Poplar Bluff native now chaplain for NFL's Ravens

By ROB TATE

Daily American Republic

Some NFL fans just might have assumed that Ray Lewis was also the team chaplain during his 17-year career with the Baltimore Ravens.

The hulking, emotional linebacker who helped lead the Ravens to two Super Bowls in his career was front and center about his religious beliefs. The cameras always seemed to pick up Lewis as he rallied his teammates, often with high-strung enthusiasm mixed in with some Scripture and testimony before kickoff.

Technically speaking, Lewis was paid to mangle quarterbacks, stop runnings backs in their path and intercept wayward passes across the middle. Not spread the Word.

Lewis recently retired from the game after Baltimore won Super Bowl XLVII. But the Ravens still have a strong spiritual influence in the locker room, on the sidelines and at team headquarters.

Poplar Bluff native Johnny Shelton is that guy.

Hired over the summer to be the team chaplain, Shelton said one his struggles has been finding that new vocal spiritual leader since the departure of Lewis.

"It's interesting because that's part of my challenge," Shelton said. "My challenge to them is Ray is not here anymore. You easily sit back and say, 'OK, Ray's got this.' Now they can't do that. My challenge is, hey, (No.) 52 is not here. Who's going to step up and be that spiritual leader? I'm not asking you to be Ray; we're asking you to be you. But be the spiritual leader.

"Being a chaplain, it would have made my job a lot easier," he said.

Shelton, who played football for the Poplar Bluff High School Mules and graduated in 1983, had his chances to become a professional player. Shortly after playing for Southeast Missouri State University, he landed in training camps with the San Francisco 49ers, the then-Los Angeles Raiders and the Seattle Seahawks.

After taking his shot at the NFL, Shelton found a job with Proctor & Gamble in Greensboro, N.C., a job he stayed in until 2004.

During his time working in the corporate world, Shelton found himself becoming more spiritual and most of that had to do with having the desire to be the best husband and father he could be to his wife Thiltha and their two children Shawnda' and Shawnta'

"I wanted to be a good father first," Shelton said. "I wanted to be a great father and a great husband. I started growing spiritually by leaps and bounds. I was hungry for God's word because I knew that was the answer."

With his son Shawnda' becoming interested sports and his growing interest in religion, Shelton reached out to his local chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, something he remembered from his Poplar Bluff days; coach Bill Ray oversaw the group.

"My love of sports was there," Shelton said. "I put the two together. Fellowship of Christian Athletes -- I had always known about [it]. Coach Ray, he was the FCA adviser for Poplar Bluff High School when I was there. I was never involved but it was always in my mind."

Shelton's initial thought was becoming a youth minister. But getting involved with FCA opened a few other doors for him.

In 2004, Shelton was working full time with the FCA and by 2005, he started helping with the sports program at Elon University in Greensboro. The football coach there was familiar with having a chaplain around, and Shelton went to work with the players and stayed there two years.

Virginia Tech

While at Elon in 2006, Shelton received a call and a bigger opportunity. About two hours away in Blacksburg, Va., Virginia Tech football had a prime-time ESPN game against Clemson and was looking for someone to lead chapel services.

The school was so impressed with Shelton that it invited him back for one more regular season game that year. Little did Shelton know that the Hoakies were looking for a full-time team chaplain and his two visits were somewhat of a tryout.

Shelton prayers with a player in the Ravens’ locker room. (Submitted)

Soon after that job offer came. But Shelton and his family were happy and comfortable in Greensboro.

About a month later, Shelton traveled to San Antonio for an FCA convention put on for high school and college coaches. The return plane ride reopened the thought of taking the Virginia Tech job.

"I was going back on my plane to go back to North Carolina and I ended up sitting in the same row right next to [Virginia Tech head] coach [Frank] Beamer," Shelton said. "We had a chance to sit down there for an hour and 45 minutes. At that time, Coach Beamer kind of poured out his heart about the direction of the players. He said the wins were great. But he was concerned about the character of the guys.

"I knew God was telling me, 'It's time to go to Blacksburg.'"

Shortly after taking the job at Virginia Tech, tragedy struck the campus after a gunman killed 33 people before killing himself.

"I was there just on the weekends," Shelton said. "I started April first and that was two weeks before the shooting happened. That was another marker that I needed to be here."

Shelton stayed at Virginia Tech until the early part of this year.

"I started out strictly football but it blossomed to where I was doing all kinds of stuff," Shelton said.

The Ravens, fresh off their Super Bowl win over San Francisco, then came calling.

Shelton met the Ravens chaplain and friend Rod Hairston during some games when the Hoakies traveled to play the University of Maryland. They had become friends and would see each other periodically at conferences.

