation, which provides support to families who have lost children.

One of the organizers of the Fields of Faith event is Troy Mangrich, who told the students that his hope for each of them that they would "take a step" toward God.