The Swirsk Goes One-on-One with Ernie Johnson, studio host of the NBA on TBS and TNT opportunity to learn about and be part of an inner-city ministry that could be part of my life ministryDesire Street Ministries. It was also the time in which I met and married my wife [Jessica]. We plan on moving back to New Orleans; we're very fond of it." The key to such a perspective is that Danny Wuerffel isn't a football player who happens to be a Christian; he is a Christian who happens to play football. The game is not his life. His focus is on God and God's will. "The Bible tells us to fix our eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen," Wuerffel says. "Part of the joy and challenge of being a Christian is looking past the temporal and seeing the eternal, trying to see things from heaven's perspective. By God's grace I've been able to do that, although I've certainly struggled with it like everyone else." He didn't struggle last spring, when he renewed scouts' hopes for him by leading the Rhein Fire to the NFL Europe championship. "To do well you have to be in the right place at the right time with the right people, and I've been blessed in that regard so many times," Danny says. He includes the years in New Orleans in that assessment. "God has certainly been sovereign and has phenomenally blessed the Wuerffel family in good and ·bad times," Danny says. "You never know what route He is leading you down. I would have never expected to go to Europe and have things work out as they have, but that's the way God works."
Victor Lee is producer and columnist for the Sports Channel on Crosswalk. com. He lives in Monroe, North Carolina.
Swirsk: Ernie is in his 11th year at the TNT and TBS studios, working NBA broadcasts. You have a terrific reputation in our indust ry, Ernie, and I'm wondering how you would describe yourself. Johnson: I don't want to be defined by what I do on the air. I don't want to be defined by how well I do a highlight, or if I botch a highlight, or how I interact with my co-host. There's so much more to life than what you do for a living. I live my life trying to be a servant of God and a good father and a good husband.
ple at work was just not right. When I became a Christian in 1997, it changed my perspective on God's plan for me-where my prior· ities should lie. Not just talking about it, but living my life that way. Having a servant's heart. I know that unless God is No. 1 in my life, I can't be the husband and father I'm supposed to be. Swirsk: Did your family pick up on this, Ernie? Johnson: Four months later, my wife accepted Jesus Christ. A couple of months later my oldest son trust· ed Him and then my daughter. This reinforced to me that things can be impossible from a man's point of view, but not from God's. He can do things that are just mind-boggling.
Swirsk: When you say a servant of God, where did that start? Johnson: I grew up going to a Catholic school. But I went to col· lege and got away from things like that. You don't feel like getting up Swirsk: Where do you think God is and going to church, and you get taking you next? away from anything spiritual. At CHUCK SWIRSKY talked Johnson: The neat thing is that you least that's what I did. with Ernie Johnson on don't know, but you're ready to As my r.aT'eer started to Sports Spectrum Radio, obey. You go from one day to the which can be heard on next and take advantage of the progress, I said, "Hey, I'm doing Saturdays across the great. I'm married. I've got some United States at noon opportunities He puts before you. great kids, I've got a great job, and Eastern time. Call Sometimes you just have to be still I haven't paid any attention to 1-800-598-7221 to locate and know that He is God-and lis· God. So who needs Him?" ten. That's kind of exciting. It's a an SS station in your In 1997, my wife Cheryl and I area. Chuck is the play- great adventure. felt some guilt every now and then, by-play voice of the saying we really ought to go to Toronto Raptors. MORE ON EJ: Ernie's dad (Ernie Sr.) pitched in the major leagues for church. We'd try one, and we the Milwaukee Braves from 1953 to wouldn't like it. 1958. Between 1993 and 1996, Ernie and his My wife met a woman she was making cur· dad called the action for the Atlanta Braves on tains for, and she invited us to her church. We SportSouth. During his broadcasting career, said we'd give this one church one more try. It Ernie has done coverage of golf, track & field, was in September 1997. The message Pastor and the NFL, as well as the Pan American Kevin Myers delivered convicted me. I said, Games and the Goodwill Games. "How did this guy get hold of my file?" Three months later, I was having lunch with Pastor Myers, and right there at the table I TBS and TNT Schedule: Ernie will serve as the prayed to accept Jesus Christ into my heart as studio host for Turner Sports: NBA coverage on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday during my Lord and Savior. Things have not been the same since that day, December 10, 1997. each week of the 2000·200 1 season. Swirsk: What are some of the differences in your life that other people have seen? Johnson: Up until that point, Chuck, God had been created in my image. The world re· valved around me. My life was defined by how well I had done my job and how much people liked me. The way I was treating peo·
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SPORTS SPEC TRUM - NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2000
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