MOULTRIE — About 1,000 people gathered at Heritage Church Thursday night to “support FCA and talk about Jesus” with UGA Head Football Coach Mark Richt. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes hosted Richt as the keynote speaker of its spring banquet.

Richt said he remembered how he was when he was the same age as many of the students attending the banquet. His former high school football coach, Roger Coffee, asked Richt if he believed in God just before he graduated, but Richt stated he believed in football and, most of all, in himself.

Richt did not have the college career he envisioned, as he said Jim Kelly and Vinny Testaverde came to Miami and took the starting quarterback job he thought was his. His dreams of a successful college career were not working out, and he turned to other things to satisfy himself.

“When my world started to fall apart,” Richt said, “I didn’t know what to do. “I became and All-American at night-time games.”

A roommate of his during college accepted Christ as his Savior during a summer semester, and Richt said he saw the change in his life and wanted that change for himself. He was scared to make the commitment to Christ, however, because he was concerned about what other people would think of him rather than what God wanted for him as a new school year was starting.

“My old friends and my girlfriend were coming back and they wouldn’t understand the change and they wouldn’t like it,” Richt said. “I cared more about what they thought that what God thought.”

Richt said he went through several odd jobs after being cut from the Denver Broncos, who he signed with as an undrafted free agent, when John Elway was traded to the team. He decided to give coaching a try after being cut by the Miami Dolphins, and was brought in a quarterbacks coach at Florida State University by head football coach Bobby Bowden.

During his second year at FSU, Richt said the team endured a tragedy when player Pablo Lopez was shot and killed at a campus party. Bowden came to a team meeting and preached to the team about Christ and how they would be made right in the eyes of God by accepting Jesus as Savior.

Richt was shown he would not be going to Heaven, so he met with Bowden the next day and accepted Christ as his Savior while in that meeting.

“It was like a spear went right to my heart when (Bowden) said that,” Richt said.

“I knew where I was going and I didn’t like it.”

His life became so much different after accepting Christ, and Richt said things became so much simpler for him. While he knew he had a long way to go in his walk with Christ, he knew he was being changed.

“Instead of being self-centered,” Richt said, “I became God-centered. There’s no doubt I’m a life that was changed.”

Richt said those who were in attendance who did not know Christ need to obey the Holy Spirit is speaking to them.

Many people, especially young people, think they have a lot of time to make that decision, just like he did, but the reality is no one knows when it may be too late to decide.

“You never know when the clock’s going to run out,” Richt said.

Prior to Richt’s speech, Kristin and John Michael Hall shared about how God has reached through their lives and how they can share Christ on their respective campuses.

“The place you are should be a different place because of Christ being in you,” John Michael Hall said.

Area FCA Director Larry Poole said the banquet was a thank you night to everyone attending and how they have helped spread Christ to area high schools. The organization’s focus is to share Christ with athletes and coaches, with a particular emphasis on reaching coaches with the Gospel.

“Coaches have such a great influence on young people today,” Poole said.