David Robinson

"Jesus Christ, as my exemplar, reached out to people in His community who had need.
I want to show my love of God."

"The Bible is very clear: Don't do your good works before men to be cheered by men. [Valerie] and I do the right things because that's what God told us to do."

"When I go in the locker room every day, I face it. How do you love God and maintain your edge and not scare people off? The one thing I try to keep in mind is that I love these guys. I want to see them do well. If they want to talk about [spiritual things], I want to always be prepared. I want to make them feel like … I would be the first person they can come to."

I can run. I can jump. I can block shots.
I can dunk. But I can't take pride in that.
I'm successful because God gave me the ability."

"I can go into a high school and talk about Jesus. What an incredible opportunity. There are a lot of positive things I see as the reason God placed me there. [in basketball]"

David Robinson's Testimony

His "second birthday," as he calls his conversion, came on June 8, 1991, when he talked with a minister from Champions for Christ. This is how he describes it in his parents' book:

"The first question he asked was, 'David, do you love God?'
" I was a little surprised and said, 'Of course, I love God.'
" Then he asked, 'How much time do you spend praying?'
" I said, 'I eat three times a day, and I pray then.'
" 'How much time do you spend reading your Bible?'
" 'There's one around here somewhere …'
" Then he said, 'When you love someone, don't you usually take time to get to know that person? Don't you want to get to know that person better?'
" That day, Christ became a real person to me…. I felt like a spoiled brat. Everything was about me, me, me. How much money can I make? It was all about David's praise and David's glory. I had never stopped to honor God for all he had done for me. That really hit me. I cried all afternoon. That very day, I was saved."

A renewed relationship

His new relationship with Christ led to a renewed relationship with Valerie, whom he had dated earlier. He called her, and learned that she, too, had been born again.

Three months later, in September 1991, he asked Valerie to marry him. Now they have three children, and he is cast in the role as a model for his own offspring as well as his fellow players and fans.

The money and other benefits that flow to his family offer a challenge in parenting. "I try to make my kids understand that we don't focus on the money," he says.

"We're dealing with obedience and respect. You go into a store, they start begging for things. I teach them not to beg. Instead, we'll go to a store and I'll say we're just going to look today. I want them to understand there's a value to restraint. Just because you've got something available to you doesn't mean you wield it. That's not godly character. I don't know how God's going to allow me to teach them that, but it's something he's really impressed upon my heart."

Who comes first?
Jesus and his family come first, he says, then basketball.
So he does things like start the David Robinson Foundation, which spreads his money into the community.
He cites Matthew 5:14 as his calling to be a light on the hill.

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