"We were friends, and one thing led to another and he actually contacted me to consider the Ravens position because he was getting ready to step down," Shelton said. "He told me it was coming up."

Once again, Shelton was reluctant as his family was thriving in Blacksburg and he loved his job and the people he worked with at Virginia Tech.

During the football offseason, Shelton traveled to Baltimore for a conference at which Hairston spoke.

"It was one of those things where I went up there and connected with the (Ravens) general manager Ozzie Newsome and coach (John) Harbaugh," Shelton said. "I saw the love they have for God and their faith was really strong. It reminded me a lot of Virginia Tech."

Shelton decided to apply for the job and was one of two finalists. The other man the team was considering happened to be a former Ravens player.

"I knew that if they keep me over this guy, I know that it's God's will," Shelton said. "The NFL is a tight fraternity. You have guys that have been in that organization and have actually played for the Ravens. They told me they were going to pray about it and they called me and offered me the job about a week later."

Shelton moved and settled in just as this season was getting underway.

He has a lot of duties with the team and extremely busy in-season. He also had trust to build with the entire organization.

Build relationships

"The Christians that are on the team, I built a bond with them first because we have something in common," Shelton said. "We talk about the Bible; we talk about things. The trust is more open than the others."

He describes his job as being "in charge of the spiritual culture of the team (and) building relationships with the guys."

He said the second part of the job has exploded as of late after a slow start.

"The walls have just come down and the guys are trusting now," Shelton said.

Shelton has many duties with the team throughout a typical game week.

"I schedule weekly where I do discipleships with players who are Christian that want to grow," Shelton said. "I have one-on-one meetings with them in my office for 45 minutes to an hour. We just go over whatever is in their hearts plus we go over scriptures. I teach them along the way."

Shelton conducts Bible studies on Mondays with the players; Wednesday mornings he has a one-on-one with Newsome, and on Friday mornings a Bible study with the coaching staff. Shelton's wife Thiltha also holds Bible studies with the players' wives and girlfriends during the week.

On Saturdays, Shelton likes to gather members of the team for voluntary sessions at the team hotel on specific topics. While the team was in Chicago, Shelton said they were going to discuss integrity.

On Sundays, Shelton holds a 30-minute chapel during which he tries give a message of inspiration before the game.

An encourager

During games, Shelton is allowed in the players' bench area and he tries to be uplifting to players who might need a quick dose of it.

"I'm an encourager," Shelton said. "I'm not a fan. A fan is kind of wide-eyed and is like, 'Man, I can't believe I'm standing next to Ray Rice or Joe Flacco!' I'm there to encourage them when they are down. I'm there to help them out any way that I can. I'm praying during the games to myself.

"I see different situations on the sidelines. Guys getting into an arguments because of a missed assignment. Things like that allow me to view situations and as I get to know these guys personally, it's even more awesome when they trust me because they know I'm out for their best interests."

In a recent key AFC North game against Cincinnati, the Bengals threw a last-second long touchdown pass to tie the game up and eventually force overtime. The Ravens prevailed, but there was a lot of anxiety on the sideline leading the up to the conclusion.

"As I'm walking on the sidelines, especially late in the season, especially the overtime game, guys were really distraught," Shelton said. "They caught that ball and went into overtime.

"I'm able to tell (the players) encouraging words -- that it's going to be all right. I don't try to do any Xs and Os because that's not my job. I encourage the coaches, too. My presence there actually reminds them to stay calm."

NFL vs. college

Shelton says that being an NFL team chaplain is different from the job at the college level.

"That's what's cool about the NFL than being at Virginia Tech ... these guys are husbands, they have families," Shelton said. "They want to be good dads and it just reminds me when I was at their age. I speak to that personally and I also give them Biblical references as well."

Another challenge for Shelton is relating to Ravens of all backgrounds.

"You can't be a chaplain if you're judgmental," Shelton said. "We can't look at their backgrounds and say it's wrong to do things this way. You have to hear them out.

"It's a challenge that I welcome. I understand it, I live it. I think that's why God has me here," he says.

The part of the job that amazes Shelton is the experiences some of the players have shared with him. With high expectations and most having the high-paying contracts to match it, the Ravens come to Shelton with their daily problems that fans never hear about.

"The average fan would say, 'Wow, I had no idea,'" Shelton said. "You look at these guys as big, strong, fast and rich guys that don't have any issues. You don't look at that. You look at them playing on Sunday and winning and losing. Same thing with the college guys on Saturdays. Sadly enough, even the high school guys on Fridays.

"When it's the biggest show in town, this is how we are going to look at them. Did they win or lose? We don't take the time to look at the challenges, the struggles and even triumphs off the field that they have and they are affected by. It's a big, big thing. It's definitely something any chaplain should not take lightly."