'The Next Level'
The Arizona Cardinals have reached never-before-seen heights, including striving for the next step in their spiritual journey.

By Nick Dunn
Jan. 28, 2009

The theme for the Arizona Cardinals this year has proven to be quite prophetic – "The Next Level."

The Cardinals have indeed reached the next level, but for a franchise that saw 11 different U.S. presidents since its last home playoff victory (in 1947), the next level could have been a meager goal. It could have been simply reaching the playoffs, let alone winning a game. And the thought of winning a Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history? Yeah, right. That's a little more than "The Next Level."

But the Cardinals continue to raise the bar. They have reached football's biggest game, where once again they will try to prove the doubters wrong. And some players made a commitment to step it up in another area this season. With the help of team chaplain Chad Johnson, several of the Christians on the team decided that the next level shouldn't be limited to football. They wanted to strive for the next level spiritually.

And the results have been unmistakably clear.

"You hear guys in the locker room doing interviews, and all of a sudden it's shifted from, 'Me, me, me,' to, 'I've been blessed to be in this position to display my gifts,'" said wide receiver Jerheme Urban, who is in his second year with the team. "You're starting to see more recognition being given to God instead of ourselves, and I think that's awesome."

Johnson said as many as 25 to 30 players are now regularly attending the team chapels and other activities like Bible study and one-on-one discipleship -- players like Urban, quarterback Kurt Warner, running back Tim Hightower, wide receiver Anquan Boldin, defensive linemen Bertrand Berry, Darnell Dockett, Calais Campbell and Antonio Smith, and defensive backs Roderick Hood, Antrel Rolle and Matt Ware.

"You're starting to see more recognition being given to God instead of ourselves, and I think that's awesome." -- Jerheme Urban

All of the participation has been nice, especially as the success on the field has reached never-before-seen heights, but it's the sense of community that has Urban excited.

"In the end," he said, "it's always about coming back and reminding guys that we're not being blessed for ourselves, but it's going to give us an opportunity to glorify God, to take it to the next level and share our faith out there to the world. That's been the biggest growth this year."

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Urban hasn't been lacking in spiritual mentors since he entered the NFL in 2003 with the Seattle Seahawks. During his three years there, he learned from guys like Matt Hasselbeck, Trent Dilfer and Shaun Alexander what it meant to be a Christian in the pro sports world.

"The biggest thing I learned from those guys was how to try to be a Christian leader in the locker room without distancing yourself from a lot of the guys," Urban said. "Those guys were pranksters, they were jokesters, they made guys feel like they could relate with them. They showed me that, in order to reach out, you can't just sit at your locker and preach. You have to be approachable."

Now that he’s more of an "old guy," albeit at 28 years old, as he put it, Urban is trying to develop into a spiritual leader on the Cardinals. He is one of the catalysts on the team, helping lead them to "the next level," and he's now a man who Johnson describes as "just faithful. He's just really, really a man of God."

Urban said he truly committed his life to Christ during his time at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and since then his football career has been very faith-driven.

"I tell everybody that I would not be here if it wasn't for God," he said. "I look back on everything and just trace Him leading me through my career."

Urban's road to the NFL was full of struggles. He wasn't offered any scholarships out of high school, leading him to Trinity, a Division III school that hadn't produced a single NFL player since 1976. He broke numerous Tiger records -- and some track and field records, too -- during his time in school, but it still wasn't enough to get drafted. He did, however, sign with the Seahawks as an undrafted free agent.

But that wasn't the end of his tests.

A stress fracture in his foot forced him to sit out most of the 2005 season, and during that time questions started surfacing. For NFL players like Urban, it's sometimes hard for doubt not to creep in that maybe his playing days could be over. Eventually, though, he caught on with Dallas, and then Arizona in 2007, where he fits perfectly as the fourth receiver in the Cardinals' spread offense.

This season has made all the trials well worth it. Urban, along with his teammates, have definitely reached the next level -- both in football and in faith. Whether that level includes an improbable Super Bowl win, though, will be decided on Sunday. But even if they don't raise the Lombardi Trophy, the Cardinals' communal growth is a victory in itself.

"The [spiritual] growth of our team has just been phenomenal," Urban said. "It's been awesome."