NFL players who use platform to share their faith say it's their duty to spread their love of Jesus

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — Jake Bates  was standing on the turf in his hometown of Houston when asked to reflect on an unlikely journey from learning how to sell bricks to making game-winning kicks for the  Detroit Lions.

Bates used his platform as an NFL player to spread his love of Jesus in  a prime-time interview on NBC  after lifting the Lions to a win over the Texans with a 52-yard field goal as time expired.

A month later, Bates told The Associated Press it is a duty to share his Christian faith.

“This doesn’t happen without Jesus and by this, I mean any of this, like, living doesn’t happen without Jesus dying on the cross,” Bates said recently at the team’s practice facility. “He put us on a stage to glorify his name.”

The  NFL  is filled with players and coaches who feel the same way.

Quarterbacks  C.J. Stroud  of Houston,  Kirk Cousins  of Atlanta and  Lamar Jackson  of Baltimore along with Ravens coach  John Harbaugh  are among the many in the league who speak publicly about their Christian beliefs.

Stroud, in particular, has been a source of inspiration for Bates. He especially admires how the quarterback regularly credits Jesus at press conferences.

“What he’s been able to do in the media and spreading Jesus’ love has been awesome to see,” Bates said.

Harbaugh started his latest postgame news conference, reminding reporters and anyone watching or listening that Christmas was coming up and shared the prayer the Ravens had just heard in the locker room.

“It’s a big football week, all right? It’s also a big life week,” Harbaugh said. “It’s a big spiritual week.”

Cousins has professed his faith publicly, dating back to his college years at Michigan State and continuing in the NFL with Washington, Minnesota and the Falcons.

“We all have a platform,” Cousins said earlier this month. “We all try to steward it the best we can. I just want to be able to give a reason to people who ask for the hope that I have.

Although Christianity is the dominate religion at all levels of the sport, some Jewish and Muslim players have also used their platform to publicly share their faith. Recently, for example, Jake Retzlaff became the first Jewish quarterback to play for Brigham Young University, the Utah private school run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has embraced his role as an ambassador of Judaism in football.

In the NFL, Bates’ story is perhaps one of the most unique in league history.

He grew up about 30 miles northwest of Houston in Tomball, Texas, and played soccer at Central Arkansas before switching sports and transferring twice.

Bates was a kickoff specialist for two seasons at Texas State and for one year at Arkansas, earning All-SEC honors in 2022.

His hometown Texans signed him on Aug. 1, 2023, and waived him 11 days later to send him searching for a new career in the brick business.

“I was still in training, so I hadn’t even sold new bricks yet,” he said. “But that’s what I was getting ready to do.”

Bates, though, wasn’t ready to hang up his cleats for good and went to an XFL  showcase in fall of 2023.

“My last shot,” he said.

Bates did enough to get signed by the Michigan Panthers and made three field goals from at least 60 yards while playing for them in the United Football League, a team that shares the same home field with the Lions.

Bates believes it was divine intervention.

He has made the most of the opportunity, making game-winning kicks against NFC North rivals  Minnesota  and  Green Bay  as well as Houston. He earned the NFC special teams player of the month honors in November.

While playing football is his job, it is not Bates’ calling.

“I’m not here to make kicks or miss kicks,” he said. “I think I’m here to spread the love of Jesus. So, however long he gives me this stage, that’s what I plan to do.”

AP Sports Writer Charles Odum in Flowery Branch, Georgia, contributed to this report.

Follow Larry Lage at  https://apnews.com/author/larry-lage

AP NFL:  https://apnews.com/NFL

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh talks to repoters following an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Baltimore. The Ravens won 34-17. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins speaks during a news conference after the 42-21 loss to the Minnesota Vikings of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn

Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud speaks during a news conference following an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. The Chiefs won 27-19. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

Detroit Lions place kicker Jake Bates watches his 65-yard field goal attempt that missed right during the first half of an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Detroit Lions place kicker Jake Bates steps into a 65-yard field goal attempt off the hold of Jack Fox, that missed right during the first half of an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Two reporters were killed and several were wounded Tuesday in a gang attack in Haiti on the reopening of Port-au-Prince’s biggest public hospital, the country's online media association said. A police officer was also killed in the attack.

