Bill Glass, Former Pro Bowl Defensive Standout for the Cleveland Browns, Now Shares His Christian Faith in Prisons

He is recognized as one of the most dominant pass rushers in Cleveland Browns history. He played in four Pro Bowls, and his 14.5 sacks in 1965, and 7 consecutive games in 1966 with at least one sack are team records. With him playing defensive end in 1964, the Browns won the NFL championship. He also played four seasons with the Detroit Lions prior to joining the Browns, and one season with Saskatchewan of the Canadian Football League prior to that. Today, Bill Glass, the former Pro Bowl football player in the NFL and member of the College Football Hall of Fame and Texas Sports Hall of Fame for his play at Baylor and the NFL, is better known for sharing his faith in Jesus Christ in prisons all over the world.

The Bill Glass Evangelistic Association was founded by the former Pro Bowl player in 1969, after one small city-wide evangelistic crusade. Today it is the largest evangelistic prison ministry in the world. It is also known for having one of the most successful youth outreach ministries in the country.

The former Pro Bowl player with the Cleveland Browns, Bill Glass, founded his outreach ministry at the urging of a good friend of his, Billy Graham. During the last 40 years, the ministry has shared the message that Jesus Christ is God's Son, Who died on the cross and rose again for the sins of the world and rose again to give a home in heaven to those who trust Him in thousands of churches, towns, cities, jails, prisons, and youth facilities in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic.

The Bill Glass Evangelistic Association operates a prison ministry, which uses Weekend of Champions and Day of Champion events, a youth ministry through public and private schools, and an At-Risk Youth Ministry through the juvenile justice system in the United States. The youth ministry is known as the Ring of Champions.

Well more than 70,000 individuals have volunteered to share their faith through the Bill Glass Evangelistic Association since 1972. Some of them had never shared their faith before. The organization trains them to share their faith, as well as gives them tools to use evangelism and discipleship skills.

Those in prison who have become believers have always had the chance to receive additional training in the Christian faith. Continued prayer, discipleship, and encouragement are offered.

Many volunteers have shared have shared with the Bill Glass Evangelistic Association how the training they received as volunteers has been used outside of the prison ministry to lead friends, co-workers, neighbors, and even strangers to Christ.

Special speakers for Bill Glass events have included Keith Davis, who played in two Rose Bowls for USC and with the New York Giants in the NFL as a linebacker, Jack Baker, who was a minor league standout in the Boston Red Sox organization and led the minor leagues in home runs for three years, Tanya Crevier, who has been called the most exciting female basketball superstar in the world and who performs at NBA halftime shows and juggles, dribbles, and spins ten basketballs at one time, and David Pendleton, one of the premier ventriloquists in the country.

The backbone of the Bill Glass Evangelistic Association is the prison ministry. The ministry uses entertainers, athletes, and musicians to bring their own personal testimony--as well as entertain. While prisoners may be entertained as well, they will hear a strong Gospel message from the Bible. There are volunteers ready to share their faith after the gospel is presented.

The Gospel is shared during a Friday and Saturday in a Weekend of Champions event and during a Saturday in a Day of Champions event.

During a Ring of Champions event, young people who are imprisoned get the chance to have a long term mentoring relationship Volunteers receive training and commit to 12 weeks of mentoring. The program has been shown to help many not return to prison.

In the Champions for Today ministry, former NFL players discuss character and values in schools across the United States. They show how drugs, alcohol, crime, peer pressure, and violence can destroy one's life.

While once known as a great football player, many prisoners now are thankful Bill Glass cares about them.

Citations: Bill Glass, no author listed, Clevelandbrowns.com

Bill Glass, no author listed, En.wikipedia.org

Bill Glass Biography, no author listed, Billglass.org