Despite his all-American brand of Christianity -- he's pro-life, a virgin and his favourite movie is Braveheart -- Tim Tebow is a hero north of the border for being everything fire-breathing, God-fearing Canadians aren't: loud and proud.Pictured: Pastor Adam Rumball does his best Tebow impression outside his High Park Baptist Church.
So much so that a local pastor is planning on preaching the virtues of Tim Tebow during his Sunday sermon.
Adam Rumball, the lead pastor of High Park Baptist Church, in Toronto's west-end neighbourhood of Roncesvalles, considers the Denver Broncos' evangelical quarterback an exemplary example of his kind.
"All eyes are on him standing up for his beliefs," said Rumball. "I appreciate that kind of courage. But in Canada, you have to be more diplomatic."
Rumball, a six-foot-two former
linebacker and offensive lineman for the University of Western Ontario,
respects Tebow for, among other things, leveraging the exposure given to
him by secular media for "redemptive purposes" and "honouring the name
Jesus Christ instead of using it as a swear word."
In a draft of his sermon for this Sunday, Rumball writes:
"The 'courage challenge' is to 'not be ashamed of the gospel' (Romans 1:18) or Jesus himself (Mark 8:38) on the football field of their lives: at work, home, school . . . That is why we like examples like Tebow. He is convincing us and exemplifying a behaviour, though extreme, that we want to live out, namely verbal praise to God in public."
Rumball will deliver his sermon to some 80 people. "It might feel like an extreme example," he says, "so I'll have to work to draw them back into it."
No prominent sporty Canadian Christians -- which include Maple Leaf James Reimer, former NHLer Paul Henderson and Toronto Argonaut great Pinball Clemons -- have enjoyed the stratospheric level of celebrity Tebow has.
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SOURCE: Stephanie Findlay, Staff Reporter, The Star