Street gangs forced the closure of the General Hospital early this year and authorities had pledged to reopen the facility in Haiti's capital on Christmas Eve. But as journalists gathered to cover the event, suspected gang members opened fire.

It was the latest violence in Haiti, crippled by an unprecedented crisis that has seen coordinated gang attacks on prisons, police stations and the main international airport.

Robest Dimanche, a spokesman for the Online Media Collective, identified the killed journalists as Markenzy Nathoux and Jimmy Jean. Dimanche said an unspecified number of reporters were also been in the attack, which he blamed on the Viv Ansanm coalition of gangs.

The Haitian Association of Journalists confirmed two reporters and a police officer were killed, and seven reporters were wounded in what it called “a macabre scene comparable to terrorism, pure and simple.”

Haiti’s interim president, Leslie Voltaire, said in an address to the nation that journalists and police were among the victims of the attack. He did not specify the casualty numbers or provide a breakdown.

“I send my sympathies to the people who were victims, the national police and the journalists,” Voltaire said.

Later, the government put out a statement saying it is “responding firmly to the attack."

"This heinous act, which targets an institution dedicated to health and life, constitutes an unacceptable attack on the very foundations of our society," it said.

Earlier, a video posted online by the reporters trapped inside the hospital shows what appeared to be two lifeless bodies of men on stretchers, their clothes bloodied. One of the men had a lanyard with a press credential around his neck.

Radio Télé Métronome initially reported that seven journalists and two police officers were wounded. Police and officials did not immediately respond to calls for information on the attack.

Another video posted online, which also could not be immediately verified, showed reporters inside the building and at least three lying on the floor, apparently wounded.

Street gangs have taken over an estimated 85% of Port-au-Prince and have also targeted the main international airport and Haiti’s two largest prisons.

Johnson “Izo” André, considered Haiti’s most powerful gang leader and part of the Viv Ansanm group of gangs, which that has taken control of much of Port-au-Prince, posted a video on social media claiming responsibility for the attack.

The video said the gang coalition had not authorized the hospital’s reopening.

Haiti has seen journalists targeted before. In 2023, two local journalists were killed in the space of a couple of weeks — radio reporter Dumesky Kersaint was fatally shot in mid-April that year, while journalist Ricot Jean was found dead later that month.

In July, former Prime Minister Garry Conille visited the Hospital of the State University of Haiti, more widely known as the General Hospital, after authorities regained control of it from gangs.

The hospital had been left ravaged and strewn with debris. Walls and nearby buildings were riddled with bullet holes, signaling fights between police and gangs. The hospital is across the street from the national palace, the scene of several battles in recent months.

Gang attacks have pushed Haiti’s health system to the brink of collapse with looting, setting fires, and destroying medical institutions and pharmacies in the capital. The violence has created a surge in patients and a shortage of resources to treat them.

Haiti’s health care system faces additional challenges during the rainy season, which is likely to increase the risk of water-borne diseases. Poor conditions in camps and makeshift settlements have heightened the risk of diseases like cholera, with over 84,000 suspected cases in the country, according to UNICEF.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

People help a wounded journalist who was shot by armed gangs at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean Feguens Regala)

Journalists sit wounded after being shot by armed gangs at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean Feguens Regala)

Journalists climb up a wall to take cover from gunfire, after being shot at by armed gangs at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean Feguens Regala)

A wounded journalist talks on the phone after being shot by armed gangs at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean Feguens Regala)

A wounded security officer looks on after being shot by armed gangs at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean Feguens Regala)

Medics inspect an ambulance of wounded people, shot by armed gangs at the General Hospital, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

The wife of a journalist, who was shot during an armed gang attack on the General Hospital, cries as an ambulance arrives with his body, at a different hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

The wife of a journalist, who was shot during an armed gang attack on the General Hospital, cries as an ambulance arrives with his body, at a different hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Residents walk past cars set on fire by armed gangs in the Poste Marchand neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Journalists lie wounded after being shot by armed gangs at the general hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Dieugo Andre)