Trusting God Requires Action: Understanding Faith Steps in the Christian Athlete Life
If you gathered a room full of Christians and asked, “How do you love God more?” you’d likely get answers about reading the Bible, praying, going to church, or serving. Those are good things—beautiful, actually—but underneath all of them is something deeper and more foundational: trust.
And trust, in the Christian life, always looks like taking faith steps.
When I asked a group of college athletes earlier this semester what they thought it meant to love God more, their responses reflected the same mix of ideas: do more, try harder, learn more. But Scripture paints a different picture. It shows us that love grows when trust grows—and trust grows when we actually step into obedience that requires God to show up.
So here’s the thesis of this article. The one idea that simplifies a massive topic:
If you want to love God more, you have to take faith steps.
Not faith leaps. Not faith backflips. Just steps—ordinary, simple, sometimes uncomfortable steps that require you to rely on God rather than yourself.
What Is a Faith Step?
A “faith step” is a moment of obedience or trust in which you choose to rely on God before you see how things will work out.
A faith step isn’t just doing something risky or trying something new. It’s trusting God when you don’t fully understand the outcome.
That’s what Hebrews 11:8 captures so clearly:
“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out… not knowing where he was going.”
Abraham didn’t have a full plan. He didn’t know the destination. He didn’t get clarity before obedience. He trusted, then stepped.
This pattern appears throughout Scripture. Almost like it’s God’s preferred method of growing a person’s love for Him:
Samuel anoints David even when it makes no political sense (1 Samuel 16).
The woman at the well risks her reputation to tell her village about Jesus (John 4).
Stephen preaches boldly despite the cost (Acts 7).
Jesus Himself models the ultimate faith step: “Not my will but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42).
And that’s only scratching the surface—because all throughout the Bible, faith steps form the turning point of every major story:
David confronting Goliath
Esther approaching the king
Peter stepping onto the water
Rahab hiding the spies
Noah building the ark
Mary carrying Jesus
Paul being redirected by the Spirit
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego entering the furnace
Faith steps are not the exception; they are the normal pathway of knowing and loving God.
So if the Bible is full of people taking faith steps, why don’t we take faith steps more often?
Sometimes it’s fear. Sometimes comfort. Sometimes uncertainty. Sometimes we simply don’t want to give up control.
But often, it’s because we forget that faith steps aren’t about earning love—they’re our response to already being loved.
We step because we are secure, not to become secure.
A Few Faith Steps from My Own Life
Over the last few decades of walking with God, He has led me through a series of faith steps that stretched me more deeply than I expected. The examples below are just a few. None were dramatic. None involved burning bushes or parting seas. But all of them required trust—and through that trust, God grew my love for Him.
1. Going to Ultimate Training Camp (2004)
I was a college wrestler who desperately wanted to learn how faith actually connects to sport. I heard about this intense week-long experience called Ultimate Training Camp. I had no idea what I was signing up for. I didn’t understand the schedule, the drills, the purpose, or even what Athletes in Action really was doing at the camp. All I knew was that deep down, God was nudging me: Go. Trust Me.
So I signed up. I took the faith step.
And that week changed my life. UTC became the turning point where I first understood that my deepest identity wasn’t “wrestler” or “competitor”—it was “child of God.” And discovering that changed how I competed, why I competed, and who I was competing for.
What I learned:
Because of Jesus, my identity is not “athlete,” but “child of God” and that changes how and why I compete.
2. Starting a Pizza-Eating Contest at Rutgers (2011)
Fast forward seven years. My wife and I were brand-new staff members with AIA at Rutgers University. Many times we didn’t feel confident. We didn’t have the experience many staff have. We weren’t sure we belonged. But one thing we kept sensing from God was this simple push: Try something new. Trust Me with it.
So we tried something new to Rutgers that we had done during our playing days at Wisconsin. We launched an athletic department-wide pizza-eating contest.
The idea was simple: Could we take a faith step to create an event where athletes could show up, compete, laugh, build relationships, and get a clear picture of who AIA was?
We didn’t know if anyone would come.
We didn’t know if it would work.
We didn’t know if athletes would think it was just too silly.
But we stepped in faith and God used it. That silly contest became a surprising doorway into hundreds of relationships, spiritual conversations, and opportunities to love athletes well. It has been 15 years since that first Pizza Eating Contest and Rutgers AIA continues it to this day.
What I learned:
Sometimes taking a faith step simply means creating space for people to gather and trusting God to use that room however he wants.
3. Going Back to School (2022)
In 2022, I sensed God nudging me toward a Master’s Degree. I was a full-time staff member with Athletes in Action, a father of three boys, and coaching on the side. The last thing I felt like I had was margin.
Going back to school forced me to re-evaluate priorities, say painful “no’s,” and trust God with time, finances, and energy. I didn’t know where it would lead or why He was asking me to do it—but I obeyed.
Two and a half years later, I finished a Master of Arts in Theology of Sports Studies from Baylor’s Truett Seminary.
What I learned:
God cares more about who I am becoming than what I’m producing.
Where Faith Steps Lead
Looking back over the decades in my own story and reading the Bible, here’s the pattern I see:
Taking faith steps → forces me to trust God
Trusting God → helps me know God
Knowing God → grows my love for God
Loving God → leads to more faith steps
It’s a cycle. A healthy, holy, transformative cycle.
And the best part? This isn’t just for staff or pastors or “spiritual” people. This is God’s invitation to every believer.
Faith steps aren’t seasonal—they’re lifelong.
What Is YOUR Next Faith Step?
So let’s turn the question back to you:
If you want to love God more, what faith step is God inviting you to take next?
Your step won’t look like mine. And it won’t look like the step of the person sitting next to you. God calls us uniquely because He made us uniquely.
Here are 20 possible faith steps you could consider:
Initiating a conversation about faith with a teammate.
Sitting down with a staff member or mentor to ask spiritual questions.
Joining (or starting) a small group or Bible study with teammates.
Going to church this weekend.
Participating in a service or outreach event.
Organizing a food or gift drive with teammates.
Applying for an Athletes in Action summer experience like UTC.
Surrendering something you’ve been holding onto.
Moving toward a strained relationship instead of avoiding it.
Reading a spiritually formative book outside of schoolwork.
Asking someone to coffee and beginning intentional friendship.
Turning worry thoughts into prayer thoughts.
Practicing generosity with money or possessions.
Using your words to honor rather than cut others down.
Setting aside time to read Scripture consistently—even when you don’t feel like it.
Praying for someone you’re frustrated with instead of gossiping about them.
Praying intentionally for a teammate or coach.
Inviting a teammate to AIA or church.
Stopping something you know is harming your walk with God.
Starting something you know God has been nudging you to do.
Some of these might feel small. Some might feel huge. All of them require trust—and that’s the point. Because if you want to love God more, you have to trust Him more. And if you want to trust Him more, you have to take faith steps.
Not later in life.
Not when things calm down.
Not when you feel more prepared.
Now.
God grows our love for Him when we choose to rely on Him. He always has. He always will.
So what’s your next step?
Take it and watch what God does.
