GEORGETOWN, Texas — Tim Tebow drew about 15,000 people to an outdoor Easter service Sunday, telling the gathering it’s important to be outspoken about faith while admonishing athletes for not being better role models.
“In Christianity, it’s the pope and Tebow right now,” Celebration Church pastor Joe Champion said. “We didn’t have enough room to handle the pope.”
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Tebow – devout Christian, backup NFL quarterback and cultural phenomenon – has a flock of admirers drawn as much to his religious leanings as his Heisman Trophy skills.
Tebow told them he welcomed the focus on his convictions as well as the “Tebowing” prayer pose he often strikes on the field because it puts his faith and prayer in the public conversation.
“It’s being talked about,” he said. “That’s exciting.”
Some at the “Easter on the Hill” morning service under sunny skies about 20 miles north of Austin drove more 100 miles to hear Tebow speak. Some 100 school buses shuttled people to the sprawling mega-church campus from local shopping centers and the nearby college.
Tebow took the stage to cheers from those who could see him while others toward the back watched on video screens. He sat for a 20-minute interview with Champion to talk about his faith and its role in his public life.
“It’s OK to be outspoken about your faith,” Tebow said.
He also took a shot at professional athletes who insist they are not role models.
“Yes, you are. You’re just not a good one,” Tebow said.
Champion asked Tebow what he thought needed to change culturally in America.
“First and foremost is what this country was based on: one nation under God. The more that we can get back to that,” Tebow said to applause.
Although church officials had said they typically get their biggest crowds on Easter, Tebow was clearly the big draw Sunday. Several hundred started heading toward the exits after Tebow spoke, not waiting for Champion’s main Sunday sermon so they could beat the traffic.
Some couldn’t wait for the official 8 a.m. opening to the church grounds and showed up hours early.
Debbie Sandoval and her husband and two sons arrived before sunrise.
“Everything about this young man’s extraordinary life is special,” said Sandoval, who is not a regular member of the church but wouldn’t miss a chance to hear Tebow speak.
A self-described “lifelong Broncos fan,” Sandoval said she became a Jets fan because of Tebow. He led the Broncos to the playoffs last season and was acquired by the Jets in a trade March 21.
‘Hunger Games’ tops box office; books challenged
LOS ANGELES — Film fans are still forking over for “The Hunger Games,” which took in $33.5 million to lead the box office for a third straight weekend.
According to studio estimates Sunday, “The Hunger Games” raised its domestic total to $302.8 million. It easily out-earned two returning favorites, the “American Pie” sequel “American Reunion” and a 3-D version of “Titanic.”
“The Hunger Games” stars Jennifer Lawrence as a teen forced to fight other youths in a televised death match.
For the second year in a row, the trilogy on which the movie is based was among the most “challenged” books, as reported Sunday by the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.
The ALA defines a challenge as “a formal, written complaint filed with a library or school requesting that a book or other material be restricted or removed because of its content or appropriateness.”
In last year’s list, when just the title book of Suzanne Collins’ trilogy was in the top 10, complaints included “sexually explicit” and “unsuited to age group and violence.”
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